Before They're Gone: Best 3E/3.5 Books to Grab?

Caedrus · Post by **Caedrus** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:03 pm

mean_liar wrote:Core + Spell Compendium + Tome of Battle + Magic Item Compendium. You can make up your own PrCs.

I second this list.

Nihlin · Post by **Nihlin** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:28 am

Thanks for the ideas so far! I've currently got a few of the recommendations that were missing from my shelf heading my way; not surprisingly, the good ones disappeared from the FLGS first.

Caedrus wrote:
mean_liar wrote:Core + Spell Compendium + Tome of Battle + Magic Item Compendium. You can make up your own PrCs.
I second this list.

Got those covered.

Judging__Eagle wrote:The Monster Manuals 1-3; The Books -about- Monsters, Libiris Mortis, The Aberrations one.

You get more use out of those as a GM than any other book.

Heroes of Horror has two really nice classes, and some decent monsters.

Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium are also two good books, since they're compilations, and focused in their contents.

Minis HB is good since it has straightforward monsters, and ideas on how to use the D&D Minis in your dungeons; specifically their cards.

I agree on the Monster Books front. Libris Mortis was a fun read in particular, and though it hasn't managed to see as much play as I thought, it did see some use in the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft campaign I recently finished running. Protip: rebuking-focused Dread Necromancer wrecks that thing like wow.

I've been surprised by the number of Heroes of Horror recommendations. I'll have to give it a second look; I hadn't bothered to get a copy of my own.

Minis HB is another one that I'll need to take a look at; simple monsters that are hard to mess up as a DM are always a plus.

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I've also DM'ed Red Hand of Doom, based largely on Frank's report. It started with 5 players. One guy flaked out before the first actual session, which I honestly should have expected. The others enjoyed a fun summer of bizarre encounter setups. Koth's Keep was a eye opener for them, and actually required the use of the save-point rule that I had put in and which they had kind of shrugged at. They never needed to use it again, though, quickly forming up around burst damage and battlefield control.

The green dragon on the bridge over Skull Gorge was extremely hilarious.

Nihlin · Post by **Nihlin** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:34 am

Meikle641 wrote:...You're not from Oshawa, are you Sigma? Sounds a lot like the stock of Worlds Collide...

Personally, I recommend:
- Arms and Equipment Guide
- Dungeonscape
- the 3.0 splats
- 3.5 terrain books
- Bo9S
- Draconomicon
-Heroes of Battle
- Heroes of Horror
- Unearthed Arcana

And I guess Incarnum, if you want it.

I am actually ashamed at how much use I've gotten out of Draconomicon, purely for the pre-statted dragons in the back. Every age and type... fuck, it was expensive for an NPC list, but it does see repeated play.

I'd forgotten the Arms and Equipment Guide completely, even though back where I used to live a friend had it and I borrowed it a lot. Good catch!

Incarnum... well, my wife had a huge nerd-on for weird spellcasters, so I'll give that another look.

Nihlin · Post by **Nihlin** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:40 am

Koumei wrote:I thought it was the Book of Vile Body Piercings, because the three main messages were:

Kinky sex is evil (see: evil nipple clamps - to be worn by the one gaining the benefit. I'd get it if you had to force them on an unwilling target for an effect and that was evil. Fuck it, Sadism and Masochism are eeeeeevil spells.)

Ugly things are evil (the only confusion I have here is that dorfs aren't inherently evil under this system. I consider mind flayers more attractive than dorfs, possibly because they're decisively non-human whereas dorfs are just plain ugly on a human scale.)

Drugs are bad, kids!

The alignment books are good for a couple of feats and prestige classes, maybe the odd spell or item. Actually, I like strip-mining Book of Exalted Furries for spells (quite apparent to anyone who saw my Battle Sisters stuff for Dungeon Crusade).

BoVD sees regular, though limited, use in my group just due to the very descriptive spells. Curse of the Putrid Husk and the like say 'fuck you' in a way that Blindess/Deafness just doesn't quite match. Still, though, I was also rather unimpressed by the whole Disney attractiveness <--> morality thing.

BoED... I keep wanting to use that. I think I keep wanting it to be better? Your philosophy is something I'll keep in mind towards it. I think the most traction anything out of that book got in my group was actually Lastai, Goddess of Really Really Good Sex. Protip: if you game with your spouse, cellmate, magic friend, or whatever, this is your cleric's new god. At least once, anyway.

Nihlin · Post by **Nihlin** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:47 am

NineInchNall wrote:Complete Warrior and Complete Adventurer are great sources for mêlée feats.

