Home > TTRPG Reviews

DnD 5th Edition Reviews

This set of DnD 5th Edition reviews is part of my “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article. If you want to check out more TTRPGs and see how other top-tier tabletop RPGs are ranked, visit that page.

My Review – 95 / 100

Dungeons and Dragons gets a shorter review than many of the games in the list of best tabletop RPGs of all time in part because DnD is by far the best. Dungeons and Dragons is the definition and standard for all other tabletop RPGs. That’s all there is to it.

Even the things that aren’t perfect about the game are still far superior to most every other game out there. And though DnD isn’t the absolute best game out there in every category, they are the best, overall.

Dungeons and Dragons isn’t a perfect game, but it’s pretty close. As close, in fact, as a TTRPG can be in today’s world. Even though I have my own TTRPG (Eternity TTRPG), I still have to say that overall, Dungeons and Dragons is better.

DnD has been around longer than any modern RPG, it’s the most popular tabletop RPG in the world, the artwork’s incredible, the game has countless thousands of playtest hours, some of the most creative game designers in the world work for Wizards of the Coast, etc. There's even an entire genre of products out there specifically labelled as DnD gifts. Dungeons and Dragons is just that huge.

I haven’t met many people who don’t like DnD. There is some hype around the game, and it certainly benefits from brand name recognition. But there’s a reason that it’s the most played RPG out there. If you’re new to tabletop gaming, or just want one gamer’s honest DnD 5th edition reviews, you’ve come to the right place.

If you’re someone who doesn’t love DnD, head back to the “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article There are plenty of great tabletop games out there that play very differently than DnD.

How Unique is DnD 5th Edition: (10/10)

DnD may not seem like a very unique game when compared to other tabletop or video game RPGs but that’s only because they created the gaming systems upon which almost every TTRPG and video game RPG is built.

Trust me, DnD is unique. That’s why it’s still around. Just look at 90% of the other TTRPGs on the market today. They all emulate Dungeons and Dragons in one way or another. It’s realistic to say that other tabletop RPGs are “like DnD but with a twist.” If anything, other games are less unique because they almost always use at least one major section of ideas from DnD.

How Easy is it to Learn DnD 5th Edition: (10/10)

DnD isn’t the easiest tabletop RPG to learn. But this is also where momentum comes in. There are so many people playing DnD on a regular basis that if you’re new to the game all you have to do is ask someone at your gaming table what to do in any given scenario, and someone will know the answer. You basically don’t even need to learn the game in order to play, so long as you have people to play with.

There are also so many cool things to learn and do in DnD that chances are high you’ll find something in the game that you really love in the game, you’ll get sucked in, and then you’ll end up studying on your own anyways so that you can do even more of what you love.

After a little while of study, you’ll thereby become another asset to your entire gaming group for bits of knowledge from which other new people can learn.

5th Edition Presentation: (10/10)

DnD sets the standard for tabletop RPG rulebook presentation and organization. The books are easy to read, engaging, and to-the-point. Wizards of the Coast presents top-notch writing, editing, graphic design, and placement of all gaming and instructional material.

The DnD 5th edition core rulebooks are indeed their own form of artwork.

If you aren’t familiar yet, by the way, you soon will be. DnD basically coined the term “d20,” which refers to a 20-sided dice. Having a full array of gaming dice is basically part of the fundamental DnD presentation. If you need dice, check out my article on the Best D&D Dice out there.

Eternity TTRPG Top Sellers

Eternity TTRPG Core Rulebook - PDF Download

SKU 00001

$15.00

Dungeon A Day Subscription

SKU 00004

Out of Stock

Deep Sea - Custom Dice

SKU 00005

$12.00

Sparks of Eternity: Emanation

SKU 00015

$0.00

DnD Lore: (10/10)

DnD has tons of lore. Expansions on core rulebooks, supplemental material, pre-made adventures, entire pre-made RPG campaigns, endless numbers of novels, videos, podcasts, video games, websites, maps, and entire books of lore. Really, there’s more lore to the various campaign worlds of DnD than you could probably ever play through.

Every campaign world in DnD has an immersive setting. Every town, NPC, magic item, and villain is available for you so that you don’t have to create your own stories if you don’t want to. Or alternatively, you can use existing lore as a foundation upon which to build your own gaming world.

Combat in DnD 5th Edition: (7/10)

Combat is one of the areas of DnD 5th edition that I don’t love. To be honest, I’ve never really loved DnD combat in any edition, and I do think there are other games out there that have better combat systems.

