D&D Essentials Kit vs Starter Set: Review

08/09/2022 Rocket 719 Views Beginner Adventure, Core Rules, DM tips, How to, How to DM, How to Play, Start playing

DnD Starter Set — *Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set*

Today we are going to do a D&D Essentials Kit vs Starter Set comparison. It boils down to them both being useful depending on how new to the game you are.

Similarities and Differences

Both sets include a paired down rule book, an adventure and a set of dice.

Both adventures take place in the same area of the Sword Coast in the town of Phandalin.

The Essentials Kit (EK) has a 64 page rule book vs the 32 page rule book that comes with the Starter Set (SS).

The EK has a better rule book for folks who have played D&D before and want to DM for the first time. It goes through optional rules and how to character build.

The SS has a better rulebook for folks who haven’t played at all or who want to take is slowly to get started. The book contains just the essential rules and with the pre-done character sheets it is a much more get up and go solution to getting started than the EK.

Both adventures take place in the same area of the Sword Coast in the town of Phandalin.

The books in the EK are square bound whereas the ones in the SS are staple bound. This means the EK feels a little heftier.

You get pre generated characters with the SS and the characters are detailed enough to start playing with immediately. You can, however, also download the same character sheets and claim the digital adventure for free from dndbeyond.

Tip: Even if you don’t decide to start with the SS do yourself a favour and download the character sheets. They are a really well thought out set of characters and you can use them in any of your adventures down the line. Plus it really shows you how to create backstories.

Both sets include the basic dice but the EK has three extra d6 dice to help you roll for character building and a percentile dice as well as a d10. This means you have 11 red ice in total with the EK and 6 blue dice with the SS. Both sets roll pretty well and are clear to read.

The EK has a lot more goodies. It includes a number of cards, a thin DM screen and rules to help you play with a sidekick in case it’s just a DM and one player who are playing. We give a full listing of the items in our Essential Kit review.

When to buy which

If you can only buy one set and are new to the game then get yourself the Starter Set. The condensed rules and pre-done character sheets let you get cracking without a fuss. There is less to worry about and you don’t have to figure out how to make a character.

If you have played a few times and kind of get the rules then buy the Essentials kit. The extra goodies like the cards, maps and more dice are going to make the box more re-useable down the line.

You can also buy them both. Both sets use the town of Phandalin as the home base for the adventures and there is overlap of a couple of non-player characters (NPC). This means you can start with the Starter Set adventure (The Lost Mines of Phandelver) then run the essentials Kit adventure (The Dragon of Icespire Peak). It keeps your games in the same world and doing them this way will mean that the timeline of events in the area is correct. As the Lost Mines adventure happens before Icespire Peak.

Get The Starter Set Online

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