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View Full Version : [3.5] Where, and what, splatbooks to buy?



Sbodd
2009-02-05, 05:28 PM
So, I'm considering expanding my set of D&D books past the basic set of three (PHB, DMG, MM). I'm looking to spend no more than $100, and would vastly prefer a set of new books to a set of used ones. With that in mind, I have two questions:

1 - Where's a good place to get new copies of the (now out-of-print) 3.5 books? My FLGS is sold out of most 3.5 stuff with no plans to restock.

2 - What should I get? I'm interested (for now) in sticking with "official" books, and mainly interested in a player's perspective (though I may try to DM in the future). My current character is a druid, but my usual group might be starting a new campaign soon so I'd be interested in good options for any archetype.

The basic list that I'm thinking of:
"Completes" - Warrior, Scoundrel, Divine, Arcane
Monster Manuals II-V
PHB2/DMG2

I'm probably already well past my budget there, so - which of those are the best on the list? Is there anything else I should add?

Draz74
2009-02-05, 05:32 PM
I'm one of those darn Tome of Battle fans -- I say start with PHB II and Tome of Battle.

I also have a soft spot for Dungeonscape. I think it might give the DM more fun tools than Monster Manuals would, if the campaign is a dungeon-crawling style campaign at all.

Nohwl
2009-02-05, 05:39 PM
what kind of characters do you usually play?

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-02-05, 05:43 PM
Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium are always great, though MIC is better for DMs and SpC is best for partial casters like the Ranger. ToB is full of epic and win, and of course Dungeonscape is the best supplement for DMs out there, and players need to buy it just for the Factotum. PHBII is good for everyone, always.

Not all Completes are created equal. CScoundrel is the best of the completes, IMHO, and every group needs a copy just for the skill tricks. CMage and CArcane both have a lot of gems. CAdv has some good stuff, but isn't vital. CWar is similar in use, but even more pigeonholed. CDiv is good only for divine casters and has nothing really important even to them. CChamp is bunk.

Mr.Bookworm
2009-02-05, 05:48 PM
My personal favorites:

Player's Handbook II - Full of great, great content. For pretty much everyone, and if you're newer, a lot of useful advice.

Expanded Psionics Handbook - Really, really good casting system, and it's more balanced than normal casters.

Tome of Battle - Introduces a new martial system that is full of greatness.

Lords of Madness - In my opinion, the best of the monster books. Aberration goodness abounds.

Draconomicon - For those times when you need to smack your players with ten tons of fire-breathing spell-casting lizard.

Libris Mortis - For all your undead needs!

Magic of Incarnum - It's really oddball, but it's also great.

Heroes of Horror - Great for DMs. I learned a lot from this book.

Tome of Magic - Okay, Truenamers suck but Binders are the awesome.

Stormwrack/Sandstorm/Frostburn - If you're running a water/desert/really-cold-place campaign, these books are hard to beat.

EDIT: For buying books, I recommend Amazon. I've bought a bunch of books for as little as six dollars. (Including shipping.[/b]

monty
2009-02-05, 05:48 PM
I'm one of those darn Tome of Battle fans -- I say start with PHB II and Tome of Battle.

I second this.

And you can get books from Amazon, if you can't find them locally.

MammonAzrael
2009-02-05, 05:52 PM
Some of the best options are the Player's Handbook 2, Tome of Battle, Magic Item Compendium, and Spell Compendium. I'd recommend the Expanded Psionic Handbook as well, except that most of it can be found online for free at d20srd (http://www.d20srd.org/). Tome of Magic has some very cool concepts, but two of the three classes are pretty broken (as in they don't work), and you'd probably want to use some house rules to fix them (there are some great fixes here on the Playground for Shadowcasters (http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2957649&postcount=76) and Truenamers (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90961)). Magic of Incarnum is a really cool book that adds a whole new system that, once you learn it, is pretty awesome.

The DMG 2 is widely regarded as pretty useless, and I wouldn't pick up any Monster Manuels unless you were a dedicated DM.

AslanCross
2009-02-05, 05:59 PM
I also agree with Tome of Battle, PHB2, Spell Compendium and MIC.

I thought Complete Champion was actually pretty good. Not for everyone, but I found some of its material pretty good, especially the Ordained Champion (a much better "warpriest" than the actual warpriest from CDiv) and the Devotion feats.

