Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mosyali 12-24-06, 11:53 AM	Okay, I have $85 dollars to spend on books from christmas. My parents have wisened up from the last few years and just handed me a Barnes and Noble gift card for 50 and I am expected to spend the other 35 on books as well. My main problem is what should I get. I am considering grabbing a campaign setting, but am unsure if any of them are good, or are better than the others at that. Note: I have a friend in the same prediciment. He also will be buying books, but I am unsure of his price range (I think around 50). Total, that makes for us haveing 125 for books. We are both ready to pounce on new rules because we are tired of the basic books. Our DM said anything goes, just that we cannot grab from too many books at once. :D
Seeker95 12-24-06, 12:18 PM	Your request is too general. We need more information. What books do you have? Of the books you have, what do you like best? How long have you been playing? Are you a player, DM or both? What world do you currently play in? Do you currently play? Do you have a regular group? What PCs do you prefer (if any)? With this information, we can offer some educated suggestions.
crowclub 12-24-06, 12:34 PM	Well lets start with the obvious... Players Handbook, Players Handbook II. then I would say a number of the Complete series, based on the sort of characters you like to play, and then the Spell Compendium. Then look at the Races of series. After that it really depends on, whats your bag. Dragon Magic/Draconomicom if you're into Dragons for example, any number of Forgotten Realms or Eberron books if you want to have specific background info for characters from a specific area/region.
Mosyali 12-24-06, 12:41 PM	Okay, sorry. I am a bit excited. What books do we have? Our group only has the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manuel, all 3.5. Since we have no splat books, I cannot say we have any book we prefer. How long have we been playing? I have been playing since 2001. My group has only been playing since October. Everyone in the group is new save me. Am I a player, DM, or both? I am currently only a player, but I have DMed before, so I would say both. My friend that is getting books as well is going to be DMing after a few weeks, once we finish our current campaign with a third friend who is DMing. What world do we play in? None. Our current DM is designing the world as he goes, but he is more than willing to accept any form of world we give him. When I designed my backstory, I went so far as to design a continent to go with me. The continent I designed is the one we are on. He will not mind shifting relms though, considering nothing about the continent has leaked into the actual game. We tend to be more hack-and-slash than RP, but we do RP with whatever NPC come our way. Do I currently play? Yes, we do. Do I have a regular group? We have a group of five players and a DM. The DM is new, as are all players, but the players were not comfortable with me being DM. What PCs do we prefer? I prefer healing and teleporting, my friend who is going in with me to buy these books prefers smashing and being a skill monkey. I can honestly say that the other players do not have any idea what they want. Most of them are recent transfers from MMOs. The connection at school is horrible, so the pen-and-paper is more entertaining.
Witch 12-24-06, 12:45 PM	For magic users: Spell Compendium For smashing: Tome of Battle and Complete Warrior For skill-monkeys: Complete Adventurer
General_Ridley 12-24-06, 01:16 PM	magic users should also consider Complete Arcane, as it is just, well, great. the Expanded Psionics Handbook is great, if your DM is willing to give it a chance.
MagicMouth 12-24-06, 01:39 PM	I recommend The Tome of Battle due to its many levels of Awesome. I played my first martial adept the other day, and melee combat becomes much more interesting and fun thanks to the ability to use different maneuevers. The Complete series is also a good choice (I´ve heard that Complete Psionic sucks, though). The Eberron and Ghostwalk campaign settings are both really cool and interesting.
Seeker95 12-24-06, 03:36 PM	Since you are not the DM, I do not recommend a campaign world book. This does not mean all Eberron or Realms books are out. Rather, the campaign setting core books are less useful. And if your DM is already building his own world, he doesn't need them either. I recommend, at this stage, the following three books for "greatest utility": Complete Adventurer Spell Compendium Players Handbook II These three books are useful to almost any player of any class -- even Spell Compendium has usefulness to the non-caster player who is looking for insight as to how the casters in the party can help his or her PC. On the selfish side of things (my own quirks), I would also suggest: Sandstorm Stormwrack Frostburn I *love* the environment series. A lot. Whether for the player seeking to gain insight into a specific terrain / environment, or a DM seeking to introduce some more environmental diversity into the campaign, these books are just plain fun. I do NOT recommend (based on my own personal biases) any of the Race books, whether campaign-specific (Races of Eberron, Races of the Realms) or generic-ish (Races of the Wild, etc.) They just aren't generic enough to apply to all players. Naturally, if you have an affinity for a specific race, then go for it.
