[3.5] good books for playing

[slaydemons]

If say there was a way for me to get books from 3.5 whichs ones should i get possibly a list for dm only and a list for players would be nice

[Zuljita]

there is some division on if you should buy the core books (PHB, MM and DMG) since most of the material is covered in the SRD.

Beyond that its really going to depend on your playstyle. I lurves me some PHB2 classes, and i think Tome of Battle brings much needed muscle to melee, but your mileage may vary.

The completes come up pretty often, and can really expand options for characters.

Dungeonscape has one fun character class but lots of fun DM options if dungeons are your cup of tea.

[Critical]

My advices for both the DM and PC books: PHB II, DMG II, the "Complete" series, Dungeonscape, Expanded Psionics Handbook, "Races of" series, Magic Item Compendium, Spell Compendium, Rules Compendium, Tome of Battle.

That's the optimal set IMO.

[Tyndmyr]

there is some division on if you should buy the core books (PHB, MM and DMG) since most of the material is covered in the SRD.

I would go so far as to say that two Phbs are a good idea. Why? Cause people tend to level up at the same time, and it's not uncommon to use it as a reference round the table. Multiples speed things up immensely. Sure, the SRD is great, but bringing laptops to the table is frequently a distraction.

[slaydemons]

yeah there will be laptops as we have only one copy of the phb on hard cover

[Keld Denar]

3.5 doesn't really break things into "player" book and "DM only" books. Nearly every book printed for 3.5 has character material in it. Books like Lords of Madness and Libris Mortis focus on Aberrations and Undead respectively, but both contain material for players to combat those foes as well as material for monsters the DM may use and adventure hook ideas and monster ecology. Get whatever's interesting, or will be utilized by the largest group of people. Magic Item Compendium and Spell Compendium are great books because everyone uses magic items, and nearly everyone uses spells, or magic items with spells.

[grimbold]

ToB is good
Ultimate Prestige Classes can help you a lot
to give you more ideas please share what classes you like
for example i like barbarians so i got warriors of the wild

[The Cat Goddess]

I second the recommendations of:

Tome of Battle
Spell Compendium
Magic Item Compendium
Player's Handbook II

I also think that the following books are very handy:

Complete Champion
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Mage

To a lesser extent:

Complete Warrior
Complete Adventurer
Dragon Magic
Complete Scoundrel

The "Races of (X)" books are very heavy on the RPing information, so not as important for the typical "hack & slash" type game.

And you'll probably want an Monster Manual 2, even if you use the SRD for most MM1 monsters.

[sreservoir]

And you'll probably want an Monster Manual 2, even if you use the SRD for most MM1 monsters.

eh, MM2 is the 3.0 one with terrible CRs. MM3 and MM5 have the most of the fun stuff.

[Percival]

eh, MM2 is the 3.0 one with terrible CRs. MM3 and MM5 have the most of the fun stuff.

Really? I found MM4 and 5 to be, quite frankly, god awful. They have almost zero new monsters, just existing monsters with character classes or maybe a template tacked on. Totally unnecessary, as any DM who isn't a lazy bastard can do that on their own.

MM1-3 are all solid, though, as far as I've seen.

[FMArthur]

Really? I found MM4 and 5 to be, quite frankly, god awful. They have almost zero new monsters, just existing monsters with character classes or maybe a template tacked on. Totally unnecessary, as any DM who isn't a lazy bastard can do that on their own.

MM1-3 are all solid, though, as far as I've seen.

Okay, I'm a lazy bastard then. Lots and lots of other DMs are also lazy bastards, hence the appeal of books to make the job easier. They have creatures grouped together in ways that are much, much easier to build campaigns with. Take the Mind Flayers of Thoon section for example: they all fit together thematically and actually consider campaigns built around them with properly-scaled CR. Gathering and grouping encounters for a campaign that doesn't feel like a random hodgepodge is very time consuming, and few books do things to make it easier outside of modules. I just liked having a Monster Manual that gave campaigns and encounters priority over world-building, because that does happen to be the primary use of the Monster Manuals.

[sreservoir]

Really? I found MM4 and 5 to be, quite frankly, god awful. They have almost zero new monsters, just existing monsters with character classes or maybe a template tacked on. Totally unnecessary, as any DM who isn't a lazy bastard can do that on their own.

MM1-3 are all solid, though, as far as I've seen.

hm, MM5 is a lot worse than I remembered on closer inspection.

also, haha, shaedlings. "I do whatever I can make an item to do" at will!

[Darklady2831]

I'm fond of Heroes of Horror and the Libris Mortis, though I prefer to make dark characters.
The Dm aspects of those two books are pretty good as well, particularly if you like to use undead in your campaign, or if you want it to have a really dark mood.

[Daftendirekt]

I'm fond of Heroes of Horror and the Libris Mortis, though I prefer to make dark characters.
The Dm aspects of those two books are pretty good as well, particularly if you like to use undead in your campaign, or if you want it to have a really dark mood.

I tend to play all the weird races -- everyone else sticks mostly to core races or variants thereof. So, the "Races Of" series is great, as well as any book with cool templates. For example, my current work-in-progress is an Insectile Whisper Gnome Ninja.

[senrath]

If you're a fan of alternative magic systems "Magic of Incarnum" is a nice book. Be warned, though, it can be a bit tricky to figure out.

[AslanCross]

Really? I found MM4 and 5 to be, quite frankly, god awful. They have almost zero new monsters, just existing monsters with character classes or maybe a template tacked on. Totally unnecessary, as any DM who isn't a lazy bastard can do that on their own.

MM1-3 are all solid, though, as far as I've seen.

MM2 is full of oddly-CRed creatures (CR 9 creature with At-Will Disjunction, Disintegrate and Implosion being the worst), and multiple copies of creatures with the same general concept (It has FOUR "Magic Apes").

MM3 is solid and interesting, and it is the best one IMO.

MM4 is the book with a lot of wasted space due to monsters with class levels. However, it has the Spawn of Tiamat, which are awesome.

MM5 has a LOT of new monsters. Even its "monsters with class levels" parts are well done: The Hobgoblin Duskblade uses a non-core class, and the other hobgoblins are mutants with special powers. The Mind Flayers of Thoon are a great concept twist on Mind Flayers, and even the two vampires at the end are not generic "you were lazy" monsters, but fully-fleshed arc villains with backstories and non-core prestige classes. While it has monsters that I don't really like, it has a great deal more original ideas compared to MM4.

I'd rate the extra-core MMs as follows:
3 > 5 > 4 > 2