The Draconomicon contains no shortage of information about dragons and dragonkind. As a compendium of draconic lore ("fluff," if you will), I'd go so far as to call it peerless. Its presented races, spells, and magic items are all interesting, flavorful, and distinct, and the hidden gem of its DM's workshop is a must-read. On the other hand, the book does tend to sputter with regard to mechanical quality ("crunch") in its robust bestiary, and its feats can come up short. For its length, and with regard to its high pricepoint, this book deserves a more thorough examination than a lump-sum of information can provide.

Breakdown:

Chapter 1. Dealing with Dragons (Pages 4 - 45) Other than a few mechanical interludes, this section is almost entirely fluff regarding dragon anatomy and life cycles, as well as detailing typical interactions with dragons. Of particular interest are notes on how to play dragon games, as well as suggestions for bonding with dragons and using dragons as mounts. All in all, this section contains interesting information, but for such a substantial part of the book, the fluff to crunch ratio may water down its value. (2/5)

Chapter 2. Races (Pages 47 - 55) Here, you'll find nine playable races, two of which are reprints from Volo's Guide to Monsters, and all but one of which reference an official printed work with respect to their fluff. This means you get everything you need to play these creatures in a condensed, data-driven format very easy to parse. Each race is distinct, mechanically interesting, and worth adding to any DM's collection. In short, this section is the book at its best. Highlights include the Slig (a larger cousin of the kobold, and the only race not to reference another book) and the draconian dragonborn, which adds flavorful diversity to the rather underwhelming canon variants. (5/5)

Chapter 3. Feats and Gifts (Pages 56 - 59) Building off of a variant rule presented in Mythic Odyssey of Theros, the 25 entries in these few pages can be gifted by a deity or taken as feats. While each feat/gift is distinct from others, their power levels do not necessarily balance with one another, nor with feats presented in official releases. Some, such as Treasure Detector, are exceedingly underwhelming in a way that any player would be hard-pressed to even consider taking it at level-up. Others, such as the racial feats presented near the end of the chapter, are very well crafted, providing unique and tempting benefits for the newly-leveled character. This chapter is a toss-up, easy to digest but ultimately middling in quality. (3/5)

Chapter 4. Spells (Pages 61 - 72) Like its races, the spells of The Draconomicon are amongst its most valuable assets. Dragon-related magic is sorely lacking in official canon, and this book brings a host of new spells to the table. The best part, perhaps, of this chapter is that some spells may not seem to fit the theme of draconic relation at first glance. However, a moment or two of thought brings to mind exactly the characteristic of dragons each spell aims to emulate. There are two reprinted spells from official works, meaning 42 of the 44 total spells are unique and new. The very first spell described, Animated Breath is a gleeful introduction to this chapter's uniqueness, and a highlight of its quality. (5/5)

Chapter 5. Magic Items (Pages 73 - 79) Of the 57 magic items presented in this chapter, only 9 are reprinted from official materials. Divided neatly between rarities and presented in standard format for a chapter on items, it would be a waste of words to say much more about this section other than it continues the trend of excellence from the previous chapter. Highlights include cursed items that both benefit and impede the character, as well as artifacts that feel flavorfully distinct from those that have previously been presented, (5/5)

Chapter 6. Bestiary (Pages 92 - 225) Here, we find the book's bread and butter, it's main draw, its longest chapter, and yet, its weakest portion. Sadly, where The Draconomicon manages to make each race, spell, feat, and magic item read as distinct and unique, the creatures in this section blend together with ill-fitting ease. Numerous dragons are described within the chapter's fluff, some decidedly more verbosely than others, only to be followed with a reference to an officially printed dragon and a note to change one or two aspects of its stats (such as its breath weapon) to better fit the flavor of the type described. This means that some dragons rely on their narrative descriptions to differentiate them from others, and cannot, therefore, be added to a game "at a glance." Even dragons whose stat blocks are fully printed succumb to an overly monotonous feeling of functional indistinguishability from one another. Very few stand out as exemplars of creativity, and the length of this chapter makes reading it to find those gems (no pun intended) a chore.

