[3.5] Terrain Books

[mattie_p]

I'm well aware of the three official terrain books:

Stormwrack - It's Wet Outside
Sandstorm - It's Dry/Hot Outside
Frostburn - It's Cold Outside

You could also throw in FR: Underdark (It's UnderDark Outside?) and possibly Drow of the Underdark.

What other books, either WoTC or even third party, are recommended for worldbuilding/adventure planning? Forests, Mountains, Swamps, what have you. Thanks.

EDIT: I guess throw in Cityscape: It's not crowded outside, and Dungeonscape: It's ... umm, dark is covered, right, no, stick with dark outside not outside. Annnd... my edit was swordsaged. Awesome.

[hamishspence]

Cityscape: "It's Crowded Outside".

Dungeonscape: "It's Not Outside".

[Daftendirekt]

Cityscape: "It's Crowded Outside".

Dungeonscape: "It's Not Outside".

I loled. 10charlol

[hamishspence]

Manual of the Planes might do for extra info on the planes that the DMG doesn't have.

[mattie_p]

Manual of the Planes might do for extra info on the planes that the DMG doesn't have.

It's astral outside? It's outside? It's just plainplane outside?

What about third party, any recommended? Keep them coming

[Psyren]

Manual of the Planes might do for extra info on the planes that the DMG doesn't have.

Also Planar Handbook, which is more player-focused but includes some location info (e.g. Touchstones) that is expanded upon in some of the other setting books like Sandstorm.

Is Stronghold Builder's Guide official? It seems like it would go well with Dungeonscape.

There are also setting-specific "terrain books" like Five Nations and Grand History of the Realms.

[Pechvarry]

It's astral outside? It's outside? It's just plainplane outside?

It's outside outside?

[Obligatory Outside-ception mention]

[hamishspence]

Is Stronghold Builder's Guide official? It seems like it would go well with Dungeonscape.

It's 3.0 , WOTC, but as far as I can tell most of its content would work fine in 3.5.

I think some of it may have appeared in Dragon Magazine before it was published (maybe as a testing ground).

[mattie_p]

Is Stronghold Builder's Guide official? It seems like it would go well with Dungeonscape.

It's inside outside? :smallwink:

[Agent 451]

There's this archive on WOTC which has articles pertaining to various environments (not a sourcebook, but hey, it exists and is first party).

For books there are the Expeditous Retreat Press (http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=4042) books (more monster books from what I can tell, I've never used them so I'm not sure if any setting info is included within).

There is also Bastion Press, who publish Into the Green (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/28059/Into-the-Green%3A-A-Guide-for-Forests%2C-Jungles%2C-Woods-and-Plains?manufacturers_id=41&it=1) (forests and jungles), Into the Black, (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/50998/Into-the-Black%3A-A-Guide-to-Below?src=s_pi) and Into the Blue. (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/50232/Into-the-Blue?src=s_pi)

AEG also had a foresty book called Wilds. (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/24410/Wilds?src=s_pi&it=1) Pretty sure it's 3.0 though.

[Kelb_Panthera]

MotP: It's wierd outside.

Stronghold builder's guide: It's inside.

[eastmabl]

Stormwrack: It's Yar Outside.

[Phelix-Mu]

I fully approve of the premise and tenor of this thread.

The terrain books are some of my favorite ever. I fell hard for Frostburn, as did an exalted cleric I DM'd for.

Dungeonscape has some very nifty ACFs and, ofc, the awesome Factotum. Still gotta play one of these. Soon, very soon...

Sandstorm has some interesting races and monsters, and some useful feats. Ofc, many have liked Walker in the Waste, not quite my flavor. I do have a thing for Sandshaper, and it's not just my fondness for The Mummy and related movies.

I still haven't used Stormwrack as much as I'd like.

Races of the Wild was the closest they came to a forest book, but I find that jungle stuff is also a bit neglected.

Underdark is a super-awesome book. Not quite up to Dungeoneer's Survival Guide-snuff, but close.

Happily, many of the terrain type rules are such that you can probably eyeball them for balance and then lift them wholesale out of 3.0 books without much tinkering. There were lots of books along these lines from third party 3.0 companies/organizations.

I would also like to add a bit of Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, Heroes of Horror, Heroes of Battle, and Book of Erotic Fantasy. Each of these books was flavor heavy and expanded a D&D setting, atmospherically if not geographically.

[Cruiser1]

Very often a book fills one half of an extreme, where another book covers the other half:

Good: Book of Exalted Deeds, Evil: Book of Vile Darkness
Wet: Stormwrack, Dry: Sandstorm
Hot: Sandstorm, Cold: Frostburn
Crowded: Cityscape, Abandoned: Dungeonscape
Man-made: Stronghold Builder's Guide, Natural: Masters of the Wild
Lawful: Complete Champion, Chaotic: Complete Scoundrel
Solo: Complete Adventurer, Group: Heroes of Battle

Note Sandstorm is complimentary to both Stormwrack (dry/wet) as well as Frostburn (hot/cold).

[Daftendirekt]

Lawful: Complete Champion

Yep, those spirit lion totem barbarians sure are lawful.

[Psyren]

Yep, those spirit lion totem barbarians sure are lawful.

Well, he (she?) may have a point, in that a lot of CChamp deals with joining rigid organizations. But I think calling it a book of Law (and CAdv a book of Chaos) in the same way that BoED and BoVD cover the other spectrums is a bit of a stretch.