Books I need?
- Thread starter jdrakeh
- Start date
Evilhalfling
Adventurer
Draconomicon. - great art, good advice, and lots of nifty feats for dragons and dragonslayers.
Magic Item Compendium - a rethink of item pricing. Many campaigns end before 12th level,
shouldn't there be neat magic items around before then?
Players Handbook II - High level fighters suck, why don't we get them some good feats?
how bout a system of organizations that would be fun? A good stab at a fighter/mage base class?
These three get a lot of use at my table.
Second Tier:
Complete Arcane - warlock, some feats, most of the spells are in the Spell compendium
Complete Adventurer - Scout, more feats.
Fiend Folio and Monster Manual V are the best of the WotC monster books, after the MMI
Magic Item Compendium - a rethink of item pricing. Many campaigns end before 12th level,
shouldn't there be neat magic items around before then?
Players Handbook II - High level fighters suck, why don't we get them some good feats?
how bout a system of organizations that would be fun? A good stab at a fighter/mage base class?
These three get a lot of use at my table.
Second Tier:
Complete Arcane - warlock, some feats, most of the spells are in the Spell compendium
Complete Adventurer - Scout, more feats.
Fiend Folio and Monster Manual V are the best of the WotC monster books, after the MMI
If you like psionics, the 3.5 version is the best D&D has had so far: XPH, CompPsi, Dragon #341, and Hyperconscious (its 3rd party, yes, but by Bruce Cordell, the guy who wrote the XPH).
The Complete Series as a whole. Not every book is a solid winner, but each has some really useful feat, spell or class that I really like.
Dragon Compendium v 1 features good feats, good classes (base & prestige), good races, good equipment. One of the best buys in 3.5 fantasy gaming.
And while not WotC products, Midnight 2Ed and Arcana Evolved are 2 of the best D20 FRPGs out there. The former is a classic JRRT-esque rpg, the latter charts some new territory. Both feature things you can drop into a standard 3.5 game virtually unchanged.
The Complete Series as a whole. Not every book is a solid winner, but each has some really useful feat, spell or class that I really like.
Dragon Compendium v 1 features good feats, good classes (base & prestige), good races, good equipment. One of the best buys in 3.5 fantasy gaming.
And while not WotC products, Midnight 2Ed and Arcana Evolved are 2 of the best D20 FRPGs out there. The former is a classic JRRT-esque rpg, the latter charts some new territory. Both feature things you can drop into a standard 3.5 game virtually unchanged.
I don't understand the love for a lot of the books mentioned. I have listed my reactions below, but I want to hear from the proponents why they liked any of the books listed. In general, I think most of them had a few hits, but not nearly enough to warrant the purchase price. What am I missing?
PHB2: The more I look at this book, the less I find it worth buying. I liked the Beguiler (although I disagree with a few of the abilities which should have been either a feat choice or an expanded use of a skill rather than forcing them into the class), druid shapeshift, the fighter variant abilites, a few of the feats, and a few spells. However, overall, I thought most of the book was terrible including the Knight and the Dragon Shaman (then again outside of OA, I haven't liked any new base class introduced by WOTC despite liking several new classes from third parties).
Book of Nine Swords: I love the goal, but dislike the mechanics and most of the schools. In my opinion, Mearl's Book of Iron Might was done much better mechanically and doesn't require rewriting a lot of fluff built into the Bo9S schools and maneuvers.
MMV: I hated the new mechanics introduced and I don't recall finding more than one or two monsters of interest.
Expanded Psionics Handbook: An improvement over the first 3e Psionics Handbook, but again I dislike the mechanics especially after seeing the Skill and Feat system of WOTCs pre-saga edition Star Wars (which predated the XPH) and Green Ronin's Psychic's Handbook.
Spell Compendium: I found maybe a third of the spells to my liking. If I received it as a gift I would keep it.
Complete Adventurer: The expanded skill uses were cool. Other than that a couple of Prcs were interesting
Complete Divine: I just didn't like two thirds or more of spells or most of the feats which, when combined with some of the PrCs (e.g, Radiant Servant of Pelor, and the Shining Blade of Heironeous), killed the book for me. OBviously, the new domains were welcome (even if I disagree with severak spell choices). A liked a few of the PrCs. If I were running Greyhawk, the missing original Greyhawk deities would be great (actually, having them finally addressed is welcome just from nostalgia).
Frostburn: Except for a couple of the new monsters, I thought it was a waste of a tree.
Complete Mage: I liked the behind reserve feats, but not most of the feats themselves. I seem to recall Ari mentioning that the inhouse team made mechanical changes which makes me desire to see what the original writers had done. Also, I would have liked the master specialist except that I prefer UA's variant wizard specialist abilities which don't require the use of a PrC.
MMIII: I remember there being a couple of monsters that I liked, but not even nearly enough to warrant purchasing the book.
So, for those you that liked any of the books above, what did you like about them that made you recommend them?
PHB2: The more I look at this book, the less I find it worth buying. I liked the Beguiler (although I disagree with a few of the abilities which should have been either a feat choice or an expanded use of a skill rather than forcing them into the class), druid shapeshift, the fighter variant abilites, a few of the feats, and a few spells. However, overall, I thought most of the book was terrible including the Knight and the Dragon Shaman (then again outside of OA, I haven't liked any new base class introduced by WOTC despite liking several new classes from third parties).
Book of Nine Swords: I love the goal, but dislike the mechanics and most of the schools. In my opinion, Mearl's Book of Iron Might was done much better mechanically and doesn't require rewriting a lot of fluff built into the Bo9S schools and maneuvers.
MMV: I hated the new mechanics introduced and I don't recall finding more than one or two monsters of interest.
Expanded Psionics Handbook: An improvement over the first 3e Psionics Handbook, but again I dislike the mechanics especially after seeing the Skill and Feat system of WOTCs pre-saga edition Star Wars (which predated the XPH) and Green Ronin's Psychic's Handbook.
Spell Compendium: I found maybe a third of the spells to my liking. If I received it as a gift I would keep it.
Complete Adventurer: The expanded skill uses were cool. Other than that a couple of Prcs were interesting
Complete Divine: I just didn't like two thirds or more of spells or most of the feats which, when combined with some of the PrCs (e.g, Radiant Servant of Pelor, and the Shining Blade of Heironeous), killed the book for me. OBviously, the new domains were welcome (even if I disagree with severak spell choices). A liked a few of the PrCs. If I were running Greyhawk, the missing original Greyhawk deities would be great (actually, having them finally addressed is welcome just from nostalgia).
Frostburn: Except for a couple of the new monsters, I thought it was a waste of a tree.
Complete Mage: I liked the behind reserve feats, but not most of the feats themselves. I seem to recall Ari mentioning that the inhouse team made mechanical changes which makes me desire to see what the original writers had done. Also, I would have liked the master specialist except that I prefer UA's variant wizard specialist abilities which don't require the use of a PrC.
MMIII: I remember there being a couple of monsters that I liked, but not even nearly enough to warrant purchasing the book.
So, for those you that liked any of the books above, what did you like about them that made you recommend them?
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Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
I hughly recommend Magic of Incarnum & PHB II.
