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I agree it has a lot to do with the particular situation, particularly your take on the campaign world... In most 'high fantasy' campaigns based somewhat on a fantasy-feudalistic society, hobgoblins are wicked, despicable creatures who worship evil deities that reward them for their bloodlust...

In first edition at the back of Unearthed Arcana (and before that found in a dragon magazine though I don't know which #), there are a number of demi-human deities listed including a list for Orcs. Theres a deity there named Luthic (known by Orcs as the Cave Mother) who is lawful evil with...

I would throw up a solid fog, or hell even an obscuring mist (or an illusion of an obscuring mist), as close to that lich queen (and if possible the slaad king) and her throne as possible. It will force the archer to move out of her immediate area of influence to get good shots at you (and...

Not to perpetuate a fight, or to start one, because while I found it odd about the wu-jen it didn't ruin my experience with the book... but if you're looking for other things that I think could have filled the book out -- how about a section on adjudicating illusions... that seems to come up a...

I'm actually a little disappointed they didn't go back for a fresh look at their earlier material when 3.5 came out. I would have been first in line to have bought a 'Complete Relics and Rituals' book -- updated and edited for 3.5 with some spell and item balance/cost issues addressed. That...

I found this odd as well. I like the class and it's certainly interesting, but if you're going to have class-specific spells it seems like a strange choice to devote so much space to. But it's no big deal to simply let wizards and sorcerers pick those spells if they want them.

Oops, I also wanted to add: I think WOTC added the swashbuckler class to the Complete Warrior (from what I've read) mainly BECAUSE it's very difficult to make a lightly-armored, Dex heavy warrior work very well using the core rules. To them it was adding an interesting alternative that made...

Yes, that's where you as the DM decide which books to use or not to use. There's way too much material, a lot of it IMHO unbalanced or ridiculous, to suggest that you allow all of it, or even 80-90% of it. You can only use the 3 core books if you'd like and have an incredible game -- but going...

In many cases I would agree that the core classes can faithfully represent a number of different character types, but I also feel that there comes a point where an instituted mechanic that differs from the core class mechanic is required to create some character types. For instance, it seems to...

Yeah I think you're right, just about all (if not all) of the spells in Unearthed Arcana started in Dragon... I don't know if it changed at all from the magazine to the hardbound. Moorcrys

I think it's an interesting idea, certainly worth a go to see if it works out. I would probably do two things... The first would be to use the battle-sorcerer Unearthed Arcana alternate class but drop the reduction in spells known/spells per day since you're using a randomized spell-list. I...

There was definitely a spell named sink... it was introduced in Unearthed Arcana (1st Edition) -- not second edition. It was one of my favorites in my first edition days -- a lot more flavor than imprisonment and a lot easier to recover an ally from. After casting the spell, the caster needs...

You may want to look through the player's handbook and find some druid spells that you feel would complement your character vision and work out a system where you receive those specific spells as special abilities at various levels. An off the top of my head example -- an animal messenger...

I've actually found the books released since 3.5 a great deal more useful than the 3.0 splatbooks and such, which as I look at them now seem like a grand experiment to figure out how to balance feats and prestige classes without breaking the system... at least 1/3-1/2 of the material in the 3.0...

Weakling wizards... In the 3.0/3.5 campaigns I've run, I've always started the party at 3rd level in part to help alleviate your friend's problem. I think that wizards are especially touch-and-go at 1st and 2nd levels -- very low hit points and spell versatility. By third level (which is...

I've removed mounts from my paladins and allowed them an item familiar (from the variant rule in Unearthed Arcana). In my campaign it's their weapon imbued with the power of their patron -- as they grow in stature it grows in power and establishes itself as a conduit between them and their...

Extraordinary Book of Names? Don't know if you want to spend any money on the idea but Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names has a number of different celtic groupings... lemme look... Anglo-Saxon Cornish English (aristocratic and rustic) Medieval English Scottish (as well as Medieval...

Specialization If we're using standard 3.5 rules here, I think it's just as important to say which schools you'd do without as well. I'd definitely specialize in illusion -- the idea of letting your imagination run wild every day would be incredible. I love the sense of no real (or unreal --...

AU classes I've had AU classes mixed with PHB classes since I re-opened my campaign in October, specifically an Unfettered and a Totem Warrior. Players in my campaign have run into some AU-classed foes and didn't seem to have any problem, specifically a champion of darkness and (peripherally)...

You may suggest she look at the hexblade class in the Complete Warrior if you have it... I don't think it's overly complicated and it has abilities that touch on many different character archetypes; fighting, spells (some of which are sneaky), and social-interaction skills (like diplomacy and...