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Stegyre
2009-10-28, 01:24 PM
Like the title says: Outside of core, what's your favorite 3.5 book, and why?
(This is by no means a purely disinterested question. I'm wondering what I should focus on adding to my collection. :smallsmile:)

Mine has got to be ToB: martial adepts, maneuvers and stances that I can re-fluff to whatever I want.

Second place goes to CPsi, just because I love psionics and more powers == great! (And having come to it all quite late, I can easily live with the occasional retrenchment from XPH.)

EDIT: Going to tally up the votes (an excellent suggestion by Ernir, below). Just to avoid endless recounts (because I don't live in Florida or Minnesota), I'll tally votes page-by-page, as each page is filled. For reference, here's how votes will be tallied: if it receives a positive reference, it's a vote. For example, "Favorites are ToB and PHB 2, with SC close behind," is a vote for all three (ToB, PHB 2 & SC). For relative newcomers (like myself), I think this best highlights the "keepers" a player should seek out.

Votes, as of page 1 (my apologies: these are not necessarily the standard abbreviations; corrections will be graciously accepted):

BoED 1
CAr 1
CPsi 1
CSc 1
Dun 1
Frost 2
HoH 3
LM 1
LoM 1
MIC 6
MoI 2
PHBII 5
Sand 1
SBG 1
SC 7
Sw&F 1
ToB 10
ToM 3
XPH 1

Not tallied (poster):
IK (Slaanesh): this is third party, isn't it? I'm tentatively restricting the list to WotC, whether or not that's a good idea.
Expedition modules (Akal Saris) & Eberron Campaign Setting Books (Slaanesh): too general (name specifics) and, with regard to modules, not really within the scope. There is a separate thread for modules here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120782).

jiriku
2009-10-28, 01:29 PM
Frostburn. I ran a campaign set in a fantasy Russia setting, with all sorts of monsters and fey appropriate to Russian myth and folklore. Frostburn actually had all of them statted out so I didn't have to homebrew them! The cold-themed feats, spells, and prestige classes were also perfect for a lich antagonist I created as the BBEG. The material was really tremendously valuable in providing rules to go under the fluff of my setting.

Edwin
2009-10-28, 01:32 PM
Sandstorm has got some pretty good stuff in it too, namely the Sand Shaper. Free resurrection, free healing, free just about everything as long as there's sand nearby. Awesome! :smallbiggrin:

If you count 3.0, I loved Savage Species. What can I say, I have a soft spot for monster classes. :smallwink:

Fax Celestis
2009-10-28, 01:35 PM
Magic of Incarnum, closely followed by Tome of Magic.

Anonanimal
2009-10-28, 01:37 PM
Tome of Magic by far. No book has ever given me so many ideas, and the Binder is just awesome. The Truenamer has awesome flavor, at least, and with Kellus' rewrite, it works just fine. :smallwink:

Wereling
2009-10-28, 01:38 PM
Spell Compendium. So many WONDERFUL toys...

Ponce
2009-10-28, 01:39 PM
Tome of Battle or Spell Compendium. Depends on how I'm feeling.

Edwin
2009-10-28, 01:40 PM
Spell Compendium. So many WONDERFUL toys...

But also, so full of evil! :smallbiggrin:

The orb spells are in it, though, so it's a must if you want to play a blaster.

sonofzeal
2009-10-28, 01:42 PM
Magic of Incarnum, closely followed by Tome of Magic.
........really? I'd generally rather nominate a whole book rather than a third of a book... :smallwink:


ToB and PHB2 for me. MIC and SC are close behind.

Shadwen
2009-10-28, 01:47 PM
PHB2 followed closely by Sword and Fist

jokey665
2009-10-28, 01:47 PM
Expanded Psionics Handbook.

Mongoose87
2009-10-28, 01:52 PM
I <3 teh ToB

Tanaric
2009-10-28, 01:55 PM
PHB2 and ToB are tied in my book, I think. Spell Compendium ranks shortly behind.

