Through the duration of this list, I will be looking back on some of our all-time favorite D&D books, often with updated information. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is that I’m not as familiar with some of the books as I should be. However, I feel that I’ve read enough to form an opinion about them, and I’m more than willing to give them another shot.
I’ve already done a list of the best D&D books of all time, so I’m making an update. I have read 80 new books since compiling the original list. These are the ones that I found to be the best, which means that I had no hesitation in recommending them. First, I’ll list the books that are better than the original list.
I grew up with D&D and I grew up with anime and I’m a geek. But, you know what? I’m less of a geek than I used to be and I’m not so nostalgic or nostalgic about it. So, what’s this about? I’m talking about some of the greatest anime that helped shaped my ideas about life, the universe and everything. And, more importantly, I’m going to talk about some of the best D&D books of all time.
Dungeons and Dragons, often known as DnD or D&D, is gaining popularity again. This tabletop role-playing game (RPG) from 1974 is a timeless example of collaborative storytelling. Players join parties and, with the help of a Dungeon Master (DM), go on thrilling adventures that are completely decided by a roll of the dice.
What are the finest Dungeons & Dragons novels? There are almost limitless choices accessible, and the game’s library is enormous. That’s why, whether you’re a seasoned adventurer or a newcomer to the world of D&D, we’ve collected some advice on what you should focus on. Here are some of the best 30 d&d books to get you started whether you like playing D&D, consuming real play D&D material, or just reading about them.
R.A. Salvatore’s Homeland
Homeland is the first book of R. A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf Trilogy, which was released in 1990. Salvatore’s original Icewind Dale Trilogy was preceded by the Dark Elf Trilogy.
Drizzt Do’Urden, the drow ranger depicted in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, rose to prominence in the fantasy genre almost immediately. Homeland, on the other hand, starts with the incredible tale of how this lone drow escaped from the bleak depths of the Underdark, leaving behind a cruel society and a family hell-bent on his death. This is the beginning of the amazing dark elf’s tale.
2. R.A. Salvatore’s Canticle
Salvatore’s Cleric Quintet begins with this episode. Cadderly, a scholar-priest, is threatened by an evil force, and when his brothers are imprisoned in the catacombs, he must fight both his siblings and his own soul.
The Chaos Curse, a terrible elixir that forces people to act on their most basic and personal impulses regardless of the consequences, is concocted by the magician Aballister Bonaduce in this tale. A Talona priest named Barjin takes the potion from Aballister and brings it to the Edificant Library, which is an enemy of Castle Trinity and where both Aballister and Barjin work.
Barjin finds his way to the library, sneaks into the building’s basement, and, with the priest Cadderly’s unknowing help, unleashes the library’s ever-smoking potion.
Cadderly, his beloved companion Danica Maupoissant, the two dwarven brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder, and a druid named Newander descend to Barjin’s altar and kill him, temporarily regaining the library.
Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Carey Pietsch, Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Carey Pietsch, Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Justin McElroy,
Based on the hit podcast in which the McElroy brothers and their father play a tabletop RPG, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom, drawn by cartooning genius Carey Pietsch, takes the #1 New York Times bestselling series to frightening new heights.
The first story arc of The Balance Arc and The Adventure Zone is Here There Be Gerblins. It tells the story of the Tres Horny Boys’ first expedition, which includes goblins, jack-hammer robots, and the destruction of a whole town.
We started by following the directions in the adventure book. You were all expected to show off your saltiness. Gundren Rockseeker has hired you to transport his belongings from Neverwinter to Phandalin. His ward was Barry Bluejeans. You found that gerblins had attacked and kidnapped them. You found Klarg, the band’s Bugbear commander, and Yeemick, his second in command, in the cave where the gerblins attacked them.
Christie Golden’s Vampire of the Mists
Vampire of the Mists is the first book in Ravenloft Books’ gothic horror series. It is found in both Waterdeep, a city in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms world, and the Demiplane of Dread, the setting for the Ravenloft campaign.
