Book Advice Please

[Azure Trance]

Hey all,

Just looking for some advice on what's new and out there. The last book I bought was the Epic Level Handbook from Buy.com (So cheap, I bought two).

I tried looking through the reviews, but I'm not sure I found all the good things that are out there already.

A short list of new releases:
Monster Manual II
Monstermonicon
Liber Beastirus? (something ... couldn't find a review on it, and not on amazon.com either)
Oathbound
Book of Righteous Night

A short list of old relases I never got, but rated good and is on the list:
Quint. Wizzard
Heroes of High Favor: Dwarves
Freeport

If you can list any 3rd party goodies I'd appreciate it. I already have some of the 'classics' though:

From Monte Cook: Book of Eldritch Might I and II
Green Ronin: Armies of the Abyss / Legions of Hell / Jade Dragons

And I can't remember unfortunatly but can someone remind me of the title of a citybook coming out that had really really nice cartography? It wasn't Freeport or Bluffside, but the name escapes me.

Thanks!

 

[Nightfall]

Guenve(sp) the Stones of Peace?

It depends on what you want. If you want stuff for you, the player, I'd go with Quint Wizard or Hereos of High Favor.

If you're a Dm, and want to either add something to your campaign OR have a little side trip, Oathbound and Book of the Righteous definately along with Freeport and the monster books.

My own advice, go with Oathbound, just to give a new setting a whirl.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

My two favorite recent books are Monsternomicon and Book of the Righteous.

Check out these threads

EN World Mmebers top 10 d20 books thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21326"

Good "shopping" thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22324

Monsternomicon thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?
s=&threadid=22979

Liber Beastarius VS Monsternomicon thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22622

BotR thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22621

 

[Ruined]

I've been very happy with Path of the Sword from Fantasy Flight Games - Legends & Lairs. It's all for your physical combat characters, providing some good feats and prestige classes.

But the strength, in my opinion, lies in the material provided that's not so run-of-the-mill. It has tons of special combat maneuevers, each with their own requirements and difficulties. There are special Acrobatic Manuevers, Horseback Maneuvers, and others, all of which strike me as useful.

There are schools of combat with various techniques that can be paid for (by XP) and utilised in game. One of the players in my game will be using the Jadan Spearman school of combat.

Finally it has Legendary Classes, which are special prestige classes for typically levels 15 - 25. They are a little on the Epic scale, but they are the stufff some great fantasy tales are made from.

Path of Magic should be out sometime soon. I'll probably buy it just on the strength and utility of the first volume.

 

[Azure Trance]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

And, whoops, sorry Nightfall. I'm not just getting one - those lists up there are what I plan to get all at one time ;D

 

[Crothian]

Spells and Spellcraft and Occult Lore are two great books on magic that cover multiple areas.

Book of the Rightious is one of the best RPG books written, and fully defines a panthion of gods, their myths, and the churches.

Relics and Rituals 1 & 2, both have many spells and magical items. They also include a few other interesting things like prestige classes, rituals, etc.

Monsternomicon is the best monster book out there for the details on the monsters, but it may have too much steempunk for some people.

Bluffside is still the best city book, although there are a few others that really make this is a hard choice.

Oathbound I keep hearing great things about, but I haven't been able to track down a copy yet.

Quint Wizard is one of the better in the line, but Quint Monk is really probably the best.

Heroes of High Flavor Dwarf is a good solid suppliment, focuses mostly on combat fighter dwarves. However, for something that is more on dwarves in general I'd go with Quint Dwarf or Hammer and Helm.

What type of books are you looking for? If you like doing you own adventures Book of Challenges has great advice as well as great ideas in thier encounters.

 

[Azure Trance]

Hey Crothian;

Supplements and more supplements ... drop in cities, regions, rules, monsters, classes, and more. Enough to make me dizzy knowing I'll never even use a fraction of it.

The only thing I rely on is the D20 review system we have here. I started out by picking all the common/popular '5's that were around. Since there aren't a lot of products rated superbly, they're easy to pick out for harvest.

Unfortunatly the 4's are much more common ... and I don't look at 3's. It's all individual reviews anyway making them more convoluted. I'm also wildly biased to the staff reviews as well since I know just by a glance at the name, yes, that rating it was awarded was probably just. Unfortunatly they don't review as much as I would like them to :\

I'm off to read more reviews based on the book suggestions here; unfortunatly I'm on someones lap top and this touch thingy cursor is awkward.

 

[Azure Trance]

Oh yeah - I own all things WOTC, cept Dieties and Demigods and MM2 ... even got Rappan Athuk 1 and 2. Oddly enough though there isn't a review for Gygaxs Necropolis :\

Also, anyone know what that city-setting I talked about at the end of my first post is? Still bugging me ...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Bluffside - best city book. I think it is really starting to sink in to many people how good this product is, yes, there are other city books out that are very good but Bluffside is coming out as best in the long run. It is a city that you grow into and build on.

Monsternomicon - This creature book should be on everyones gaming table, it is that good. People say 'steampunk' and that may turn people away, they do not know what they are missing, it is not an issue with the monsters.

Spells & Spellcraft and Occult Lore two wonderful books on magic, I favor Occult Lore but both are great.

Book of Righteous is one on my list to pick up.

 

[Nightfall]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

And, whoops, sorry Nightfall. I'm not just getting one - those lists up there are what I plan to get all at one time ;D

Ah! Well I didn't want to be accused of making you overspend my friend.

Also I'll have a review up for Necropolis for you Azure. But it's just going to take a little while. My own short review, if you love wilderness adventure mixed with good old fashioned dungeon crawl, Necropolis IS for you. Oh and I think Rahotep is my vote for biggest d20 bad ass JUST yet.