Person_Man
2009-10-28, 01:55 PM
Magic of Incarnum, closely followed by Tome of Magic.

I'll second Magic of Incarnum (minus the Soulborn), PHBII (minus the Dragon Shaman), and Tome of Battle (minus the Legacy weapons).

But Tome of Magic? The Binder fluff is pure awesomeness, but the crunch is overly complicated. The Truenamer fluff is interesting, but the crunch is pretty much unworkable without houserules, an Item Familiar, and/or custom magic items. I'll be honest and say that I've only read the Shadow Magic section once, so I don't really grok what it's all about. I'm honestly interested to hear why you picked ToM Fax.

Ernir
2009-10-28, 02:14 PM
ToB and the Magic Item Compendium, I think.

EDIT: Oooo, wouldn't you just love to count the "votes" and post the results in the original post? :smallredface:

Aldizog
2009-10-28, 02:16 PM
Lords of Madness. Great fluff and some good crunch. As a 2E fan of Spelljammer, I like the attention given to illithid, beholders, and neogi.

Second place probably Heroes of Horror, though the archivist's spell list can be problematic and I don't like the arms race aspect of "super-duper fear that affects fear-immune creatures."

Telonius
2009-10-28, 02:17 PM
PHB2, followed by Magic Item Compendium and Complete Scoundrel.

ToB's crunch is superb. The layout, however is ... very much not. It would be one place ahead of MiC otherwise.

Tyndmyr
2009-10-28, 02:19 PM
MiC, followed by Stronghold Builders Guide.

I dunno why, I just get a kick outta building stuff.

Mordokai
2009-10-28, 02:22 PM
I love Heroes of Horror to pieces, since it has given me so many ideas and I keep coming back to it and always finding it as interesting as it was the last time I put it away.

Akal Saris
2009-10-28, 02:26 PM
Tome of Battle! (Yeah, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but it's such a great book)

Tome of Magic and all of the Expedition to XYZ modules come in at a close second though =)

Temet Nosce
2009-10-28, 02:28 PM
Spell Compendium/Magic Item Compendium. I get use out of them for basically every character I make. Other than those, the ToB followed by the XPH.

aje8
2009-10-28, 02:28 PM
Spell Compendium. Though Heroes of Horror is a close second.

Stegyre
2009-10-28, 02:29 PM
EDIT: Oooo, wouldn't you just love to count the "votes" and post the results in the original post? :smallredface:
Yes, I would / will! :smallbiggrin:

Inhuman Bot
2009-10-28, 02:31 PM
I really liked the IK World guide/Charcter guide, and the Ebberon Campaign setting books.

DarthCyberWolf
2009-10-28, 02:50 PM
My heart will always be with Frostburn, even though I’ll probably never get to play in a campaign with that setting.:smallfrown:

Fax Celestis
2009-10-28, 02:51 PM
But Tome of Magic? The Binder fluff is pure awesomeness, but the crunch is overly complicated. The Truenamer fluff is interesting, but the crunch is pretty much unworkable without houserules, an Item Familiar, and/or custom magic items. I'll be honest and say that I've only read the Shadow Magic section once, so I don't really grok what it's all about. I'm honestly interested to hear why you picked ToM Fax.

The Binder is amazing, but it is complicated. The Truenamer is a lost cause mechanically but is amazing fluff. The Shadowcaster is a 9th-level caster that's not ohmaigawdit'sastralfire broken, which in itself is impressive--and with some minor tweaks (mostly involving a simple refresh mechanic akin to ToB classes) it can be brought in line with Tier 2. It can also be refluffed very easily to other planes--Flamecaster for elemental plane of fire, for instance, or Abyssbringer for the Infinite Layers of the Abyss.

Gametime
2009-10-28, 02:57 PM
I'm tempted to say Dungeonscape even though I barely use any of the book, just because I love the Factotum that much.

Tome of Battle is probably the most impressive as an example of excellent design, though.