Jander Sunstar is an elf vampire who, despite his situation, tries to be as beautiful as possible. While traveling to Waterdeep to drink the blood of inmates at a mental hospital, Jander falls in love with a prisoner called Anna. The immortal vampire had been paying Anna frequent visits for over a century, and Anna seemed to be ageless as well.
When Anna becomes ill, Jander, afraid of losing her, tries to turn her into a vampire. Anna says no. “Barovia,” she says when Jander asks what harmed her mind in her last minutes.
In a moment of rage, Jander kills all of the asylum’s inmates and is banished to the Demiplane of Dread. He meets Count Strahd Von Zarovich there, and a Vistani gypsy tells him his destiny. The fortune-tellers’ prophecies all come true later in the book, albeit in different ways.
5. Troy Denning’s The Verdant Passage
A group of heroes join together to prevent the evil sorcerer-king Kalak of Tyr from converting himself into a deadly and immortal dragon. Kalak is a wicked sorcerer-king who has transformed Tyr’s beautiful city into a desolate wasteland of dust, blood, and fear via his evil magic.
His millennia-long reign of terror is coming to an end.
A renegade politician, a seductive half-elf slave girl, and a man-dwarf gladiator trained for the arenas are forming a revolutionary alliance. If the people are to be freed, the mismatched trio of determined rebels will have to face terror and choose between love and life.
R.A. Salvatore’s Gauntlgrym
Drizzt joins Bruenor on his quest to find the legendary dwarven realm of Gauntlgrym, whose ruins are said to be brimming with ancient treasures and esoteric knowledge. They are, however, foiled by another drow and dwarf couple:
Jarlaxle and Athrogate are two characters from the game Jarlaxle and Athrogate. Jarlaxle and Athrogate inadvertently set in motion a disaster that threatens the unsuspecting people of Neverwinter—a catastrophe big enough to tempt even the mercenary Jarlaxle to risk his wealth and skin to prevent it.
Unfortunately, it seems that the more they discover about Gauntlgrym’s secret, the more helpless they will be to stop it on their own. They’ll need help, and it’ll have to come from the last people they ever anticipated battling again: Drizzt and Bruenor.
Sarah J. Maas’ The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
One of five precursor novellas to Throne of Glass is The Assassin and the Pirate Lord. Celaena Sardothien, a notorious assassin, has come on a remote island in the middle of a tropical sea in search of revenge. The Assassin’s Guild has sent her to collect a debt owed to them by the Lord of the Pirates.
Celaena’s mission, on the other hand, changes drastically when she learns that the promised reward will be paid in slaves rather than money—and she will risk everything to undo the evil she has been assigned to do.
R.A. Salvatore’s The Crystal Shard
The Crystal Shard is the first book of R. A. Salvatore’s Icewind Dale Trilogy, which was released in 1988. Drizzt Do’Urden, a drow ranger who has fled the Underdark, settles in the blustery Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale. The savage tribes to the north threaten Ten-Towns, a hard and forgiving country, which is on the brink of a catastrophic war.
Wulfgar, a young barbarian, gets apprehended and becomes the ward of Bruenor, a grizzled dwarf chieftain and Drizzt’s buddy. With Drizzt’s help, Wulfgar will grow from a wild kid to a man with the heart of a dwarf, the instincts of a barbarian, and the spirit of a hero. However, conquering the evil wizard who wields Crenshininbon’s demonic power—the legendary Crystal Shard—will require much more.
Gary Gygax’s Saga of Old City
The Greyhawk world, which is based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, is the setting for Gary Gygax’s 1985 epic book Saga of Old City. Welcome to Greyhawk’s Old City, a fantastical realm where dreams—and nightmares—come true.
Travel around the kingdom of Oerth with Gord, a young man battling for survival in a world filled with weird magicians, terrifying monsters, glum dwarfs, and lovely women. For Oerth is a place where a man’s gaze is always drawn to the shadows…and his hand is always on his blade’s hilt.
