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I am trying to find out which books have all of the extra non-adventure content. I have found this Wikipedia page, so I know which books are supplement-only.

Are there adventure books that have extra classes/races/spells/equipment and rules for DMs for new mechanics (not including things like unique magic items or monsters that are part of the story of a campaign supplement)?

I want to eventually get all of the supplement books, but I don't really care for the adventures.

V2Blast
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user10762807
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  • @KorvinStarmast I don't think the other answer covers which adventure books have rules information. For example, some adventure modules have additional weapons and backgrounds which you wouldn't find anywhere else. – David Coffron Dec 14 '18 at 19:22
  • @DavidCoffron OK, reopened – KorvinStarmast Dec 14 '18 at 19:24
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    I don't think I've seen a Wizard's for-sale adventure yet that didn't have some new version of a magic item or a unique variant version of a monster or a unique trap or some such. I think we need more information as to what counts as 'pertinent to non-adventure play'. – Please stop being evil Dec 14 '18 at 19:40
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    I think you need to be more specific than "classes/races/spells etc". The "etc" in particular makes it hard to understand exactly what you are looking for: do magic items count? Moreover, do additional backgrounds count as adventure or non-adventure content if these backgrounds make no sense outside of the adventure context of the book? – Ruse Dec 14 '18 at 19:42

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Player-Facing Content

Pretty much every sourcebook has content that would be useful to players, but it's not all implicitly player-selectable. When I refer to magic items below, I'm talking about special unique ones, not DMG items with a splash of extra flavor.

  • Lost Mine of Phandelver, Rise of Tiamat, Storm King's Thunder, Tales from the Yawning Portal, and Waterdeep Dragon Heist have magic items.

  • Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Out of the Abyss have magic items, plus alternative Background features. They're not full backgrounds (skill picks, equipment packages, etc) just the "special ability" part.

  • Princes of the Apocalypse has new races (genasi) and spells, but both are available (along with other things) in a free online download, the Elemental Evil Player's Companion. The spells are reprinted in Xanathar's Guide to Everything as well.

  • Curse of Strahd has one completely new background, plus magic items.

  • Tomb of Annihilation has two new backgrounds, plus a few magic items.

  • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the notable exception. It doesn't have anything truly player-facing: no unique magic items and no character options.

DM-Facing Content

All of the above sourcebooks have monster entries. Some of those monsters are actually named NPCs, which may not make them terribly useful outside the context of the adventure.

By the same token, none of them really have any special unique mechanical aspects that would make them a worthwhile purchase if you're not actually going to run the content. They are certainly full of ideas you could steal (like specific Chase Complication tables for the Chase rules in the DMG), but nothing groundbreaking - nothing that is super-must-have-your-game-is-suffering-for-lack-of-this.

If you're looking from a purely money-on-the-barrel kind of angle, you would be far better served with books like the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes than any of the adventure books.

For a deep dive on setting lore (rather than mechanics), you actually might even be better served by looking further back. Depending on where you're playing, the 3.5 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is probably one of the most dense setting books, and the Ravenloft one (published by White Wolf under their Arthaus imprint) is equally fantastic.

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T.J.L.
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  • I don't have Waterdeep yet, but I believe all the others also have unique monsters and Rise of Tiamat, Tales from the Yawning Portal, and Tomb of Annihilation have unique monster abilities (the others might too but none spring immediately to mind) – Please stop being evil Dec 14 '18 at 19:55
  • @thedarkwanderer Monster abilities are not player-facing options, they're DM options. As I read the question, it sounds like a player asking for stuff they can use. If the querent rephrases the question, the answer may change. – T.J.L. Dec 14 '18 at 19:57
  • I edited the question to add extra DM rules for situations or other actions the player might do? i dont have the proper vocabulary to express it, sorry – user10762807 Dec 14 '18 at 20:08
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    @TJL With spells like Shapechange, all monsters are technically player options. More importantly, though, new beast-type monsters are available to players through a myriad of low-level methods. Many other types become available at higher levels than beasts, but not nearly as high as 9th level spells. – Miniman Dec 15 '18 at 00:21