Maryring
2009-10-28, 02:58 PM
Me, I'm quite fond of Complete Arcane and, surprisingly, Book of Exalted Deeds. The classes may be so-so, but the monster and planar sections are fun and the spells are even more fun.

ErrantX
2009-10-28, 03:02 PM
I'm gonna have to say Libris Mortis is one of my favorite books. Lots of awesome feats, monsters, and templates. Some fun classes and spells as well. Overall, just a really fun book. Followed very closely by the Tome of Battle, which yeah... martial adepts rock my socks. And so much great fluff!

Tome of Magic would be 3rd, Shadowcasters and Binders are just awesome.

-X

NoldorForce
2009-10-28, 03:25 PM
Another vote for Magic of Incarnum. Minus, of course, the soulborn.

Claudius Maximus
2009-10-28, 03:27 PM
I'll also vote for Libris Mortis. I just love the undead, and use them whenever possible.

As an aside, the title is a perfectly reasonable Latin phrase. It can be translated as "From the Books of Death", which isn't really so bad. They just tried to pass it off as nominative singular, which it is very much not.

Magic of Incarnum and ToB are also favorites of mine.

Uin
2009-10-28, 03:33 PM
(Suggestions that are not ToB, PHB2 or Spell Compendium)

Lords of Madness combined with a Daekyr invasion using the Eberron Campaign Setting. Fiendish Codex I is also gorgeous with nigh on perfect fluff and lovely lovely Demon Princes to use as your Eberron Rajahs.

Choosing 1 of the 3.... tough, but I'll go with ECS due to the amount of use I give it.

Godskook
2009-10-28, 03:40 PM
Tome of Battle and Dragon Magic in that order. Tome of battle is just made of win and awesome, and Dragon magic has the DFA, which is made of awesome(and probably win, too).

Tyndmyr
2009-10-28, 03:44 PM
I'll also vote for Libris Mortis. I just love the undead, and use them whenever possible.


Tusiko would like to speak with you now.

Sinfire Titan
2009-10-28, 03:49 PM
In order:


Magic of Incarnum (you should know this all ready (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouShouldKnowThisAlready))
Tome of Battle (works wonderfully with home brew)
Elder Evils (because, you know, bonus feats)
Complete Mage (reserve feats along with very useful magic items)
Complete Champion (domain feats and affiliations)

jiriku
2009-10-28, 03:55 PM
I'll also vote for Libris Mortis. I just love the undead, and use them whenever possible.


That just sounds naughty.

Person_Man
2009-10-28, 04:11 PM
The Binder is amazing, but it is complicated. The Truenamer is a lost cause mechanically but is amazing fluff. The Shadowcaster is a 9th-level caster that's not ohmaigawdit'sastralfire broken, which in itself is impressive--and with some minor tweaks (mostly involving a simple refresh mechanic akin to ToB classes) it can be brought in line with Tier 2. It can also be refluffed very easily to other planes--Flamecaster for elemental plane of fire, for instance, or Abyssbringer for the Infinite Layers of the Abyss.

Fair enough. I will admit that in terms of fluff, it's probably the most interesting 3.5 book out there (except maybe the Forgotten Realms or Eberron Campaign Setting books). It's a shame that the crunch is so muddled.

Blackfang108
2009-10-28, 04:17 PM
That just sounds naughty.

No, you're thinking of the Book of Vile Darkness's "Lichloved" feat.:smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Probably MoI, even though I've only been able to use it a little, followed by Lords of Madness (Or, as I call it: the Book of Awesome), and then ToM. Even the Truenamer Chapter. (There are a few good things in there.)

Weezer
2009-10-28, 04:40 PM
I'd have to say that Magic of Incarnum is my favorite, i enjoy how complicated it is, making a meldshaper is one of the few characters that really makes me think anymore. A close second is ToB, which seems to be high on everyones lists for obvious reasons.

Glimbur
2009-10-28, 04:50 PM
I also enjoy Magic of Incarnum, for the ability to pick your class abilities each day and shuffle around their power nearly at will.

