Class Books - which do you recommend?

[Wulf Ratbane]

And, while not strictly class books, I think that Bad Axe's Heroes of High Favor books are great. In general, I like to play elven-type races, but after picking up all four Heroes of High Favor books, I can't figure out which to play next...

Well, they aren't strictly RACE books either, despite the title. They are RACE/CLASS.

For "options," for getting under the hood and really changing your character, I think Elves is the meatiest.

For pure crazy fun, I'd go Half-Orcs.

And that's comin' from a die-hard Dwarf. (My vote might be different if I'd done 80 pages for Dwarves instead of just 64, but hey, hindsight...)

Wulf

 

[johnsemlak]

For a set of class books, one thing that is terribly important to me is that all be of about the same quality. If one is better (more unbalanced) than the rest, or if one of is inferior quality, then players of that class feel discriminated against.

It's one reason I won't allow the Q books in my campaign, and one reason that I was terribly disappointed in the old 2E Complete Handbooks. Sure, some of them are good, but there are some that are absolutely terrible. As a DM, I don't want to have to examine every aspect of a book to see if it is balanced - if there are a few areas that don't work, the entire book is tainted.

Good writing and editing is also essential. If I fall asleep reading the book, then something is wrong. If I get angry reading the book due to basic grammatical errors, then it's not going to hold my attention long enough.

Having a set of books for various classes by the same publisher rather than different publishers is desirable because it's more likely that all are working from the same assumptions. (Not always true, alas!)

Problem is many companies put out products by different authors partially as a result of that have uneven quality or feel. The Quintessential line definitely fall into this category. I've heard some people say they stick to the ones written by Mike Mearls (Quint. Wizard and 1-2 others I think). I think if you choose from that line you have to be selective.

If you want to choose a company or a product line that you accept into you campaign as a whole, Green Ronin or Malhavoc Press may be your best bet, though the 'feel' of those companies may not be to your liking.

As a result it's easy to see why some people stick only (or nearly only) to WotC stuff.

 

[Nightfall]

So far I feel there's little discrimination in the S&SS player's guides, even though I'll admit I feel the Rangers and Rogues book is the best period. (Biased to the end there! )

The BoEM series and BoHM series are very good for spellcasters but not sure about non-spellcasters. Even so, they work fine.