The Dungeons & Dragons gift guide 2024 article feature image is from Tales from the Yawning Portal. This article contains affiliate links to put gold in our coffers.
If you have a friend or family member interested in Dungeons and Dragons, I’m here to walk you through some perfect gifts for D&D fans and how to buy gifts that will get some use! I am a professional dungeon master, a TTRPG game designer, and a YouTuber doing this thing for a living. Before I get into the gift suggestions, I want to give you two pieces of advice when shopping for D&D gifts:
Quick Tip #1 – Don’t Buy Miniature Booster Boxes
My number one tip is, if you are shopping for a D&D fan, you may see online people recommending that you pick up some minis (miniatures). Not every table plays with minis, so unless you know they do, they may not get any use out of them.
If you’re looking around at gift guides, you’ll likely see some websites suggesting miniature booster boxes as a good gift for D&D fans. These aren’t worth getting unless the gift recipient specifically asks for them. The reason is that some D&D tables play “theater of the mind” and don’t use them. If they ask for a specific mini, there are websites like Troll and Toad and Miniature Market where you can pick the specific mini from that set.
Quick Tip #2 – Don’t Buy Official D&D Books Randomly
Don’t grab a random D&D book off the shelf unless specifically requested. Unless they specifically call out a certain title like Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, stick to a gift card from a bookstore you know sells Dungeons & Dragons books.
The 2024 Gifts for D&D Players and DMs
These are gifts that I or someone I know uses. They can help players and DMs to play the game more efficiently and have fun.
Office Supplies for D&D Notes and Visual Aids
Price: $
Now, here’s the fun thing; if you’re looking for gifts for a DND player, one of the best things you can do is go to an office supply store. I will be so excited if someone fills my stocking with a box full of highlighters for marking up my books, wet-erase markers for battle maps, pens, and pencils. Office supplies like this aren’t a lame gift to D&D players, trust me.
Pocket Legal Pads for D&D Notes
Price: $
The next thing will be these miniature legal pads I frequently use to track initiative and take notes. For players, I found these 2.5 x 3.5-inch dot-gridded notebooks on Amazon. If they want to take notes or draw maps, these are pretty high-quality for the price.
Card-Sized Calculator for Quick D&D Math
Price: $
Really handy–specifically for DMS–is a pocket, card-sized calculator. Very simple, this could run you like two or three dollars for a decent Casio, but it will go a long way for DMs when tracking hit points in combat. Every millisecond shaved off from running combat ups the pace of the action.
Spell Effect Template for D&D Map Combat
Price: $
Something I feel every person playing with miniatures needs, DM or player, is a Spell Effect Template. You can find these on Amazon for $10-15 USD, and they save so much time when judging distances on a battle mat. These things are priceless when determining those sometimes tricky shapes like breath weapons.
Battle Mat (Reusable and Versatile)
Price: $
Any D&D player interested in miniatures will likely need a battle mat. Even if someone already has a battle mat, having another is always welcome. I recommend getting a wet-erase mat because it’s never fun to accidentally erase a wall section during intense combat. The best bang for my buck I’ve ever found was the Chessex wet-erase mat. Just be sure you only get wet-erase markers for it!
If you’re crafty, you can buy blank poster paper, draw a grid, and laminate it. This can be used with dry-erase markers.
Dice Subscription
Price: $
(Flutes speaking) Libris Arcana’s dice subscription is perfect for dice addicts. They were kind enough to send me several of their dice sets to review. With Libris Arcana’s dice subscription, your dear dice goblin will receive a curated collection of click-clack each month! This small family business releases a new set of exclusive, limited-edition resin dice monthly for their subscribers. For $15.99 per month, subscribers get a 7-piece resin dice set, a name card for the dice, fun stickers, and a random die as a bonus, delivered to their mailbox with free shipping worldwide. There are no contracts, and pausing or canceling a subscription at any time is simple.
I like their dice set themes and their execution. I received their mojito, miasma, and Underdark sets, and I like them all! Seriously, this gift keeps giving for your dice enthusiasts who can never have enough math rocks.
Beginner Miniatures for D&D Characters and Monsters
Price: $
There is a set of miniatures for beginners that I would highly recommend that I found on Amazon. This is a basic, low-detail set of hard plastic minis perfect for any level of play. They cover a basic load-out of hero characters and various basic fantasy monsters, and you can easily prime these and paint them up should you choose.