Dusk Eclipse
2009-10-28, 04:53 PM
1-Heroes of Horror: Home of my favorite class DREAD NECROMANCER
2-Tome of Battle: Anime-ish classes check, good martial classes check, awesome flavor check.... I think I have a winner
3-Complete Arcane: Warlock yes please
4-Fiendish Codex II: I prefer law over Chaos
5 Any Eberron Book: Favorite campaing setting EVER

ex cathedra
2009-10-28, 05:02 PM
Expanded Psionics Handbook is the most wonderful 3.5 material in existence, in my opinion.

Tome of Battle, Spell Compendium, PHBII, Complete Champion, and the Book of Vile Darkness are also good.

Volos
2009-10-28, 05:32 PM
Damn hard choice... I would have to go with the Book of Erotic Fantasy. I've used it in my current campain and it's turning out to be a godsend. It has rules for both sexually active and chaste characters, and anything inbetween. I found it nessesary for my campain, being that all of my players are 21+. It's really a well put together book.

Dimers
2009-10-28, 05:32 PM
Expanded Psi. Psi isn't actually "better" in some way than magic, skill, or mundane combat, but the abilities and base classes in that book are the best fit for my preferences. It's got the right number of options -- not too few, but also not so many I get confused about what I can do -- and some new balancing mechanisms that aren't based on all classes supposedly being about equal to each other. So it's fun for me to plot ideas out of that book, and it gives me the sense that the results will be decently balanced against the rest of the gameworld. The prestige classes are problematic -- several of them way overpowered, a few notably underpowered -- but the rest of the material is great.

Second place for me is Unearthed Arcana. I like some of the ideas and adaptations. My next gameworld will only have spontaneous divine casters, for example ... I like the paragon classes, the variant classes and specialist wizards, the bell curve and players-roll-everything adaptations ... but what I like in UA is just a random smattering of possibilities, whereas XPH seems to be a coherent whole.

Edited to add: Third place is Book of Exalted Deeds.

AslanCross
2009-10-28, 05:59 PM
1) Tome of Battle, hands down.
2) Magic Item Compendium
3) Spell Compendium
4) Races of Eberron
5) PHB2

drengnikrafe
2009-10-28, 06:00 PM
I find myself really fond of the Complete Scoundrel. It's full of stuff for my favorite class. Sadly, it's also one of the few I don't have in my collection. My words may be biased because of that...

Balkash
2009-10-28, 06:52 PM
LM - Essential to anyone playing with necromancy or a heavy 'evil' feel.

In a close second, Spell Compendium. Being a necromancer, I must have LM to ensure all my deadly deeds are seen to their full potential. Though, as a necromancer, I need to be able to access a vast range of spells. Mostly to defend myself from those 'good' types. Yeah, they don't much care for the undead.

Nate the Snake
2009-10-28, 07:43 PM
1. Magic of Incarnum
2. Races of Eberron
3. Eberron Campaign Setting
4. Dragon Magic
5. Races of the Dragon


As an aside, the title is a perfectly reasonable Latin phrase. It can be translated as "From the Books of Death", which isn't really so bad. They just tried to pass it off as nominative singular, which it is very much not.

Quoted for truth and because I knew that there had to be at least one other person who spotted that. :smallcool:

Vortling
2009-10-28, 08:23 PM
As a player: Tome of Battle and PHB 2
As a DM: Spell Compendium and Savage species

Kelb_Panthera
2009-10-28, 08:29 PM
While it's an extremely difficult decision to make, I'm probably gonna have to say complete mage. I love the sections and sidebars that give so much tasty fluff about what magic is and how it works. My wife, who has no account here, really likes Races of Eberron. She is absolutely in love with shifters.

industrious
2009-10-28, 08:32 PM
Favorite WOTC book: Tome of Battle, for obvious reasons

Favorite non-WOTC book: Races of War. Makes combat so much easier, and makes non-martial adept melee classes a viable option. While DMing a game, I managed to make my players scared/in awe of a Samurai.

sadi
2009-10-28, 08:38 PM
As the reason to play 3.5 is to be an uber caster, the spell compendium has to be it.

