Tell me what to buy!

[Torx]

My lovely mother just gave me a $75 gift certificate to Amazon for my birthday. This presents me with a problem I'm sure most everyone would like to have: what to buy? Of course I could get literature or music or what-have-you, but I'd much rather get D&D/d20 books.

What 3.5 compatible WotC or 3rd party publications should I purchase?

I'm currently DMing a fairly straightforward D&D game, so no alternate systems if you will. My fluff department is pretty well fleshed out with a 15-year homebrew, so campaign books are also not necessary. Assume that I just have the core rulebooks for simplicity's sake.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

 

[Wik]

Frostburn/Stormwrack/Sandstorm (in that order) are some of my favourite recent books by wotc. I love their focus on the environment; there are a lot of ideas there.

Player's Handbook II is awesome; you can't really go wrong, there, especially if you find that the fighter sucks at high levels, the druid's wild shape is a headache to rule, or some other class in the game is giving you a headache. The PHB has an "expansion" for many of the classes in the game. I really like their paladin fix, for example.

Races of Stone is another fave of mine.

 

[fafhrd]

Do you enjoy using spellcasters or have players that use them? Spell Compendium.

Want to dig into esoteric combat/magic systems without trying other d20 products? Book of Nine Swords or Tome of Magic

Want to dress up the battlefield with something other than graph paper and jelly beans? Some D&D Minis boosters and/or Dungeon Tiles

Want to put a new spin on old classes, pick up a list of new spell concepts and get an interesting bag of ideas for D&D in general? You can't beat the PHBII for diversity of interesting material.

It really depends on what you feel are the largest holes in your game. I feel like WotC is putting out some of its best stuff right now, and all of the above suggestions have renewed my interest in various subsets of the game.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Spell Compendium is a good one if you want to give your players (and their opponents) a wider range of spells.

Draconomicon, Lords of Madness or Libris Mortis are all good books that expand on a particular monster type.

The DMG II has a lot of good stuff in there for new and experienced DM's alike.

The Book of the Righteous (Green Ronin) is a great book to use if you want to add more detail to your churches.

The Complete Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press) is another good book for expanding the range of spells available. It also has quite a few good adventure locales and ideas.

The Shackled City Adventure Path (Paizo) is a great book to get if you're thinking of starting a new campaign and are looking for something to take your PC's from 1st level to 20th level.

Traps and Treachery I & II (Fantasy Flight Games) will greatly expand your range of traps.

Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps (Necromancer Games) is also good for this.

Dynasties and Demagogues (Penumbra) is a great sourcebook to add more politics and intrigue into your games.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Soel]

I'll second Spell Compendium, and add Necromancer's Eldritch Sorcery for a huge number of spells to add for the campaign (ES has a feel of older edition spells, but is 3.5)

Fantasy Flight Games' Cityworks is an awesome book, packed with info for creating your cities, and making them living, breathing things that feel real. Its also got some cool classes (base class Assassin with no magic/spells,) and urban feats.

Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary and Goodman Games' Book of Templates 3.5 Deluxe are both full of templates to change your monsters into new and different things. I get a lot of cool ideas just from skimming these!

 

[Turanil]

75$ it's probably only two books, maybe three, no more. So, since you are used to run the game with the three core books only, I suggest you get PHB II and DMG II. You will get additional options for both DM and players, without much altering a campaign based on the core system.

 

[Aus_Snow]

As a DM, I'd assume that you might benefit from having more monster books than simply the MM, so I'd probably go with MMII, MMIII and FF. Or two of those and Lords of Madness / Libris Mortis / Draconomicon / Fiendish Codex I - if you like focusing on a particular subset of critters, of course.

Manual of the Planes if you're into well, planes and stuff, at all.

And yeah, given that you don't want too much in the way of new rules, or at least entirely new directions in mechanics, the environment series (to date, plus Cityscape when that comes out) is something I'd at least look at.

But. . . is there any area where you feel you're seriously lacking in resources? That would be a good place to start.

And far be it from me to tell you what to buy!

 

[Tetsubo]

How many books do you already own? Just the core?

I would recommend the PHB II, Monsternomicon, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Magic or From Stone to Steel. I would avoid the DMG II like the plague.

You should be able to pick up three books and get free shipping as well. I order a lot of gaming books from Amazon...

 

[JustaPlayer]

Warlords of the Accordlands. Top notch books.

 

[smootrk]

Order the Monster Book Set (not out yet), for the most bang for your buck. Departing that, I really enjoy the Fiendish Codex, but any niche monster book might help you as well. I also get alot of good ideas from the Heroes of Horror book (love Archivist), but not everything there is for everybody's tastes. Much more of a idea book for me.