D&D 5E (2014) Least Favorite WotC 5E Book?

[Nikosandros]

As a set of dungeons and city gazateer, it is pretty great for mining material.

The adventure, as described, is very weak, IMHO. But there's so much stuff and ideas that, by adding my own material, I got an excellent ten levels worth of campaign.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Absolutely Mordenkeinen’s Tome of Foes. The book is, to quote a ZeroPunctuation video, crispy-fried puke right down the [fricking] bone marrow. Maybe 3 pages worth of stuff I have ever used, and with MoTM out now, I’ve no reason to ever open it again, and I am grateful for that.

Close second is Volos.

Everything is at least okay.

 

[Vael]

Of the ones I've purchased, Hoard of the Dragon Queen / Tyranny of Dragons and Strixhaven. But gotta also say that I'm glad all the relevant Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide material has been reprinted in other superior books.

 

[Parmandur]

The adventure, as described, is very weak, IMHO. But there's so much stuff and ideas that, by adding my own material, I got an excellent ten levels worth of campaign.

That's fair: I honestly think all the Adventure books are much stronger if they are viewed as boxes of parts to use more than a pre-programmed experience that will just go, but Dragon Heist is more guilty of that than the others I would say.

 

[Parmandur]

Everything is at least okay.

Gotta say, every book that has come up in this thread I have seen someone, somewhere else, sing that book's praise as something they got good use out of. SO I think it is reasonable to say that every book they have put out is at least useful to someone. No "Forest Oracle" abomination stinkers.

 

[Parmandur]

Strixhaven. I was expecting a compelling setting describing a fantastical magical academy. I got an adventure set in a "fantasy" modern American college.

That was actually a source of big controversy in the Magic community when the (overall very well received) Steixhaven card set was current, particularly from European and Latin American players: all the card tropes were American College stereotypes, and the card design team didn't actively notice thst until they started getting complaints. They just thought that the Amwrican College experience was normative. So that, at least, is the book following the source material. I haven't run the Adventure, bit I am intrigues by it's original structure and mechanics, and am curious how it would play out in practice.

 

[cbwjm]

That was actually a source of big controversy in the Magic community when the (overall very well received) Steixhaven card set was current, particularly from European and Latin American players: all the card tropes were American College stereotypes, and the card design team didn't actively notice thst until they started getting complaints. They just thought that the Amwrican College experience was normative. So that, at least, is the book following the source material. I haven't run the Adventure, bit I am intrigues by it's original structure and mechanics, and am curious how it would play out in practice.

That's not really all that surprising considering that MtG is an American made card game so it makes sense that the designers would follow what was a normal college experience for them when designing the cards.

 

[Parmandur]

That's not really all that surprising considering that MtG is an American made card game so it makes sense that the designers would follow what was a normal college experience for them when designing the cards.

True, but given the strong "Not Harry Potter" vibes, folks were surprised that the main themes were like a standard Hollywood College comedy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's not really all that surprising considering that MtG is an American made card game so it makes sense that the designers would follow what was a normal college experience for them when designing the cards.

Is it intended to be college? Very different experience than any kind of secondary school, British boarding school or otherwise.

 

[FrozenNorth]

SCAG. I haven’t bought all WotC books, and for the most part, if I didn’t buy it, I have no strong feelings for it one way or the other.

But I did buy SCAG, and I found it pretty useless. The subclasses were really generic and forgettable, and the gazeeteer was so superficial the setting may as well have been “Generic fantasy realm no. 628”. Theros did a much better job of making gods interesting, and Wildemount showed how to incorporate adventure hooks into a gazetteer.

SCAG just failed on all counts.