Ryuu_Tenshi 12-24-06, 04:18 PM	For magic users: Spell Compendium For smashing: Tome of Battle and Complete Warrior For skill-monkeys: Complete Adventurer Adding on... For general Awesome: Expanded Psionics Handbook <- I can't stress this enough. It just ROCKS. For a great adventure: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (GMs only) For more general awesome: Lords of Madness For a great campaign setting: The Eberron Campaign Setting DO NOT BUY THE FOLLOWING: Complete Divine, Complete Psionic. ESPECIALLY not Complete Psionic. If you are a psionics user, I recommend getting either Hyperconsious or Untapped Potential (http://boards1.wizards.com/leaving.php?destination=http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php%3Fp%3D9281339). Esp the latter. I haven't gotten mine yet, but I have seen a lot of the material and I can safely say: This thing rocks hardcore *e* Also... For Warlocks: Complete Mage For Wizards: Complete Arcane For dragon lovers: Draconomicon. Even if you do take into account hte problems with this book, the illustrations and fluff made it worth it. This was the first not PHB/DMG I bought, and only 'cause I thought the pictures were pretty. Dragon Magic and Races of the Dragon... don't bother.
Archmage_of_Blood 12-24-06, 04:37 PM	DO NOT BUY THE FOLLOWING: Complete Divine, Complete Psionic. ESPECIALLY not Complete Psionic. Seconded.
Mosyali 12-24-06, 04:47 PM	Wow, thank you. I actually was considering getting Expanded Psionic Handbook and Complete Psionic, but since I see so much going aginst the later, I will reconsider. I currently play a Psychic Warrior in our campaign, and doing it with the SRD only is rather difficult. So, what is wrong with Complete Divine? I was looking into getting that as well, but with the vehemence agains it... Well, I would like to know why not. The thing with my DM is that he is not building the world, I am. While I make the basics and point out possible plot hooks, he impliments them. So actually, which campaign would be best? Or, better yet, which one can we opperate on with just the main book? Most of you seem to promote Ebberon, and while I have played DDO, I am not quite sure what is so special about Ebberon that makes it "cooler" than the others. Is there a book we absolutly cannot do without? I am loath to get the Spell Compendium because we have not run through all of the uses of the basic spells yet (we are still partial to moral bonuses to skills and outmanuevering the party). I am just slightly worried about makeing my DM drown in new rules, or, if I end up starting a group on my floor, loseing my players on new things. Thank you so much.:D
Archmage_of_Blood 12-24-06, 04:54 PM	I really just think that Complete Divine is a pointless book. Any of the decent PrCs are taken from other books and watered down, and relics are just plain stupid. You have to worship a diety specific to each relic (Each diety has two) and give up a high-level spell slot or take a feat just to use them, and they're not even powerful like Legacy weapons. Speaking of which, Weapons of Legacy is a fun book.
MagicMouth 12-24-06, 05:18 PM	The thing with my DM is that he is not building the world, I am. While I make the basics and point out possible plot hooks, he impliments them. So actually, which campaign would be best? Or, better yet, which one can we opperate on with just the main book? Most of you seem to promote Ebberon, and while I have played DDO, I am not quite sure what is so special about Ebberon that makes it "cooler" than the others. Well, DDO only depicts a small part of Eberron, namely the area around the port city of Stormreach. The campaign setting gives details on a whole continent which recently suffered through a massive hundred-year long war. Now there is relative peace, but tensions remain strong, and there are many organizations - both good and evil - trying to twist things to their own ends. One distinct trait for Eberron is that alignment and morale are on more of a gray scale than other worlds: good red dragons are just as common as evil ones, the good-aligned Church of the Silver Flame hides corruption within its ranks, and so on. Another thing is that many standard fantasy concepts are changed dramatically: the native halflings are now dinosaur-riding barbarians, goblinoids used to rule an empire far more powerful than the younger human ones, elves worship their dead ancestors who now walk amongst them, and many more things. Also, while high-level spellcasters are very rare, magic of lower power is used in many of the more civilized societies: there are Lightning Rails (a.k.a. "magical trains"), airships, postal systems using Sending, and more. Basically, there are magical equivalents of several technological inventions of the last few hundred years. All in all, a very cool, interesting and original setting. PS: Once more I recommend that you buy The Tome of Battle, and I´m sure many posters will agree with me.
Edymnion 12-24-06, 06:23 PM	DDO has nothing to do with Eberron. Even when it does use Eberron material, it butchers it so badly as to barely be recognizable. Just pretend DDO doesn't exist, DDO sucks... That said, I would suggest the Eberron Campaign Setting and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. If you've got money left over, I'd then suggest the Players Guide to Eberron.
