Dungeons and Dragons 5e Sourcebook Tier List

Since 5th Edition began in 2014, Dungeons and Dragons has released dozens of books. From the first adventure paths like Hoard of the Dragon Queen to a whole new set of core rulebooks in 2024, there are thousands of pages of content for players and DMs alike to consume. Among these products, few are as game-changing as sourcebooks that introduce additional player options, monsters, and other mechanics for use at the table. That said, not all of these Dungeons and Dragons books are created equally.

To qualify for this list, an entry must be a full, independent physical or digital book of at least 100 pages from Wizards of the Coast's 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. It also must primarily consist of options for players, such as new species, subclasses, and spells, or resources for dungeon masters, including monsters, magic items, and setting information. Adventure modules and anthologies have been excluded from this list, even though many have unique monsters and magic items in them as well.

Quality, quantity, and impact on the game are all major factors being considered in these rankings, while art, length, and overall timing are minor factors.

S-Tier: The Best Sourcebooks Money Can Buy

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (2017)
Tasha’s Cauldron to Everything (2020)
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (2021)
Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons (2021)

When one thinks of the best sourcebooks in 5th Edition, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is likely the first book that comes to mind. 31 subclasses, brand-new spells and feats, and a slew of optional tools for dungeon masters caused many to consider Xanathar’s Guide to be the "missing pieces" of the core rulebooks. Then, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything did it again, building off of D&D's Xanathar’s Guide in ways that enhanced D&D forever, and set these two books apart from others on this list.

Both Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft and Fizban’s Treasure of Dragons are also popular books that introduce incredible character options and DM tools. Then again, theming sourcebooks after Curse of Strahd – the most popular 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure in history – and the monster the entire TTRPG system is named after was bound to be a huge success.

A-Tier: Timeless Classics That Deliver Great Options

5th Edition Core Rules (2014 and 2024)
Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount (2020)
Mythic Odysseys of Theros (2020)
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022)

To put it simply, Dungeons and Dragons cannot be played without its core rules – the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. What’s more, 5th Edition now has two sets of them: the original 2014 rulebooks and the revised 2024 versions. Both are technically compatible with one another and have plenty of strengths, as well as a few flaws and weak points. At the end of the day, either Dungeons and Dragons core rule set is great on its own, but using the best of both eras lets a table customize their game to their own specifications.

Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount was not only Dungeons and Dragons’ first foray into the Critical Role world of Exandria, but it also helped pioneer the movement to deconstruct harmful racial stereotypes, such as Orcs being unintelligent or Dungeons and Dragons' Drow being inherently evil. Likewise, Mythic Odysseys of Theros – the second Magic: The Gathering setting sourcebook – introduced some incredible options for both players and DMs, such as Supernatural Gifts or the boss phase-like Mythic monsters, making both excellent entries to this list.

With 268 monster stat blocks and 33 playable species, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse should have been one of the best Dungeons and Dragons books ever made, perhaps topped only by Xanathar's Guide and Tasha’s Cauldron. Unfortunately, it didn’t release in a vacuum; Monsters of the Multiverse came out right around when Dungeons and Dragons was starting the One D&D initiative that eventually became the 2024 rules refresh. As one of the last books to launch before this new era, it found itself in an awkward spot, making an otherwise incredible book slightly less relevant and exciting than it should have been.

B-Tier: Solid Books That Needed More

Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica (2018)
Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy (2021)
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse (2023)
Chains of Asmodeus (2023)
The Book of Many Things (2023)

Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica was the first time Dungeons and Dragons crossed over with Magic: The Gathering, visiting one of the most popular settings in the franchise. However, tackling such a dense realm in 256 pages proved to be insufficient; for example, only two of the ten iconic guilds got new subclasses. The book was great, but it has left fans wanting more Ravnica for over seven years now.

Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy was a love letter to classic D&D video gamers. The book featured modern history and developments for iconic locations like Athkatla, and even had stat blocks and plot hooks for iconic Baldur’s Gate characters like Imoen, Minsc, and even Bhaal himself, plus Neverwinter Nights characters like Aribeth de Tylmarande and Mephistopheles. Likewise, Chains of Asmodeus, created by Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age dev James Ohlen, featured over 50 devilish monsters, including the Lord of the Nine Hells. These top-tier digital-only Extra Life fundraiser books got virtually zero publicity, meaning most fans have never even heard of them.

