Whilst we all can agree that WoTC's current "two books a year" policy is graceful on the wallet, I'm pretty sure we can also agree that the lack of content can be kind of... grating. Unearthed Arcana tries, no denying that, but its success rate is... well, it's pretty swing and miss, let's be honest.
But we can always wish, and dream. So, like the title says, what sourcebooks for 5e do you most wish WotC would put out?
Horizon Seeker's Guide: This would basically bring back Planescape and Spelljammer by putting the relevant details into one sourcebook. This would be a sourcebook for DMs who want to run "cosmic" campaigns, either metaphysical (planewalker) or literal (spelljammer). Add in rules for shaping your own cosmology and universe, notable locations from the Planes, and races from both setting - Gith, Bariaur, Rogue Modrons, Giff, Scro - and you've got a real hit package.
Well of Worlds: A complete guidebook to all of the big campaign settings of TSR. Throw in a basic summary, essential 5e mechanics (Inheritance rules for Birthright, Defiling rules/Defiler tradition for Dark Sun, etc) and the "greatest hits" races, and you'd have everything you need to officially update your setting to 5e.
Realm Shaper's Guide: A DM's sourcebook aimed at doing alternative forms of fantasy setting. Want to do an Oriental Adventures setting? A Weird Western? Sword & Sandals? Everything you need for the more unconventional D&D game.
Crown-Crushing Champions: Epic level characters are a D&D tradition. Basic had the Immortals rules, Advanced had... not sure, 3e had the Epic Level Handbook, 4e baked epic tier right into the core rules. It's time 5e got on the bandwagon.
Nentir Vale Gazetteer: A complete sourcebook for all lore relating to the "Nentir Vale/Points of Light" setting of 4e. Why is this its own thing? 1: It was actually supposed to come out for 4e, and was nearly ready to hit the printers, but they canceled it. 2: To circumvent all the grognards who'd refuse to buy Well of Worlds if it had Nentir Vale in it.
James Johnson
The one that actually delivers on the modularity they promised for D&D Next and then just ignored.
Kevin Wood
Horizon Seeker, Well of Worlds and Nentir Vale gaz would all be amazing and now I am sad we'll never see them as official products.
Joshua Thomas
I get the appeal of the first two, but why would you want the Nentir Val Gaetteer?
Hunter Cooper
Personally? Way back in Ye Olden Dayes, there was a 'babby's first D&D setting' product called Thunder Rift. When I got into 4e, Nentir Vale felt a lot like Thunder Rift. So it's purely nostalgia.
Josiah Parker
Eberron or Dark Sun please
Jace Martin
I want the realm-shaper's guide from and I want something like pic related for 5e. Monster classes were an interesting idea and the options for customizing characters and monsters with exotic races and templates were pretty extensive.
Ian Hernandez
>Realm Shaper's Guide >Crown-Crushing Champions >Horizon Seeker's Guide
All I'll ever need
Sebastian Powell
Surprised to see anons interested in the booklets I suggested. Why the appeal?
Daniel Perez
I really want a "Book of Vile Darkness" for 5e with all the evil feats and stuff. I always found it really cool.
Adrian Hill
Because they fit niches I want filled, but am too much of a brainlet / too lazy to brew myself.
Cooper Adams
I'd prefer content that most DMs will actually allow the use of.
Austin White
To tell you the truth, I think there is already too much. Most of you people just want variety for variety's sake, or one certain niche race/class not yet covered, or a thing like epic levels which was NEVER done well, and is done as good or better in the 5E DMG with Boons and so on. But none of you have ever read the whole PHB, much less the DMG, or tried one fifth of what they have to offer. Maybe Sims would be more your speed, or a Pathfinder.
Connor Moore
Your DM won't let you use evil stuff? Why not?
Brayden Harris
"Lack of content" is a good thing. 3e, 4e and Pathfinder all failed because they had too much bloat.
A Tome of Battle equivalent. Actually fun to play martial classes would be a nice addition.
Chase James
DM's are sure to actually allow the use of that book.
For themselves.
And that's how it should be.
