D&D: Books To Start With If You’re Just Starting Out
New to D&D? Not sure what books to pick up next? Or to pick up at all? These books will get you started when on your first few adventures.
If you’re here, there’s a good chance you’re already at least passingly familiar with D&D. And if not, welcome to the club! We often have snacks, and always have a terrible time getting things scheduled. Or, maybe you know someone who’s just beginning their career as a make-believe adventurer, and you’re not sure what books to get them. These D&D books are either great places to start or great ways to keep a new party on the adventuring path.
D&D 5.5E (2024) Core Books
Of course, we’re starting with some core books. This is a no-brainer. If you have nothing at all, these are three of the books to start with, and this set will give you a solid base to at least begin your adventure. This bundle includes all three.
D&D 5E (2014) Core Books
Of course, those books are from the slightly newer version of the 5E ruleset. If you’d like the older version of 5E (or you got one of these and would like to continue collecting a matching set), this is the three-pack of books to pick up. The other set is a somewhat revised and expanded version of the rules. But if you don’t have a strong personal preference, both will work just fine.
Tomb of Annihilation
For characters level one to eleven, Tomb of Annihilation is an adventure you can start just about any player down. They’ll see monsters. They’ll see cults. There’s a chance they’ll have to save the entire world. This is a newer adventure, but it feels like classic D&D. And while this is probably in part because it’s inspired by 1975’s Tomb of Horrors, it also just hits so many of the classic D&D tropes that a newer player may expect.
The talk of the streets and taverns has all been about the so-called death curse: a wasting disease afflicting everyone who’s ever been raised from the dead. Victims grow thinner and weaker each day, slowly but steadily sliding toward the death they once denied.
When they finally succumb, they can’t be raised–and neither can anyone else, regardless of whether they’ve ever received that miracle in the past. Temples and scholars of divine magic are at a loss to explain a curse that has affected the entire region, and possibly the entire world.
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Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
A few years ago, I joined a D&D party, and this was the adventure module our DM was working out of. It’s a little less of the classic dungeon-crawl, and more of a think-your-way-through heist. Which, depending on your group, may be the better direction to go in. There is a lot to explore, uncover, and find in Waterdeep. Including a ton of treasure.
Welcome to Waterdeep. You’re summoned by Volothamp Geddarm, famous explorer and raconteur, to complete a simple quest. Is anything ever really simple though? Waterdeep, known as the City of Splendors, is one of D&D’s most iconic locations. Also the setting for the board game Lords of Waterdeeep, it’s the jewel of the Sword Coast—a sprawling melting pot held together by firm laws and swift justice.
Candlekeep Mysteries
What I like about this module is that it’s not one adventure, but a collection of many, shorter adventures. If your players are on the greener side, they may not know what they like or expect yet. It may take a few smaller adventures to really figure out who their characters are. This one packs a lot of different and diverse possibilities into one book for beginners up to level 16.
Standing atop a rocky crag overlooking the Sea of Swords, the massive citadel of Candlekeep has endured the elements for centuries and defied the degradation of time. Visible for miles around, Candlekeep has an eye-catching silhouette: a high wall interspersed with towers. This wall encloses a large space from which more towers rise. Those who behold the edifice say it looks nothing so much as a cake decorated with an overabundance of candles.
AdvertisementCandlekeep Mysteries is an anthology of short, mystery-themed adventures written by members of the Dungeons & Dragons community. Each tale begins with a book found in Candlekeep—an enormous library located on the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms setting—but who knows where they may lead.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Moving away from adventure modules for a moment, there are a whole bunch of D&D books that just focus on introducing new locations, items, classes, monsters, backgrounds, and everything else you’d want to see to flesh out an entire world. Picking up every book may be overkill, but there’s probably at least one or two that have something more specifically suited to your adventure or your characters.
The wizard Tasha, whose great works include the spell Tasha’s hideous laughter, has gathered bits and bobs of precious lore during her illustrious career as an adventurer. Her enemies wouldn’t want these treasured secrets scattered across the multiverse, so in defiance, she has collected and codified these tidbits for the enrichment of all.
Full of expanded content for players and Dungeon Masters alike, this book is a great addition to the Player’s Handbook. Baked in you’ll find more rule options for all the character classes in the Player’s Handbook, including more subclass options. Thrown in for good measure is the artificer class, a master of magical invention. And this witch’s brew wouldn’t be complete without a dash of added artifacts, spellbook options, spells for both player characters and monsters, magical tattoos, group patrons, and other tasty goodies.
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