| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| Sundar the Severer12-01-07, 07:48 AM | I for one have not done much reading on the next chapter of D&D: the 4th Edition however I imagine I will be not-so-reluctantly drawn into the next version with the group, that has changed little since we began playing tabletop fantasy role-playing games in the early 80s. I know many are suggesting taking a stand on 3.5 (heck I know some who are still ardent supporters of the 2nd Edition!) so if, and I imagine for some there are no ifs, you were to buy 3.5 today and assemble only a handful of supplementary books for the sake of this discussion let us say in addition to the core three (DMG, MM, and PHB) you could only have eight what would be part of your essential 3.5 library? |
| Lord_Tirian12-01-07, 08:05 AM | Eight "ultimate" books for 3.5E? If I omit setting books (because they're their own beast, and I guess you only want crunchy stuff): Expanded Psionics Handbook (XPH) Magic Item Compendium (MIC) Spell Compendium (SpC) Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords (ToB: Bo9S) These are the four "must haves", at least in my opinion: XPH and ToB are great systems: XPH is very balanced and flavourful, while ToB "fixes" melee classes and is - regardless of any balance concerns - FUN TO PLAY. The MIC is useful, full of nifty stuff and makes loot a lot more interesting, a treasure trove for players and DMs alike. The Spell Compendium is just useful, because only having the Core spells gets a bit stale after a while. For the next for... it depends on your focus. Should include MMs? More player splat? Generally useful stuff? Cheers, LT. |
| JM12-01-07, 09:19 AM | I would DEFINITELY include the Rules Compendium. After the 4e announcement, I was reluctant to buy anymore 3.5 books, but this book is great. I consider it as valuable to DnD as anything, just past the PHB, DMG, and MM. My list (after core PHB, DMG, MM): Rules Compendium Spell Compendium Expanded Psionics Handbook Complete Divine, Arcane Players Handbook II Tome of Blood MM 3 (for some extra baddies, and the best MM outside of 1) I would like to include the other (original) Completes but I ran out of spots. And I don't know which I would pick for the last spot, so I went MM3. |
| Johnny_Angel12-01-07, 10:32 AM | Core + 8 hmmm, that's a tough one 1) Rules Compendium (nice DM tool) 2) Complete Warrior 3) Player's Handbook 2 4) Monster Manual 3 5) Races of The Dragon (it's nice to have a few sorcerer only options) 6) Spell Compendium 7) Complete Adventurer 8) Dragon Compendium (paizo publishing) Honorable Mentions: Mongoose Publishing's Ultimate NPC, Complete Divine & Arcane, Frostburn, Stormwrack, Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, Dungeonscape, and Fiend Folio. |
| Avatar of Kokusho12-01-07, 10:51 AM | Gah, this one's tough. 1. Epic Level Handbook. Sure, it's 3.0, but whatever- it's still useful. 2. Spell Compendium. Never leave home without it. 3. Complete Arcane. I. Like. Spellcasters. 4. Player's Guide to Faerun. Useful stuff, here. 5. Player's Handbook II. Good stuff here, too. 6. Unearthed Arcana. Variants, yay! 7. Complete Adventurer. Not as good as Arcane, but... 8. Complete Mage. I can't do without reserve feats. |
| Amaril12-01-07, 11:21 AM | It really depends on what kind of campaign you want to run or play in. If you just want the basics for character options, I recommend the following: Player's Handbook II Complete Adventurer Complete Arcane Complete Divine Complete Warrior Spell Compendium Magic Item Compendium Rules Compendium Other books I'd consider include: Arms and Equipment Guide (great for mundane equipment and additional exotic weapons) Complete Mage (expands on Complete Arcane, and reserve feats as bonus wizard feats are awesome) Complete Scoundrel (complements Complete Adventurer, and skill tricks should have been around since 3e was first launched) Expanded Psionics Handbook (only if you like psionics) or Dragon Compendium Races of the Dragon Dragon Magic |
