Hey folks. I've been around these parts for some time right now. I got my start with D&D back in 2001 with 3rd Edition. I loved it through 3.5E and loved 4E more. After Essentials, my group began to get together less and less. We came back together to play the Next Playtest, and found ourselves wanting.
I picked up the starter set, the PHB, and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but I haven't had the chance to get my group together to play. Adulthood and my friends' non 9 to 5 schedules make it tough to find time. But I've gotten more enjoyment out of D&D than just playing it; simply reading the books and putting material together has been fun for me in the past.
The trouble is, I've been a little unenthused by 5E so far. Part of me likes the feel of the classes. Part of me is worried about balance. Another part of me feels like the monsters are too easy and far too simple. I've been waiting for the DMG, especially for it's customization options, to make the determination if I should give the edition a real try.
So, sell me on it. Should I buy the DMG?
I would. I would also pick up the Monster Manual. I'm a 4th edition fanatic but I purchased the core 5th edition books. I use them in a gaming group that plays 5th and it's interesting to see what has changed (and what was lossed/gained) from 4th to 5th. You can always stick with 4th, as I've mostly have, but it's good to support a company that delivered the best edition of D&D (which, to me, was 4th).
The monster generator in the DMG is not that useful. The ranges are too broad (CR 1/8 defense can have anywhere from 7 HP to 35? Really?) and none of it captures the complexity of 4e monsters. I certainly would not pick up the DMG for it. If you want, I have a monster generator for 5e that has closer ties to 4e and has gone thru 2 years of weekly testing in 5e and playtest. Send me a private message with an email and I can send it to you.
That said, the DMG does have useful things in it. Aside from the magic items and treasure charts, it has a number of random tables that are useful when your players go off script and you need to quickly generate a random location with some local color.
Here it is in all its glory once i think i figured out how to upload it.
The monster generator in the DMG was a huge disappointment. Its wonky, clunky, and difficult to work from a CR first. It also handles NPCs and spell casting very poorly.
There's a lot of customisation options in the DMG that I will probably never use, they're too abstract or out there.
The stuff on creating adventures, random dungeons, magic items, and world creation is top notch, but there is a real lack of out of the box content missing. Random encounter tables, Diseases, Complex traps, Non Combat experience, NPC monster races, NPC classes, etc is all very "light". Instead they hand wave a lot of stuff for you to create or figure out yourself.
Basically if you have a pre packaged adventure you don't need the DMG. Most of the combat customisation can be taken from 3e (flanking etc).
And if you have the monsters manual then you can reverse engineer/customize monsters yourself, as that's basically what the DMG asks you to do anyway.
No. Use the basic rules until you HAVE to have the DMG.
Honestly, I've been really impressed with the DMG. I think it's a definite buy.
If you find people to play with and plan on running a campaign, yes.
If you enjoy reading the books and imagining, yes.
If none of the above... no. Even if just planning to run HotDR then no.
The DMG isn't really needed if you have a premade adventure. If you're more interested in mucking about with the rules or creating custom content (world, gods, monsters, magic items) then it's a good buy. The DMG is literally a DM Guide this time around. It's meant to be tips and advice, some tables for quick and dirty work and as a basis for you to develop your own content/ideas. It's not a book of rules and mechanics needed to play the game.
This guide focus is why some see it as "light" on rules, because it's not meant to be a rulebook, but an advice book. They really got the feel of the core books right this time. The PHB is the rulebook (aka Handbook) that has the rules needed to play the game. The MM is just a collection of monsters to use in the game, and the DMG is a guidebook to assist the DM in fleshing out the game and making it their own.
If you're making your own campaign for 5E you'll get some use out of it, but... you could just as easily do without it. A lot of the optional rules are either obvious or aweful. A lot of the advice is just the same as is in previous editions or other games.
If you're not making your own adventure then don't bother. Even if you're DMing but running a pre-made you don't need it at all.
Grazel wrote:
DaveDash wrote:
I like the DMG. It's a really good book, full of cool little tweaks and options. But, it's not necessary. PHB and MM is all you really need to play the game.
Reius wrote:
It's a great read and there's a lot of good stuff in the DMG. I just mean that all the necessary rules are in the PHB. The PHB is almost like the PF CRB and the DMG is extra. Beautiful, tasty extra, but still extra.
Yes you should, I've now read the entire thing cover to cover and it's a very solid book.
Having played every edition of D&D and having in my mouldering collection, every DMG that was ever released, I can confidentaly say, on balance, that this is overall the best one.
If you read through the responses here, don't be put off by criticisms by the 'usual suspect(s)'. It doesn't matter what aspect of D&D 5th Edition is being discussed - they will always say its no good. Instead concentrate on those with criticisms who don't make a habit of it, as there is tired old agenda there.
