A question of dire urgitude

[big teej]

greetings playgrounders, I recently recieved an email from one of my players detailing potential future purchases for our gaming group

I'M PARALYZED BY INDECISION IN THE FACE OF SO MANY BOOKS
(I can't help it, I love books, and want to collect all the 3.x dnd books. but I digress)

here's the email.





(x2) Player's Handbook - 8
Ghostwalk - 8
Races of Eberron - 15
Heroes of Battle - 15
Dungeon Master's Guide II - 17
The Quintesesential Monk - 8
The Quintesesential Halfling - 8
The Quintesesential Wizard - 5
The Quintesesential Barbarian - 9
The Quintesesential Fighter - 6

Epic Level Handbook - 15
The Complete Adventurer - 18
Magic of Incarnum - 13
Oriental Adventures - 18
Unearthed Arcana - 15

Song and Silence - 4
Tome and Blood - 4
Enemies and Allies - 4
Defenders of the Faith - 4

A couple of notes: -player-, I already purchased Masters of the Wild for you (it was only $4). The only reason I did not immediately buy the Player's Handbook was because I think they might both be the handbook for 3.0, as opposed to 3.5. Based on my limited knowledge, I think the core rules are the same between the two. The only thing that changes is a few of the numbers. That said, I don't know if you (-player- & -player-) would prefer a 3.5 handbook, or if the 3.0 version would suffice. I looked up the 3.5 price on amazon, and the cheapest I saw was $51. I guess -big teej- can explain the difference between the two. The "Quintessential" books all seemed to be Special Edition (whatever that means haha). Also, -big teej-, the Oriental Adventures book looked incredibly awesome.


the numbers listed are the price (in dollars)

of those listed, what would you pick up? and in what order? (budget is currently unknown.

thanks a bunch I really appreciate the input.

[Weezer]

The only two that jump out at me as being worth buying/using are Magic of Incarnum (I love me some alternate systems) and Complete Adventurer (Can't go wrong with a complete. This is assuming you already have a Players Handbook, which if you don't have get.

The others are either 3rd party (all the quintessential books), 3.0 (the last four), extremely situational (Ghostwalk, Races of Ebberon, Heroes of Battle, Oriental Adventures and Unearthed Arcana) or just plain useless (DMGII). Any of the situational ones could be good ones to grab if you enjoy that kind of thing in your games. I personally own and have used Heroes of Battle, I'm a tabletop wargamer as well as a pnpRPGer so I enjoy the grand battlefield and it's useful for that.

[big teej]

The only two that jump out at me as being worth buying/using are Magic of Incarnum (I love me some alternate systems) and Complete Adventurer (Can't go wrong with a complete. This is assuming you already have a Players Handbook, which if you don't have get.

The others are either 3rd party (all the quintessential books), 3.0 (the last four), extremely situational (Ghostwalk, Races of Ebberon, Heroes of Battle, Oriental Adventures and Unearthed Arcana) or just plain useless (DMGII). Any of the situational ones could be good ones to grab if you enjoy that kind of thing in your games. I personally own and have used Heroes of Battle, I'm a tabletop wargamer as well as a pnpRPGer so I enjoy the grand battlefield and it's useful for that.

are the quintessentials any good?

[Keld Denar]

Get Magic of Incarnum. Its the awesomestestestest book on that list.

I have no experience with the Quintessential books.

[big teej]

Get Magic of Incarnum. Its the awesomestestestest book on that list.

I have no experience with the Quintessential books.

what makes it so great?

also: my group has to date had a whopping 3 casters total, a druid, a bard, and now a cleric....
discounting half casters like rangers and paladins.

so I kinda need something aside from 'wooot magic!' to justify the purchase.

[Keld Denar]

Magic of Incarnum is as much "woo more magic" as Tome of Magic was. Its an alternate system. Its not gonna make your casters more uber. It'll allow anyone who doesn't want to play a caster to be semi-supernatural and have fun options.

Similar to ToB, it also splashes well into many other builds, especially non-casters.

[Gavinfoxx]

If you have PHB's, I'd go for any of these:

The Complete Adventurer - 18
Magic of Incarnum - 13
Oriental Adventures - 18

Unearthed Arcana and ELH stuff is in the SRD, which is online.

I'd also try, if you get oriental adventures, to get your hands on the dragon magazine that updates it to 3.5e.

[big teej]

I find this acceptable ^_^

pending the answer to one question.

is it on the same 'gaming changing' level of power as TOB is? because if so it's out by default, my group isn't ready to add that to the game.

[Swiftest]

In my opinion the goal of any 3.5 player in terms of book acquisitions should be the following (in order of priority):

1. The core 3 (or just phb if never going to DM).
2. Player's Handbook 2.
3. The Completes (get 'em all, they're all worth it).
4. Spell Compendium (just cause).
5. Tome of Battle (many others would put this higher but I personally dislike it, though I must acknowledge its power).
6. Magic of Incarnum.
7. Dungeonscape (Factotum, required fighter and rogue variants, wand slots in weapons, etc).
8. All the rest (most of them don't matter).

So given this priority I'd get PHB and Complete Adventurer and Magic of Incarnum. Oriental Adventures is 3.0 I believe so I would tend towards not getting that were I you.

Remember there is always the SRD for core material so you don't absolutely need to have a PHB (though it is oh-so-convenient) if you have a laptop or smartphone easily available.

edit: Oh, and there are certain things in Magic of Incarnum that can be as game changing as ToB, certainly any powergamer worth his salt would find much there to abuse. If you aren't ready for ToB, you aren't ready for Magic of Incarnum. The Completes will be fine however and PHB2 would be fine too provided you look carefully at immediate magic and some spells.

[Gavinfoxx]

Can you get Dragon Magazine #318?

That's the one with the Oriental Adventures update.

I would also put Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium VERY high on the 'to acquire' list.

[big teej]

well, the end goal is to have EVERY 3.x book published by WOTC.

so in the end, its merely a matter of time,

however, yes our group isn't 'ready' for TOB (and incarnum it seems)

but I digress, it seems the whole group is pitching in and most of the books on the list will be in our(my) possession soon

-excellent.....-

[The Rose Dragon]

I would buy Ghostwalk. Sure, it is not useful to most character builds, but it is a terrific read. In fact, it is one of the three D&D books I still keep reading.

[Gavinfoxx]

If you want stuff published by wotc, dont get the quintessential stuff. it wasnt published by wotc...

[big teej]

I am aware,

but if they're useful I see no reason not to go ahead and pick them up.

but as of yet nobody has weighed in on the usefulness of the quintessentials

[shuyung]

Third-party lines can be pretty uneven. Mongoose (publishers of the Quintessential xxx, Encyclopedia Arcane, Slayer's Guide to xxx series) tended to have some of the better ones. A good number of the Mongoose offerings in their entirety (by permission) are available online at The Grand OGL Wiki (http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/publication-list). You can take a look for yourself and see if you like them.

[big teej]

I'm sure that will prove a very helpful link.

potentially this could be an excellent additional resource to our library