Which 3rd Edition books are the best?

[graves3141]

A ton of books got published as part of the 3rd edition line during the last decade... other than the core books, which ones do you think are the cream of the crop and why?

 

[Dandu]

ToB - gives nice things to melee characters.
Spell Compendium - good resource for spellcasters.
Magic of Incarnum - only because of Totemists.
Expanded Psionics Handbook - psionics are cool.
Tome of Magic - Binders redeem this book.
Book of Erotic Fantasy - because I am a pervert.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unearthed Arcana and Spell Compendium are probably the only two WotC must-haves. There's a ton of great third party support, though.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Aside from what has been mentioned, the environmental books (Dungeonscape, Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack) all have excellent rules and stats for many different things. I'm rather fond of Dungeonscape because it has the factotum in it which is perhaps the master "jack of all trades" class. In the "Adaptation" description it literally says Indiana Jones was a good example of a factotum, minus magic and plus guns of course.

The Completes are usually pretty good, though Complete Psionics is essentially nerfs with a cost which means pretty much everyone avoids it. Martial melee characters love Complete Champion because it gives the barbarian an ACF that trades the +10 movement speed for Pounce and with various other things in 3.X can lead to a character doing 6,000+ damage in a single round at level 20.

 

[delericho]

Aside from what has been mentioned, the environmental books (Dungeonscape, Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack)

You missed Cityscape.

I'm rather fond of the "monster" books - Draconomicon especially, but also Libris Mortis (lots of good stat blocks), Lords of Madness (especially) and the two Fiendish Codices.

I use Spell Compedium, Magic Item Compendium, and Expanded Psionics Handbook extensively. Unearthed Arcana is great.

Settings wise, I really like Eberron, and was able to buy up all the supplements cheaply when 4e hit. Lucky me. Anyway, with the exception of the Adventurer's Guide I think that line's pretty solid (but wouldn't pay full price for anything but the Campaign Setting book).

But avoid the Rules Compendium like the plague. WotC's "love letter to 3e fans" also has the distinction of being the only book they've ever produced to actually make me angry.

Third party wise, I make heavy use of Tome of Horrors, and have had a lot of use out of the Complete Book of Eldritch Might in the past.

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Rules Compendium has its hits and misses, and like a lot of the rules it's worshiped when it supports one's views and denounced when it doesn't. If you want a good laugh at how inconsistent WotC has been though, it's worth checking out.

And yes, I did forget Cityscape. Some of the feats are particularly useful, such as Invisible or Sculpt Spell metamagics.

 

[delericho]

Rules Compendium has its hits and misses, and like a lot of the rules...

Actually, I don't really have any issue with the rules content of the book. Although some of it (like the list of bonuses) is a rather shocking indictment of how WotC managed to over-complicate the game to death.

But my issue was with the sidebars. For a "love letter to 3e fans", it sure seems to spend a lot of time telling us why 4e will be better (to put it mildly). They've made bad books in the past (Book of Exalted Deeds, Scourge of the Howling Horde), but they've only made one that made me angry.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Unearthed Arcana and the Magic Item Compendium are the cream of the crop. The former because it gives you options to run the game you want to run, and the latter because it's the best patch for all the magic item issues that 3.X has.

 

[Li Shenron]

- Manual of the Planes
- Unearthed Arcana
- Tome & Blood
- Traps and Treachery
- Oriental Adventures
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Any book that contributes additional feats, classes, PrCs or spells.