Finally, enough adventure to last a lifetime—or maybe just a few moments!
R.A. Salvatore’s Exile
R. A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf Trilogy continues with Exile, the second book in the series. The Underdark’s tunnel mazes are hostile in ways that a surface dweller may never understand, and they offer a challenge to everyone who enter. Among these spirits are Drizzt Do’Urden and his magical cat, Guenhwyvar.
Exiled from his drow homeland, Drizzt must fight for survival in the never-ending labyrinth. Meanwhile, he must remain on the lookout for signs of pursuit, since the dark elves are not easily insulted.
Noelle Stevenson, Noelle Stevenson, Noelle Stevenson, Noelle Stevenson, Noelle Stevenson,
Noelle Stevenson, an American comics writer and artist, developed Nimona, a fantasy webcomic. Nimona is a brash young shapeshifter with an amazing knack for being a badass. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a ruthless villain who seeks vengeance. In their twin roles as sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are set to cause havoc. Their goal was to show the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his colleagues at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics were not the heroes they claimed to be.
Lord Blackheart learns that Nimona’s powers are as mysterious and opaque as her past when little acts of mischief turn into a violent battle. And her erratic wild side may pose a bigger threat than he is willing to admit.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s Dragons of Autumn Twilight
It was the first Dragonlance book, as well as the first of the Chronicles trilogy, which, together with the Dragonlance Legends trilogy, are generally regarded as the core novels of the Dragonlance universe. They were lifetime friends when they parted ways. They’ve reconnected, but each of them knows something about the other. They discuss a world engulfed with war rumors.
They talk about strange animals, mythological creatures, and folklore creatures. They don’t tell anybody their secrets. That isn’t the case at all. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sad woman carrying a powerful crystal staff pulls the friends further into the shadows, permanently changing their lives and affecting the destiny of the planet. They weren’t meant to be heroes in the first place. One of the most important is themselves.
Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb’s trilogy The Finder’s Stone
Alias, Dragonbait, Olive Ruskettle, and Finder Wyvernspur journey through the Dalelands in the Finder’s Stone trilogy. Her name is Alias, and she is in peril. She’s a hire-a-warrior, an explorer, and a sword-seller. She awoke with a series of twisted, magical blue sigils etched on her arms and no memory of how she got them.
To figure out what the mysterious tattoo means, Alias teams up with an unusual group of friends: halfling bard Ruskettle, southern wizard Akabar, and the curiously silent lizard-man Dragonbait. With their help, she discovers that the symbols hold the key to her existence.
People in charge of the sigils, on the other hand, aren’t too keen about Alias’s continued health. And if the five evil rulers find her first, she may discover their terrible truth much too soon.
Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows is number fourteen on the list.
Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy book Six of Crows was released by Henry Holt & Company in 2015. The story revolves on a thieving gang and takes place mostly in the city of Ketterdam, which is based on Amsterdam during the Dutch Republic. The story is told in the third person by seven different characters.
Ketterdam is a flourishing international trade center where everything is possible at the right price, as criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker knows. Kaz is given the chance to take part in a risky heist that might make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.
But he won’t be able to do it by himself… Six dangerous misfits A solitary, very unlikely heist. If they don’t kill each other first, Kaz’s crew may be the only thing standing between the world and annihilation.
Tamora Pierce’s Alanna: The First Adventure
Alanna: The First Adventure is a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce. It is the first installment in a four-part series called The Song of the Lioness, which was first published in 1983.
As a consequence, Alanna of Trebond begins her journey to knighthood. Despite her gender, Alanna has always yearned for the kind of adventure and courage reserved for men; her twin brother, Thom, wants to learn magic. As a result, they decide to exchange places one day: Thom goes to the convent to study magic, while Alanna disguises herself as a boy and journeys to King Roald’s palace to begin her training as a page.
The road to knighthood, however, is not easy. Alanna must learn to control her emotions and differentiate her enemies from her friends while developing her fighting abilities.
