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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 4595609" data-attributes="member: 22424">You only really need the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monstrous Manual. To be honest, sticking with just these three (or perhaps adding additional Monstrous Compendia as desired)&nbsp; might well make for the best game.However, there was a lot of really good material produced for 2nd Edition, despite its poor reputation. I recommend:Tome of Magic (this is as close to a &quot;fourth core rulebook&quot; as you get for this edition)Wizard Spells Compendium (4 volumes)Priest Spells Compendium (3 volumes)Encyclopedia Magica (4 volumes)and a setting of your choice. 2nd Edition had several really good settings: Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Birthright, Planescape amongst others.Some of the later &quot;Complete X Handbook&quot; volumes are actually really good, but they do have a significant element of power-creep. If you want psionics in your game (especially if running Dark Sun) you need &quot;The Complete Psionics Handbook&quot;. (And, for any psionic campaign, I recommend the Dark Sun sourcebook &quot;The Will and the Way&quot;.)Personally, I would avoid the &quot;Player's Option&quot; material. As &quot;Book of 9 Swords&quot; and similar were test-beds for 4e mechanics, these books seemed to me to be test-beds for 3e mechanics (&quot;Combat &amp; Tactics&quot;, in particular, seemed to be a big step towards the 'tactical mini-game' of 3e combat). There are some nice ideas in here, but the implementation is pretty bad, and really unbalanced.Additionally, I recommend the &quot;Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide&quot; and &quot;Creative Campaigning&quot;. These are (almost?) completely rule-free - I actually recommend them to almost any DM. They're really good.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="delericho, post: 4595609, member: 22424"] You only really need the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monstrous Manual. To be honest, sticking with just these three (or perhaps adding additional Monstrous Compendia as desired) might well make for the best game. However, there was a lot of really good material produced for 2nd Edition, despite its poor reputation. I recommend: Tome of Magic (this is as close to a "fourth core rulebook" as you get for this edition) Wizard Spells Compendium (4 volumes) Priest Spells Compendium (3 volumes) Encyclopedia Magica (4 volumes) and a setting of your choice. 2nd Edition had several really good settings: Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Birthright, Planescape amongst others. Some of the later "Complete X Handbook" volumes are actually really good, but they do have a significant element of power-creep. If you want psionics in your game (especially if running Dark Sun) you need "The Complete Psionics Handbook". (And, for any psionic campaign, I recommend the Dark Sun sourcebook "The Will and the Way".) Personally, I would avoid the "Player's Option" material. As "Book of 9 Swords" and similar were test-beds for 4e mechanics, these books seemed to me to be test-beds for 3e mechanics ("Combat & Tactics", in particular, seemed to be a big step towards the 'tactical mini-game' of 3e combat). There are some nice ideas in here, but the implementation is pretty bad, and really unbalanced. Additionally, I recommend the "Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide" and "Creative Campaigning". These are (almost?) completely rule-free - I actually recommend them to almost any DM. They're really good. [/QUOTE]

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