Ryuu_Tenshi 12-24-06, 09:16 PM	DDO has nothing to do with Eberron. Even when it does use Eberron material, it butchers it so badly as to barely be recognizable. Just pretend DDO doesn't exist, DDO sucks... That said, I would suggest the Eberron Campaign Setting and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. If you've got money left over, I'd then suggest the Players Guide to Eberron. Agreed on all counts. And also, if you really do want more psionics material for your psiwar, go get Untapped Potential. the .pdf file is only $5 (I haven't gotten it yet because... um... actually, I don't know why.) And Hyperconsious. both, really. They're far superior to CPsi. CPsi has... hm... a few good feats (Improved Elan Resilience has saved my life more times than I can count) and powers, but that's about it. Some people are fond of the Lurk and the Ardent, but... everything else is garbage. Especially the "errata" they include in there. Blurrrhghghh.
JoAT 12-24-06, 09:31 PM	In alot of ways, it depends on what you're into, and what you're doing - if your group tends to believe that druids are less powerful than rangers, that clerics are walking band-aids, and that the best use for a wizard is a bunch of fireballs, then the Tome of Battle, for instance, would seem to be the height of munchkinery. However, my personal recommendations are: Player's Handbook 2 - great for general character utility. You would be very hard-pressed to find a character that does not find this useful. Tome of Battle - New fighter-type classes that use a new system of manuvers that raises the bar for fighter-types, putting them are a fairly well balanced level. Expanded Psionics Handbook - Psionics are fun, and well balanced. Since you're playing a psychic warrior, there's another reason right there. Just choose Hyperconciousness over the Complete Psionic, and you should be fine. Tome of Magic - what can I say, I love new systems. The binder is very much worth the purchase - the truename needs some tweaking, though, and the Shadowcaster kinda feels like another spell-slots user, so not so fun - but still, a very good book. Complete Arcane - Warlocks rock quite hard, and the new spells and feats are quite nice. Complete Adventurer - Scouts also rock quite hard, and the added feats are also alot of fun, as are some of the PrCs. Magic of Incarnum - Another new system, and a great idea for it, though I have some problems with the exicution. Oh, and: The thing with my DM is that he is not building the world, I am. While I make the basics and point out possible plot hooks, he impliments them. Best game EVAR!! I'd love to be able to play in the worlds I make, but, sadly, everyone else has their own homebrew favorites.
Deep Blue 9000 12-24-06, 09:48 PM	I'd have to give another vote for Tome of Battle, it is truly an excellent book and adds a lot of cool flavor and interesting mechanics to DnD. Expanded Psionics Handbook is also a very good buy. Psionics are a ton of fun and infintely more balanced than in any previous edition.
fatal error 12-24-06, 10:08 PM	Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, Magic of Incarnum, and any other variant system books might not be a good idea if most of the players are new. If most of the group are still learning the ropes these entirely new systems is just going to add to the pile of stuff to potentially confuse them. Although, I must say, I love Tome of Battle.
DirtyHarryPotter 12-24-06, 11:32 PM	I agree with fatal - if this is a new group that has only used the 3 core books, I don't think books like Incarnum that are focused on variant systems are a good idea. I'd go with the original 4 'Complete' books, as that will get you a solid selection of new base classes, prestige classes, feats, and spells. Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, Complete Warrior, and Complete Adventurer. These books will provide something new for everyone in your campaign, regardless of what type of character they play, without overwhelming you with huge variant systems. A great many of the classes, PrCs, and feats that you see discussed on these boards come from those books. If you are interested in starting a campaign in the desert you should consider Sandstorm (or whatever it's called). If you are interested in starting an island or pirate campaign, you should consider Stormwrack.
Kazeofwinds 12-24-06, 11:41 PM	Tome of battle and PHB 2 are the best supplements I've ever bought, IMO. Expanded Psionics is a good book, and there's actually a chunk of it that isnt OGL (Like Psionic Gith, and Thri-Kreen) The complete books are pretty good, But I'd only get the complete relavent to the character type I play the most. Oriental Adventures is 3.0, but has a lot of nice stuff if you want to play an asian themed campaign, OA combinde with Tome of Battle makes a very good Wuxia/Anime/Kung-fu Movie Game(of course, thats a bit more of a stylistic thing than anything, and it could easily end up as regular dnd with ninjas and samurai) I also liked monster manuals 2 and 3 quite a bit, if only because more monsters add variety to the game(not that a monster manual helps non-DMs much other than an oddball race or two) Summary Tome of Battle PHB 2 Oriental Adventures Monster Manuals 2 + 3 Complete books relavent to your playstyle XPH, If you're getting tired of using the SRD for psionics.
Edymnion 12-25-06, 10:34 AM	Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, Magic of Incarnum, and any other variant system books might not be a good ideaHeh, Magic of Incarnum is never a good idea to begin with. ;)
Fallenangel359 12-25-06, 11:44 AM	tome of battle is very complicated, but it takes the fighter, stomps on it, rips it to pieces, and then replaces it with something almost as strong as a caster, if not stronger, and then owns
General_Ridley 12-25-06, 02:17 PM	as far as Complete Divine goes, Fiendish Codex II gave relics a possible use (as an additional focus for Banishment, making the spell harder to resist and all for fiends) I got Complete Divine this morning as a gift. Can't complain, it was free after all.
