Guides, Tables, and More
This thread is an attempt to collate a list of the many new guides and references that have been popping up around the fifth edition version of D&D. The goal is to give anyone looking for general advice a single location from which they can find almost anything they could need.
Class Guides
Character Creation Guides
mechanical focus
concept focus
Guides for specific in game actions
Guides for magic use
Other useful threads and guides
WOTC Resources
Amazingly Useful Websites
Home Brew Material
The Graveyard
Barbarian
The Gentleman's Guide to Proper Barbarism by Jell_Moo, reposted by Mistwell
Graceful Destruction: A Guide to the Dex Based Barbarian by Yunru
D&D 5e Character Optimization – Barbarian by Michael Long (apparently at least in part compiled from NeoSeraphi's and Jell_Moo's guides)
Bard
Cleric
For God and Party: A Cleric's Guide by Danmathman, reposted by Mistwell
Divine Tomfoolery- a guide to Trickery Clerics by Jumbowheat01
Druid
Thy Fearful Symmetry: A Circle of the Moon Handbook by RCanine
By Your Powers Combined: A Land Druid Handbook by Chameleon-X
Fighter
Bow Bond: An Eldritch Knight's Guide to Archery by Mightythokk, reposted by Mistwell
An Illustrated Manual for Inflicting Violence by EvilAnagram
Monk
The Good the Bad and the Monk, a 5e Monk guide by EnderDwarf
Meditation, Mediation, Devastation: A Monk's Guide by Yunrul
Paladin
Ranger
Not all who wander are lost, A Ranger's Guide by EvilAnagram
Animal Buddy: A Guide to the Ranger's Beast Companion by Lord_Ventnor, reposted by Mistwell
The Outdoorsman's Guide to Natural Ranging by dwgautier, reposted by Mistwell
Into the Woods We Go: The Ranger Guide by GladiusLegis, reposted by Mistwell
Rogue
Sorcerer
Power Overwhelming: A Sorcerer Guide by RhaegarT, reposted by Mistwell
Guide for the Optimized Sorcerer by Sorxores, reposted by Mistwell
Playing Dice with the Universe: A Slant Guide to Wild-Magic Sorcererby Cognomen's Cassowary
Warlock
Pact-making 101: A guide to the 5th edition Warlock by Oncoming Storm
Blade, Book, and Chain: A Warlock Guide by Mephi1234, reposted by Mistwell
Selling your Soul at a Premium: The Warlock’s Guide to Power by EvilAnagram
The (un)complete Warlock Guide to multiclassing by Asmotherion
Wizard
Being a God, part1 Being a God, part2 A two part guide to Wizards by Treantmonk. I'm going to declare this one something players of all classes should consider perusing, since its advice includes sound thinking for party dynamics.
Multiclass Guides
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5E Content Index by Grod The Giant, a listing of character options among the various source material
Feat Analysis; First impressions of a wanna be optimizer - by Beige
The Social God: A guide to an optimized Party Face by Specter
Magic Initiate: A guide to an underestimated, (and cool) feat by Specter
Let's talk about multiclass cutoff points Started by Joseph Silver. This thread features a discussion of optimal points to stop taking levels in particular classes when multiclassing.
Fighting Styles Overview/Discussion/Whathaveyou by Mechaviking. A discussion of the pros and cons of various fighting styles.
What's Your Story? by Yunru, reposted by clokwerk66 This guide walks people through making custom backgrounds, which many people don't seem to realize are a default option. Break free of the tyranny of pregenned backgrounds!
Bookrat's advice on designing background featuresBookrat discusses guidelines for creating more features like the Sage's ability to find knowledge
Feats by Abilityby WereRabbitz, a simple listing of PHB feats by associated ability scores.
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Ridiculously good healer by Maxwilsongetting the most oomph out of healing spells
Breaking BM by Easy_Lee A guide for those wanting to get the most out of the Beastmaster
Dual Wielding Battlelock by Easy_Lee A guide for those wanting to build the warlock in to a melee DPR master.
