Dungeons & Dragons manuals

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A listing of manuals for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Several manuals are required for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The current Dungeons & Dragons requires three core rulebooks: the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. Variations of these three books have formed core manuals since the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, however many and varied different optional manuals have existed for all versions of Dungeons & Dragons.

Because of the d20 System and Open Gaming License, with 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons there are many other optional manuals which are not officially "Dungeons & Dragons" but are fully compatible with Dungeons & Dragons. These can vary the game a lot or a little. Some of these options rather than being optional extra manuals can be used to replace some or all of the standard manuals. One most popular of these alternate manuals is Arcana Unearthed which is an alternative Player's Handbook. Castles & Crusades has alternatives for all the core manuals, producing a simpler D&D type game.

Current (v3.5) Dungeons and Dragons

The revisions of the 3.5 edition made a number of previous rulebooks obsolete, however others are still almost fully compatible with the revisions. The core rulebooks were completely replaced. The Psionics Handbook was replaced with the Expanded Psionics Handbook. The third edition had five softcover rulebooks focusing on character classes: Sword and Fist (fighter and monk), Tome and Blood (sorcerer and wizard), Defenders of the Faith (cleric and paladin), Masters of the Wild (barbarian, druid, and ranger), and Song and Silence (bard and rogue), were updated into four revised and expanded hardcover rulebooks for 3.5 edition: Complete Warrior (barbarian, fighter, ranger), Complete Divine (cleric, druid, paladin), Complete Arcane (sorcerer, wizard), Complete Adventurer (bard, rogue), and Complete Psionic (psion, wilder, psychic warrior, soulknife).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition)

The popularity of the first three core rulebooks the Monster Manual (1977), the Players Handbook(1978), and the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979), encouraged TSR to publish more and more books. Before the second edition of the game was released, there were over a dozen hardbound sourcebooks. Many were sourcebooks and optional rules, however Unearthed Arcana (1985) represented a significant suplement for both the Players Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.

The first edition manuals, though no longer official play items, are highly prized by collectors, particularly early printings. Examples in good condition (which is rare since these books got a lot of use from players) can fetch prices many times their cover value.

2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The 1989 2nd edition saw a complete revision of the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Master Guide. The Monster Manual replaced by the Monstrous Compedium loose leaf binder which was in turn replaced by the Monstrous Manual (1993)

The second edition expanded the number of books, most notably with the "Complete Handbook" or "Complete Book of" series, which featured handbooks for almost every race and class; gnomes and halflings shared one handbook, and the only specialist wizard to receive his own handbook was the necromancer. Several other archetypes, such as the barbarian, and campaign-specific concepts, such as the gladiator of Dark Sun, were also given their own handbooks. The handbooks introduced the concept of "kits", which were essentially specialized versions of character classes. Many of these, such as the Bladesinger (an elven fighter/wizard who could fight and cast spells at the same time), were considered to be grossly unbalanced, both in comparison to other kits and in particular to characters who did not use kits.

Several sourcebooks, such as the Book of Artifacts and Monstrous Compendium Appendices, provided new versions of rules, items, spells, or creatures that had been present in previous editions of the game but had been removed, for whatever reason, from the second edition of the game. While some of these conversions were direct adaptations of existing statistics into the slightly modified second edition rules, others, like the optional psionics system, were completely reinvented from the ground up and had little in common with their previous incarnations.

The Player's Option series of rulebooks in the mid-1990s were interpreted by many players as an intended "third edition" of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The Player's Option rulebooks introduced many optional rules into the game: combat and warfare rules in Player's Option: Combat & Tactics; a controversial and, according to many, highly unbalanced character customization system in Player's Option: Skills & Powers; new spells and spellcasting rules in Player's Option: Spells and Magic; and rules for advancement to epic character levels in Dungeon Master's Option: High Level Campaigns.