At face value, the Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse boxed set was a great book that provided setting information and unique monsters to let dungeon masters easily run games in Sigil and the Outlands as seen in Planescape: Torment. The title itself is a misnomer; there was little information on the rest of the multiverse contained within, making it rather hard to utilize Sigil’s aspect as a planar hub without a lot of extra research.

The Book of Many Things was a fine supplement. Over 50 interesting magical items, new player options like feats, backgrounds, and spells, and the first canonically autistic character in Dungeons and Dragons set it up to be a big success. The Book of Many Things was also the last product to be released before the 2024 rules refresh. Its specific theming did it no favors, causing it to be overshadowed by the new core rules, minimizing its impact on the game as a whole, despite its high quality.

C-Tier: Decent Books With Some Big Issues

Acquisitions Incorporated (2019)
Eberron: Rising from the Last War (2019)
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (2021)
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants (2023)

Acquisitions Incorporated was a silly setting sourcebook set in the eponymous podcast featuring Penny Arcande and DMed by former Dungeons and Dragons directors Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford. While the book was quite fun, the few character options in it are horrendously unbalanced, with many of its spells being either completely useless or wildly overpowered for their level. Dungeon masters should be careful before allowing their players to use content from this non-canon sourcebook.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War not only introduced tons of playable species, character options, monsters, and magic items, but it also added the Artificer – the first post-launch class in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Unfortunately, Tasha’s Cauldron reprinted the Artificer and innovated further on mechanics like Group Patrons, quickly removing some of its relevance.

With Eberron: Forge of the Artificer on the horizon later this year, which will update the Artificer to the 2024 core rules, Eberron: Rising from the Last War will likely become almost completely obsolete.

Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos was earnestly a great book, and its fun backgrounds, magic items, monsters, and the adorable Owlin race make it a great addition to any collection. However, beyond the fact that this third Magic: The Gathering setting book provided an underwhelming number of player options, it also introduced the bane of DMs everywhere: Silvery Barbs. This overpowered first-level spell has plagued tables since its addition in this book – and not even famous actual play dungeon masters like Critical Role’s Matt Mercer or Dimension 20’s Brennan Lee Mulligan are safe from it.

Truthfully, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants deserves to be higher on this list, especially considering all the incredible giant-themed player options, magic items, and monsters within it. That said, its release was marred by several controversies. The book was shorter and had less content than previous ones, yet it also marked the first product released after Dungeons and Dragons increased its prices. Additionally, a number of artworks in the original book were found to have been created with generative AI and had to be replaced later; not to mention it was also released when the 2024 core rules were being playtested.

D-Tier: Outdated and Underwhelming Options

Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (2015)
Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016)
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018)
Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron (2018)
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (2022)

The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide was the first non-core sourcebook to be released in 5th Edition. Coming in at 159 pages, it is also one of the shortest entries on this list. The book was full of noncommittal information about various locations on the Sword Coast in the modern era, and mechanically-terrible subclasses like the Purple Dragon Knight Fighter or the Battlerager Barbarian. What's more, the few gems from this book, such as the Tiefling species or Bladesinger Wizard, have since been reprinted in other books.

Luckily, the lessons learned from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide improved later products – and hopefully, D&D's upcoming Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide will be a better attempt at tackling the popular setting.

Both Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes were fantastic books on their own, and would have easily made A or S tier years ago. That said, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse reprinted the D&D species and monsters in these books, rendering them completely obsolete, insofar as they cannot even be purchased on D&D Beyond anymore.

The Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron was likewise a decent book, as well as the first attempt to bring the magicpunk setting to 5e. However, the few options and little lore available in the book have been rendered mostly obsolete by Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and will be further irrelevant after Dungeons and Dragons releases Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, meaning there is virtually no reason to use this book anymore.

The Spelljammer: Adventures in Space boxed set contains 192 pages spread across three 64-page supplements: the Astral Adventurer’s Guide, Boo’s Astral Menagerie, and Light of Xaryxis. Sadly, these books failed to deliver; the Spelljammer rules provided almost no guidance for running space battles, the player options were sparse and underwhelming, and the books were overall bereft of much interesting content.

Were that not enough, the monkey-like Hadozee race had a massive mechanical exploit with their glide, and their art caused a great deal of controversy due to depictions evocative of racial stereotypes. If Dungeons and Dragons ever goes back to Spelljammer, hopefully it will have better luck doing so.

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