GUY·NEEDS·GIFT

Best Gifts for D&D Friends

Updated July 8, 202612 picks7 min read

You know the guy. He has a dice-rolling app on his phone and still buys physical dice by the pound. He's got a character concept written for a campaign that hasn't been scheduled yet, and a backstory for that character longer than most people's resumes. Buying for him is easy in theory — the hobby is bottomless — and hard in practice, because he already owns all the obvious stuff.

The trick is knowing which lane he's in. A forever-DM wants table tools and terrain; a player wants dice and a mini that actually looks like his character; a painter wants gray plastic and better brushes. Most D&D people are some blend of all three, which is why this guide spans dice you can't find at a big-box store, minis and the paint to bring them to life, and the gear that runs the table.

Prices run from a few bucks for a spell deck to genuinely-a-splurge for hand-painted terrain, so there's something here whether you're the one friend chipping in or the whole group going in together. One rule: don't buy him a starter set. He is not a starter.

Dice You Can't Get at Target

The good stuff — metal, sharp-edge resin, and a tower to roll them in.

★ Top pick

Metal Polyhedral Dice Set

He owns a dozen plastic sets and still window-shops for more — metal is the tier he hasn't filled yet.

Heft is the whole point. Zinc-alloy dice land with a thunk instead of skittering off into the carpet void, and the numbers are deep-engraved so they don't wear smooth. These ship in a metal tin, which means they survive being hauled to every session at the bottom of a backpack. One honest caveat: metal dice chew up a bare wooden table, so this pairs naturally with a rolling tray.

$25–$40

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Sharp-Edge Resin Dice Set

Sharp-edge resin is the collector's flex — the kind of set he'd photograph before he'd ever roll it.

These are cut, not tumbled, so the faces meet in crisp corners and catch light like cut glass. The hand-poured resin traps foil, flakes, or tiny suspended d20s, and no two sets come out identical — which matters to a guy who names his dice and blames a specific one for a bad night.

$25–$45

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Wooden Dice Tower with Tray

The DM who quietly suspects everyone of fudging rolls needs a tower nobody can accuse of rigging.

Laser-cut wood with internal baffles that tumble the dice into a felt-lined tray in full view of the table. It doubles as a display piece between sessions, and it saves the finish on his desk from the metal dice above. Some models fold flat for transport, which is worth checking if he plays at other people's houses.

$50–$90

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Minis, and the Paint to Match

Figures that look like his character, and the gear to bring them off the sprue.

★ Top pick

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures (Unpainted)

He's been proxying the campaign villain with a spare d6 for a month and everyone's stopped pretending it's fine.

Pre-primed, sold in matched pairs, and detailed enough to read at arm's length across the table. He can run them straight out of the box in bare gray or use them as a painting project. The range covers the common monsters and class archetypes, so you can usually find one that resembles whatever he's actually playing.

$5–$20

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Bones Miniatures Bulk Figures

For the painter who wants figures cheap enough to experiment on without flinching over a ruined coat.

Reaper's Bones plastic is soft and flexible, so it shrugs off drops and forgives a beginner's brush. The catalog is enormous — townsfolk, oozes, dragons, the weirder monsters other lines skip — which suits someone who needs to fill out an entire tavern scene, not just one hero.

$3–$20

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Warpaints Miniature Starter Paint Set

He's got a shelf of gray plastic and has been saying he'll paint it 'this weekend' since spring.

Dropper bottles of colors formulated to grip miniature detail, plus a brush and a figure to practice on. The set includes their signature wash, which is the shortcut that makes a rushed paint job look intentional. Skip this if he's already deep into painting — a committed hobbyist has strong opinions about brands and won't want a starter's palette.

$25–$45

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For the Guy Behind the Screen

Table tools for the friend who's always the DM, from battle mats to full 3D terrain.

★ Top pick

Megamat Wet-Erase Battle Mat

He sketches dungeons on printer paper and tapes the pages together mid-combat. Give him a real grid.

A large vinyl mat with one-inch squares that takes wet-erase marker and wipes clean for the next room. It rolls up for storage instead of creasing like paper, and it's big enough to hold a full encounter without anyone shoving figures off the edge. This is the single upgrade that makes a home game feel like a proper table.

$25–$45

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Dungeon Master's Screen

He improvises whole cities on the fly but still fumbles for the grappling rules every single fight.

A four-panel screen with the reference tables he actually forgets — conditions, cover, common DCs — printed on his side, and art on the players'. It hides his notes and his dice rolls, which is half the job of running a game. Cheap, and one of the few DM things he probably doesn't already own in triplicate.

$10–$20

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WarLock Tiles Dungeon Terrain Set

The theater-of-the-mind DM who won't admit he wants to build the dungeon in 3D.

Interlocking walls and floor tiles that snap together into modular rooms and corridors, then break down for the next map. It sits between a flat mat and full custom terrain — real height and structure without the price or storage burden of the high-end stuff. He can grow the collection one expansion at a time.

$100–$180

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Hand-Painted Modular Dungeon Terrain

For the DM whose table is less a game and more a diorama his players walk figures through.

The aspirational end of table terrain: dense, hand-painted pieces that assemble into genuinely photogenic dungeons and caverns. This is the group-gift or milestone-birthday tier. Skip this if he mostly runs online, plays theater-of-the-mind by choice, or has nowhere to store a box of resin castle — it's a real commitment of both money and shelf space.

$200+

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Rulebooks and the Little Upgrades

The reference material and quick-access extras that live on the table.

★ Top pick

Player's Handbook (2024)

He's still running the decade-old books and grumbling about everything the new edition changed.

The revised core rules, redesigned and compatible with his existing material so nothing on his shelf goes to waste. Even a purist wants a copy to argue with. Check first that he hasn't already bought it — if he has, the revised Dungeon Master's Guide is the natural companion instead.

$30–$50

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Spellbook Cards Deck

His caster's spell list currently lives across seven browser tabs he alt-tabs between mid-turn.

A physical deck with each spell's full text on its own card, so he can fan out his prepared list and stop flipping through a rulebook every round. Decks are sold by class and level range — worth matching to whatever he actually plays, since a deck for the wrong class is just a stack of spells he'll never cast.

$25–$35

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Heads up: we may earn a commission if you buy through our links — it never changes what we recommend or what you pay.

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