| Seeker9512-01-07, 12:35 PM | Core + 8 (restricting to WotC) 1. Spell Compendium 2. Players Handbook II 3. Rules Compendium 4. Dungeon Masters Guide II 5. Sandstorm 6. Stronghold Builder's Guidebook 7. Frostburn 8. Cityscape If we go outside WotC: 1. Spell Compendium (still) 2. Rules Compendium (still) 3. Bluffside 4. Fields of Blood (Eden Studios) 5. Broadsides (Living Imagination) 6. Toolbox (AEG) 7. Sorcery & Steam (Legends & Lairs) 8. Complete Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc) |
| GeeBee12-01-07, 01:00 PM | 1) Rules Compendium - For the errata and clarifications 2) Spell Compendium - PH spells get boring after a while 3) Magic Item Compendium - More toys! 4) Complete Scoundrel - Skill tricks. Nuff said. 5) Complete Adventurer - useful for all classes 6) Complete Mage - Reserve feats really remake spellcasters 7) Player's Handbook 2 - Lots of nice new options 8) Cityscape - Dungeons and wilderness are easy, but city adventure resources are handy. |
| Sarella Starshine12-01-07, 01:36 PM | Damn...8 books, I hoped you ment 8 shelves...*sigh* Well beyond the obvious (the first 4 completes, the 3 compendiums), I cannot honestly think of any other 'must have' book. I have over a shelf and a half of just WotC books (which, are my only 33.x d20 books for what should be a very apparent reason), and I use almost each and everyone at some point in my games (both as a player and as a DM). Just that the 7 mentioned above get more use than the others. |
| Climhazzard12-01-07, 06:15 PM | Seeing as how with Hypertext d20 (http://www.d20srd.org/) you get the Epic Level Handbook, Unearthed Arcana, Expanded Psionics Handbook, and the crunch of Deities and Demigods, you are starting off with Core + 3.5 books. For the remaining 8, I recommend 1: Tome of Battle 2: Spell Compendium 3: Magic Item Compendium 4: Complete Mage 5: Player's Handbook II 6: Monster Manual III (as stated before, the best of the none-Core MMs) 7: Complete Warrior 8: Complete Adventurer So if you total everything up, you will have 14.5 books for D&D. |
| Lord_Tirian12-01-07, 07:48 PM | 1. Epic Level Handbook. Sure, it's 3.0, but whatever- it's still useful. I'd rather say no. Most of the basic stuff is in the DMG, the rest is wonky... Rather get something else, unless you're totally into Epic level games... 5) Races of The Dragon (it's nice to have a few sorcerer only options)Well, it's a bit narrow for "one of your only books" - I'd rather go with Complete Mage, as there are some goodies (Sor only) spells, but it also has the fantastic Reserve feats (which are most useful for sorcerers). Cheers, LT. |
| Ebrion12-01-07, 08:59 PM | 1: Book of Vile Darkness 2: Spell Compendium 3: Magic Item Compendium 4: Complete Scoundrel 5: Arms and Equipment Guide 6: Monster Manual III (as stated before, the best of the none-Core MMs) 7: Complete Warrior 8: Complete Adventurer |
| Tuah12-01-07, 11:35 PM | 1: Tome of Magic 2: Tome of Battle 3: Complete Adventurer 4: Complete Arcane 5: Complete Warrior 6: Spells Compendium 7: Players' Handbook II 8: Dungeon Master's Guide II |
| Jutter12-02-07, 04:41 AM | Rules Compendium Magic Item Compendium Spell Compendium Complete Adventurer Complete Arcane Complete Divine Complete Warrior Dragonlance Campaign Setting I have to mention it'd take me a year to mourn frostburn, sandstorm and weapons of legacy, but I'll get over it. I'd love to have a player use Tome of Battle/Magic, Incarnum, or Psionics, just to see how it works out, but so far those books haven't been used by my players. One or more of those might make it to my essential eight list, but so far I have no experience with them. |
| DreamerInsane12-02-07, 06:03 AM | 1. Tome of Battle 2. Magic of Incarnum 3. Tome of Magic 4. Races of the Wild 5. Player's Handbook 2 6. Spell Compendium 7. Magic Item Compendium 8. Races of the Dragon or Complete Arcane The only reason the XPH isn't on this list is the SRD, which has most of the relevant rules. |
| Zardnaar12-02-07, 06:13 AM | Player's Handbook II Dungeon Master Guide II Complete Adventurer Complete Arcane Complete Divine Complete Warrior Spell Compendium Monster Manual 3 |
