The Rule of Cool allows Dungeon Masters to modify or introduce rules to enhance the game's appeal for players.
The D&D community has developed entirely new rulesets for 5e to either enhance or replace official systems, allowing players to freely download and utilize them.
Raise armies! Research spells! Spy on your enemies! More than just a set of rules and charts, this book also describes a style of play that assumes your character becomes more interested in influencing the world around them. You’ll still adventure and fight monsters, but this supplement gives you tons of fun things to do during your downtime, including finding and creating epic heirloom weapons to pass down to your descendants.
Ancestral Weapons is a popular supplement on DMs Guild, offering both magic item and weapon rules for adventurers. Named items, such as Sting from The Hobbit or Raistlin Majere's Staff of Magius, add a unique and special touch to characters' arsenals. This supplement provides rules to enhance and generate legendary weapons, enhancing their history and impact.
There are numerous, captivating non-Dungeons & Dragons cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying games out there, such as Cyberpunk Red and Shadowrun. While many players initially encountered the hobby with 5e's rules, they find themselves comfortable with them and enjoy them. Reddit user u/Newtond created a comprehensive cyberpunk supplement called "Technomancer's Texbook" and released it for free, providing everything necessary for running a campaign in a cyberpunk setting.
While Cyberpunk 2077 is still under development, players only need the Player's Handbook or the free Basic Rules (or the 5e SRD) to get started. This cyberpunk tabletop RPG has everything you need to dive into the world of Cyberpunk, including both systems and rules for dungeon masters and player-focused options like 13 appropriate subclasses, 15 backgrounds to fit the setting, cybernetic implants, hacking, and over 85 creatures and NPCs for the players to interact with. The creator has even set up a Discord community to bring players together and find groups to play using the rules.
Eldritch Sands was a resounding Kickstarter success, granting players an immersive post-apocalyptic mechsuit wonderland brimming with new rules and abilities. Players could transform into powerful mechanical marvels called Eldtrichtech, boasting unique upgrades that revolutionize their gameplay.
The beloved AD&D setting Spelljammer was adapted to 5e and received mixed reviews. While it was light on rules and lore, there were significant debates around the hadozee race's inclusion and subsequent depiction, as well as the adjustments made to the rules for ships in the updated version. Many players found the original rules to be lacking in complexity and felt that the free Wildjammer rulebook by Redditor u/SurrealSage provided a more faithful adaptation to the modern 5e ruleset and the Foundry Virtual Tabletop (VTT).The fully equipped and meticulously crafted Airship Supplement is an impressive 100+ pages long and features spaceships, weapon upgrades, intricate crew roles both in and out of combat, comprehensive spells, and detailed maps and artwork. Spelljammer's greatest strength lies in its intricate ship-to-ship combat rules, which Wildjammer has meticulously developed to address the shortcomings of Spelljammer's traditional ship combat.
The official Monster Manual is not only one of the core 5e books, but also one of the most well-known and beloved books in the Dungeons & Dragons world. Despite the primary concern that the monsters can become dull over time due to their static abilities and stats, the Monster Manual remains a highly sought-after and beloved source of monster creation and integration into Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
A long-time complaint of the inclusion of half-races in RPGs has been that human is, by default, one of the halves. Half-elves, half-orcs, and half-dragons are all considered human and are part of the default human half. This has led to the creation of numerous parentage options for DnD 5e player characters, with over a hundred different options presented across three volumes. Additionally, upbringings provide diverse backgrounds and shape a character's culture, with options ranging from the frightened mage enclave to the tribe of wary nomads.
Dungeons & Dragons has needed this book for a long time. The game requires more ancestries for players to choose from, especially when creating half-races. This book and its sequels have greatly contributed to the game's rich history and diversity, allowing players to create unique and interesting characters.