help, too many books!!!

[Korivan]

Not sure if anyone else is having this problem, but im having a hard time keeping straight with all the source material from different books. Most notably, spells. Our dm allows pretty much any book, so i have, players handbook, I and II, spell compendium, dragon magic, cityscape, complete arcane, complete mage, and a couple others. Besides scaleling back (im in love with too many combos :smallwink:), is there a spellbook sheet out there that i can download and write in all this stuff. I could do it on paper, but im looking for something a little more organized, and i have terrible penmanship:smalleek:, any help will be appreciated.

[wizuriel]

hero forge (http://www.nzcomputers.net/heroforge/default35.asp) they are excel sheets that make organizing and writing up characters so much easier.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Crystalkeep.com also has a PDF file with pretty much every spell ever published (it's missing a few). If you have a laptop or can print a bunch of pages, it might help you.

[Doc Roc]

There are also index lists here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/lists
And a database here:
http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndLive/

[RTGoodman]

I made a Spell Sheet for myself when I was playing a Wizard a while back, and it's pretty helpful. It's a pretty basic sheet, with room for the spell name, a short description, DC, SR?, and stuff like that, but you can get most everything on it you need. If not, you could at least write the source and page number in the "Other" section. You can download the PDF of the sheet HERE (http://rtg0922.googlepages.com/SpellSheet.pdf).

[AslanCross]

I once played a Lv 18 Wizard with levels in Geometer, which makes my spells only take up one page each in my spellbook, THEN I took levels in Silver Flame Pyromancer, a divine-arcane blaster PrC which has access to paladin spells too.
Those 100 pages quickly went away, so I had to buy a Blessed Book ASAP.

Anyway, what I did was type the spell effects on a Word document in shorthand so I could easily remember what the spell did. I then printed out the whole thing. It was about 7-8 pages long due to the small font I used. Also put some nice arcane symbols on it, plus the magic school symbols from Neverwinter Nights 2. Looked really awesome and was far more helpful than randomly flipping through the books.

Another tip: Spell Compendium condenses a lot of the sources into one book. I think everything older than Complete Mage is in it, and it has all the updated versions.

[BlueWizard]

All you need is three books to have fun. The rest is your imagination anyway.

[Korivan]

Sorry, i should have mentioned i dont have access to a printer, so digital formated spell sheets that you can use like pdf and excel would be best. I tried SSA-X2 but it wont let me save the spell sheet

[Doc Roc]

All you need is three books to have fun. The rest is your imagination anyway.

I agree. I'm a big fan of the srd, tome of battle, and magic item compendium.

Oh you meant that you thought core was perfect? :P

[TheThan]

If you don’t have a printer its still pretty easy to do.

You could fill out 3x5 cards (or 4x6 or whatever floats your boat) with all the information on them. Or you could get a notebook and copy all the spells down into it (heh actual spellbook here). Yeah it’s a lot of extra work, but it’ll cut way down on your book-shuffling problem.

I made a spell sheet for a sorcerer I rolled up in Microsoft word. Its got a section for listing each spell by level, a section for spell save DCs and a section for spells per day (bubbles you fill in as you go). But then again I use mostly core so I don’t have such a problem with keeping track of where each spell comes from.

[Curmudgeon]

Typically you can make do with
Player's Handbook
Spell Compendium
Players Handbook II
Use small sticky notes sticking out with the name of each spell visible. Then you just need one sheet to keep track of each spell you've got prepared or know so you can cross them off as you use them.

[Doc Roc]

As long as you ban celerity, that might work, Crum.

[TheThan]

As long as you ban celerity, that might work, Crum.

Buahaha

I just misread that as celibacy

[Stormthorn]

Typically you can make do with
Player's Handbook
Spell Compendium
Players Handbook II
Use small sticky notes sticking out with the name of each spell visible. Then you just need one sheet to keep track of each spell you've got prepared or know so you can cross them off as you use them.

Hmm. My entire gaming group is missing the last two of those, although we do have the SRD and Forgottten Realms Campaign Book and Lords of Madness. Are those last two really that important?

[AslanCross]

Hmm. My entire gaming group is missing the last two of those, although we do have the SRD and Forgottten Realms Campaign Book and Lords of Madness. Are those last two really that important?

As I've mentioned, Spell Compendium condenses a lot of previously published spells into just one book. (Notably, Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, as well as some FR and Eberron spells).

PHB2 has some more spells, the Beguiler, Duskblade, and some good feats.

[Doc Roc]

I'd take tome of battle over PHB2, personally. But that's just my preference, since ToB is a little controversial.

[Curmudgeon]

Hmm. My entire gaming group is missing the last two of those, although we do have the SRD and Forgottten Realms Campaign Book and Lords of Madness. Are those last two really that important?
Short answer: yes. Lots of spells from disparate sources were consolidated into Spell Compendium, and there are a bunch of revisions so the older versions are no longer "official". PH2 has more new spells than any other source after the SC consolidation.

[AslanCross]

I'd take tome of battle over PHB2, personally. But that's just my preference, since ToB is a little controversial.

I would too, but yeah. ToB isn't for everyone.

[FMArthur]

PHBII is just so full of interesting and useful things that almost any type of character benefits from its inclusion (although casters do seem to get the most out of it). If I could only have one D&D book other than the PHB itself, the PHBII would be it.

That said, I wouldn't call it essential or mandatory for a good game. It has the highest chance to have something you like at any time you're looking for cool stuff, since its contents are so diverse, but specialized options like ToB, the Races Of series, and particularly the 'Complete x' series can easily help specific types of characters more.

[Doc Roc]

I would too, but yeah. ToB isn't for everyone.

Yes it is :: creepy voice :: they just don't knowwwww itttt yetttt. ;)