All in all, this chapter constitutes the lowpoint of this book, focusing far more on description than function, and may instill buyer's remorse if the purpose of a purchase is this section alone. While robust and visually well-formatted, with regard to the content itself, quantity is simply no substitute for quality. (1/5)

Chapter 7. DM's Workshop (Pages 227 - 250) The Draconomicon ends on, perhaps, its strongest note of all. In two dozen pages it presents five interesting tools for DMs to use when running dragon-themed encounters, each more useful than the last. From rules for how to handle a dragon swallowing a creature to changing dragons' statistics as they grow, this should absolutely draw a second glance from any DM who may be on the fence about buying this book. (5/5)

Conclusion Overall, The Draconomicon is a worthwhile purchase for a lore-conscious DM, or for any player or DM looking for draconic character-facing content. Its weak link is unfortunately its expansively barren bestiary, which, as the book's longest portion and arguably biggest selling point, diminishes its value. While its feats section also flounders somewhat, all other mechanical content in the book is exceptional, the fluff is on point (for those who enjoy such things in a sourcebook) and the professional quality formatting deserves recognition too.

Final Recommendation: At a lower price point, I'd recommend this book to practically anyone (it's currently about the same price as most official WotC sourcebook PDFs). As it stands, anyone looking for D&D lore on dragons, running a dragon-themed campaign, or who just wants to expand dragon-related player options, this book is definitely for you.

Don't let the simple cover fool you. I bought this guide on-sale and quickly realized I'd have happily paid full price. D&D's standard supplements barely offer any mechanical or narrative support for herbalism and potion-making, and this supplement patches that hole with distinction.

Not only is there an appreciable list of apothecary goods with effects that make sense and reasonable prices, the author clearly did research on the herbs and remedies presented (or at the very least has a vivid enough imagination to make it seem like they did). On the subject of herbs, perhaps most useful of all, there are also lists of harvestable plants and fungi for each climate in the game, which, in addition to adding flavor to downtime, might even make it worthwhile to venture to a new area just for the sake of finding the right ingredients for a vital potion.

In short, if you play with a party that really enjoys the richness of roleplaying, I'd go so far as to say this is a must-have supplement. I've had it only for a short while, and I've already used it in every session I've run since then.

At almost 400 pages chock-full of content, this book is amongst the densest supplements I've ever encountered. It is, in essence, a comprehensive encyclopedia of the planes, and it does that job very well. Each plane is described in intricate detail, including their geographic and cosmological makeup, their denizens, leaders, and infrastructure, and a random encounter table is even provided for each plane. The book also ends with a series of tables for easily and quickly creating your own plane of the multiverse.

It is worth noting, however, that this book is almost entirely narrative in its presentation. This is a supplement whose content you need to read and digest before bringing it to the table; it will rarely serve as a tableside aid. It also contains no stat blocks or appendices whatsoever, so if you prefer to have your mechanics and narrative tightly-bound together, this is not the book for you. If, however, you enjoy learning the lore of the multiverse and don't mind some heavy reading before a session, this is a simply excellent supplement that can easily plug into any 5e game.

This supplement is wonderful! Kobolds can become remarkably bland when run generically. Though I would suggest using this during pregame prep to avoid stopping the game to roll on tables, it is a fantastic tool to help make each kobold (individual or clan) feel unique and lifelike, from naming conventions to tribal specialties, and more.

I have only two criticisms:

1. Despite the fact that it's 10 pages (and a well-crafted 10 pages, at that!), this supplement could use a contents page to make finding each table easier. Might make it more viable for on-the-fly rolling.
2. The supplement's Leader Personality table is somewhat monochromatic, painting all kobolds as some variation of evil - or at least, not good. While D&D's official sourcebooks list kobolds as evil-aligned, it stands to reason that not all would be, and it would be interesting to encounter a clan led by a good-aligned one.

That said, those are nitpicks. I heartily recommend this product to anyone who runs D&D! It's well-produced, useful, and adds fun to the table. What's not to like?