AshDesert
2009-10-28, 08:42 PM
I'd probably have to go with PHBII, Tome of Magic, and Expanded Psionics. Psionics and Binding are easily my two favorite systems. For the PHB, I'm one of the people who actually LIKES the Dragon Shaman. And, well, Psionics just does Arcane Casting so much better (plus Mind Thrust for 1d10 per PP is just too much fun on an Evil character).

Talking Donkey
2009-10-28, 09:29 PM
Easily hands down, the Magic Item Compendium.

After that... Races of Desitny or Races of Stone.

Draz74
2009-10-28, 10:39 PM
Another vote for Magic Item Compendium. No other book makes every character (without VoP) more fun!

Expanded Psionics Handbook and Tome of Battle are the next two, at the moment.

Kaiyanwang
2009-10-29, 02:53 AM
Unearthed Arcana.

Eldariel
2009-10-29, 04:47 AM
Tome of Battle. Second would be Complete Scoundrel, Expanded Psionics Handbook & Player's Handbook II. Spell Compendium is up there too, along with Magic of Incarnum & Dungeonscape.

BooNL
2009-10-29, 04:52 AM
Expanded Psionics Handbook, PHBII and Dragon Magic get my vote.

And that's only if I'm forced...

peacenlove
2009-10-29, 06:36 AM
In no particular order...

Spell Compendium (More options are always good)
Magic Item Compendium (See above :smallsmile: )
Tome of Magic (I mean just look at my sig :smallannoyed: :smallbiggrin: )
Fiendish Codex Hordes of the Abyss (And in general anything relating demons, the plane of shadow and magic)
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting ( Fantastic fluff, layout AND setting but most of the images were horrible :smallmad: , I still read it between travels :smallbiggrin:)

Special Mention:
Tome of Battle and Expanded Psionics Handbook ( I put them together because they (and a friend of mine who used them extensively on my campaigns) taught me that different magic systems can be far better than the "core" ones. And i had a Psion under both the 2.5 (advanced dungeons and dragons) and 3.0 edition rules and it was the worst experience of my life :smallfurious: so it was difficult to accept psionics at first. On my next campaign i will try an incarnum/shadowcaster user as to test the Magic of incarnum book too)

AstralFire
2009-10-29, 04:44 PM
The Binder is amazing, but it is complicated. The Truenamer is a lost cause mechanically but is amazing fluff. The Shadowcaster is a 9th-level caster that's not ohmaigawdit'sastralfire broken, which in itself is impressive--and with some minor tweaks (mostly involving a simple refresh mechanic akin to ToB classes) it can be brought in line with Tier 2. It can also be refluffed very easily to other planes--Flamecaster for elemental plane of fire, for instance, or Abyssbringer for the Infinite Layers of the Abyss.

I... I'm not even in this topic!

Solaris
2009-10-29, 06:09 PM
Magic of Incarnum, Magic Item Compendium, Heroes of Horror, and Unearthed Arcana.

oxinabox
2009-10-30, 05:00 AM
Currently Minitures Handbook,

It has some great stuff, though easy to overlook in the middle of all the bad.

the SheildMate feat: grant your adjacent allys a +2 sheild bonus, from yoru tower shield!

Warchief: so all the NPC's live ~ there HD size rounds, doing bulk damage...
Also the Warchief... Why yes, my class features do include Ability score bonuses to charsima, doesn't everyone impove there ability scores via Class features>

dragonfan6490
2009-10-31, 12:50 PM
My favorite book of all of them is Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might, the precious. Of the official books, it'd be a toss up between the Tome of Battle, Magic Item Compendium, or Spell Compendium.

aboyd
2009-10-31, 04:45 PM
I like Complete Adventurer for the bard options. Couple the Extra Music feat with the Lyric Spell feat, and your bard can swap bardic music for a bunch of extra spells, on a whim. This is also the book that contains the popular Leap Attack feat.

