How should I update my PH and DMG?

[GoblinArchmage]

A long time ago, when I first got into D&D, I didn't know of the distinction between versions 3.0 and 3.5, so I ended up getting the 3.0 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. (Fortunately, I did get the 3.5 Monster Manual.) Now here I am, more or less a decade later, still with the 3.0 versions along with a large, though by no means complete, collection of 3.5 supplements. My goal this year is to start playing a lot more D&D than I ever have in the past, which leaves me with an issue. What do I do about my out of date PH and DMG?

The way I see it, I have three options:

1: Do nothing. The SRD is free and openly available online, and for anything that isn't on it I can just use my 3.0 PH and DMG.
2: Get the 3.5 PH and DMG. The problem here is, of course, the fact that these books aren't cheap, although I could get them used for a reasonable price.
3: Get the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. This would allow me to play Pathfinder, but, again, it costs money. Furthermore, I don't know if I can get away with using just this book with all of my 3.5 books.

I want to know which of these would be the best choice. I like number one, but I'm not sure how well it would work. I'm also considering number three so I can play Pathfinder at my local gaming store, but I'd have to ask the GM whether she/he would allow material from 3.5 supplements. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on Pathfinder supplements when I already have hundreds of dollars worth of 3.5 books that I haven't gotten full use out of.

[jjcrpntr]

You can easily use the pathfinder stuff it's online and free.

Any 3.0/3.5 books you have can be easily converted to Pathfinder.

I never played 3.0 so I don't know what changes were made between 3.0 and 3.5.

[Flickerdart]

The SRD (or PRD if you want to switch to Pathfinder) is fine. Basically the only thing you're missing out on is the Red Wizard of Thay PrC and a bunch of tables (WBL, XP, when you gain feats, etc).

[Fax Celestis]

And afaik those tables didn't change from 3e to 3.5e.

[HunterOfJello]

I would buy the 3.5 PHB and DMG. There are 3 copies of the PHB at my table for 5 people and two are almost always open. The PHB and DMG are two of our most often used books and I would hate to have to go online and get distracted by the internet every time I needed to look up one small thing.


I consider having many books at the table entirely optional, but I think that some are mandatory. Two copies minimum of the PHB and one of the DMG, MM, Spell Compendium, and Magic Item Compendium are just mandatory to have on hand whenever needed.

[Flickerdart]

I would buy the 3.5 PHB and DMG. There are 3 copies of the PHB at my table for 5 people and two are almost always open. The PHB and DMG are two of our most often used books and I would hate to have to go online and get distracted by the internet every time I needed to look up one small thing.
You can just scrape the hypertext SRD or download the RTF files of the regular SRD. No internet required.

[GoblinArchmage]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I guess for now I'll just use the SRD (along with the 3.0 books for tables), although I agree with HunterOfJello that multiple copies of the PH would be nice, especially for the benefit of spellcasters. If it becomes a problem I might just get a used copy off of Amazon.

[SVamp]

I'd use my ipad tethered to my cell to look up anything online on the srd. Or just download an app with the rules. Search engine>manual search by several orders of magnitude, and a lot less disruptive too (few seconds vs few minutes to look something up)

Being able to use it as a character sheet is just gravy.

[Firechanter]

There is at least one important thing that did change between 3.0 and 3.5, and is _not_ included in the SRD. And that's the XP distribution table and method. However, that's just a single page, and certainly not worth buying the entire book again.

[torrasque666]

Yar har fiddly dee, being a pirate is alright with me!!

[Firechanter]

Basically the only difference is: instead of determining the Average Party Level and compare that to the CRs, you compare each individual PC's level with the CRs.
Thus, characters lagging behind in level get more experience, and catch up.

That's all there is to it. The tables as such are identical.