Do I need FGs version of the DMG?

[Rylan Storm]

Hi all,

I recently received a copy of the Dungeon Masters Guide in hardback format as a father's day present. As a new DM I've got a lot to read and haven't gone through this yet. The DMG is on sale until Wednesday and I need to make a quick decision. I thought I'd turn to you guys for advice.

I own a hardback version of the Player's Handbook and I own FGs digital version only. I accept that, personally, I need both. The book is there to read, sit with, understand and digest, flipping backwards and forwards whilst I take it all in. I need FGs version to share tables, backgrounds, class information etc. I just don't want to sit at my computer to read rules.

Do I need the FG version of the Dungeon Masters Guide? Are they are tables I'm going to want or is it just a case of something I should read the book and understand. I've just bought a handful of modules whilst they're on sale and an ultimate licence so I could really do with not buying digital versions of books I already own, and prefer to read, in hardback but if I'll actually need them in the software, now is the time to buy.

Any help?

Many thanks

Rylan

[Zacchaeus]

This post might help https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e

A lot depends on whether you are running pre-made adventures or doing your own thing. If you are playing published adventures all the magic items are in the adventure. Some of the adventures do refer to certain tables in the DMG (like wilderness survival, madness) and in some cases you might want to swap out a magic item (but many of these are in the SRD). The DMG does contain a lot of advice as well as a ton of rollable tables for treasure. And of course you can always add stuff into FG yourself if you have the hardback and want a particular item in your game.

The DMG is not an essential purchase I would say but it is certainly handy to have; I rank it second of the three core books (PHB, DMG, MM).

[Rylan Storm]

That's perfect thanks. I'm running Lost Mine and then will go straight into Storm Kings Thunder via a quick foray into TotYP.

I think I might put this one on a back burner for a few months. Our gaming group splits the cost of any rules we need to buy and any modules so I'm hesitant to pay any more right now. We've already just spent sooooo much on licences and modules.

[Coffers]

You might want to consider that The DMG is on sale at $17.99 in the FG store until 9th July, it is normally $29.99. if you haven't got Storm Kings Thunder yet that also has a good discount in the sale.

[Rylan Storm]

Yeah. It's the sale which has prompted me to consider it's purchase now.

We already bagged an ultimate licence, Tales from the Yawning Portal and SKT.

[Griogre]

Smiteworks matches the Steam sales where there is a major sale Summer and Winter (every 6 months). If you are just getting started the LMoP and the PH are all you need now. Tales of the Yawning Portal has a lot of content. I was personally not a fan of SKT but that was because I was expecting an adventure path instead of a sandbox setting with a veneer of an adventure path. SKT does come after Tyranny of Dragons (HotDQ & RoT) but the connection is so loose it's not really important.

When you do get around to getting the MM and DMG make sure you take advantage of the Complete the Bundle (you will want to buy the FG versions where you bought the PH on Steam or in the FG store here).

[vegaserik]

It's not needed, but it's nice to have for the magic items. The sale is hard to pass up though, that's a great price.

[Griogre]

Honestly, I think the magic items is the least reason to get the DMG in FG form since 98% of the info is in the SRD. You get the DMG for the *all* the tables in it being rollable (and there are a *lot* of tables in that book) and for all the traps being set up as NPCs so you can just drop them in or drop them in and modify them. Traps scale great since all you have to do edit the DCs and damage to the values you need.

There are a lot of reasons to get Xanther's Guide to Everything, but I am really fond of the minor magic items and tables. If all you are primarily interested in is magic items, then I would get this over the DMG since there SRD has most of the DMG's magic items. XGtE also has a more, mostly minor, traps set up as NPCs as well.

[Rylan Storm]

I think the point here is that, when creating a magic item, I would prepare this before the session and doing that from the hardback is probably just as good. I've had chance to have a look at the DMG since writing this post and I can see some tables in there that are really interesting but very few seem to be things you'd use during a session.

[ddavison]

I would think a lot would depend on whether or not you wanted the graphics preloaded for magic items or for magic items you forge within FG. If you roll up random treasures, the treasure hordes would be very time-consuming to recreate. If you use Story Templates frequently, then the DMG juices those up considerably with all the tables you can access.

If you are mostly running an adventure as written, then I would say you could safely postpone or skip it for now.