DaveDash has some useful points, but apart from the plainly wrong ones (such as the CR/NPC caster comments), most of those criticisms are levelled on the basis that the DMG should be an exhaustively inclusive hand-holding-manual for DM's without the time or imagination to use samples of 'how X is done' and extrapolate from that start point and be creative. That's not my style at all so I don't agree with it. In fact, were some of the more interesting sections ommitted to include random encounter tables for every terrain imaginable, exhaustive lists of potential social encounters or 50 different traps over 10 pages, I'd be rolling my eyes at the pointlessness of it all and the complaints would be coming from me.
So it really depends what you want in your DMG.
A well written creative guide to how to do it yourself, or a comprehensively inclusive 'Encyclopedia DM'ica' of how you must do it?
You likely can't have both in under 500 pages.
When you're asking if you should buy the DMG, my answer is: 'Since you're asking, no.'
It's a guide, not a handbook. Except some newbie-advices, there is no handholding. There are optional rules, but not every rule is for every gametable (the Speed Initiative rules for example fascinates me, but not too sure if that will bring my players joy). So more of a customizing thing.
Like a good guide, the DMG brings examples which you can use for 'quick and dirty' uses and of course making up your own rules. But that's it, it only guides you. If you think you don't need guidance, than skip the DMG. If you're open to new stuff, the DMG will bring you some nice basic ideas to base your next campaigns on.
In the moment you demand the DMG to help you out, you should rather consider to stick to adventure moduls.
Been DMing since the late '70s. I'm looking at the DMG purely for new magic items and creation tables, possibly random encounter tables. How well are these areas fleshed out, please?
Legacy magic items.
Decent-to-good charts.
If you are going to embrace 5e, I'd probably buy the DMG. If not then of course don't.
If you are really poor and money is tight then the DMG is probably the first book to go. You can play without it.
The DMG is great, it's just lacking the options I thought it would have.
One big glaring problem is the lack usefull page headers and footers. It's very hard to find things during a game. For example, 100 pages with the same faded footer for treasure is ridiculous. I also think the magical items should be at the back of the book and not in the middle.
If you are a collector, it's worth collecting and the tables within might be usefull for any edition.
FFSAA wrote:
The monster building rules are fine for building monsters (except low level ones).
They're totally inadequate for building combat NPCs. You either have to build them exactly like monsters and thus end up with spell casters with 250 hitpoints, or you build hopelessly underpowered NPCs using the player rules.
I went and checked every single spell caster in the monsters manual and they are following different design assumptions to the DMG. The two glaring examples are the archmage and Drow Wizard. Using the DMG guidelines to calculate their defensive and offensive CR they end up WAY below the listed CR in the monsters manual. I've used plenty of Drow Wizards in game and they don't last long, so I suspect the monsters manual is done by feel and not maths. I've basically been giving free XP to my players, and now have absolutely no faith in the CR system as it stands.
What's worse is I still don't have a system to build combat NPCs quickly and reliably, unlike 3rd edition. They either have to be built like monsters with bags of hitpoints, which will NOT go down well with my players, or built like PCs and have such a hopeless variation in CR it basically requires hand waving to determine the XP reward.
I could have done with a couple of pages of less artwork and more guidelines around how NPCs with PC levels relate to CR, or not have sanity/honor etc.
Not good enough WOTC.
DaveDash wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
Dude, don't listen to all the guys here talking about how such n' such is not in the DMG; nothing will ever live up to the perfect document they've dreamt up in their heads.
If you enjoyed reading the PHB then you will love reading the DMG.
That said, find some people to play with already! 
Usually I like the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual best. But with 5e, I'm actually enjoying reading the DMG best. It is surpassing my expectations.
Sure, the PHB and MM are more essential to have, but the DMG is actually pretty interesting and thought provoking.
I feel the DMG is an excellent one for this version of the game.
It is a must buy if you are going to run your own campaign, if for nothing else than the magic item and treasure. If you are going to run only prebuilt stuff, then it isn't that vital.
However, the strength of the book over other versions is how it discusses making your game YOUR game. For the first time, the optional rules are actually just that, optional rules. In previous editions the rules you'd find in the dmg would play more as "advanced" rules. IMO they always played as a on/off switch. Were you playing with the optional stuff or not. The stuff in the new DMG is talking about shaping your game and your game world to the type of game you want to play. You can't just say "yes' to all optional rules. You need to think about the world you want to create. The game you want to play. If you don't want to customize your game world and game experience, the book is obviously less valuable, but still, for me it is hard to imagine playing or even talking about D&D without the magic items the DMG provides.
On thoughts given here, I've ordered the DMG. My enjoyment of it will determine how much effort I put into sticking to 5E.
It'll be useful for your non-5e games, too. Lotsa great ideas and potential inspiration.