5th Edition is similar to 3.5 edition (yes, 3.5 edition). 4th Edition tried emulating video game combat, but I think did so pretty poorly. Where the game lies now is probably the best that combat in DnD has ever been. It’s just that DnD combat is not all that exciting to me, and it still feels like it lacks depth.

When I say that combat lacks depth, what I mean is that even with 5th edition, there’s a lot of “roll to hit,” then “roll for damage” going on. I wouldn’t consider a straightforward attack action on every turn a very tactical or in-depth game.

Also, not all classes are equal in combat, and there aren’t always a lot of unique things to do in combat too, depending on which class you play. I think that’s a bummer. Designers have gone a long way towards improving this problem, but it’s still true that wizards kill everything at high levels of play, and wizards have 10x more options than other classes (because of all their spells). Other classes make up for that with skill points and such, but to me that still doesn’t quite cut it.

Most classes do have unique attacks, powers, or spells. But if we’re comparing their repertoire to something like the attacks, powers, and spells available to classes in World of Warcraft or other top-tier video game RPGs, the classes in DnD are boring by comparison.

If you’re very creative as a player, you can always make up unique actions for your character to perform. But the game itself doesn’t provide a lot of interesting things to do beyond just attacking.

I do really like the advantage/ disadvantage mechanic in DnD 5th edition. It’s a nice improvement over previous editions that adds new dynamics to combat.

I will admit that I also love making full attack actions and rolling multiple attacks in a single round, spilling dice all over the table. At the end of the day though, DnD combat can become a grind. I attack the enemy. Enemy attacks me. My turn? Ok, I attack the enemy again… I simply wouldn’t want to do an entire gaming session in DnD that’s based on combat.

This isn’t a new critique – people have been saying it for years. Don’t get me wrong – there’s certainly drama combat in DnD, especially with a great dungeon master. But I just feel that battles in DnD lack something that keeps combat feeling fresh and engaging.

Game “Flow”: (10/10)

You don’t even need a great dungeon master for DnD to be a great game, and to get into the “flow” of the game. Even a totally new group can still have fun gaming.

For comparison, many TTRPGs do not have the same level of strength in this area. Many games have (overly-detailed) rules which can easily slow down the game. Many games are also heavily reliant upon the dungeon master (or game master) to keep the story running.

Granted, DnD groups do benefit from having a great dungeon master. It’s just that even new dungeon masters can make terrific games for their players because DnD is such a solid game system.

Also, there are plenty of great dungeon master tools for DnD available to help anyone who wishes to grow their skills as a dungeon master.

DnD Artwork: (10/10)

Dungeons and Dragons has amazing artwork. I love the artwork in DnD. They set the standard for all other TTRPG artwork. If for any reason, you’re not familiar with the quality of artwork DnD provides, just check it out on any search engine.

The other great thing is that DnD has phenomenal artwork in everything they produce, from core rulebooks to supplemental material. Literally, the best artists in the gaming industry regularly complete work for Dungeons and Dragons.

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

The Wizards of the Coast website looks great and is easy to navigate. Also, all DnD books are easily found on Amazon. Even if you know nothing about DnD (including what books to purchase) you can find that information without hardly any effort.

By the way, if you don’t know what to purchase, here you go:

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Player’s Handbook (ideally, every player at the gaming table should have one)
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Monster Manual (at least one person at the gaming table should have one)
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide (whoever is going to “lead” the gaming group should have one)

Also, if you’ve never used one, a DnD campaign planner can be a big help for any Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast.

Note that it’s also possible to play single player DnD if you have all of the core rulebooks.

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (8/10)

This is another downside of DnD. I will say though that it is in fact a small downside.

You’re looking at $150 for hardcover copies of the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual – all of which you need to play DnD. Wizards of the Coast for sure knows how to monetize their products.

The thing is though, the artwork, production value, game system, and legacy of Dungeons and Dragons are so great that the price they charge is perfectly reasonable.

The reason that the price really isn’t so bad, too, is that players can also share the cost of the DnD core rulebooks, if it’s a bit expensive for anyone at the table.

If you have a 5-person group, you’re looking at $30 each. It’s not the cheapest tabletop RPG on the market. But I do believe DnD delivers value for its price. And even at $150, DnD is still a hobby far less expensive than many.

Fame & Availability of Supplemental Material for DnD 5th Edition: (10/10)

No TTRPG is more famous than DnD, and no other game has as much supplemental material for literally endless gaming. You can find a DnD setting for virtually any kind of gaming experience you’d like.

There are official settings made by Wizards of the Coast, independent settings produced by a host of game designers and writers, and unofficial settings all over the internet that would be honored if you used their material.

Speaking of, check out my article on DnD quest ideas.

