The D&D 5th Edition Buyer's Guide - Where should you start?

if you're new to D&D or hoping to get into it you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the books and products that have been released so far for fifth edition there is a lot of stuff and it can get confusing but the overwhelming message I want you to hear as we take a look at these products is that this can be a very inexpensive hobby and you don't need very much at all to get started let's dig in welcome to wasd 20 my name is nate and I make videos about tabletop role-playing games and fantasy maps first off I want you to know that I have no affiliation with the D&D product line I'm just a fan like you this video is not sponsored but I should disclose that all the Amazon links I provide for these products are affiliate links and a small commission is paid to me when you use them at no additional cost to you these links will be found in the written version of the buyer's guide which is on my website and I'll link that down in the video description below I'll also keep that version a little more up-to-date over the next months and years as more products are released without further ado let's get on with the buyer's guide so even though this is a buyer's guide I still think a good place to start is actually the free stuff the stuff you don't need to buy at all there is actually a really good free basic rules PDF that Wizards of the coast has made available since the inception of fifth edition they've had this it's about a hundred and eighty pages at present and it includes all kinds of awesome stuff to get started playing D&D for absolutely no cost all you probably need is a setup dice which you can buy for 5 or 10 bucks and this PDF and you're good to go this one hundred and eighty page free PDF does include rules for character creation although they are a little bit more limited for races you have dwarf elf halfling and human for classes you have cleric fighter rogue and wizard and it also has a few more limited backgrounds and like the spell list and things like that are more limited it has all of the basic rules of play really the questions that most people have in game or the situations they encounter will be answered in these rules just and it also has a big section of monsters and other additional things it's been a while since I can of that monster list but I think it's probably over a hundred and thirty monsters in there and they've even added some art in recent versions although not very much for the monsters so as you look at this vast library overwhelming number of books that are now available for 4th edition just know that you hardly need any of it to play the game start with that free pdf and I think you'll be surprised how far it'll take you now the first product that I'll mention that you can actually spend money on would be the DMD starter set it's a box set and it is actually really really cheap sometimes you can get on Amazon for like 12 bucks if you're buying it at retail it's usually about 20 so it's a very low barrier for entry here in this box you get a copy of the basic rules but they don't have anything for character creation instead it comes with four pre-generated characters which are actually really handy for new players because character creation can be a really intimidating thing even though it is a lot of fun it also comes with a set of dice which at you know probably about five bucks at least is already making this an excellent value for the box and the thing that I like about it most is that it comes with a starter adventure which is actually really good it's a great introduction to the game it's called The Lost mine of Fan delver and it's a great adventure that will last for several sessions and I think even experienced players and Dungeon Master's can have a lot of fun with this adventure so I think that newcomers to the Hobby especially will benefit from the starter set and will definitely get their money's worth out of that thing because you can just use that for months and months and have a lot of fun and you don't really need much else now if you are wanting to get the full rules the full options for character creation in terms of all the races and classes that the core rules include the full spell list and things like that that core rule set is found in The Player's Handbook which is the first of the three core books that we'll talk about so the players handbook is the rulebook for the game it has more options for races classes archetypes and backgrounds and things like that then the basic rules or the starter set you can now add in half-elf half-orc tea fling gnome and Dragonborn in terms of races and for classes you add barbarian bard druid monk paladin ranger sorcerer and warlock there's about twice as many spells as in the basic rules as well so could a newcomer start with the players handbook absolutely you can start there but for a new Dungeon Master with all new players personally I would find the starter set to be really helpful especially that starter adventure just in getting me going getting me understand what's involved in a session of D&D or a campaign of D&D The Player's Handbook is not gonna have any sort of adventure stuff but you can buy separate adventure books or you can buy the players handbook and still run lost mine offend elver now if you are a player who is joining a game I would definitely recommend getting the players handbook after you've played a couple sessions you know you like it you want to keep playing by the players handbook you'll be happy to have this book first of all it's got beautiful art it's got a ton more character options and spells that you'll really enjoy and it's just a good long-term investment and if you ever want to run the game this is the core rulebook that has the full rules don't be fooled by the name players handbook in thinking that if you want to run D&D you should not get this you should get the Dungeon Master's guide that is not true if you want to run D&D you want to have the players handbook first and if you want a little more help assistance in tools then that's when you go to the dungeon masters guide but before we get into more of the Dungeon Master's guide I should mention the Monster Manual as a dungeon master what I would recommend is the players handbook and the monster manual before you get to the Dungeon Master's guide the reason is the monster manual is awesome the monster manual has tons and tons of monsters it's got awesome art it's got all kinds of flavor