3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons greatly clarified and streamlined the rules, and for the first time clearly labeled the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual as the three core rulebooks. These editions provided constant and consistent rules for different monster types, effects such as invisibility and fatigue, and spells whose effects have always been the subject of lively debate amongst players. More significant was the release of most of these rules as open source, in the form of a System Reference Document that could be used by third party game companies to create their own products compatible with Dungeons & Dragons.

List of Manuals by Edition

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977)

• Monster Manual (1977) – references for monsters in the game, with descriptions and game statistics.
• Players Handbook (1978) – references, tables, and rules for players.
• Dungeon Master's Guide (1979) – references, tables, and rules for game masters
• Deities & Demigods (1980) – a tome of numerous pagan gods and goddesses from myth and fiction. The fictional mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné were included in the first printed, but were dropped from later printings at the request of Chaosium, who had obtained the licenses to published role-playing material based on both concepts. From the sixth printing (1985), the book was renamed Legends and Lore, and this title remained until the release of a highly revised Deities & Demigods for 3rd Edition in 2002.
• Fiend Folio (1981) – containing more monsters for adventures (mostly from the UK)
• Monster Manual II (1983) – even more monsters
• Oriental Adventures (1985) – containing monsters, characters, and background materials with an east Asian flavor
• Unearthed Arcana (1985) – supplementary player's handbook material, including barbarian, cavalier, and thief acrobat classes, and many additional spells.
• Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (1986) – Additional material pertaining to underground adventuring.
• Wilderness Survival Guide (1986) – Additional material pertaining to aboveground adventuring.
• Dragonlance Adventures (1987) – Based on the adventures and best-selling DragonLance novels first published in 1984.
• Manual of the Planes (1987) – A description of planes of existence in the D&D multiverse, including Hell, the Abyss, and Limbo. In 2001, this book received an update to 3rd Edition rules.
• Greyhawk Adventures (1988) – Advanced material for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition (1989)

Core books

• Player's Handbook
• Dungeon Master's Guide
• Monstrous Compendium - Volume One was a binder containing double-sided, looseleaf pages with various monsters detailed. The binder was large enough to hold a few expansion packs. Volume Two contained more core monsters on loosesleaf, but latter volumes were specific setting based.

'The Complete Handbook' Series

This was a series of books that contained information to add character classes and expand existing ones, primaraly through the use of kits.

• ''The Complete Fighter's Handbook
• ''The Complete Psionic's Handbook
• ''The Complete Bard's Handbook
• ''The Complete Ranger's Handbook

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (v3.0 & v3.5)

Core books

The three core books were releases in both v3.0 and v3.5. Errata is available for each of the v3.0 versions to enable players to continue using their old books with v3.5.

• Player's Handbook - references, tables, and rules for players.
• Dungeon Master's Guide - references, tables, and rules for game masters; also contains certain player information such as Prestige Classes.
• Monster Manual - references for monsters in the game, with descriptions and game statistics.

Builder Book Series

Each book includes a few new Base Classes and some updated Prestige classes from those books.

v3.5 harcover books:

• Complete Warrior (December 3, 2003) - Resources for melee and ranged battle characters
• Complete Divine (May 14, 2004) - Resources for users of Divine magic (Clerics, Druids)
• Complete Arcane (November 12, 2004) - Resources for users of arcane magic (Wizards, Sorcerors)
• Complete Adventurer (January 4, 2005) - Resources for skillfull classes (Bard, Rogue)
• Complete Psionic (April 1, 2006) - Resources for psionic characters (Psions, Psychic Warriors)

Replaced v3.0 softcover books:

• Sword and Fist (fighter and monk)
• Tome and Blood (sorcerer and wizard)
• Defenders of the Faith (cleric and paladin)
• Masters of the Wild (barbarian, druid, and ranger)
• Song and Silence (bard and rogue)

Races Book Series

These provide expanded character creation and player resources for the varying playable races in D&D, as well as adding new playable races.

• Races of Stone - Gnomes, Dwarves, and the new "Goliath" playable race.
• Races of Destiny - Humans, Half-Humans, other "near-human" playable races, and the new Illumian race.
• Races of the Wild - Elves, Halflings, and the new "Raptoran" playable race.
• Races of Eberron - Races from the new Eberron campaign setting.
• Races of the Dragon - Kobolds, Half-dragons, and the new "Dragonborn" and "Spellscale" races.