The bottom line is that you aren’t played Dungeons and Dragons on a regular basis, but you’d like to, you’ll have no problem at all finding a regular gaming group for an ongoing RPG campaign.

Dungeons and Dragons is Produced By:

Wizards of the Coast

Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed my article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.

I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.

If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

Jacob Tegtman

Play Sparks of Eternity: Emanation Online

By Jacob Tegtman • October 23, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzrUgzvlYE0 Transcription Welcome back to Eternity TT RPG YouTube channel, where I talk about different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe from D&D to the game that my husband and I have been creating. Um, if you follow the channel, you know that we did come out with a card game combat tabletop role-playing game, and it's awesome. I'm super happy with it. I think we all are. Um, but as great as the physical game is, right, we wanted to expand. So we have it online now. And in this video, I'm just gonna walk you through how to get there, um, what you see, and a quick rundown of how to play. Um, so please, uh, take the time to check out the game and we'll jump right in. So to get to the website, um, that holds the online version of [00:01:00] Emanation, you're gonna go to play.sparksofeternity.com and from there it is gonna open up with a screen asking for your email and if there's any name that you want, like, the game to call you, um, your username, and that's it. You don't need a password. You don't need a credit card. You don't need anything. It is just good to go. And then this is the screen that you get. Um, I am just gonna go ahead and run you through everything that you see, and I may start a game as well. So everybody's, um, system is gonna open up with the assassin, um, the first character alphabetically. And you'll notice at the top that you're gonna have a few different other classes: berserker, druid, judge, oracle, and summoner. Um, at this point in time, players, you and I can only play the assassin, berserker, druid, and summoner. We are currently having just the computers play as the judge and oracle. Um, at some point, we are [00:02:00] going to open those up. We're just not there yet. So on this screen, it gives you a rundown of, like, who the assassin is, um, and how many life sparks they start with, your hit points, if they're more of a tactic player, a magic player, or a mix, um, how many of the cards take a D20 roll for that tabletop role-playing feel. And not to mention you have the amazing art for it, um, that tries to depict more of what the class is Um, other thing that you're gonna end up seeing is that it tells you, like, the cards that you get as you go. So you're always gonna start with your attack, defend, no action. And then for assassin specifically, you do have lethality. But then you can scroll over and you can see all of the abilities for each class so you kind of know what you're getting into before you play, which is really neat if you ask me to get a better feel for it before [00:03:00] you even jump into a game. Um, as far as jumping into a game, there's two different ways to do it right now. You can, um, play against computers or you can share the website with a friend, start a new room, and it's gonna give you a code like this. So you would send that code off to your friend, they would input the code and then they would choose, like, their character and off you go. Um, whatever character you have up here selected is the character you're gonna end up playing. Um, for the sake of just showing you guys, I am gonna do the assassin. Um, and then let's say you don't have any friends to play with, which, you know, I don't always have friends, but that's okay. You can add computer players. So I'm gonna add like three players and then I can pick what they are. So I'm okay with the judge, oracle and [00:04:00] berserker. That all sounds good. And then this last spot here is gonna be how long you want everyone to have to choose their ability or like their action for each turn. Um, when you're just getting started and learning the game, I do recommend more towards like the two or three minutes. Of course, if you don't take that long, the game will just continue anyway. Like if everybody's selected it'll just move on. But if you need that time to read and understand, then please take more time. Um, for, you know, my sake and knowing the game, I'm gonna go with 60 seconds and then we just start the match with four players So now we're on turn one. I do have a countdown timer up in this corner telling me how much time I have left. It does do a turn counter for me. This turn will always be turn zero because you are like a level zero character in the world. You're level zero with combat, you have no actions, you're not a fully fledged whatever class you [00:05:00] are, right? So this turn I am gonna go with defend. It shows me a little bit better and I hit play it. So now everybody's thing is gonna show and they're just gonna run through everything that happens. I am not clicking anything right now, it's just doing its thing. So they all attacked each other. I'm defending. It gives me a quick rundown down here of what happens, what abilities they're gaining, and then it tells you like what happened with health as well, which I think is really cool. Now I am level one. I now have access to assassinate and it also shows me what my other opponents are gaining down below. And now I can choose stuff to play. I'm gonna go ahead and do the assassinate one, which includes rolling a D20. We're gonna play it And now healing will always take priority. So that is what ha- is happening there. And then they decided to attack. They have a passive going on, so that [00:06:00] just got rolled. And now I'm gonna roll to assassinate. I didn't hit, so I won't select a target And now they're just finishing up anything that needs to resolve and onto the next round. So as you can see, it runs really quickly, um, which is just... I think it's great, you know? I think getting to have a feel for the game and see what's going on is just really neat. Um, other thing to note as you get further in the game, you're gonna notice, like, this person now has dual wield. If I scroll over that, I see what it is. It is a passive for them. Um, and that means that it gets rolled every turn and, um, we just gotta see if they hit every turn unless somebody dispels it. Um, or in this case, this one is immune to greater dispel. You can see that at the very bottom. You'll also notice that these little cards at the top right appeared, meaning that my opponents have already picked their cards and they're waiting on me. [00:07:00] Um, I think we're just gonna try to assassinate again 'cause, you know, I'm an assassin. I think that's great. So healing takes place first again. Healing takes place first and now they're doing the rest of their actions. They're rolling their passives And then I'll try to assassinate. Man, the rolls are bad. Um, and then everything else resolves. It goes over what people are gaining, and we go on to the next round. So this goes on for 10 rounds as far as like gaining different abilities, but the game ends at round 20. Um, by round 20, you're looking for, you know, um, being the last man standing or having the most life sparks at the end of the whole game. So that is a quick rundown on how the online game works. I think it's really neat that we do [00:08:00] have the, you know, physical version of it, and now we have an online version. It's crazy to see how quick it's all coming together. Um, I'll drop the link to this down below, so hopefully you guys, uh, decide to check it out. Let us know any questions, comments, concerns. Like and subscribe, and we will catch y'all next time. Thank you