Bentley Green
>3e, 4e and Pathfinder all failed
Are we talking about the most popular systems of their respective eras, or are you talking about some other games?
Jaxon Watson
>Realm Shaper's Guide:
This is the only one that would interest me.
Anthony Perry
They're using 'Failed' to mean 'I didn't like it', and using the fact that some other people didn't like it to make broad, sweeping statements despite them being stupid.
Regardless of anything else you can say about them, they were all successful products.
Ryder Perez
As much as I dislike 3.5PF for extending some bad design decisions. This is true.
And ... I'll give WotC's work on it some credit for making AC work in a more intuitive manner.
... I'll have to go through some older monster stat blocks to see if they handle enemy design better.... But har may have stayed the same. (4e's monster stat blocks never mean you have to have player options open is sweet, and grouping actions by cost in later games is good.)
Leo Stewart
Aw, glad you asked. I want the campaign settings Rich Burlew and Philip Nathan Toomey submitted to the 2003 contest that Eberron won to be released. It's been 14 years, we still have no details about the contents because the non-disclosure agreements they signed were fucking iron-clad, and all we know is that they were considered on par with Eberron in terms of quality. I know WotC still has the setting bibles stowed away in a file cabinet somewhere, I want to see those fucking settings.
If WotC publishes, I will give them all my money. Until then I'm just not gonna buy 5e.
Charles Cruz
>Realm Shaper's Guide: A DM's sourcebook aimed at doing alternative forms of fantasy setting. Want to do an Oriental Adventures setting? A Weird Western? Sword & Sandals? Everything you need for the more unconventional D&D game. It would be interesting, and could definitely work, but I don't think D&D does much beyond its default tone and it would very easily go into territory I don't think D&D should enter. >Crown-Crushing Champions: Epic level characters are a D&D tradition. Basic had the Immortals rules, Advanced had... not sure, 3e had the Epic Level Handbook, 4e baked epic tier right into the core rules. It's time 5e got on the bandwagon. The base game starts breaking halfway through its level progression, let alone level 17+. I understand all other editions have it, but fix the high levels first before adding on top even higher, likely even more broken, levels.
The rest I agree with, I don't really want a single huge book for each setting when they take so long with them, just give me a book with ~5+ settings and I'm a happy man.
Josiah Lopez
>realy to print >but they canceled it. 2: To circumvent all the grognards who'd refuse to buy Well of Worlds if it had Nentir Vale in it
Was that the actually offical reason given for it's cancelation? Coz I'm still mad.
I thought we would at least of gotten it leaked at some point. But no.
Henry Collins
>I don't think D&D does much beyond its default tone and it would very easily go into territory I don't think D&D should enter. D&D's tones have gone from swords and sorcery up to plane-hopping high fantasy, including diversions into post-apocalyptic, pulp and noir, and more.
Aiden Perez
In canon alone, we've had Mystara (Gonzo/Pulp/Weird fantasy), Spelljammer (Space Fantasy by way of Grubb), Planescape (multiverse-travelling High Fantasy), Dragonlance (dragon-focused High Fantasy), Ravenloft (Gothic Horror), Council of Wyrms (playing dragons), Eberron (Noir and Pulp by way of Dungeonpunk), Dark Sun (Sword & Sandals meets Post-Apocalyptic), Kara-tur (Oriental Low Fantasy), Nentir Vale (Epic Heroic Fantasy), and those are the ones off the top of my head.
Third-party D20 settings have included Midnight (Dark Fantasy and literally "Middle-Earth if Sauron won"), Spellslinger (Wild Western D&D), Gamma World (Post-Apocalyptic), Mechamorphosis (Transformers), Dragonmech (Post-Apocalyptic Giant Mecha), Infernum (playing demons in hell) and Scarred Lands (Dark Fantasy).
Seriously, D&D's "tone" is only the tone of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms, and there's nothing besides pure grognardia that says it has to be that way.
Ryder Russell
Tome of Battle and an XPH equivalent.
John Morgan
I would like to see a Five Kingdoms Adventurers Guide granting us view again of Eberron.
A Wild Space Adventurers Guide for jamming
And a Sigil Adventurers Guide for the rest of us berks