D&D Books That Don't Really Get Used

[johnsemlak]

I would guess of books that people actually have Dieties and Demigods might be used little, though it depends onwhat you mean 'used'.

 

[katarl]

We barely ever use any books at all, only using the basic ones to level up, the monster manual and dms guide to plan dungeons, and thats it, the rest just get left.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

For me, I'd say it's a fair # of the books caught between the 3.0/3.5 transition, because of the question on whether or not the stuff's 3.5 or not.

Manual of the Planes has gotten little use, & the only stuff I'm keen on is 1 or 2 magic items, plus a couple of the monsters (mainly yugoloth--the ultraloth is my all-time favorite).

Arms & Equipment Guide gets haphazard use, but mainyl for oddball gear items, rather than fore any of the weapons or armor (it gets more use from the gaming group as a whole, but very little from me).

Deities & Demigods, but that's due to the 3.0/3.5 shift. Besides, IMC I don't use deities at all (just paths/philosophies of worship), so it cuts down on the search for patron deities for characters. Like the Norse stuff, but then again the varietyy in the original 1st ed. AD&D Deities & Demigods really spoiled me.

Both the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds. Didn't really have any higher callings to pure good or temptations to foulest evil in any campaigns. Kinda cherry-pick some stuff here & there, but nothing really gets used a lot from either source.

Some of the new releases I won't pick up because of some limited use for me. Weapons of Legacy & Magic of Incarnum are off my list. Though I use undead a fair amount, Libris Mortis hasn't grabbed my attention, and many of the other monster-focus books lack any appeal to me.

 

[Grimstaff]

I'd gladly trade my Psionics handbook for a handful of warm spit, but no one seems willing to pay that much for such a useless piece of carrion crawler dung.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I'd gladly trade my Psionics handbook for a handful of warm spit, but no one seems willing to pay that much for such a useless piece of carrion crawler dung.

The 3.5 edition?

Dude, I'll toally give you a handful of warm spit for that. Heck, I'll even toss in a package of Little Debbies.

 

[jester47]

Keep it to 12 including setting material and core rules and you will use everything.

My "restart" collection should I ever play again:

3 Core
UA
DMG II
Freeport CoA
Draconomicon
Stormwrack
Wilderlands Boxed set
CSIO
Players Guide to the Wilderlands
Grimtooths Traps

I will after that only buy Adventures (PDF when avail) and Dungeon.

 

[demiurge1138]

Deities and Demigods hasn't been used for so much as a visual aid. Ditto for Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps... yet.

Demiurge out.

 

[Raven Crowking]

The most completely useless: Deities & Demigods, Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, Epic Level Handbook (I have no intention of ever running an Epic game, but hey, it was $12!).

I have no intention of ever running an epic campaign either, but I make use of the Epic material and the Deities & Demigods when statting out Faerie Lords and other powerful supernatural beings. Give a fey DR 0 or 1 and see where it takes you.

EDIT: In this context, DR stands for "Divine Rank" rather than "Damage Resistance"!

SECOND EDIT: I have used templates from the Manual of the Planes so many times that I can say without reservation that I got my money's worth on that one. Shadow wolves seriously freaked my players out, I tell you.


RC

 

[francisca]

Just force yourself to use something from all of the books that you own before buying anything new.

That's what I'm doing. Unfortunately for you, that means I'm not buying your pdfs much these days either.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I've done this a lot, but my purchases are more geared toward mining for ideas. Even if there is a book I would never use, I still have probably read through most of it and wrote up notes on what I liked from it to use later. Its just like my morgue file of artwork. I consider all of it as a write off/reference.