Recommendations for 3.5 books

[Alikat]

Hi all,

With a certain dnd website, one might say a 'dnd tool' no longer in commission. I'm looking at picking up some new books for my table. We've never had more than physical copies of the 3 core books before and am interested in expanding that.

If you had the DMG, PH, and MM, and were willing to buy say a dozen books or so for Christmas, and wanted the best general purpose materials as possible. What would they be? All the 'complete' titles?

The other possible idea I'm looking at, is getting all the dragon lance source books. I read what feels like hundreds of novels from that world when I was growing up and am interested in playing campaigns in that setting. Anyone know which would be needed/useful? I'm interested in running campaigns from lots of different time periods within that setting. Ergoth, Istar, The dragon war with Huma, war of the lance, age of mortals, war of souls, etc.

Thanks for your help!

[A Tad Insane]

The first two thirds of tome of magic.

[ComaVision]

Tome of Battle for sure, unless you don't have any players that like to melee.

Also Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium.

[sleepyphoenixx]

The Completes are a good choice, though i'd personally skip Complete Psionic and Complete Warrior. Magic Item Compendium and Spell Compendium. Tome of Battle, because initiators make melee fun. Magic of Incarnum, if you're interested in learning a new (and dippable) subsystem.

Can't really say much about Tome of Magic since i've never personally used it, though Binders do have quite a few fans. I'd hesitate to buy a book for a single class though, and Shadowcasters and Truenamers are pretty much universally hated and/or ridiculed.

From the setting specific books Eberron Campaign Setting is probably my favourite. Still offers a decent amount of options even if you don't want the fluff, but i'd pick up the others first.

I can't really comment on most DL material. I've read the DLCS and found it to be somewhat uninspiring, though it does contain one or two decent options. All the rest is 3rd party stuff afaik and i've never bothered with it.

[lytokk]

I'd say the MIC and Spell compedium would top my list, if just for all the options. XPH next. After that Tome of battle, but that one can get pricey. After that, the completes, follow it up with the environmental books (Sandstorm, Cityscape, Dungeonscape etc.) Having all the monster manuals is nice as well. Maybe prioritize those above the environmentals.

[Dromuthra]

With say a dozen books, I'd recommend:

1. Expanded Psionics Handbook
2. Spell Compendium
3. Magic Item Compendium
4. Tome of Battle
5. Complete Arcane
6. Complete Divine
7. Complete Mage
8. Complete Scoundrel
9. Monster Manual 3 (MM2 is pretty much just 3.0...)
10. Player's Handbook II
11. Magic of Incarnum for the fun splashes
12. Complete Champion

If you want to add the greatest variety quickly, then I'd place Magic of Incarnum higher on the list. Either way, I'd recommend that set as a solid addition. You do know, however, that in theory you can find pdfs of most of these available online?

[LoyalPaladin]

Depending on your players, I really like Libris Mortis, Book of Exalted Deeds, and Stormwrack. They have a lot of flavor.

[Alikat]

Thanks for the suggestion so far guys. We have a good mix of who plays what. Totally non optimizers though. Highest a campaign with us has ever reached was about level 12, and even if some one plays a t1 or t2 class their mechanics don't get much more complicated than throwing fireballs. I'm the only one at the table who even knows what the tier system is. That worries me a little for introducing new magic systems, but I'm open to getting the books and seeing how they handle them.

Can anyone familiar with Dragonlance give book suggestions? Im not worried about finding OP things. I just want to play within that world.

Are warlock/dread necro/war mage/beguiler all in one book? I've been wanting to see people give those a try. I think they'd be good fits for my friends play styles/record keeping abilities.

Also, what classes are in complete warrior? Why wouldn't you recommend that one?

[ComaVision]

Are warlock/dread necro/war mage/beguiler all in one book? I've been wanting to see people give those a try. I think they'd be good fits for my friends play styles/record keeping abilities.

Warlock, Warmage = Complete Arcane

Dread Necro = Heroes of Horror

Beguiler = PHB II

[LoyalPaladin]

Can anyone familiar with Dragonlance give book suggestions? Im not worried about finding OP things. I just want to play within that world.