Alanna embarks on her first expedition, which is full of swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil. It is a journey that will lead to the realization of her dreams and a miraculous destiny that will make her a national legend.
R.A. Salvatore’s Streams of Silver
The second book in R.A. Salvatore’s Icewind Dale Trilogy, Streams of Silver, is set in the fictional world of the forgotten realms.
On their way to Mithril Hall, the origin of Bruenor and his dwarven ancestors, Bruenor the dwarf, Wulfgar the barbarian, Regis the halfling, and Drizzt the dark elf fight monsters and spells.
In the face of prejudice, Drizzt contemplates returning to the lightless underground city and fatal existence he abandoned. Wulfgar slowly overcomes his tribe’s aversion to magic.
Regis also has to escape from a deadly assassin who is hell-bent on annihilating the companions with the help of evil wizards. All of Bruenor’s aspirations, as well as the future of his party, are contingent on one brave young woman’s actions.
17. Erin M. Evans’ Brimstone Angels
After being rejected at birth and raised in a hamlet of tiefling misfits, Farideh expects a life without friends, love, or control over her destiny. Everything changes when she makes a pact with Lorcan, the demon.
Lorcan offers her everything she’s ever wanted in exchange for nothing. Farideh’s twin sister Havilar begs her to stay away from the devil’s clutches. Farideh, on the other hand, is a little more unsure. Lorcan’s strength is fascinating, even if he is deadly.
Among the ruins of Neverwinter, Farideh’s suspicions get enmeshed in a six-layer diabolical trap. The twins are seen as obstacles by a succubus who uses people as pawns against an otherworldly foe.
In the meanwhile, Lorcan’s monster sisters have set their eyes on the city—and especially on Farideh. There is no time to rethink her agreement with Lorcan—survival in Neverwinter will require every ounce of Farideh’s newly acquired skills.
Erin M. Evans, 18. Lesser Evils
Lesser Evils is the second book in Erin M. Evans’ Brimstone Angels series. Lorcan, the cambion demon whose power fuels her own, continues to haunt Farideh’s dreams. As one of just four known descendants of the original Brimstone Angel, Farideh has no regrets about her deal with the devil.
No one in the Hells, however, is aware that she has a twin sister—an eager, rash sister who is just waiting to be corrupted. At the very least, as long as Lorcan can keep her identity hidden.
Farideh is on a mission to find a ritual that would call Lorcan from the Hells in order to save her sister. She is, however, drawn into a mission for the Harpers, which leads her and a motley band of friends to an ancient Netherese library deep below.
Farideh finds a magical book whose assertions throw doubt on everything she thought about herself and her sister while the group is sifting around the site, dodging ghosts and magical traps. One thing becomes apparent as the Book exposes more of its terrible mysteries: there is a traitor among them.
Elaine Cunningham’s Elfshadow
Silent death stalks the Harpers of Faerûn, a semi-secret society dedicated to maintaining justice and peace in the Realms. The Harpers are being murdered one by one by an unknown assailant, and each victim has connections to Arilyn Moonblade.
Arilyn, a half-elf warrior and Harper spy, is named after her magical sword. Even when she is tasked with finding the murderer, many people believe she is the one who did it. Arilyn is accompanied on her trip by Danilo Thann, a bard she meets in Waterdeep. Danilo is a competent Harper agent and wizard charged with proving Arilyn’s innocence and solving the secrets surrounding her powerful moonblade, even if he plays the fool.
Together, the unlikely duo sets out to save the Harpers, embarking on a thrilling, action-packed adventure that ushers in a new age for the Forgotten Realms.
20. Don Bassingthwaite’s The Binding Stone
The first book in the Eberron game setting’s dark fantasy and high adventure series. Two warriors set out on a mission for revenge as an old evil reawakens in the lands of Eberron, unaware of the horrific horrors that await them in the Shadow Marches.
The Binding Stone has all-new races created specifically for the Eberron campaign setting. It’s also the first Eberron book to take readers on a tour of the setting’s many uncharted territories.