| IrishRover12-02-07, 11:18 PM | 1. Spell Compendium 2. Unearthed Arcana 3. Dieties and Demigods 4. Epic Level Hnadbook 5. Hordes of the Abyss 6. Player's Handbook II 7. Savage Species 8. D20 Modern (Might replace Hordes or Savage Species with Urban Arcana) |
| elf_in_boots12-02-07, 11:42 PM | not theory, because this is my list of 3E books. Players handbook, monster manual and #1 Rules Compendium #2 Spell Compendium #3 DMG2 #4 Draconimicon #5 Drow of the Underdark #6 Sandstorm #7 Frostburn Thats all I own. So what should I add... a monster book probably. |
| High Octane12-03-07, 04:24 AM | I don't play with Psionics but I would consider it one of the essential 8 just because it is one of the favorite optional rules. I wouldnt consider any of the other books essentials. Perhaps the spell compendium, Item compendium, a well made Monster Manual, perhaps PHB2. |
| InkBlot12-03-07, 09:55 AM | 1 Tome Of Magic (pact magic) 2 Tome Of Battle (revolutionary) 3 Complete Scoundrel (skill tricks) 4 Dungeonscape (factotum) 5 Expanded Psionics Handbook (love it) 6 Complete Arcane (warlock) 7 Complete Warrior (chock full o' nuts) 8 Complete Psionics (hooked on psionics worked for me!) I almost picked Magic Item Compendium for that last one. Almost. I love the item levels thing, but I had started to figure it out on my own. There's also lots of great magic items, but it's not hard to make up new magic items on your own. The weapon/armor crystals are cool, but not quite cool or revolutionary enough to make it a must have. Even though I prefer alternate casting systems over vancian, Magic Of Incarnum isn't a must-have for me. Psionics, pact magic, the sublime way, skill tricks, and the factotum each matched a part of my personal mythology which I held before I ever laid eyes on a D&D book. The totemist is vaguely interesting, but I'd probably use the Shape Soulmeld feat more than anything else. Just not worth it, in my opinion. Complete Psionics sucked ye mightily. It completely ignored everything laid down by the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It tried to turn psionics into divine magic. It tried to fix things that didn't need to be fixed, and ignored problems we've been yelling about since the Expanded Psionics Handbook first hit the shelves. Complete Psionics is fail incarnate. Yet I'm still hooked on psionics, so this gets a place in my list just for the Lurk, Ardent, and Soulbow. |
| zook1shoe66612-04-07, 12:13 AM | 1. Spell Compendium 2. Magic Item Compendium 3. Tome of Battle 4. Book of Vile Darkness 5. Complete Arcane 6. Fiendish Codex 1 7. Heroes of Horror 8. Savage Species EDIT: I'd probably throw in the PHB2 somewhere |
| Artifact12-04-07, 10:38 AM | Expanded Psionics Handbook (even if you don’t use psionics, its essential) Spell Compendium (more spells are always nice) Magic Item Compendium (ditto) Complete Scoundrel (skill tricks should be core) Draconomicon (its okay to judge a book by its cover once in a while, right? ;)) Book of Nine Swords (came late and doesn’t play well with earlier 3e designs IMHO—but still a great book) Player’s Handbook II (maybe its because DMG II disappointed me, so I didn’t have high expectations ;)) Unearthed Arcana (made the list because its by far, my favorite 3e supplement) I normally wouldn’t recommend the Complete series (unless you’re heavy, heavy into prestige classes—we aren’t ;)), except that “skill tricks” (in Scoundrel) has given skills a whole new life in our group. Normally, we use the variant rule for Level-Based Skills presented on page 81 of Unearthed Arcana. Using this system, a character has a list of known skills that includes all his class skills (from all classes). |
| VulcanStormwrath12-04-07, 10:59 AM | Rules Compendium Spell Compendium Magic Item Compendium Monster Manual III Player's Handbook II Complete Arcane Tome of Battle Complete Warrior |