I love the Spell Compendium. Again with the bard stuff, I house-ruled that the spells Bonefiddle and Symphonic Nightmare are bard-only again. I say "again" because those spells originally debuted in Dragon magazine as bard-only spells. They were intended to help increase the bard's viability, by giving the class some exclusive goodies.

Lastly, I love love love the Tome of Horrors (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=3019&it=1). I use monsters from it all the time. So do the Paizo guys. You'll notice that 10 of the 11 reviews give it a perfect score (5 of 5 stars).

Elfin
2009-10-31, 07:45 PM
ToB.
It gives a bunch of new options and a much-needed power boost to martial characters, which are also easily refluffable.

Tackyhillbillu
2009-10-31, 07:54 PM
Going to have to say ToB as well, with Complete Scoundrel and Complete Adventurer being close seconds.

Dracomorph
2009-10-31, 11:18 PM
Magic of Incarnum just edges out Expanded Psionics Handbook for me.

CockroachTeaParty
2009-11-01, 12:31 AM
I'm glad to see Races of Eberron getting some love. It's a fantastic book, and it should be required reading for anyone who wants to play an Eberron-specific race (though the chapter concerning the others races is useful too). I actually bought races of Eberron before I bough the ECS.

My favorite 3.5 book might actually be the ECS, but if we don't want to get setting specific here...

Expanded Psionics Handbook was my first 3.5 love, and made me switch over from 3.0, so I think that's my favorite.

Honorable mentions: Player's Handbook 2, Lords of Madness, Tome of Battle.

Galileo
2009-11-01, 02:19 AM
I'm going to have to vote for Races of Destiny. Illumians are the coolest race ever, and I love the heavy-fluff design.

I also really like Dungeonscape and Tome of Battle. The natural extension of this combination of books was to make an Illumian Factotum, then convince the DM to let me make a feat allowing maneuvers to be prepared using Arcane Dilettante.

Dark Knight Renee
2009-11-01, 03:50 AM
I'd have to say the Spell Compendium is my favorite book outside Core, simply because having most of the spells from most of the other books in one place makes stating up spellcasters much less horrendously tedious.

Berserk Monk
2009-11-01, 02:29 PM
Complete Warrior

Teutonic Knight
2009-11-01, 04:58 PM
Complete Scoudrel. Because of that book, I created a whole new god and a party of characters working for him, all CS prestige classes, except the leader.

JonestheSpy
2009-11-01, 05:45 PM
Expanded Psi is best all around, definitely.

I love the material in Lords of Madness, but it's practical use is pretty restricted. Same for Sandstorm and Frostburn.

Even though there's a lot of junk, I thinks there's a lot of good stuff in both Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds, especially for creating NPCs.

Samb
2009-11-01, 06:44 PM
Oh this is such a tough call. Top spot goes to XPH, only because I love the new system and almost all my PCs are psionic. The other book I really enjoyed and even read for fun is ECS. XPH only beat it because XPH is not campaign specific.

Others notable ones: races of Eberron, sercerts of Sarlona, complete scoundrel, CPsi (yeah I said it), and lords of madness.

sambo.
2009-11-01, 07:59 PM
my $0.02:

1: Tome Of Magic (i'm playing a noctumancer in a PbP, looks like it'll be great fun with a couple more levels)

2: Spell Compendium (i just wish those WotC guys had included everything from the PHB for no other reason than to keep all spells together in one, single volume. not doing so was, i rekon, a Mistake!)

3: PHB II. lots and lots of coolness contained therin.

Danin
2009-11-02, 02:21 AM
ToM or HoH. Fantastic books. A close third is Heros of Battle.

dyslexicfaser
2009-11-02, 03:15 AM
Another call for Magic of Incarnum. It took me ages to understand it, but I love it now. Both the fluff and crunch are deliciously well done (soulborn is iffy, as stated earlier).

Tomes of Magic and Battle are also very nice, and Eberron is far and away my favorite campaign setting book.