Book recomendations.

[Druid_lord]

I have the core rulebook set and tome of battle what other books would ye recomend? i'm on a rather limited budget . Anything with new races or classes would be a major plus for me.

[MandibleBones]

Player's Handbook II. A couple new classes and twists on all the old ones, plus ideas for playing characters of all stripes. Definitely something to check out.

[Ranis]

Complete Adventurer is good to get some more basic knick-knacks down.

[Logic]

In order of importance (to me)
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Complete Warrior
Complete Divine
Complete Mage
Complete Adventurer
Races of Destiny
Races of Stone
Races of the Wild

PASS ON THE FOLLOWING
Races of the Dragon
Weapons of Legacy

[Galathir]

I highly recommend the Players Handbook II. There is lots of valuable information and it also includes my favorite class, the Beguiler. The DMG II is only really useful if you DM or plan campaigns. After that I would suggest going with Complete books, starting with what you like to play. Complete Arcane or Complete Mage are the ones I use most frequently as a lover of arcane classes, but Complete Scoundrel is pretty useful as well.

[Variable Arcana]

PHII, Complete Adventurer and the Spell Compendium are all quite nice in general.

After that, it's about what you want to do with them -- are you a DM, or just a PC... if PC, what classes do you usually play? if DM, what kind of campaigns do you usually run? and so on...

[PnP Fan]

I'll throw in with the voices clamoring for PHB II. Best bang for your buck. You can use it for pretty much any game you play in.
For races: Races of Eberron, and Races of Faerun have the most new races (RoF more than RoE).

[sethdarkwater]

I'd say unearthed arcana for some variation in your races, and a serious amount of class alternatives including: Urban Ranger, and Paragon classes.
Also a few nice rules for insanity and phobias.

[kpenguin]

A lot of Unearthed Arcana is available online, so not that one. I too would recommend PHB2. Very very useful variants and concepts. Psionics is covered in the SRD, but the Expanded Psionics Handbook is better if you can get you're hands on it. Some of the complete books are good, but you might want to limit the amount of material usable from them since games can get kind of cheesy (Complete Warrior is awesome, however. Fighters need some love!)

[The_Snark]

Unearthed Arcana and the Expanded Psionics Handbook are good, but only if your group is willing to use non-standard supplements (if they use Tome of Battle, chances are they are). They're both available online through the SRD, though, so with a limited budget I'd go with something else.

If you like to play sneaky characters, skill monkeys, and such, I reccomend Complete Adventurer, which is pretty good. I hear Complete Scoundrel is decent too.

If you like arcane characters, Complete Arcane and Spell Compendium are good for you. Again, I hear Complete Mage is good, but don't have it myself.

If you like warrior melee-types, Complete Warrior is good, and so is the PHBII; they're both well-written books, I think.

If you like divine characters... Complete Divine is sorta so-so, with prestige classes built around limited concepts, and the rest of its material ranges from cheese to not very useful without much in between. Spell Compendium is useful.

Overall, Spell Compendium is useful for casters (but perhaps a little boring). PHBII is useful for anyone and is a great book besides; I find it helps straight fighters out a lot, too. I personally love Tome of Magic, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea; you sorta have to start a campaign already using it for PCs to make real use of it.

[Jack Mann]

Yep, PHBII is full of wonderful character-building goodness. It will be the most useful of just about any book you could want.

Beyond that, it just depends on what sort of game you want to run. The Races of X books are best for new races, especially the setting-specific ones. The Complete X, likewise, are best for new classes and feats.

Tome of Magic has some variant casters that are fairly nice, from what I understand it, but you may want to hold off on it for something that will give you a bit more bang for your buck (especially since it takes some work to get the full use out of this book).

You may consider getting the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Most of it is in the SRD, but you might find it easier getting used to the system with the book there in front of you.

I wouldn't bother with Unearthed Arcana. Not that it isn't useful, mind. But most of the useful information is in the SRD, so you can safely spend your money elsewhere.

And don't hesitate to use these forums as a resource as well. We have a number of homebrew monters, races, and classes that you might find useful (especially anything by Vorpal Tribble).

[Renegade Paladin]

PHII, Spell Compendium, and the Complete series for a player. If you're a primary DM, DMGII, MMIV, and either Dungeonscape, Cityscape, or another environment book depending on what surroundings you run your campaigns in the most.

[Drascin]

If you want my opinion, get the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the Spell Compendium, and maybe the Player's Handbook II too. The first one is one of the coolest supplements ever, the second is extremely handy for all casters, and the third one is just an all-around very good book.

[Marius]

Expanded Psionics Handbook + Player's handbook II.

[martyboy74]

But whatever you do, don't get Complete Psionic. Ever.

[Ranis]

But whatever you do, don't get Complete Psionic. Ever.

Quoted for truth. Psionics=bad bad bad.