Cainin 12-25-06, 02:41 PM	Ranked in order of relevance... 1) PH II - It contains new base classes, class feature substitutions for the core base classes (w/ some others), plenty of new spells, and scores of new feats. Overall, I've considered it a very strong buy. Well rounded applications that are available to almost any playing style, which is increases just how much it well be used by all over time. 2) Spell Compendium - Personally, I've never been a hard core caster fan. So I don't own this one. Yet this book contains reprints/revisions of many "Complete" series spells, spells from various 3.0 sources, and many new spells as well (for those who don't following Dragon Magazine & on-line cannon). Considering that the DnD system is designed to favor casters and most classse get spells of some sort, this will likely be a strong buy. 3) (Alternate System books) - WOTC has produced many different forms of alternate magic systems over the years. My first suggestion would be Unearthed Arcana and Expanded Psionics. Both have been integrated into the SRD rules, but I've always been fond of having a physical book in front of me. Otherwise, I would suggest magic system with limited complexity that emulate the existing magic system that you are familiar with. Tome of Magic and Tome of Battle are good choices in that field. (While I love Magic of Incarnum and its system, it is rather confusing to anyone who hasn't really read the book.)
StevenO 12-25-06, 09:31 PM	For an exsisting campain world I'd also recommend the Eberron Campain Setting. It has lots of cruchy bits for you to pursue, introduces a couple unique races and the artificer base class, and perhaps most importantly it hasn't been worked over like some of the other campain settings have been. If following in form a "high" level character in Eberron would hardly make waves in the Forgotten Realms. For other books I recommend the PHB2. You may not completely use the book but what you do you'll be glad you had. After that I'd go with some of the orginal complete series starting with the Adventurer and ending with Divine. Although less useful in many campains I like the information found in the Draconomicon, Libris Mortis, and the Fiendish Codex volumes.
Azual 12-25-06, 10:13 PM	DO NOT BUY THE FOLLOWING: Complete Divine, Yes, i had the misfortune of buying this book... Sandstorm is good, if the campaign is going to go into the desert. Heroes of Battle is pretty good. I also, as always, thought the two Fiendish Codices are excellent reads. :D
ladyeve 12-26-06, 12:08 AM	I dont want to spend any more money on D&D books. I am going to buy myself a giant diamond surrounded by gold.
Ryuu_Tenshi 12-26-06, 12:11 AM	Oh. In CD's defense, the Spirit Shaman is actually a great class and somewhat underrated. Everything else in the book though is broken ten ways till tuesday. and the editing. gods, the editing.
therougepenguin 12-26-06, 12:21 AM	Hey Mosyali, I hope you don't mind me doing this, but I don't want to start a whole new thread for the same question. I'll go ahead and answer the questions: I have: Core PHB II Manual of the Planes Forgotten Realms Campaign Steeing Song and Silence Heroes of Battle And my friends have Complete Adventurer and Tome of Battle. I play and DM, and do have a regular group, we RP and Hack and Slash, but don't really have an established world (we just go with whatever happens anyway) Been playing for about 3-4 years, and prefer wizards and bards, with a knack for doing crazy stuff. (Using a slain crocodile's hide to make myself intimidating, stuff like that.)
Ryuu_Tenshi 12-26-06, 01:42 PM	I'm just going to plug the Expanded Psionics Handbook again. Psionics rock hardcore, and the book has some non-core stuff that isn't in the SRD. ... oh god there's a pun in there. AAAAAAAAH.
Demarest 12-27-06, 01:48 PM	Spell Compendium. Maybe another Monster Manual (except II, because it's 3.0, unless this doesn't bother you). Personally, I love the environment series, and with $85 you could almost get the whole set. Even if you choose one, there's a lot of new options for new settings, but of course if your DM does his homebrew world, he may not want to use the new environments. (P.S.: Stormwrack: best book of the bunch) PHB II is a solid book and Complete Adventurer is fun. I've heard some good reviews for Tome of Battle. Perhaps the two Fiendish Codex books: I've heard good things about both of them. Good luck on your choices.
smeagol_lied 12-27-06, 02:04 PM	Well i have no ideas of prices of books over there, here most go for about £17-£20, but i'm imagining about $25 or $30? Anyway, i would suggest the environmental series (Frostburn, Sandstorm, Stormwrack, Cityscape) but i know these aren't to a lot of peoples taste. PHBII is probably a good suggestion, but i can't vouch for it. Other than that, i would say grab a few completes and play to your characters strengths.
smeagol_lied 12-27-06, 02:05 PM	(P.S.: Stormwrack: best book of the bunch) I agree, give stormwrack top priority if your going for the series.