Douglas Niles’ Darkwalker on Moonshae is number twenty-one.
Darkwalker on Moonshae is the first book based in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Will the Kazgaroth destabilize the Goddess’s equilibrium and the tranquility of the Ffolk? Only Tristan Kendrick, the troubled heir to the High Kings’ throne, has the ability to unite the many people and creatures of the Isles of Moonshae in order to stop the spread of darkness.
A merciless army of enormous Firbolgs, frightening Bloodriders, and otherworldly manifestations of the Beast fights on the side of Evil.
Halflings and dwarves, sister knights, bards and druids, and the Goddess’s powerful children—the Leviathan, the Unicorn, and the Pack—are on the Good’s side.
Margaret Weis’s Dragonlance Legends Trilogy is number 22.
Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, and Test of the Twins, all authored by New York Times bestselling authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, are included in this slip-covered gift box. Three of Dragonlance’s best-selling backlist titles are listed below.
In Time of the Twins, Tasslehoff, Raistlin, Caramon, and the priestess Crysania go back in time to the city of Istar before the Cataclysm to avert disaster, while Raistlin plots to steal the magical might of the ancient wizard Fistandantilus.
In Test of the Twins, Raistlin performs a magical ritual to create a gateway to the Abyss. Simultaneously, Caramon, his brother, triggers a magical device that takes both Caramon and Tasslehoff to an unexpected place. Raistlin prepares to enter the Abyss and face the Dark Queen directly in War of the Twins, only to get imprisoned in a timeless cycle with no apparent way out.
23. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien, an English writer and scholar, wrote The Lord of the Rings, an epic high-fantasy book. In ancient times, the Elven-smiths created the Rings of Strength, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, created the One Ring, filling it with his power to rule over all others.
The One Ring, however, was taken from him, and despite scouring Middle-earth, he was unable to find it. By chance, it ended up in the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins after many ages.
From his stronghold in Mordor’s Dark Tower, Sauron’s influence spread far and wide. Sauron had all of the Great Rings, but he was constantly on the hunt for the One Ring that would allow him to complete his dominion.
Bilbo disappeared when he was eleventy-one, leaving the Ruling Ring and a perilous mission for his young cousin Frodo: to go across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by throwing it into the Cracks of Doom.
James Ward and Anne K. Brown’s “Pool of Radiance” is number 24.
Three heroes join together to protect Phlan in this action-packed epic story based on the Dungeons & Dragons computer game of the same name.
The zombie army of Valhingen Graveyard and the monsters from Phlan’s ruins are led by a possessed dragon. In the midst of the chaos, three heroes emerged: Shal Bal, a spellcaster, seeks to avenge her wizard master’s death, and Ren, a ranger thief, sets off on his vengeance quest, determined to square the score with the assassin who killed his beloved Tempest.
Then there’s Tarl Desanea, a cleric-warrior who’s seen the devastation that Valhingen Graveyard’s army is capable of wreaking. He’s lost far too many friends to the zombie apocalypse.
When the three is reunited in the Laughing Goblin Inn by chance, they are brought before the Council of Ten’s chief. Under the leadership of Porphyrys Cadorna, they go on hazardous missions across the kingdom, only to discover that their newfound adviser is not who they thought he was. Now it’s up to Shal, Ren, and Tarl to rescue Phlan—and the whole of Moonsea—from the grasp of Tyranthraxus, the evil reincarnate.
25. James Ward and Anne K. Brown’s Pools of Darkness
With Phlan in jeopardy once again, Ren will have to rely on unlikely friends to find his lost comrades and rescue the city from evil’s grip.
Phlan has vanished entirely, ripped from Toril’s surface by terrible creatures and mystical forces. While the evil deity Bane’s servants squabble over the spoils, the brave people of Phlan put up a gallant fight.