[kamikasei]

Quoted for truth. Psionics=bad bad bad.

He said not to get Complete Psionic, not the XPH. The reason not to get CPsi is because you think psionics is goodgoodgood and should be kept that way.

edit: For options, the XPH is probably your best bet. The PHBII is, as people have said, an excellent book, but in truth I think the combination of core + ToB + psionics makes for the most option-rich game with the fewest books.

[Vodun]

Races of Stone is great if you want to add some flavor and optimize any Dwarf or Gnome characters you might have. It's got alot of prestige classes, new races like Goliaths, Whisper Gnomes and Feral Garguns, and some new equipment. Races of the Wild is like that, except for elves, halflings, and a new race, (raptorians, eugh).
I believe that there is also Races of Destiny for Humans, Half-Orcs, and Half-Elves.

[pestilenceawaits]

Expanded Psionics Handbook + Player's handbook II.

QFT expanded psionics gives races classes and cool abilities. PHBII has great stuff all around as well.

[JackMage666]

I personally love Magic of Incarnum, but if noone else in your group uses it, it can be kinda overpowered at times. After that, Player's Handbook 2 is my most used (other than core.) Then, I stick with Complete Arcane and Complete Adventurer (for the cool classes Warlock and Scout, because I love them.)

If you like monster races, Savage Species has some cool stuff, but it sticks mainly to the Monster Manual, with alot of new templates and a few new races. As well, it gives the rules to play "Monster Classes", which allows you to play an ECL 1 Minotaur (if, of course, your DM allows it.)

The Races books are pretty cool, Races of Stone seems to be the best, though. But, if you definately favor Elves or Humans, Races of the Wild and Races of Destiny (respectably) are better you personal preference.

[Falconsflight]

Unless you plan to become a DM... I would recommend MAYBE the PHB2, otherwise. Nothing. Don't need it at all. Personally, I have over 15 books for DnD, Do you know how often I use them? rarely.

But that's just me, if you want to go into the books

Don't get any of the races books, trust me, you might read over them once, but that's about it. Unless you REALLY like one or two of the races in the book. As in you will always play a Dwarf and want to learn as much as you can to make the best possible character, then yeah, but the Races of the stone. It gives you history and lifestyles and the like. But otherwise, don't bother.

As for the Complete X cycle. Well, first ask yourself what your DM will allow. You can have all the DnD books you want - none will matter if your DM says to stick to Core.
If your DM says that you can use the extra books. It's really easy to choose the books. Look at the classes, then look at the feats. If enough strike your fancy, get the book. If it's only one class, it's not worth the forty bucks.

PHB2 gives you a bit of variation that's hard to find elsewhere. It gives you new classes and new twists on older classes. Plus it gives you interesting feats and such. But again, look it over before purchasing.

Spell compendium is actually quite good if your Dm allows for all the extra spells and you like playing spellcasters. the entire books is exactly as the title says. It just tells you of a bunch of spells.

Now if you want to be a Dm, get the Dungeon Master's Guide. And really that's about it. It tells you everything you ahve to do. Everything else just either retells you the obvious or adds some complexity to things you can do yourself.

In all seriousness, all you need is the Core books if anything. There is enough Variation and stuff in there to keep you going for a while. Bored of playing the same races, play a Monster from the Monster Manual. as for classes, well most are meant for a flexibilty on how you want to play them. Bored playing a batman wizard? Play a blaster. Choose spells at random. Play around with the spells. Bored of playing a cleric who heals people? Become a Cleric of nature who worships the nature gods. Or make him a war cleric, only next to a paladin in zeal and holyness. Bored of playing a Rogue who steals from the rich and gives to himself? Become a dungeoneering Rogue who wears heavy armor and only knows lockpicking to open chests that evil bosses leave behind.

Then there's the alignments to play with. Make a lawful good Rogue. Make a Chaotic Evil sorcerer. There is so much variation between all the classes and flexibility that only your imagination really stops you. The only reason why you would want to buy any of the other books is because of the wider range of feats and spells they could give you. But there's the spell compendium and I hear they are coming out with a book of feats eventually. So unless you are really enamored with a certain class that you couldn't do with what you have now, then you should go buy the book. Otherwise use your money for something else and just let your imagination do the work.

[storybookknight]

The PHB2 is probably the most useful book released by Wizards since the core set. It fixes or provides fixes for a *lot* of the most common balance complaints (re: Druids, Fighters, Sorcerers) or makes efforts towards those ends. In addition, all four of the base classes provided in there are 1) balanced and 2) either they're original in flavor or provide for ability combinations previously only covered by prestige classes.

That said, the Eberron Campaign Setting provides 4 new (and interesting) races, supplements for many other races, and a great load of story hooks. Read it first, it might not be your style, but it's generally speaking good readin'.