texts and descriptions that kind of help you set the mood for these monsters and understand the worlds in which they live and that will be so helpful for you as a dungeon master and the art is just amazing like I just love flipping through this book and looking at the pictures it's so good it's a big old book full of awesome fantasy creatures so the players handbook does include some creatures in the back and that's really helpful but I think it won't be long before Dungeon Master's want a bigger repertoire and that's where the Monster Manual comes in handy the Dungeon Master's guide is probably the most optional of the three core books in my opinion it's got a lot of optional rules and rules for specific cases like what do you do if you want to run an adventure at sea or if you're dealing with weather and survival out in the wild what are some different types of dungeons what are some good tips for creating NPCs and it's got role tables for a lot of these things that can give you inspiration it's got some maps and things like that it's got some information on world building so there's a lot of great stuff in here a real tool set for the dungeon master but do you need it no you don't so I think that's enough on the three core rule books you've got the players handbook - monster manual and the Dungeon Master's guide now we're going to move on to the adventure books there are something like a dozen adventure books that have been released so far and by the time you're watching this there might be more and there are a lot of fun what they are are pre written storylines along with encounters and monsters and quests and non-player characters and various locations and they're all put together in one coherent storyline a big old book that you will run your group through as we get into these adventure books you should know that not everyone runs pre-published adventures a lot of Dungeon Master's maybe even most run their own homebrew adventures and that's a totally valid way of playing you just create your own storylines your own quests your own villains and all this but a lot of people do really enjoy getting into the published adventures and that can be a really good way to go to now lost mine offend elver is a great place to start and at only like $12 that's honestly not a bad option if you're looking for a pre written adventure just get that starter set but if you're looking for something that you're hoping will last your group several months or a year then I would recommend getting one of these big old hard books and there's there's a bunch of them opinions vary but I'll recommend maybe four or five of them here that I think are particularly good I actually recently got cursive straud for Christmas which is a gothic vampire themed adventure in the world of Ravenloft and it is awesome it looks so cool so if you're into that sort of thing go for it dungeon of the mad mage is another one of my favorites this is a big old grind through a huge mega dungeon under mountain beneath the city of Waterdeep and it's got a lot of inter dungeon politics and just just a lot of monsters to kill and high adventure and I think it takes players from level five to twenty if I'm remembering correctly so you'll get a lot of bang for your buck in dungeon of the mad mage if you're just in for some dungeon delving on the other hand if you want something very different from that there's Waterdeep dragon heist which is actually an urban caper sort of adventure that has various factions and lots of politicking and it's really cool I really like the book tomb of annihilation is another really good one where you're gonna be exploring the exotic jungle island of cult and kind of uncovering its mysteries about this ancient curse so that's another really great book and one of my favorites honestly is out of the abyss because I'm just in love with the Underdark the Underdark is the very deepest reaches of the Forgotten Realms underground and it is home to the drow illa tha's the door gar and in this adventure far worse than that so if you're up for an under dark adventure check out out of the abyss so now that we have the core rule books and the adventures we have most of the books out of the way but there are a few other ones that don't really fit well in any one category maybe they're kind of expansions on the three core books would be one way to look at them but first off there are some settings sort of books and one of them is the sword coast adventurers guide the sword coast is a region of the Forgotten Realms that is the kind of typical region with a lot of the cities that most players are familiar with so this book has a lot of setting information but it also has some new subclasses and sub races and backgrounds and things like that that are specific to the Forgotten Realms so it's great book for DNS to get a little more flavor and studying information but it's also got some good stuff for players if you want a few more options the guild masters guide to Ravnica on the other hand is pretty different it's taking a very different approach in that it's a setting that is from Magic the Gathering that is fairly different from the standard fantasy tropes of Dungeons and Dragons it is really cool it's got beautiful art I absolutely love the book and so this is like a player's handbook really for the setting of Ravnica you'd still want the regular players handbook but it's got different races and a lot of information on the guilds and this very interesting world that is essentially all one big city full of magic and technology and secrets and politics and factions and it's really cool if they're a player both of those books can be really good but you also might want to look into Zanna thar's guide to everything this book has a lot of optional rules for Dungeon Master's and a lot of things that Wizards of the coast has been playing within the rules since the original release of fifth edition and it's got a ton more character options in terms of subclasses and sub races and things like that so definitely go check out Zanna thar's guide to everything I know a lot of people are really excited about this especially for those new player options it does have some other really good stuff for Dungeon Master's as well but if you're a dungeon master I would definitely recommend you check out some of the new monster books that have been released the first one that I probably recommend most is Volos guide to monsters this one just takes a lot of the classic iconic monsters of Dungeons and Dragons