The best resources for games are those that solve, or at least help to alleviate, a problem. D&D's official releases suffer from a drought of generic humanoid NPCs, particularly those of high challenge rating. This book solves that problem.

For years, I have had to tediously homebrew NPCs or create DMPCs to use in my games in order for each humanoid not to feel utterly generic. This supplement adds a plethora of excellently-diverse humanoid NPCs, which require minimal (if any) tweaking to fill any niche. In addition, the sourcebook is expertly formatted to the point that each stat block matches the detail of official releases, and also features its own sample image.

There's no way I will play another game of 5e without using this supplement! It's just that good.

This title is, in fairness, exactly what it says it is. Within this document, you will find 3,000 taverns listed in double-column black text on a plain white background. Each tavern is named, and includes the name, race, and disposition of its owner and operator, as well as a bullet-point list of several customers who might be there (including their names, dispositions, professions, and races).

That said, while I do not regret paying the low price of this product, especially during a sale, I cannot recommend it to fellow players or game masters. Between the lack of a search function or table of contents, the bare-bones detail of what information is given, and the lack of any details about any of the taverns themselves, I can define this document only as a poor example of a common NPC generator without the randomization. There are, fortunately or not, just too many free resources out there that do what this document offers, but better.

As I said about its parent PDF, its clear that love and attention was paid when creating this document: the items are well-thought-out, the upgrades are fun and interesting, and the visual layout is striking. However, it's simply not practical for use in live play because it does not feature an easily navigable table of contents. While I'm sure I'll make use of it between sessions, this is not a supplement I can recommend to improvisational DMs.

A lot of work and planning obviously went into the mechanics and layout of this PDF, however I cannot stress the importance of a navigable interface on a document of this relative length. The concept of ancestral weapons is fantastic and the images are descriptive and helpful, but I don't see myself reaching for this supplement on the fly, given the fact that there is no easy way to click through to a specific chapter without time-consuming scrolling and searching.

Though its mechanics are a little outdated when compared with a modern RPG, the deckplans and narrative descriptors are helpful and cross-compatible with any system. At its current pricepoint, this item is certainly worth the purchase.

It's also worth mentioning that this is the only supplement I've encountered that includes the layout and stats for a schooner, which I needed for my campaign.

Though its mechanics are a little outdated when compared with a modern RPG, the deckplans and narrative descriptors are helpful and cross-compatible with any system. At its current pricepoint, this item is certainly worth the purchase.

Not only has the author gone out of their way to interpret abstract concepts from the core system and translate them into manageable mechanics, they've also done the legwork for GMs when it comes to many essential mechanics the core rulebook and supplements do not cover. I particularly like the author's "clout rating" system to quickly create NPCs. It also should be mentioned that the author's layout is exact and professional, and they both bookmarked the various sections for easy navigation and made the table of contents interactive.

This product is both content-dense and well made; I firmly believe this resource belongs in every Genesys GM's library.

Simply put: I love this supplement. D&D doesn't offer a lot of character options for a nautical campaign; most require some form of adaptation from the vanilla product. However, this product is absolutely LOADED with great material! There are new backgrounds, new spells, new class archetypes. If I had one criticism, it's that not all of the archetypes are balanced. Some feel a little underpowered when compared to others in the same class, but nothing feels particularly overpowered (which is usually my concern when dealing with these things).

I bought this supplement hoping to add a little spice to my nautical adventures; ended up with something I can see myself using as the entire base of a nautical campaign.

It's a fairly creative supplement, but I'm not sure it's worth a full dollar. Essentially, it adds a little over a page of printout cards you can give to your players as "achievements" for completing certain actions on a ship (it reads like video game achievements). If a character earns ten achievements, they get a randomized perk, which are hit-or-miss in effectiveness and the flavor doesn't often fit the title.

I'd encourage this author to keep offering creative content, but I think the depth of content this product offers is ultimately not worth the price.

Simply put, this guide is awesome. It adds immersion to a nautical campaign, and does a fantastic job adding realism to the setting without sacrificing the game's roots in fantasy. A wonderful supplement worth every penny.