| Prof. Pacali12-04-07, 01:49 PM | Here's my "must have" list: 1: Spell Compendium 2: Magic Item Compendium 3: Expanded Psionics Handbook 4: Draconomicon 5: Complete Arcane 6: Complete Warrior 7: Complete Divine 8: Races of the Wild Complete Adventurer loses it's spot on my top eight because of the horrendous editing, poor writing, and useless concepts in the book. None of the Environment series are essential, except maybe Dungeonscape. I prefer Elves to Dwarves, so Races of the Wild made the cut, although I also like Races of the Dragon. I chose Draconomicon out of the various "Monster" books, because of the iconic nature of Dragons, but any other one could replace it. I also like the fluff in Heroes of Horror, but the crunchy parts aren't so good. The other Complete books are hit and miss IMO. I have never played with the Tome of Battle or Magic of Incarnum rules, so I can't really judge those. PHBII is a good addition, but other than the retraining rules it isn't as essential as the ones I listed. DMGII has some nice fluff, but no real rules of consequence. As for Rules Compendium, why did trees have to die so WotC could reprint rules that are already in the PHB, DMG, MMI, and the FAQ? |
| Johnny_Angel12-04-07, 07:54 PM | I'd rather say no. Most of the basic stuff is in the DMG, the rest is wonky... Rather get something else, unless you're totally into Epic level games... Well, it's a bit narrow for "one of your only books" - I'd rather go with Complete Mage, as there are some goodies (Sor only) spells, but it also has the fantastic Reserve feats (which are most useful for sorcerers). Cheers, LT. You have a good point. Races of The Dragon may not have been the best choice for one of my 8 books. I like Complete Mage, but someimes I'm unsure about the Reserve Feats. I don't find them overpowered or anything like that; sometimes I just find that they really don't fit right into some campaigns -surprisingly my current group tends to enjoy more of a low-magic feel (which is also why you'll notice that I picked Complete Warrior and Complete Adventurer instead of the more magic based Complete series.) That in mind, I might choose Stormwrack instead of Races of The Dragon. Aside from low-magic campaigns, I've also come to notice that the group I currently DM for tends to enjoy seafaring adventures. Even when I put them in the middle of a main continent, they tend to make their way toward the coast and buy a boat. |
| pinkbunny12-04-07, 08:11 PM | Complete Adventurer and Complete Arcane top my list, as they have my two favorite base classes, Scout and Warlock. |
| RobbyPants12-05-07, 12:45 PM | In no particular order: Complete Arcane Complete Mage Complete Warrior Complete Adventurer Complete Divine Heroes of Horror Libris Mortis Expanded Psionics Handbook or Players Handbook II (in a non-psionic game) |
| Aryxbez12-05-07, 02:24 PM | Complete warrior Players Handbook 2 Tome of Battle Magic Item Compendium Monster manual 3 Weapons of Legacy complete Arcane (even though I don't use it as a DM or player) complete Divine or champion (same as above) |
| Timespike12-09-07, 12:35 PM | I for one have not done much reading on the next chapter of D&D: the 4th Edition however I imagine I will be not-so-reluctantly drawn into the next version with the group, that has changed little since we began playing tabletop fantasy role-playing games in the early 80s. I know many are suggesting taking a stand on 3.5 (heck I know some who are still ardent supporters of the 2nd Edition!) so if, and I imagine for some there are no ifs, you were to buy 3.5 today and assemble only a handful of supplementary books for the sake of this discussion let us say in addition to the core three (DMG, MM, and PHB) you could only have eight what would be part of your essential 3.5 library? The First 8: Complete Warrior Complete Adventurer Complete Arcane Complete Scoundrel Complete Mage Heroes of Horror PHB II Libris Mortis But I'm VERY glad I'll likely never be in that position. |