Dragonlance... ahh... some of the best years of my life were spent fleeing from draconians and hunting down a fat little hobgoblin. If you've got the standard issue elf/half-elf ranger make sure (s)he takes a look at Skylord or Beast Heart Adept. As for specific books, my group uses HeroForge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?381659-HeroForge-Anew-(D-amp-D-3-5-Character-Builder)) for all our characters. So that may help you out. You can even enable Dragon Lance specific books only if you were worried about them getting too carried away.

Edit:
For funsies, this (http://www.dlnexus.com/fan/rules/11916.aspx) was my weapon for 3 years as the "standard issues elf/half-elf ranger".

[sleepyphoenixx]

Also, what classes are in complete warrior? Why wouldn't you recommend that one?

There are a few classes that are sometimes used, but not too many. Spellsword and Master Thrower are sometimes seen as dips, and Warshaper is pretty good. Halfling Outrider is pretty much only used for supermount builds, and those are rarely allowed in actual play in my experience.
The feats are pretty much all forgettable.

If you want a book for melee i'd suggest buying ToB first. Then almost everything else that was mentioned in this thread, and then Complete Warrior, unless you really really want to play a Warshaper and can't find a description somewhere else.

Warlock & Warmage are in Complete Arcane. Beguiler is from PHB2. Dread Necro is from Heros of Horror.

[Kelb_Panthera]

DM or player?

The completes, minus psionic, are a great place to start, regardless.

For the players; I'd follow up with Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, The Expanded Psionics Handbook, and Magic of Faerun/Eberron. Those last ones might be iffy depending on DM but they both have good stuff in them.

For the DM; I'd follow up with Dungeonscape, The Forgotten Realms/Eberron Campaign Settings, the Races of X series, and a few of the monster books such as Lords of Madness, Libris Mortis, The Draconomicon, etc.

Those are mostly in order of priority BTW.

[StoneCipher]

I heard if you google the book title along with PDF, some magic happens.

[Snowbluff]

With say a dozen books, I'd recommend:

1. Expanded Psionics Handbook
2. Spell Compendium
3. Magic Item Compendium
4. Tome of Battle
5. Complete Arcane
6. Complete Divine
7. Complete Mage
8. Complete Scoundrel
9. Monster Manual 3 (MM2 is pretty much just 3.0...)
10. Player's Handbook II
11. Magic of Incarnum for the fun splashes
12. Complete Champion

If you want to add the greatest variety quickly, then I'd place Magic of Incarnum higher on the list. Either way, I'd recommend that set as a solid addition. You do know, however, that in theory you can find pdfs of most of these available online?

Yeah, this is pretty much what I'd suggest. It almost cover all of the classes. CPsi may be suggested for Psywar, but it's a nasty nasty thing from a system I'm not enthusiastic about.

[Alikat]

I heard if you google the book title along with PDF, some magic happens.


I've done this in the past but I kinda want a big stack of books to play with now. :smalltongue:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Are the dmg2 and mm4 worth grabbing right away or should be less of a priority?

[Extra Anchovies]

I've done this in the past but I kinda want a big stack of books to play with now. :smalltongue:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Are the dmg2 and mm4 worth grabbing right away or should be less of a priority?

DMG2 doesn't have much besides teamwork benefits (which I have never seen used at a table) and a few weapon/armor templates that are almost exclusively used for getting chain shirts down to ASF 0% without magical enhancements. MM 1-3 should have enough stuff that 4 isn't worth getting.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I've done this in the past but I kinda want a big stack of books to play with now. :smalltongue:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Are the dmg2 and mm4 worth grabbing right away or should be less of a priority?

DMG2's usefulness is kind of limited as a player and utterly trivial for a DM with any significant experience. MM4 is just more creatures. Unless you're already running out of monsters to use or there's something in there that you're just absolutely bonkers over it should be pretty close to the bottom of your priorities.

Just remembered; the other environment books, including sandstorm, stormwrack, frostburn, and cityscape, can make for some interesting adventures with a bit more flavorful background.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Can anyone familiar with Dragonlance give book suggestions? Im not worried about finding OP things. I just want to play within that world.


Most of Dragonlance is 3rd party, but if you don't care rock on. The Bestiary of Krynn, Revised, is pretty well edited and includes some PrCs that players can qualify for that aren't too shabby (Scourge of Chaos and Ambient Tempest come to mind). It does include the infamous White Dragonspawn template, so keep an eye out for that.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Stop creating threads about that "certain site" or others like it. A thread on "which books do you find useful" doesn't need to reference copyright/trademark infringing sites.