Condition Rings for D&D Battle Tracking
Price: $-$$
Anyone who plays with miniatures must have a set of these ASAP. It’s painfully easy to forget what conditions a creature is afflicted with in the middle of combat. Due to this, people have been using the rings off of milk bottles for years. Recently, companies started making incredibly polished condition rings to help with this problem, becoming the industry standard. Seriously, I have no idea how to play D&D without these anymore. Your options for look and material are pretty wide here, but I prefer the flexible rings by Lynx if you can afford them. If not, the ALIZEROs on Amazon are also fantastic. I wouldn’t recommend 3D-printed ones because they tend to be significantly more fragile.
Combat Tiers for 3-Dimensional Combat
Price: $-$$
If you want to take combat into the third dimension, combat tiers are the best means of simulating verticality and flight. These plastic platforms will raise miniatures up above the battlefield and allow ground units to move underneath. The Combat Tiers by the “Combat Tier” brand are the go-to tiers for this, and can be seen used to ridiculous effect in the final battle of Critical Role campaign one.
PocketDM Tokens for the Quick DM
Price: $-$$
PocketDM tokens are coin representations of various creatures or points of interest on a battlefield. These are perfect for quick encounters if you don’t have miniatures to represent monsters, and they’re way more durable than bulky plastic minis. They’re reasonably priced, but the ones I’ve seen everyone show off are only available through Etsy. These tokens are great substitutions for minis that you may not have at the time, especially if you like running random encounters.
Chessex Dice for Any D&D Player or DM
Price: $-$$
Chessex dice make for the best bang for your buck, and no one will be upset about getting another set of dice. Even if it’s a duplicate or one of the cheap $5.00 sets, I will be happy to have more dice. I’ve never had a Chessex set show extreme balance issues, and the swirl sets have tons of personality.
Inspiration Coins to Reward Players
Price: $
Arcane Goods makes solid metal inspiration coins for under $5.00. These are a fantastic immersion addition and a reminder of an oft-forgotten bonus at the table. These heavy, metal coins are cheap enough to pick up a set of four just in case a player decides to take one home by accident. These aren’t a “must-pick-up” like Condition Rings, but they’re a handy luxury item.
Quest Decks for Dungeon Masters
Price: $
The Quest Decks by Dice Dungeons are a mainstay in almost every D&D YouTuber’s dungeon master kit I’ve seen. These are like having a notice board on hand if you need random quest prompts. I used them on a livestream to inspire an adventure I published with Ross Leiser on the Dungeon Masters Guild. Each deck is themed from Lovecraftian quests involving Royalty, horror plot hooks, and generic fantasy encounters. You can pick up every deck of theirs for about $120.00, but they run about $15 a piece, and you’ll get a lot of love out of just two or three decks.
Magic Item Tracking Pads for Loot Reminders
Price: $
Arcane Goods also created these interesting Magic Item receipt pads. If you come up with random loot in a dungeon and need help remembering what you gave to your players, these carbon receipts are perfect for quickly referencing that information mid-session. You write down the information on the white receipt, and the yellow receipt behind it carbon copies the info you wrote. Super quick, simple, and extremely useful for dungeon masters.
JBL Go-3 Speaker for Audio Ambience
Price: $$
This is the absolute best portable Bluetooth speaker for dungeon masters. It’s also one of those weird products where the critic reviews were way less kind than the customer reviews. As an audiophile, I will guarantee that JBL made an incredible little speaker here. It fits comfortably in any backpack or dungeon master kit, occupying about the same space as two decks of cards. The subwoofer bumps in this thing. You must have this in your kit if you’re using an app like Syrinscape.
Lynx Potion Tokens for Fun Visual Aids
Price: $
Lynx continues to make high-quality tabletop gaming accessories. These potion tokens are a fun way to track these healing consumables. They include a series of potion tracking tokens, 24 potion-shaped d4s, and magic item cards for each rank of the potions of healing, An absolute bargain at $25.00 and perfect for any D&D fan.
D&D Book Tabs for the D&D Bookworm
Price: $$
This year, WizKids put out these plastic, adhesive book tabs that are remarkably high-quality. Each has over 50 tabs to organize the books with quick-reference tabs. They’re not fantastic for box-set books, as the tabs must be bent to fit. I’m also curious how well they will travel in a backpack, but they’re ideal for open-back bookshelves and coffee table copies.