| Beltendu03-19-08, 08:55 AM | I'm going to similarly cheat and use the SRD, so you get some books for free (like the Expanded Psionics Handbook ... :) 1. Tome of Battle 2. PHB2 3. Rules Compendium 4. Magic Item Compendium 5. Complete Scoundrel 6. Complete Mage My reasons for the above six are much like everyone else who said they'd keep those. Rules Compendium could optionally be left out, since most of that information is available elsewhere, though not in a condensed, easy to find way ... :) Beyond those six, it's hard to say. It would depend on what new systems I wanted, or what "base" classes I'd want. PrCs I can live without mostly, but tons of books come with anywhere from 1 to a small handful of base classes, and those are more interesting to me generally. If you like new systems, Tome of Magic and Magic of Incarnum are good (though I've fallen out of love with those two, which is why they're not listed). Up in the air, really, but everything else I'd list for those last two slots are pretty much tied ... :) (edit) And I completely misread the date. Apologies for the necropost. (/edit) |
| Belkar03-19-08, 10:22 AM | Assuming you have the PBH, MM, and DMG... My top 8 would be: 1. Expanded Psionics Handbook (even if you don't play psionics - there a non-psionic options there that are invaluable). 2. Players Handbook 2. 3. Complete Warrior. 4. Complete Adventurer. 5. Complete Arcane. 6. Complete Divine. 7. Spell Compendium. 8. Monster Manual 3. A close call for #8 spots would be Tome of Battle: Bo9S, Tome of Magic (for the binder), and Unearthed Arcana. |
| ozzfann066603-19-08, 12:00 PM | My 8 Must Haves (in this order): 1. Heroes of Horror 2. Draconomicon 3. Races of the Dragon 4. Monster Manual 4 5. Book of Vile Darkness 6. Ghostwalk 7. Complete Adventurer 8. Libris Mortis 9. Lords of Madness 10. Fiend Folio I run a very dragon-heavy and very horror themed campaign. |
| ciaran03-19-08, 06:06 PM | Core 3 plus... 1) Complete Warrior 2) Complete Adventurer 3) Complete Divine 4) Complete Arcane 5) Spell Compendium 6) Player's Handbook 2 7) Races of Stone 8) Rules Compendium |
| Edymnion03-19-08, 06:44 PM | 1) PHB 2) DMG 3) MM 4) Expanded Psionics Handbook 5) Eberron Campaign Setting 6) Spell Compendium 7) Magic Item Compendium Beyond that? Don't need much else. The three core, the "it should have been core", my favorite campaign setting, and the two useful complimation books. Beyond that, everything else is just convenience. |
| RavenGraygem03-19-08, 10:33 PM | Well, my essential eight books would be (in addition to the core three): 1) Deities and Demigods (with the 3.5 update included in the book) 2) Expanded Psionics Handbook 3) Eberron Campaign Setting 4) Tome of Battle 5) Magic of Incarnum 6) Dungeon Master's Guide II 7) Ghostwalk (with the 3.5 update) 8) Tome of Magic |
| larry_the_titan03-25-08, 04:20 PM | Beyond core my 8 are 1.) XPH 2.) Spell Compendium 3.) MM3 4.) Rules Compendium 5.) Eberron Campaign Setting 6.) Magic Item Compendium 7.) Dungeonscape 8.) Tome of Battle Maybe not in that order but most of the time I carry more books then that to games. |
| Halafu03-25-08, 07:11 PM | 1) Tome of Battle 2) Monster Manual II 3) Fiend Folio 4) Monster Manual III 5) Expanded Psionics Handbook 6) Stormwrack 7) Complete Arcane 8) Player's Handbook II |
| Blarghy03-25-08, 07:32 PM | 1) Tome of Battle 2) Rules Compendium 3) Spell Compendium 4) Magic Item Compendium 5) Eberron Campaign Setting 6) Complete Adventurer 7) Complete Scoundrel 8) Unearthed Arcana |
| Eldritch_Lord03-25-08, 07:39 PM | Interesting question. Let's see, what would I take.... Assuming no SRD, I'd have the Core 3 plus, in no particular order, 1) Comp Arcane 2) XPH 3) Tome of Battle 4) Tome of Magic 5) Incarnum 6) Unearthed Arcana 7) PHB2 8) Magic Item Compendium |
| SamyMerchi03-25-08, 08:10 PM | 1. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (IMO *the* single best book ever written for any edition of D&D) 2. Oriental Adventures ... sharp dropoff ... 3. Players' Guide to Faerūn 4. Faiths and Pantheons 5. Savage Species 6. Races of Faerūn 7. Players' Handbook II 8. Monster Manual III 9. Monster Manual IV 10. Monster Manual V |
| Eldritch_Lord03-25-08, 10:07 PM | 1. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (IMO *the* single best book ever written for any edition of D&D) 2. Oriental Adventures ... sharp dropoff ... 3. Players' Guide to Faerūn 4. Faiths and Pantheons 5. Savage Species 6. Races of Faerūn 7. Players' Handbook II 8. Monster Manual III 9. Monster Manual IV 10. Monster Manual V You seem to have two too many there. How many MMs do you really need, anyway? ;) |
