Which Books?

[WrstDmEvr]

I was planning to get some more books for D&D, however I do not know which ones are the best ones. I currently have the PHB, DMG, and Monster Manual. What should i get?

[Catch]

Depends on how much you're looking to spend. The Complete books (Arcane, Divine, Adventurer, etc) are all decent, and I personally recommend the Tome of Battle, as it makes melee characters a heck of a lot more fun to play. The PHBII isn't bad either, and it has some pretty nifty classes.

[Morty]

For first splatbooks, I suggest some of the Complete books or PHB II, especially the latter. They contain new classes, spells, feats and the like.

[KIDS]

It does depend on how many books you'd like, but no matter what kind of characters you like to play (or anyone whom you could share the book with), two very awesome choices are PHB2 and Tome of Battle. Both have a great slew of good ideas and many playable, balanced things. PHB2 has no prestige classes but it has alternate class features in case you're interested in prestige classes.

Past those two, Completes are all solid investment. Warrior and Adventurer are generally a bit more imaginative (in terms of "we didn't have that before") than Arcane and Divine, and of the newer series, Mage is rather mediocre, Scoundrel is solid and Champion is very very good. Tome of Magic, Magic of Incarnum or Races of the Wild are also fun and useful, albeit either too focused or too advanced to get immediately before any Completes or PHB2/Tome of Battle. I hope that helped and have fun shopping :)

[Swooper]

Agree with all of the above. Any of the first four Completes (Arcane, Adventurer, Warrior, Divine), or PHB2 are propably the best choices, but ToB is really an awesome book, and adding it early on might be a good move. Additionally, the Expanded Psionics Handbook will be useful if you think you might like psionics.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Probably the Magic Item Compendium it is useful to all players using suggested wealth guidelines for giving everyone a boost up in game.

I like the FRCS, Oriental Adventrues and ECS source books for all the information they provided which you can tweak to taste changing countries names and locales in your own world if you are a DM. It is nice if you are a player in one of those worlds and giving your PCs a little more substance. Nice for saving time and not inventing the wheel.

What do you like to play normally?

If you like fighter types Tome of Battle is hard to beat.

If you like Divine casters Complete Divine is hard to beat.

If you like Arcane casters there are a lot more books. The Spell Compendium is nice. Complete Arcane and Complete Mage are nice. You might like Magic of Incarnum and Tome of Magic but I'd peruse them first before buying them.

Psionics are pretty balanced so the Expanded Psionics Handbook is nice but most of it is in the D20/SRD so you probably want to check it out first:


http://www.d20srd.org/

[Dhavaer]

Agree with the above. Tome of Battle or Player's Handbook 2. The Completes are quite good, as well.

[codexgigas]

It all depends on what you're looking for and if you're primarily a player or a dm.

As a player, all of the above choices are solid. Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, and Magic of Incarnum all introduce new rules systems, which some people (myself included), don't like. The Complete series is good, for the most part, but it's uneven in quality and editing. Complete Warrior is probably the best of the lot, followed by Adventurer or Arcane. Spell Compendium is essential for anyone who likes playing casters. It doesn't have a a lot of new material, but it's nice to not have to lug around a ton of splatbooks in case you need a rules clarification on a spell.

As a DM, one of the monster (Libris Mortis, Drow of the Underdark, Fiendish Codex I or II, etc.) or setting books (Stormwrack, Frostburn, Cityscape, etc.) could be nice. I get a lot of use out of my copy of Libris Mortis when I dm, but that's because I like undead-heavy campaigns.

Heroes of Battle and Heroes of Horror both contain a fair amount of material for both players and dms. Out of the two, I prefer Heroes of Horror, but that's just me. They're both solid books, and the mechanics they introduce are easily integrated without overcomplicating the campaign.

Other than that, you might think about picking up a campaign setting. A lot of people enjoy creating their own worlds, but the rest of us don't have the time to do that. If you find a pre-published world that you like, it can make dming a lot easier. Of course, you then need to keep fairly up to date on the setting (depending on how anal you or your players are), which can be a huge investment in terms of new books (both D&D and novels) and the time it takes to master the information.

[Valairn]

In order of what I think offers the best bang for buck.

1. PHBII
2. Tome of Battle
3. Any of the completes with special mention to Complete Mage
4. Spell Compendium
5. The rest

[bugsysservant]

Well... depends on what you're looking for

PHB II is the best all around, and if you are unsure about which one to get, go for this.

ToB works wonders for melleers and if you need something to balance optimized wizards.

The complete series is pretty good, and (obviously) specialized, though I know many people find it hit or miss.

A lot of people like Magic of Incarnum. I don't, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Tome of Magic is fun, but generally underpowered, although I am partial to the Binder. If that isn't a problem, this could work.

If you are unsure of what you want, and don't want to go for the PHB II, the Spell or Magic Item compendium are both great, and will increase your versatility.

I would avoid the Book of Vile Darkness, The Book of Exalted Deeds, anything Psionic (the main work is online anyway). The first two are widely divisive, and frequently disliked, and the latter seems an unnecessary replacement to magic to many people.

But other than that, yeah go for what looks good. There are a lot of books that are campaign or setting specific, such as Heroes of Horror, and the various elemental books (dungeonscape, cityscape, frostburn, stormwrack, etc.). These generally are as widely applicable as the ones I mentioned above, but if your campaign focuses on any of them, they can greatly improve your experience.

[WrstDmEvr]

I DM one game and am a PC in another one, however the one where i am DM meets more often, so I'm looking for DM oriented things mostly. Originally i was thinking about Complete Arcane, but now i think I'll check out PHB II and the other Completes because they're most often referenced.

Thanks for the help.

[Galathir]

My personal suggestions would be as follows:

PHBII
Tome of Battle
Completes (choose depending on what you like to play)
Heroes of Horror (if you like to DM)

[Blanks]

As a DM i would recommend:

DMGII
Handbook of evil (if you ever play evil campaigns it is a must)