5 D&D Tabletop RPG Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes

October 19, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_l3hijcNcI Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I go over different things in the tabletop role-playing universe from the game that my husband and I cr- are creating, to D&D, to goodness knows what, right? Um, this go around, I am going to talk about common mistakes you find from new players or longtime players when you're playing D&D. Now, keep in mind, I have only played D&D once or twice. Um, I personally was not a fan of the system. However, these are just common mistakes you can find in just about any tabletop role-playing game when you're just getting started. So I thought they were kind of relevant. Um, so we're just gonna hop right in, and I may rapid-fire these. So common mistake number one is thinking that a nat 20 succeeds at absolutely everything. So this one I find really funny, actually, because you would [00:01:00] think that with the best dice roll, you could do anything, right? Um, turns out you can't. So as far as combat goes, um, a nat 20, it'll always automatically hit. You'll always do damage. There's no question about that when it comes to combat. However, when you're starting to look at, um, ability checks, and you're in these different, um, situations that don't involve combat, a nat 20 does not mean much. So it comes down to your DM and what your DM decides. For example, let's say that you are trying to persuade a king to hand over his whole kingdom, right? And you roll a nat 20, and you're thinking, "Yes, I did it. I have a kingdom now." And DM's like, "Uh, no, you don't." The king may be more likely to put you in a place of power in the kingdom, but he's not gonna hand over everything. [00:02:00] Um , so that just ... It all comes down to the DM regardless of what you're rolling. Um, so that is something to keep in mind, and don't get overexcited about your, uh, rolls. Never get excited about them, honestly, unless it's combat, so keep that in mind. Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details Other mistake that I find very interesting that happens a lot is forgetting that [00:03:00] your proficiency in different skills matters. Um, so when I go to build a character, I just build something that's fun and cool, and I don't really care about the stats, and that's probably something that I personally need to change. But I imagine that if I'm like that, I may not be the only one. Um, so whenever you're rolling in D&D combat or ability checks, you do add your proficiency bonuses, right? So it's almost never just the dice roll. Um , so you really should be paying attention to your proficiency, and if you wanna be someone that is really sneaky, for example, then you need to look at your proficiency in stealth because you can't be sneaky without a high proficiency in stealth. So definitely something to think about when you're building a character. Um, another Mistake that's pretty common is trying to maintain two concentration spells. Um, so [00:04:00] the misconception is that you can have one already running and you can cast another and you can maintain both. Um, actual rule in D&D is you can only concentrate one effect at a time. Um, that is very odd to me just because as a normal human being, we are able to multitask. I mean, maybe not well, but we can. Um, so that is one thing that I personally do like about the tabletop role-playing game that my husband and I are creating is that you can have multiple things that you're concentrating, um, as long as you have the proficiency to do so. But anyway, D&D doesn't do that, so don't do it. Um, let's see. Um, let's see. Um, other thing that comes up pretty often is that thinking your turn when you go to do any kind of combat is just for attacking. So this ... We talk about [00:05:00] combat, right? And all you think of is attacking your opponent, but it's really outdoing your opponent, outthinking them, and you can do other things like dodging, dashing, disengaging, hiding, searching, um, and helping others in your party, right? You don't just have to attack the boss. You can do more. So something to think about, right? Um, okay. This is a mistake that I find in every tabletop role-playing game, and maybe it's not even a mistake. Maybe it's just how people are. But I struggled with this extremely. I still struggle with it, is that to play a role-playing game, you think you have to be a professional, like a professional actor. Uh, truth is, you don't. You really don't. You can just use your normal voice. You can, like, have your normal personality. You can just put you on the paper. And that is what I did for multiple campaigns when I first started doing this kind of stuff [00:06:00] with any tabletop role-playing game. So keep that in mind. You don't need to be anything special. You don't even need to know anything. You don't have to know a single thing about the tabletop role-playing universe. Just write stuff down. Just write it down. Try your best. Call it good. You don't have to be perfect. Okay. So with all of that, like I said, rapid fire things, misconceptions, mistakes that we see in D&D and other tabletop role-playing universes. What is something that you thought before you started playing or even as you're playing or even that you see other people do that is a misconception or mistake when in your tabletop role-playing universes? Drop a comment below. Let me know. Also, let us know how we're doing. Like, comment, subscribe, and keep it going.