Races Of Stone gives, well, my favorite PrC ever.

Frostburn has some of the best feats and spells anywhere, as well as some interesting environmental rules.

Many find Dragon Magic useful for the Dragonfire Adept, which can be a rather effective low level class when combined with Races Of The Dragon.

Complete Mage has two to three useful PrCs, but is useless beyond that. Complete Arcane has a couple useful feats and PrCs (Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, Mindbender 1).

Rules Compendium, while it shouldn't have been necessary, is better organized than the core books, so it actually makes a useful tool for looking up various rules during a game.

PHB2 and Heroes Of Horror give us two very playable base classes.

Tome Of Battle is the closest WotC ever came to making martial classes fun.

And ... well, the rest of the good stuff (like Divine Metamagic and the Ur Priest) is spread thinly among the rest of the splats.

I never even looked inside the Rules Compendium. I'll see if I can check it out. I also skipped the Races books, but maybe I'll see if I can get the ones mentioned most at a good price.

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Fun fact: the cheapest price for a new copy of the XPH on Amazon is $89.99 (U.S.). Glad I have that one already.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:20 am

Yeah, my cousin learned that recently. Unfgortunately for him, thar be no XPH around here anymore.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:22 am

Personally I find the Magic Item Companion to be completely useless.

-Username17

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:34 am

The MIC is handy for games where the DM doesn't allow custom items and you can squeeze out a more efficient use of your money through armor/weapon crystals.

Akula · Post by **Akula** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:17 am

It has a lot of good low level stuff. Runestaffs are nice for Sorcerers. Otherwise it isn't worth the money for a new copy.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:50 am

Nihlin wrote:Protip: if you game with your spouse, cellmate, magic friend, or whatever, (Lastai) is your cleric's new god. At least once, anyway.

Pfft. I usually choose Loviatar, followed by... shit, I can't remember her name. But she's a FR goddess of love and beauty and good-aligned bondage. Or Kord, actually, for rough and tumble fun :3

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:10 am

Judging__Eagle wrote:The Monster Manuals 1-3; The Books -about- Monsters, Libiris Mortis, The Aberrations one.

I like monster books in general. Libris Mortis was disappointing compared to other undead books though, the rules were crap and the fluff uninteresting. Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead has crap rules too, but the fluff is good. Complete Monsterous Undead Compedium is also crap rules but better fluff than LM. Tome of Necromancy has good rules and good fluff.

The Ravenloft stuff from Sword and Sorcery is actually pretty interesting. I liked their more serious take on the setting compared to 2e. Worth a look.

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:32 pm

Koumei wrote: But I'm willing to say "unattractive to me. Very much so" as opposed to "I can't fathom someone enjoying that".

Ah. Well, at least you tried it.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 4:55 am

Nihlin wrote: BoED... I keep wanting to use that. I think I keep wanting it to be better? Your philosophy is something I'll keep in mind towards it. I think the most traction anything out of that book got in my group was actually Lastai, Goddess of Really Really Good Sex. Protip: if you game with your spouse, cellmate, magic friend, or whatever, this is your cleric's new god. At least once, anyway.

You know, maybe it is because of our playstyles but the spouse and I never actually get along much in a game. We might understand each other but the wariness exists too much.

Next time when we game, the way it looks probably within the next century, I'll probably give try to Nihlin's idea a shot or something similar. At least, if the spouse is upto it beforehand.

Edit: EIther for a large paperweight, or if you do want to run a strange adventure thatprobably will never be balanced -- World's largest dungeon. Most Hastings and amazon.com carry them for $10

Nihlin · Post by **Nihlin** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:42 pm

Any thoughts on setting books besides the FRCS? I personally seem to get a lot of use out of Underdark, surprisingly. Unapproachable East has gotten a lot of reading but no actual play after several years on the shelf.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:47 pm

If you have Oriental Adventures then there's no reason to grab Unapproachable East unless you're a Forgotten Realms fanboy.

Oriental Adventures works because it's setting-agnostic but also gives you Rokugan elements to work with if you feel like it. Unapproachable East is very specific and wants to be directly transplanted into your campaign setting.

Plus, OA has cooler monsters and magic items.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:20 pm

The old 3.0 paperback splats range from poor to good at times.

I can't remember them all but
Tome and blood
Song and silence
Masters of the wild
Sword and fist
and faith? hey I got it.

you can probably get it under 10 if you try to haggle it. or look it online. these books sit on shelves for ages and don't go anywhere. but they hold pearls everyonce in a while.