Greetings,
Simple Question - if you were to decide to sell off two of the main three core books of "Dungeons & Dragons" 5th edition and KEEP one of the the three Which two do you sell?
Which one Do you Keep for future use?
Players Handbook - Keep or sell?
Monster Manual - Keep it or sell it?
Dungeon Master's Guide - keep or sell?
- Ed C.
My take? Monster books are always fun to have on hand. There's been plenty of nights I pulled out a book of monsters for a game and leafed through them with my kids.
Quote from: RunningLaser;981805My take? Monster books are always fun to have on hand. There's been plenty of nights I pulled out a book of monsters for a game and leafed through them with my kids.
Monster Manual?
That I was definitely thinking of selling off.
Thing is I tend to GM or DM other game systems - mainly
GURPS, classic
TRAVELLER, and maybe
'Savage Worlds'...
Because of where I work I always have a shot at buying replacement copies if I have to in the future. Mainly doing this to get extra spending cash for GEN CON next week.
- Ed C.
The Player's Handbook is the only one you need to play. In fact, I've barely ever opened the DMG.
The PHB is the only essential one, as usual. MM are always the most fun to just read. DMGs are always optional although I'd say this is one of the best produced for D&D.
Quote from: Voros;981858The PHB is the only essential one, as usual. MM are always the most fun to just read. DMGs are always optional although I'd say this is one of the best produced for D&D.
In 1st edition AD&D you actually needed the DMG, as it had all the rules of play in. Boring book to read though. They switched the rules into the Player's Handbook from 2nd Edition onwards. As they've gone through the editions where was more a shift towards discussing world building, etc, which was easier to read but never really essential.
Yeah I was aware of the bizarre decision to split the rules in 1e. I assume that was to make the DMG essential. The magic items listed in DMGs are like crack though.
It's actually a curiosity of their original intent, insofar that the first AD&D book published was actually the Monster Manual (1977), then the Player's Handbook (1978) and then finally the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979, but in many places delayed till later). If you wanted to play the AD&D game in 1978, you had to get the To Hit tables from White Dwarf magazine! Without digging up another contentious thread, the question is whether the "Advanced" moniker essentially referred to these books being supplements to the Original D&D box set as the original intent, remains even though the rules as written were notably different and evolved (?) into a different game.
Sell all three and buy Mythras.
But seriously the only keeper if your player only is the PHB. If your a DM that writes his own adventures all three are useful but at a pinch you could sell the DMG.
With access to the SRD, the PHB is the one you have to keep for access to the extra character options (archetypes, feats etc). Most of the other books are in the SRD with the exception of a few monsters.
Sell all three. The D&D 5E Basic Rules are available as free pdf downloads from the WotC website. (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules)
Quote from: jeff37923;981990Sell all three. The D&D 5E Basic Rules are available as free pdf downloads from the WotC website. (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules)
What if he wants to play a warlock?
Quote from: jeff37923;981990Sell all three. The D&D 5E Basic Rules are available as free pdf downloads from the WotC website. (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules)
Ugh, cannot stand reading rules in the electronic medium. If it aint in paper and between hard covers I probably wont play.
Quote from: HorusArisen;981996What if he wants to play a warlock?
What if he doesn't want to play fucking Mythras?
Quote from: jeff37923;982007What if he doesn't want to play fucking Mythras?
Well mine was clearly a joke as evidenced by the next sentence.
Also unlike your response my rebuttal was a generally polite question highlighting the problem with the online offering.
It's ok though, we know your an asshole you don't need to prove it in every post.
If you think you'll play again, keep the PHB. If you want something to keep around for inspiration when running other games, keep the Monster Manual.
Realistically it's the DMGs from older editions that I refer to when I'm not running that game, so 5e DMG.
Quote from: S'mon;982052Realistically it's the DMGs from older editions that I refer to when I'm not running that game, so 5e DMG.
Have you read the DMG for 5th? I was not impressed.
I read through it when I was doing a Co-DM thing (2 or 3 week short arc then switch) and couldn't find anything I cared about.
Quote from: Headless;982087Have you read the DMG for 5th? I was not impressed.
I read through it when I was doing a Co-DM thing (2 or 3 week short arc then switch) and couldn't find anything I cared about.
Yeah, but I felt that way about the 4e DMG when I first got it, and for years afterwards - now I reference it quite frequently. So maybe the 5e one will grow on me. I was reading the 2e one for the first time recently and it was a very interesting insight into design intent & playstyle of what is currently I think the most forgotten era of D&D.
Keep the PHB. The PHB is awesome. 5e's DMG and MM are nothing really special IMO.
Quote from: jeff37923;982007What if he doesn't want to play fucking Mythras?
I'd never even heard of 'Mythras' til this thread.
Not a lot of requests for it at the store.
- Ed C.
Quote from: Headless;982087Have you read the DMG for 5th? I was not impressed.
I read through it when I was doing a Co-DM thing (2 or 3 week short arc then switch) and couldn't find anything I cared about.
For a first time DM the 5e is excellent.
If you plan to run 5e, keep them all.
If you plan to only play 5e, keep the PHB.
If you doubt you'll even play 5e, sell them all. The free PDFs online are enough for a casual 5e player.
Quote from: Koltar;982158I'd never even heard of 'Mythras' til this thread.
Not a lot of requests for it at the store.
- Ed C.
It's a great game but I wasn't actually suggesting you change games.
Are you mostly a player or a DM? Either way definitely keep the PHB but if you DM both the other books do come in handy.
Keep DMG get rid of rest. Lots of tables in there that are broadly applicable to fantasy gaming.
You only really NEED the PHB to get the complete rules including all classes and races.
All the monsters are available online, so no need for the MM.
The DMG is good for a new DM, but less so for an experienced DM.
Although it does have the magic item lists, but again you could get all of that online easily.