Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jgortner 01-03-07, 01:15 PM	Hi, I'm looking to purchase either the books listed as "Complete" (ie. complete mage, complete warrior, etc) but I noticed there are some books with similar claims listed, such as "Sword and Fist: A Guidebook to Monks and Fighters" and "Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers". Can someone with exposure to these books explain the difference? Goals? Coverage? Thanks SO much. Your help is truely appriciated. Justin
Drucilla_Rocks_my_Socks 01-03-07, 01:17 PM	The "complete" series is 3.5, the "X & Y" series is 3.0.
Tempest Stormwind 01-03-07, 01:30 PM	Hi, I'm looking to purchase either the books listed as "Complete" (ie. complete mage, complete warrior, etc) but I noticed there are some books with similar claims listed, such as "Sword and Fist: A Guidebook to Monks and Fighters" and "Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers". Can someone with exposure to these books explain the difference? Goals? Coverage? Thanks SO much. Your help is truely appriciated. Justin 1) Look at the publication date. If it's before 2003, it's 3.0. (Several of those were untested, and Sword and Fist -- if you can find an original copy -- still drips of SECOND EDITION-esque legacy errors. For instance, the cavalier said "Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty): A cavalier has this skill without having to purchase it with skill points.") 2) The Sword&Fist-et-al series tended to have two parts in each book. There was the section on feats and prestige classes, and then a section unique to that archetype (Sword&Fist had a bit of stuff on strongholds, weapons, the theory of third edition combat, and more feats, while Song&Silence had a few spells, lots of interesting gear, and a large section on musical instruments). There was also a metagame-esque perspective on each class present (multiclass characters were ignored). The Complete series had similar mechanical elements (often updates of ones from related books, actually, along with some new ones), with a special focus on what's interesting for that role (note: ROLE. Complete Warrior focused on anyone who liked attacking and defending. There were PrCs there for mages which turned them into better warriors, for instance, and had a lot of combat feats but essentially no spells). They lack the metagame analysis and present three new base classes each. Some of these (particularly the Warlock and the Scout) were *inspired*, and others... well, they're either unimpressive, drivel, or dip classes. They also had extra stuff crammed in here and there -- Complete Warrior had rule-guidelines for warrior-esque tournaments and warfare along with tips on running a WARRIOR game (i.e. a low-magic, high-combat one), while Complete Arcane had a LOT of spells (including a seminew system for one of the base classes), a discussion on roleplaying an arcane character, a brief blurb on specialist mages and organizations, and a system for warding one's spellbook. 3) The Complete series is bigger (the smallest, Complete Warrior and Complete (HA!) Psionic, were 160 pages) and in hardcover, as compared to the earlier series, which has soft covers and make "splat" sounds if dropped on a table (which is, according to some, the origin of the word "splatbook", although I find that claim dubious).
jgortner 01-03-07, 01:52 PM	So basically, buy the "complete" books. And probably don't buy anything published before 2003 =) Thanks guys!