Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit

The Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit is a boxed set for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It is intended for new players, and contains a booklet of basic rules and an adventure.

"The D&D Essentials Kit is a new introductory product meant to bring D&D to audiences interested in jumping into a fantasy story.

This box contains the essentials you need to run a D&D game with one Dungeon Master and one to five adventurers. A newly designed rulebook on-boards players by teaching them how to make characters, and the included adventure, Dragon of Icespire Peak, introduces a new 1-on-1 rules variant."

Contents
A 64-page booklet containing a basic set of rules for adventurers levels 1–5.
 * Essentials Kit Rulebook:
 * Introduction
 * Chapter 1: Creating a Character
 * Chapter 2: Playing the Game
 * Chapter 3: Equipment
 * Chapter 4: Spells
 * Appendix A: Sidekicks
 * Appendix B: Conditions

A 64-page adventure booklet.
 * Dragon of Icespire Peak:
 * Running the Adventure
 * Axeholm
 * Butterskull Ranch
 * Circle of Thunder
 * Dragon Barrow
 * Dwarven Excavation
 * Falcon's Hunting Lodge
 * Gnomegarde
 * Icespire Hold
 * Logger's Camp
 * Mountain's Toe Gold Mine
 * Shrine of Savras
 * Tower of Storms
 * Umbrage Hill
 * Woodland Manse
 * Ending the Adventure
 * Creatures

Dragon of Icespire Peak
The introductory campaign is designed to take characters from levels 1 to 6. The scenario involves a young white dragon, Cryovain, who has recently arrived in the region from the north (thus setting the adventure as a tentative sequel to the events of Storm King's Thunder) and begun hunting and attacking sites all across the map. Similar to Lost Mine of Phandelver (the adventure from the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set), this adventure takes place around the town of Phandalin, makes use of the same cast of town inhabitants and the same basic map of the Sword Coast North. However, rather than playing through a narrative, the Essentials Kit provides a blueprint for a sandbox style of play by delivering most quests to the players via a "quest board" managed by Phandalin's townmaster, Harbin Wester. Players do not need to complete all quests available to them, and more challenging quests become available as easier ones are completed. Other quests or adventure locations are only hinted at through rumors, and can be integrated into or left out of the campaign as needed.

Adventurers are called on initially not to fight the dragon himself, but to help the town of Phandalin protect itself while dealing with other consequences of the dragon's arrival. The initial three quests involve warning the outlying locals about the dragon, and in turn helping them to resolve unrelated conflicts. These quests send the party to visit: a dwarven excavation of a temple to Abbathor (as orcs attack), the rock gnome enclave of Gnomengarde (being terrorized by a mimic), and the local midwife at Umbrage Hill (who sells them potions of healing). Completing two of these three quests unlocks three follow-up quests: to go to Butterskull Ranch (following an orc attack), to deliver supplies to a logging camp (amidst attacks by ankhegs incited by orcs), and to escort a mine overseer to Mountain's Toe gold mine (which has been infested with wererats). After completing two of these three quests, a final series of quests become available which begin to lead to a confrontation with the dragon: clearing out a dwarven ruin called Axeholm, seeking a dragon slayer sword at the barrow of Tanamere Alagondar, and fighting orcish spellcasters called the Anchorites of Talos who have been attacking Falcon's hunting lodge in Neverwinter Wood. Each quest involving orcs, along with a few adventure sites not linked to the quest board, help the adventurers piece together that Cryovain has claimed the orcs' old stronghold of Icespire Hold in the Sword Mountains as his lair. With this knowledge and the experience gained from their many quests, the party can confront the dragon once and for all.

Sequels
A follow-up adventure called Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak was made available in three parts exclusively through D&D Beyond, and subsequently for various virtual tabletop platforms. These were: Storm Lord's Wrath, Sleeping Dragon's Wake, and Divine Contention. Each could be purchased as a standalone product, or could be accessed for free using QR codes included with the purchase of a physical copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit.

The Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure makes reference to some events from Dragon of Icespire Peak and utilizes the same map and some of the same locations, but it is not a continuation of the same story. However, some elements of Dragon of Icespire Peak serve as direct foreshadowing for Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak, most notably the Tower of Storms optional location and the role of the Anchorites of Talos.

Characters

 * • •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • Donnabella Fiasco •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • Galandro Luna •  •  •  •  • Inverna Nightbreeze •  •   •  •  •  •  •  • Nib Addlespur •  •  •  •  •  •  • Pickled Pete •  • Quinn Hightopple •  • Ruby Hammerwhacker •  • Shanjan Kwan •  • Talon Thornwild •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

Creatures

 * • •  •  ( •  • ) •  •  •  •  •  •   ) •   •  •  •  •  •   • halfling •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •   •  •  •  •
 * • human
 * • human

Locations

 * Buildings & Sites: •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •
 * Forests: •
 * Hills & mountains: •  •  •  •
 * Region: •
 * Ruins: Axeholm
 * Roads: •
 * Settlements: •  •  •  •  •
 * Swamps:
 * Wilderness:

Magic

 * Items: •  • cloak of many fashions •  •  •   •  •   •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •
 * Potions: •  •  •
 * Spells: acid splash • aid • arcane lock • augury • beacon of hope • bless • blight • blinding smite • blindness/deafness • blink • •   •  •  command •  • crusader's mantle • cure wounds • dancing lights • darkness •  •  • disguise self • dispel magic • divine favor • faerie fire • fear • feather fall • fireball • fire bolt • flaming sphere •  • guidance • guiding bolt • haste • healing word •  •  • inflict wounds • invisibility •  • lesser restoration • levitate • light • lightning bolt • longstrider •  • mage hand •  • magic weapon • major image • mass healing word • mending • minor illusion • misty step • poison spray • prestidigitation • ray of frost • remove curse • resistance • revivify • sacred flame • sanctuary • sending • shatter • shield • shield of faith • shocking grasp • silence • silent image •  •   • spirit guardians • spiritual weapon • suggestion • thaumaturgy • thunderwave • vicious mockery • warding bond • web
 * Other:

Misc

 * Games:
 * Languages: •  •   •
 * Vegetation:
 * Vessels: •  •  •  •