D&D 5E What type of D&D sourcebooks do you miss from older editions?

havard · Sep 11, 2019

I like 5E as a system, but I have mixed feelings about the type of books WotC publish for the system.

I would love it if WotC published more of the following type of books:

Setting books: We have a few that could qualify, but I would love to see more of these.
Monster books: I enjoyed Volo's Guide to monsters, but I miss the good old standard monster manuals that we've seen in all previous editions. I have the books from Kobold Press, but would love to see WotC return to this format.

Would you like to see any of the old type of books be used as formats for future 5e books?

-Havard

Zardnaar · Sep 11, 2019

Setting books would be the big one.

Lanefan · Sep 11, 2019

Compendia, where everything of a particular type is all gathered in one place.

Spell compendium
Magic item compendium
Feat compendium (new)
Race. class, and subclass compendium (combined as there's not enough material to support each alone)

Obviously, as 5e is still a living growing system, these would need to be online (freely accessible to all!) and constantly updated as new material gets released. In printed form they'd be out of date by the time they reached the FLGS.

Better yet would be combined compendia for all previous editions plus 5e, in other words the equivalent of a massive update of the Spell Compendia and Magic Item guides from late 2e.

TheSword · Sep 11, 2019

To be fair the big 2nd edition settings almost always included a mix of setting, monster, NPC and adventure. Particularly the box sets of yore.

The format hasn’t really changed, just the appearance and condensing the boxes into single hardback books of similar or greater page counts. Perhaps the adventures are larger... but they’re certainly of better quality.

I got rather tired of the splat book format of extra race, extra class, extra feats, extra spells, extra magic items, extra monsters. With a bit of setting fluff that became the norm in 3e. Just created more and more bloat.

robus · Sep 11, 2019

TheSword said:
I got rather tired of the splat book format of extra race, extra class, extra feats, extra spells, extra magic items, extra monsters. With a bit of setting fluff that became the norm in 3e. Just created more and more bloat.

It does sound like a recipe for a maximal cash grab. FFG are currently doing it with their Star Wars RPG and it seems a bit overkill.

I would also prefer a setting book that provided character/race options that suited the setting (as well as spells, magic items, monsters and BBEG ideas). Basically a "Xanathar's Guide to XXX" (hmm, that sounds a bit naughty but you know what I mean

)

lowkey13 · Sep 11, 2019

*Deleted by user*

Undrave · Sep 11, 2019

Martial Power and Primal Power...

Reynard · Sep 11, 2019

Am I allowed to say a complete, regularly updated SRD?

No? Okay, then.

I miss "deep dive" books that either hyper focus on a particular aspect of play (Stormwrack) or an element of a particular setting (Fiaths of Eberron).

Oh, and boxed sets.

And stand alone adventures.

Retreater · Sep 11, 2019

One of the best resources I remember from my beginning days as a DM was the AD&D 2nd edition Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide. It was full of information about different play styles, establishing house rules, being a good player, how to draw maps, etc. While most of this information can be found online these days, back in the day this was a great help for those of us learning the craft of DMing in relative isolation and trailblazing the hobby in our local communities.

In looking up this information, I just noticed that Jennell Jaquays was a co-author! No wonder the advice was so good.