Our First Convention With a TTRPG Product! Sparks of Eternity

October 1, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtIN1OHjTZQ Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG channel, um, where we talk about different happenings in the TTRPG universe as well as what's going on with our game, um, with the Sparks of Eternity universe. So I'm gonna try and keep this one short, sweet, to the point 'cause I have a lot of stuff I gotta get done. Um, so this weekend we are gonna be attending our first convention where we, like, have the official product to sell. Um, we have done conventions in the past. Um, I've been a part of two of those conventions. I know my husband has done a few more than that. And at those conventions, it was all about, like, just trying to keep the tabletop role-playing universe alive and explain what, um, we're trying to bring to the table with it, um, explain more about the world of Eternity and all that kind of stuff. Um, this go around, as I said, it's gonna be the first time [00:01:00] that we actually have a product. Um, and I know I've talked about it before. If you're new here, that's gonna be Sparks of Eternity Emanation, and it is a... We're still figuring out the wording of this, so if you've played it and have a better idea, let me know. But it is a tabletop role-playing combat party card game. Okay? So go ahead and, you know, think of your tabletop role-playing. You're gonna have dice rolls, you're gonna have different classes, and you know your classic stuff like the druid is a shapeshifter, assassin is, you know, assassinating and that kind of stuff, right? Well, now you take that, you put all their abilities into a deck and you start at level zero, you work your way up to level 10 and you just try to take out your opponents or survive the longest. You're... I mean, good luck to you either way, right? Um, [00:02:00] so that is what we're gonna be showing off at the convention this weekend. And with this convention there has been a lot of planning and it's just been like a labor of love trying to get everything ready for it, honestly. Because we have to travel for the weekend, you know, stay in the hotel, pack the car, make sure the dog's taken care of, all that kind of stuff, right? Um, but then we also have to think of the booth itself and, well, what do we want the table to look like? Do we need a tablecloth? What should the tablecloth look like? What about a background banner? And all this different stuff, right? And we didn't know we would be doing this convention until about two months ago. So it's been about a two-month scramble getting everything ready for it, all for this three-day weekend. And over this three-day weekend, we have eight hours on Friday, 12 hours on Saturday, and another six hours on Sunday. So [00:03:00] that's 26 hours over the weekend that we're gonna be vending, um, and hoping to do our best with it, right? Um, so one thing that I do wanna show you guys that I am very excited about is we went ahead and worked with an artist. Um, it is our new artist for, um, the Sparks of Eternity franchise, and he created our banner artwork, which I really-- I am so excited with what he created, um, for us to show off what the world of Eternity really is, right? Um, so here it is. And with this, you know, banner, we're trying to show, like, basically you as the player reaching out for all these different ideas, all these different sparks, while also giving itself to the lore of Eternity where you have The Stag and, um, Saint Ranroth on the other side, um, and just their storyline. Now, of course, you guys [00:04:00] don't know all the lore and everything behind all of this. We do and we cannot wait to reveal it all in due time, you know? 'Cause we have these plans that we're setting in motion, and this convention is just another part of that plan. So, as I said, I have a lot of stuff to get done leading up to this convention for the weekend, so we're gonna post this, you know, do all the work with that, and then continue getting ready. Um, we will be at the Pittsburgh Gaming Expo this weekend, and that is what we'll be doing. So if you happen to watch the channel and see us there, say hi. Um, if not, definitely keep following along with our journey and make sure you check out our website for the game that we're selling. Um, wish us the best of luck, and as always, like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing. Let us know what you wanna hear. Thanks, y'all.