If you're a DM and want to get Monster Manuals, I suggest MM3 and MM5. Both have well-designed and interesting monsters, and MM5 has two monster concepts that can become good overarching plot elements (Xorvintaal Dragons and Mind Flayers of Thoon). MM2 is rather weird, and MM4 doesn't introduce much in the way of interesting monsters. I actually like the Spawn of Tiamat, though.

monty
2009-02-05, 06:03 PM
I thought Complete Champion was actually pretty good. Not for everyone, but I found some of its material pretty good, especially the Ordained Champion (a much better "warpriest" than the actual warpriest from CDiv) and the Devotion feats.

Ehh, most of the stuff I've seen in it is either crap or overpowered (I'm looking at you, Spontaneous Divination!).

Gruesy
2009-02-05, 06:07 PM
Some of the best options are the Player's Handbook 2, Tome of Battle, Magic Item Compendium, and Spell Compendium.

This. If you must drop one, I'd say the Magic Item Compendium, but that's mostly because of my general disdain for... well, magic items.

Eldariel
2009-02-05, 06:14 PM
This topic has come up quite a few times as of late. I personally order my books from www.amazon.co.uk and haven't had any problems thus far. As I live in Finland, it's by far the quickest way for me to get new books, but I've also ordered old books from there without problems. For example, I ordered my copy of XPH last year (after using it through SRD all that time) and it came quick and was in advertised condition. It was rather cheap too.

As for books, I'll go with what I always suggest:
-Tome of Battle: For melee types
-Spell Compendium: For spellcasters (especially awesome for half-casters like Rangers, Paladins and Assassins; their spellcasting becomes a whole other animal entirely actually synergising with their class features; full casters will also love the added alternatives)
-Complete Scoundrel: For skill characters/everyone ('cause everyone gets some useful skills and thus gets stuff outta this book)
-PHBII: For everyone; new spells, new feats for all classes, alternative class features, expanded rules, a solid addition overall.

The reasons are simple; I find that those 4 books enhance the whole the most. Magic Item Compendium and the other Completes (Mage, Warrior, Adventurer, Arcane, Divine, Champion order probably) are of course nice too, the Races-books and environmental books rock, but with those 4 you'll pretty much break all boundaries as far as making characters goes. Between skill tricks, martial maneuvers, expanded feat selection and expanded spell selection, you've got the tools to nail down pretty much every concept you could want, and you should be able to build enjoyable, solid versions of any characters.

Magic Item Compendium I don't find that necessary simply because magic items are probably the easiest thing to make up on the spot, and quite easy to balance. That said, it's got so much material that it'd be my next pick.

potatocubed
2009-02-06, 05:58 AM
Further to the other answers, I would like to recommend Magic of Incarnum. I got my copy from Ebay for £6 (about $9) including P&P.

MoI is criminally underrated, and adds all sorts of cool bits and pieces to your game.

NeoVid
2009-02-06, 06:23 AM
Pretty much all the times I've had real fun with the game were due to Expanded Psionics Handbook, and the Tome of Battle. So I'll just bring those up again.

Zergrusheddie
2009-02-06, 06:47 AM
Spell Compendium is awesome.

Tome of Battle is damn near a necessity too; makes melee far more powerful and far more fun (at least I think so.)

Also, one player at the table may want have Rules Compendium. It breaks down all those little obscure rules and helps mitigate some of the rule contradictions.
Ever wonder how your stupid nameless NPC was supposed to charge and swing on Mounted Combat? Well, fear no more! Seriously though, it is nice to have but not essential.

Jimbob
2009-02-06, 07:54 AM
Complete warrior for all your mashing monster needs.

Complete mage for all your blowing up monster needs.

Spell compendium for all your spell needs.

Tempest Fennac
2009-02-06, 08:08 AM
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:System_Reference_Document covers the Expanded Psionics Handbook and http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php covers most of the PHB2 and some other sources, so I recommend Tome of Battle, Complete Psion and the Spell Compendium.

Sbodd
2009-02-06, 05:50 PM
Wow, lots of helpful responses! Thanks. I guess it's time to go see what all Amazon's got available. :-)

wadledo
2009-02-06, 06:00 PM
I've been snapping up stuff from amazon for a few months now.
Whenever a book falls below $5ish, I buy a copy.

I've got CChamp, CMage, ToB:B9S, HoH, and MoI so far, and a few more coming right now.

So yea, Amazon=Cheap books.