DnD books can be too expensive. If I could choose, I would want to have all the DnD 5e books, but there’s just so much source material, so that would be hard. One option is to download all the free material available, and in that way, you can save a lot of money.
That begs the question, how do you get free books for DnD?
There are three main places to get free DnD books: DnD Beyond, the DMs Guild, and Wizards of the Coast’s website. DnD Beyond has some free books, such as the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion among other things. the DMs Guild has great community-created books, and Wizard’s website has documents from books that you can download for free.
Now that you know how to get some of the resources, keep reading for more details on this matter. I also answer some of the most prevalent questions about free stuff that new players usually have.
Where Can You Get DnD Books For Free?
As I mentioned earlier, DnD Beyond has some free resources for you to download. They periodically release books for free, so download the app to stay updated. The app is completely free to download, but most of the content is pay-to-read.
The DMs Guild is another great place to download free resources from. Some of the content from the DMs Guild gets picked for official releases, so believe me when I say there are high-quality adventure books from that website.
The only thing you need to do is sort by “pay what you want”, then start picking. There are hundreds of books free and available for download. I’d say pay a small penny as support if you enjoy the book you used.
The last resource for free DnD stuff is the Wizards website. It’s not just the basic rules, either. Among other things, Legacy of the Crystal Shard and Murder at Baldur’s Gate is available for free. A very kind and helpful Redditor listed a bunch of free resources from Wizard’s website here.
There are more websites to check out for free stuff, but I do consider the ones above to be the most useful. Other good websites are ones like The DM Lair, DnD Sage Advice, and Gozzy’s.
You might also like: The Cheapest DnD Books
Is the DnD Player’s Handbook Free?
No, the Player’s Handbook (PHB) is not free. It’s one of the core books, so I would recommend buying it if you can. It’s reasonably priced at Amazon, and it’s incredibly useful to have. If you don’t want to buy it from Amazon, you can buy it digitally at DnD Beyond.
However, the basic rules are available for free, and they’re quite useful.
Is Lost Mines of Phandelver Free?
Yes, you can get the Lost Mines of Phandelver for free at DnD Beyond. The Wizards made the adventure available for free indefinitely in 2022, which is nice as LMoP is one of the best adventures of all time, especially for new players.
Let’s go over the plot briefly. The story begins in the legendary town Neverwinter, where you are hired to escort a wagon of goods for a merchant dwarf. The escort gets ambushed on the road but you survive, and when you return to the town you learn of the merchant dwarf’s disappearance and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it.
As I said, it’s a great adventure. Good storylines, vivid environments, and perfect for beginners.
Is DnD Beyond Free?
The DnD app is completely free to download, however, most content is payed-for content. This content includes books, both core, and adventure. All material on DnD Beyond is digital.
The free services offered by DnD Beyond consist of the Compendium to reference basic rules, spells listing, the character builder, campaign creator, and a few other things. For free, this is a great thing and I would recommend the app to anyone interested in DnD.
The final thing I’d like to bring up regarding the free functionality of DnD Beyond is the character sheet function. You can do everything you need to with this free function, including taking notes, tracking spells and abilities, inventory, events, character stats, and much more.
Is D&D An Expensive Hobby?
It is however expensive or cheap you want it to be. In theory, you don’t have to spend a penny on DnD. The truth is that there are plenty of free online resources to make it viable to play DnD completely free, just download DnD Beyond and use the other free resources I’ve provided in this article.
If you want to spend some but not a lot of money, you can do that too. I’d recommend buying the Player’s Handbook if anything, and some dice. If you want to have miniatures but want to save money, you can always buy paper ones.
Another option if you want to save money is to buy cheaper minis and then paint them yourself. As I said, DnD doesn’t have to cost much. The most important thing about DnD is that it is a theatre of the mind. Most of the story is created by your brain plus dialogue between you and your friends. That’s what makes DnD so cool.
In conclusion, no, DnD is not an expensive hobby unless you want it to be. Obviously, there are hundreds of books you can buy if you want to, and yes, some of them are very useful, but it’s not obligatory. My tip would be to start as a free-to-play player and then if you find DnD fun, start buying the books.
If you’re interested in buying the most rudimentary books for DnD, I would recommend reading this article on the topic.
Read more: How Much Does It Cost To Start Playing DnD?
Is DnD Pay To Win?
This was asked by a reader, and the question somewhat surprised me. No, DnD is not pay-to-win, how could it be? Your party, consisting of you and your friends, are not competing with each other, but cooperating to explore and traverse the land that your DM has created.
As I said before, DnD is the theatre of the mind and it doesn’t make any sense for DnD to be pay-to-win. If you want to “win” really easily, just manipulate the rules as you see fit.
Some players choose to buy books that include spells, races, and classes that aren’t in the basic rules, but still, I wouldn’t consider this pay-to-win.
Read more: How Much Does It Cost To Buy All DnD Books?
Is DnD Worth Playing?
Of course, this is a subjective question, but if you’re interested in starting TTRPGs, then DnD is one of the options you should consider. It’s easily the biggest one in the world, with millions of active players.
You don’t have to be that “nerdy”, either. Start light if you want to, and describe what your character wants to do, then it’s usually not that scary. Then when you start getting invested, lean a bit more into the roleplaying aspect.
I think a lot of people would enjoy DnD but are put off by the labels that it comes with. Try it out! Remember, you don’t have to spend a single penny.