Campaign Cases for Versatile DMs
Price: $$
These are the “upgrades” from the PocketDM tokens mentioned earlier. Wizards of the Coast put out these campaign cases of plastic tokens with monster cling “stickers.” I have not personally held these in hand or played with them, but I did want to mention them here as an alternative to miniatures. In the worst-case scenario, I could see myself using these with a wet-erase marker to have token representation on the battle mat.
Metal Dice by Soar Forge
Price: $$
Author Flutes is speaking for this one. Don’t merely roll dice; heft your dice and toss them with a thunk to decide your character’s fate! Combo these weighty metal dice with a dice tray, and you’re in for a stylish statement and a satisfying evening of dice rolling.
You can read my full review of Soar Forge’s metal dice here.
Warlock Tiles
Price: $$-$$$
When WizKids initially released the Warlock Tiles, reviews were pretty mixed. The clips they came with were incredibly hard, resulting in tiles snapping from normal use. A few months later, they released alternative blue clips that fixed many of these issues. These tiles are on the upper end for cost, but they’re the cheapest and easiest means of 3D terrain without crafting. The boxes vary in price from $30.00 to $100.00, and I feel the $7.99 EZ Clips are a must to use them.
Forged Dice Co. Dice Display Case and Rolling Tray
Price: $$$
(Flutes speaking) I accumulated more dice sets recently and wanted to keep them separated from each other while being able to see them. Dice bags I read about were often ineffective, so I took a chance on this display case. I love it. The window is plastic, not glass, which is essential to me. I highly recommend this display case for someone who wants more than a bag or small box for their many plastic/glass/metal dice.
SIQUK Dice Holder and Rolling Tray
Price: $$
(Flutes speaking) This is the perfect small box for me to carry a few sets of dice to a game and roll within the box. It’s a good size and sturdy construction. I don’t have to worry about transportation or rolling on a crowded table while I have this box.
Akro-Mils Storage Drawers
Price: $$-$$$
These are perfect at-home game-piece storage if you’re looking for miniature and dice storage. I’ve had my two sets for over a year, and they have helped keep my miniatures organized and dust-free. They’re not great for Huge and Gargantuan miniatures, but most of your Large and smaller ones should fit these like a dream.
Blue Yeti Microphone for online D&D
Price: $$$
Online TTRPGs are becoming more and more frequent. As such, it’s worth it to invest in a decent USB microphone. Blue set the standard in the industry with their Yeti series, and they continue to be the most recommended microphone for nonprofessional day-to-day use.
Logitech C922 Webcam for online D&D
Price: $$$
Less necessary than a good microphone but still useful for online games. The Logitech C922 webcam is the webcam I use to shoot my YouTube videos. With some basic ring lights, the C922 gets you incredibly clear and crisp 1080p 60 fps video with no hang-ups. Having this for online games where everyone can see each other’s faces is a huge boon.
D&D Supplements from Third-Party Publishers for Gifts in 2024
- Dungeon Master’s Guild (affiliate link)
- New Classes by Third-Party Publishers (article)
- New Content for DMs and Players by Third-Party Publishers (article)
- Alchemy Almanac (article)
Official D&D 5e Books to Consider for Gifts in 2024
If you’re shopping for official books despite my caution against it, here is a list of books you might be looking at. Remember, you should only buy these if your giftee wants one specifically.
- Acquisitions Incorporated
- Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
- Candlekeep Mysteries
- Critical Role Presents: Call of the Netherdeep
- Curse of Strahd
- Dungeon Master’s Guide
- Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set
- Eberron: Rising from the Last War
- Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
- Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
- Ghosts of Saltmarsh
- Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
- Monster Manual
- Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
- Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
- Mythic Odysseys of Theros
- Out of the Abyss
- Player’s Handbook
- Princes of the Apocalypse
- Rime of the Frostmaiden
- Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
- Storm King’s Thunder
- Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos
- Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
- Tales from the Yawning Portal
- Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- The Rise of Tiamat
- The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure
- Tomb of Annihilation
- Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
- Volo’s Guide to Monsters
- Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
- Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
What Is on Your Dungeons & Dungeons Gift Guide?
What D&D products have you loved in 2024? Cast Message in the comments below to spread the word about the best tools for DMs and players! We’d love to discover new ideas for our Dungeons & Dungeons gift guide.
This is a great gift guide! Picked up a few things from the links and I’m off to fill a stocking with office supplies.
Fantastic! 🙂