The Coffee Drow by XmonkTadUse and abuse your sorcery points. Note: DM judgement required to use
Skill Monkey Builds by Mistwell Make those lockpicks dance.
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The Li'l Chef by Easy_Lee You eat what you kill has rarely been a more disturbing phrase.
The Crazy Alchemist by Easy_Lee If you see this guy running like crazy, try to run faster than he is.
Shaken, not Stirred by Easy_Lee For those that dream of being the master bond style spy.
Does that Dark Cloak come in a Large? by Easy_Lee The gang's muscleman
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GWM reference table by Xetheral, analyses the "-5+10" aspect of the feat Great Weapon Mastery. Should help in deciding whether or not to invoke it.
Minor Conjuration: Use and Abusestarted by slipperychicken. A discussion on the many potential uses of creating objects at will.
Master of Reactions A listing of the many things one can do with one's reaction by Odigity
Ways to attack with your reactionby GladiusLegis, reposted by Clokwerk66, a list of ways to bring the pain when it is the other guy's turn.
The Grappler's Manual 2.0 ktkenshinx posted and recently updated this guide to grappling in 5E
Stealth, Hiding, and you! by Noctaem, reposted by Clokwerk66. A guide to being that sneaky bastard.
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Spells by Elemental damage typeby supergoji18
Professor Q's guide to the 5E ControllerA guide to effective BFC. Preserved on google docs by Bidoum666
Annual Cantrip Review started by FluffyBunbunkittens, reposted by Clokwerk66, review and discussion of the various at will cantrips available for use
List of Useful and Powerful Spells started by Person_Man
Conjurer of Cheap Tricks - A Conjuration Handbook by IxidorRS, reposted by Clockwerk66
Know Your Rites: A Guide to Ritual Casting by Oraibi. Reposted by Clockwerk66by Oraibi, reposted by Clockwerk66
MM Resistances, Immunities, Vulnerabilities, and Damage by Yorrin. Flinging balls of fire around may be neat, but it might not be the most effective element to choose to work with in the long run. For an idea of how often baddies are going to just shrug off your spell, have a gander at this analysis of creature entries from the Monster Manual
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RPG BotSite dedicated to similar resources as those here, from multiple games, 5E included
Lets Read: D&D 5E Monster ManualStarted by Mrconsideration, this thread presents a critical analysis of MM creature entries
List of all official 5E stuff by Iceking
Professor Q's Guide to the 5E controllerA guideline to dealing with one's enemies by means other than beating them up.
5E Condition Immunitiesby Razuchee, lists off immunities by how common they are
BestiaryA listing of 5E creatures, sorted by both type and CR. Complete with abilities, stats, and descriptions
Handbook to Guide Writingthe handbook of handbooks for handbooks by Dictum_Mortuum, reposted by Clockwerk66
Celestial, Fey, and FiendA guide to familiars by Dire_Stirge
Copperdogma's rewritten PHB index because the original could use work.
Nanoboy's Random Weapon tables
Pre-generated Character Repositoryby Iserith
The Comprehensive Compendium of Considerable and Compelling CuriosA Magic Item Guide by MasterNamer. Reposted by Endarire
Magic Item Math of 5e by mommywasanorc
Sage Advice CompendiumArticle collating Q&As from the Sage
Resource List for dndnextA listing of general DM and player resources ranging from character sheets to errata to adventure supplements
Magic Item Distribution by FireLance, this guide gives DMs an idea of how much in the way of magical loot a party playing "default D&D" can expect to pick up
DPR King Candidatesby Borg285, reposted by Clockwerk66
Complete List of action recharge times by Jkat718, lists abilities by their recharge time, useful for planning action economy
A useful DnD 5e Primer by Person_Man
Feat Analysis; First impressions of a wanna be optimizer - by Beige
The DM's guide to Pre-Game ambiguous RAW started by Corinath
The Magic Economy by MukkTB is a great thread discussing Magic Items and using them as loot
Know your enemyby Raleel, reposted by MerricB, a statistical analysis of the base stats from critters in the MM.