| SamyMerchi03-25-08, 10:09 PM | Hey, if these are all the books I'm ever going to have, I don't want to run out of new, fresh monsters to use 20 years from now! :D |
| Scorpions_are_cool_03-26-08, 01:16 AM | I can't restrict myself to just that many but I just finished my collection which consists of the three core books and these, in no particular order. 1. The Book of Abberations (Underground slimy horror for my Second group.) 2. Fiendish Codex: 1 (Diabolical and Demonic horror for my first group.) 3. Fiendish Codex: 2 4. The Book of Undead (My favourite, even though I haven't run a single session on one yet and I'm writing a campaign on them soon.) 5. Tome of Magic (Love adding new systems.) 6. Epic Level Handbook (To dream, one day my player's might get there...) 7. Magic of Incarnum (Love the versatility.) 8. Expanded Psionics Handbook (My first supplement.) 9. Book of Exalted Deeds (My first group complained the second group was getting an unfair advantage since they were evil and taking from the codexes...) 10. Players Handbook II (Spells originally sucked me in ,but now I love all of it.) 11. Dungeon Master's Guide II (Saltmarsh is the town I always fall back on... Them: What's this town look like? Me: It's surprisingly like the last five! Them: Wow! Really? What's it called? Me: Uh, Pepperswamp!) So what, it's eleven... that's close to eight! I think if I ever get another book, which I don't plan on, I'll get Tome of Battle since I love adding new systems. |
| larry_the_titan03-26-08, 06:45 AM | Hey, if these are all the books I'm ever going to have, I don't want to run out of new, fresh monsters to use 20 years from now! :D Fresh monsters are easy. Just make you own. All it takes is Inspiration and Imagination. MM4 and MM5 seemed to be lacking the most Inspiration of the books. Which is why I didn't put them on my list. |
| SamyMerchi03-26-08, 07:13 AM | Fresh monsters are easy. Just make you own. All it takes is Inspiration and Imagination.No, that's not all. It also takes Time. Which I'm sorely low on the next couple of years of my life. |
| Naderion03-26-08, 07:38 AM | 8? I don't know if I would buy that many. But let's see... Spell Compendium Heroes of Horror Lords of Madness Frostburn Races of the Wild Lost Empires of Faerūn Races of Faerūn Silver Marches Wow, that's eight, but barely. |
| SokenzanMarauder03-26-08, 08:07 AM | 1. Magic Item Compendium 2. Spell Compendium 3. Player's Handbook II 4. Libris Mortis 5. Heroes of Horror (Dread Necromancer is my favorite class :D) 6. Monster Manual III 7. Fiend Folio 8. Eberron Campaign Setting |
| Krusk03-26-08, 08:39 AM | 1-phb2 2-dungeonscape 3-heros of horror 4-spell compendium 5-magic item compendium 6-tob 7-complete warrior 8- complete scoundrel The only books I would miss past these 8 would be Complere arcane, the environment books, and the fiendsih codexes. |
| Gandalf the White03-26-08, 09:14 AM | Given good friends that own many of the complete books and the titles that were produced before I began playing & DMing again, I get eight titles off the beaten path: 1. Races of the Dragon -- because I like dragons 2. Dragons of Eberron -- no, seriously 3. Draconomicon -- yes, and now you know... 4. Dragon Magic -- the picture is in focus 5. Rules Compendium -- its a nice reference work 6. The Original Gold Box Greyhawk Campaign setting, because here I began and one world is not enough 7. Eberron Campaign Setting -- current favorite place to play 8. The Forge of War -- because every setting should have had the war to end all wars, and have it not be the last... The sole reason I would not have the Magic Item Compendium is ..... I make my own baubles and trinkets. Gandalf |
| Mr_Seth03-26-08, 01:59 PM | 1) PHB2 2) Expanded Psionics Handbook 3) Deities & Demigods 4) Dragon Compendium 5) Fiend Folio 6) Any other one Monster Manual from 3-5 7) Spell Compendium 8) Magic Item Compendium I just like the word "Compendium." It's fun to say. Compendium. Compendium. Compendium. Compendium. |