Environmental Series

These serve primarily to flesh out rules on Environmental hazards from the Dungeon Master's Guide, but also provide ready-made campaign settings for DM's to use as well as certain player resources (playable races, more spells, etc).

• Frostburn - Environmental reference for cold-weather campaign events.
• Sandstorm - Environmental reference for desert-related campaign events.
• Stormwrack - Environmental reference for aquatic campaign events.

Adult-only books

These rules expansions bear the distinction of carrying "for mature audiences only" stickers on the covers.

• Book of Vile Darkness (November 9, 2002) - Rules for "Evil" occurrences, acts, and characters in the game.
• Book of Exalted Deeds (October 29, 2003) - Rules for "Good" occurrences, acts, and characters in the game.

Eberron Series

These supplements to the Dungeons & Dragons game have been specifically designed to let players and DM's play the campaign setting of Eberron.

• [Eberron Campaign Setting] (June 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3276-7) is the core campaign setting, providing the campaign specific rules and details on the continent of Khorvaire. It includes the introductory adventure "The Forgotten Forge."
• [Shadows of the Last War adventure] (July 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3276-7). This adventure is designed as a sequel to "The Forgotten Forge," but can be run on its own.
• [Whispers of the Vampire's Blade adventure] (September 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3510-3) This adventure is designed as a sequel to Shadows of the Last War. The connections to Shadows are relatively minor and the adventure is easily run on its own.
• [Sharn: City of Towers] (November 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3434-4) provides additional campaign setting details for the city of Sharn.
• [Grasp of the Emerald Claw adventure] (January 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3652-5) This adventure is designed as a sequel to Shadows of the Last War and Whispers of the Vampire's Blade.
• [Races of Eberron] (April 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3658-4) provides additional campaign setting details for the core races found in Eberron, including more information on the unique races of the setting.
• [Five Nations] (July 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3690-8) details the people and landmarks of the Five Nations that make up the former Kingdom of Galifar: Aundair, Breland, Karrnath, Thrane, and the Mournland (the former nation of Cyre).
• [Explorer's Handbook] (August 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3691-6) Details about the places where adventures are likely to happen, such as Xen'Drik and the Demon Wastes
• [Magic of Eberron] (October 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3696-7) Details about magics that are unique to Eberron, such as Elemental Binding.

Other books

• Deities and Demigods (April 2002) — Rules and statistical reference for D&D pantheon of mythical figures.
• Draconomicon (November 14, 2003) — Supplement focusing on dragons.
• Dungeon Master's Guide II (July 6, 2005) — Rules Builder Series; Expanded DM rules for quicker game preparation time.
• Expanded Psionics Handbook (April 9, 2004) — Revised rules for Psionics and Psionic characters (Feats, Powers, Classes and Prestige Classes)
• Fiend Folio (April 3, 2003) — references for monsters in the game, with descriptions and game statistics.
• Libris Mortis (October 8, 2004) — Supplement featuring rules for undead creatures.
• Lords of Madness (May 6, 2005) — Supplement focusing on "Aberrations" such as Aboleths, Beholders, Mind Flayers, and others.
• Miniatures Handbook — Resource for the D&D Miniatures game, but also includes core rules changes and expansions, including new spells, new feats, and the concept of "Swift" actions.
• Monster Manual II (September 25, 2002) — more references for monsters in the game, with descriptions and game statistics.
• Monster Manual III (September 30, 2004) — yet more references for monsters in the game, with descriptions and game statistics.
• Spell Compendium (December 1, 2004) — A collection of over 1,000 spells from previous 3.5 Edition supplements, WOTC website articles, and Dragon magazine.
• Unearthed Arcana (February 25, 2004) — New and variant rules
• Arms and Equipment Guide
• Wizards of the Coast has also published a large number of books updating the Forgotten Realms campaign setting to the new rules set.

 

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