that may have been present in the monster manual but it expands them it gives you a lot of lore about them and it includes more varieties of them things like goblins and Knolls and be holders and yeah just low level stuff but a lot of high level stuff too and it's a really beautiful book I absolutely love Volos guide to monsters highly recommended Morden cannons Toma foes is also really good but this one focuses more on extra planar creatures and on some of the kind of eternal struggles that have gone on for a long I'm in the settings of D and D so this might be the struggle between the drow and surface elves or it might be the blood war between the Devils and the demons it's great reading if you like lore and it's got a lot of monsters too but personally I prefer Volos guide to monsters if you had to choose one of those so those are the main products in books we will get to a few honorable mention products in a minute but I just want to reiterate that I think if you're totally new to the game and gonna be playing with a new group you probably want to start with that starter set but if you are a more experienced player and you're wanting to start amassing a collection of books definitely start with a player's handbook and then if you're gonna be running the game maybe look into that monster manual or Dungeon Master's guide all right now those honorable mention products first of all I want to mention D&D beyond D&D beyond is a digital tool set for Dungeons and Dragons and even if you don't buy any of the books on D&D beyond I highly recommend it just sitting there on the table on your laptop or on your phone or whatever as a rules reference a really quick way to search rules and just a handy tool set for even getting monster stats and things like that now you can buy all of the books that I mentioned on D&D Beyond and add that to your digital library and have it in that tool set character creation is very easy in D&D Beyond you can manage a campaign and invite players so there's a lot of really cool stuff there and I definitely recommend looking into it in terms of some of the other physical products that you'll probably want you're probably going to want a Dungeon Master screen that's one thing that I would recommend looking into it's super cheap it's usually like 10 to 15 bucks for the official Dungeon Master screen and you can get some unofficial ones too that's just nice for hiding your notes maybe your dice rules hiding some miniatures back there and they generally have a nice rules reference on the sheet in terms of you know some of the basic conditions and other tools that you might use at the table another thing you're probably going to want is some dice now you could probably find some free dice rolling apps for your phone go look and you can probably find some but there's nothing like rolling a physical set of dice so definitely look into getting some dice I'll put a link on my written buyer's guide for so that's that I would recommend in terms of getting a whole bunch of dice for really cheap and it's usually a good idea for each player to have their own set of dice and as a dungeon master I prefer to have a lot of dice because there's times when you need a roll like for d6 and why do you want to roll your 1 d6 4 times when you don't have to they're fairly inexpensive another really handy tool that I like to have at the table are the spellbook cards from gale force nine they're just a really nice reference for the spells because you don't like to have to dig through the books when you're at the table trying to find certain spells it's nice for me as a dungeon master just to say okay my villain has these three spells I'll put these out here and for players it can be a really handy tool as well when I was playing a cleric especially and the cleric gets to select from the whole list of cleric spells at the beginning of each day it was really a necessity for me to have those spell book cards at the table now you can play theater of the mind where you don't use any Maps or miniatures but a lot of people do like to use maps and miniatures so look into possibly getting a battle mat I recommend a chess X battle mat they're the top-of-the-line awesome product and if you want to start going down the road of miniatures you could do that I also recommend looking into Pathfinder pawns if you're not up for spending a lot of time painting miniatures which I enjoy but don't have a lot of time for and you don't want to spend the money to get 3d miniatures which can add up if you're buying lots and lots of miniatures definitely Pathfinder ponds are an awesome way to go they're just little cardboard stand up figures with really great art and I recommend looking into them alright so this has been the Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition buyer's guide I want to say a quick thank you to my patrons for their support patrons are people who support this channel on a monthly basis they are the fuel that Stokes the fire and I really appreciate these people that helped me pay the bills and keep the lights on and all that good stuff if you're interested in learning how you can support WASD 20 head on over and join the patreon army at patreon.com slash WASD 20 there's also some pretty cool rewards and just a dollar to a month can add up to be a really big help for me don't forget to check out the written buyer's guide down in the video description for all the links to the products I've mentioned today and if you have any comments or questions you can leave those down below or consider joining the W ASD 20 discord which I will also put a link to down in the video description the discord server is starting to boom a little bit lots of good conversations going on in a great community so check us out alright that's all for this one everybody take care you'll see me again very soon [Music] [Music]

Channel: WASD20

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Keywords: d&d, dungeons and dragons, what to buy for d&d, what to buy, buyer's guide, dnd buyer's guide, d&d buyer's guide, d&d for beginners, getting started in d&d, player's handbook, monster manual, starter set, d&d review, 5th edition, dnd5e, d&d books, dungeons & dragons, wasd20, tabletop rpg, ttrpg, role-playing, dungeon master, new players, d&d for newbs, where to start, beginner's guide to d&d, welcome to d&d, 5E books, 5E, xanathar's guide, mad mage, volo's guide, d20

Id: wizuCHNGvwc

Length: 18min 8sec (1088 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 15 2019