D&D Next IndexPlaytest material Index, may be of use for inspiration, but don't use as a primary RAW reference, as much of the material has changed since
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Character Sheets:
Character Sheet Pack (direct download)
Adventurer's League Adventure Logsheet
Tyranny of Dragons Character Sheet
Basic Ruleset:
Player's Basic Rules v0.2 printer friendly version
Dungeon Master's Basic Rules v0.3 printer friendly version
Core Ruleset:
Difficulty Thresholds by Level
Magic Items by Rarity printer friendly version
Tyranny of Dragons:
Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Online Supplement printer friendly version
Rise of Tiamat: Online Supplement printer friendly version
Rise of Tiamat: Council Score Card
Elemental Evil:
Unearthed Arcana:
Other:
Dan Helmick's D20 Modern Campaign
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Ultimate D&D Resource Collection primarily a collection of adventures and other material from the 5E playtest, apparently put together by one James Firth
This spell sorter/index is a massive compendium of 5e spells, sortable by every statistic. Great for spell casters.
5E Premade Characters Site run by twitch, a massive listing of premade character sheets for all classes and levels. Perfect for that late addition to the table who needs a quick start
Sage Advice - A massive compendium of tweets made from developers to players who ask them questions
A Monster Analysis Blog Created by Surfarcher
Monsters by CR - straight from WotC
Encounter Builder Mostly a tool for DMs, this website helps one build challenging encounters for a group of a particular level and size.
D&D 5th Edition Random Encounter Builder Another encounter tool, this one is made for the sake of generating random encounters quickly
RK's D&D 5E treasure generator Adjust some setting, and automatically generate a treasure for your players to obsess over.
D&D 5E resource list lists of spells, items, monsters, treasure and encounter generators, and more
Alignment An explanation of D&D's oft contested alignment system.
Fantasy Name Generators Name generators for a very wide variety of categories.
Chaotic Shiny a long listing of random generators, from characters to holidays to simple maps. Not D&D specific
Rangen another listing of random generators, also not D&D specific
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D&D 5e Homebrew Compendium Part 1 D&D Homebrew Compendium Part 2 A massive compilation of D&D 5E homebrew material, the good, the bad and the ugly. Whatever you're looking for, checking here is a good idea. Great work TwelveTrees!
A tool for the creation of Homebrew material that looks much like something from an official book.
5E Homebrew Guides Homebrewing guidelines for races and classes that break features down to basic point values. Posted by JamesMusicus
Guideline to weapon balance and homebrewing weapons of your own by Easy_Lee
D&Dwiki homebrewLarge collection of homebrew on a site well known as a go to for D&D knowledge.
Preset Class Tables for 5E HomebrewCreated by Ziegander, this is a collection of blank class tables for use in detailing your own hombrew classes/subclasses.
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The following is a depressingly long list of resources that are now defunct. Nearly all of these were once homed on the WOTC forums, which have been deleted. Any assistance in restoring or replacing these would be appreciated by many.
General Character Creation Guides
The Mystic Warrior by Zogoro01, deals with creating a multiclass martial/mage, or 'gish' as many like to call them.
Feat Evaluation Analysis Thoughts by Mellored, this rates ABI options outside of the context of class.
Level Dip guide by Mellored. Offers advice on multiclass dips
Guides for specific in game actions
Use an object action and thief by dwgautier a discussion on some of many uses that fast hands can get you
Other useful threads and guides
Professor Q's Guide to the 5E Controller by KaptainKrunch, this guide concerns effective battlefield control, an often overlooked yet gamechanging role.
Feat Evaluation Analysis Thoughts by Mellored, this rates ABI options outside of the context of class.
Non obvious combos Started by Zardnaar Tips and tricks to combine small features together to great effect
Amazingly useful websites
Excel Spell Database Downloadable excel file containing spell attributes and concise description of its effects.
Home Brew Material
Repository: Homebrew and original Content Collated by Kalani.
By all means, please let me know if I have missed something or if there is new content out there. I'll be keeping an eye out, but of course I can't spot everything.