Ren, a ranger-thief, is on the hunt for his unrivaled spellcasters Shal Bal and Tarl Desanea, who have gone missing. Ren, on the other hand, will have to work with a mystery sorceress and her brave shapeshifter cat, as well as a couple of amusing druids and a terrified knight who is definitely, absolutely dead, to do this.
This Forgotten Realms classic reintroduces the heroes of Phlan twenty years after the events of Pool of Radiance.
Troy Denning’s The Parched Sea is number 26.
The Parched Sea is the first book in Troy Denning’s Harpers series. The Zhentarim have sent an army to enslave the vast desert’s fierce nomads in order to create a commerce route through Anauroch. Only one woman, Rhua, sees the true threat as tribe after tribe falls to the intruders—but what sheik would listen to an outcast witch?
Ruha gets help from a surprising source. The Harpers, the Realms’ libertarians, have sent an agent to fight the Zhentarim. If she can help this foreigner win the confidence of the sheiks, he may be able to overcome the tribes’ customary disputes and drive the invaders out of the desert.
Keith Baker’s The City of Towers (#27)
The City of Towers is the first book in a brand-new series set in Wizards of the Coast’s newest D&D(R) campaign setting, Eberron.
Four warriors have arrived in Sharn, the legendary City of Towers, city of adventure, and home to the best and worst of Eberron, honed by the Last War. They’ve been fighting for a long time and have become accustomed to it. Kingdoms have been broken, armies have been slain, and a whole nation has been leveled. They must now battle for life in the midst of an uneasy peace.
People, on the other hand, begin to suddenly disappear. The battle-weary heroes—Daine, Jode, Lei, and Pierce—soon become entangled in a plot that will take them from the pinnacles of power to the city of wonder, darkness, and adventure’s filthiest depths.
28. David Gaider’s The Stolen Throne
The Stolen Throne is a gripping prequel to BioWare’s award-winning role-playing computer game Dragon Age: Origins.
Maric leads a rebel army to free his nation from the tyranny of a foreign tyrant after his mother, the beloved Rebel Queen, is betrayed and murdered by her faithless lords.
His people fear him, his commanders see him as inexperienced, and his only allies are Loghain, a fearless young robber who saved his life, and Rowan, the lovely warrior woman he has been promised since boyhood.
Surrounded by spies and traitors, Maric must not only survive, but also achieve his ultimate goal: the freedom of Ferelden and the return of his family to the throne they stole.
29. R.A. Salvatore’s The Legacy
The Legacy, a science fiction novel by R. A. Salvatore, was published in 1992. It’s the first book in his Legacy of the Drow series.
The life of Drizzt Do’Urden is better than it has ever been. His best friend, the dwarf Bruenor, has reclaimed his realm, and his adventurers, Wulfgar and Catti-brie, are about to marry in the spring. Regis, the halfling, has returned as well. All of the friends have gathered in Mithril Hall’s safety and riches, where silver mithril runs deep and dwarven hammers pound out the melancholy rhythms of ancient and unending songs.
Drizzt, on the other hand, could not achieve this state of peace without leaving behind formidable foes. One of them is Lloth, the dreaded Spider Queen deity of the evil dark elves, who has vowed to destroy the drow’s blissful days of security.
30. R.A. Salvatore’s Sojourn
R. A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf Trilogy continues with Sojourn, the third installment.
Drizzt Do’Urden has fled the tyranny of the Underdark to start a new life. Drizzt and his loyal panther set out to explore the surface of Faerûn, a world unlike any he has ever seen. Strange species and new dangers abound in Faerûn, which Drizzt must better understand if he is to survive.
While Drizzt has the best of intentions, many people on the surface fear and distrust him. Will he be able to make trustworthy friends in this new country, or will he be doomed to stay an outcast as he was in the Underdark?
It’s no secret that I’m a massive nerd when it comes to fantasy and roleplaying games. I’ve also been known to play D&D since I was in sixth grade, and I’m still in love with the game. Despite this, I’ve never gone into any great depth about the books I love—until now.. Read more about hors d’oeuvres ideas and let us know what you think.
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