Favorite Wizard/Sorcerer/Arcane Magic Sourcebook?

[johnsemlak]

I'm thinking of which Wizard/Arcane Magic sourcebook to invest in; there are so many of these things nowadays.

What do people recommend?

I've got Book of Eldritch Might I--very good, but not too big.

Also, can anybody add to the following list of available arcane magic sorcebooks?

Tome and Blood
Magic of Faerun
The Quintissential Wizard
Book of Eldritch Might I & II (III upcoming ) (pdf books)
Relics and Rituals I&II
Encyclopedia Arcane series (Necromacy: Beyond the Grave; Demonology: The Dark Road; Chaos Magic; Constructs; Battle Magic; Elementalism; Chronomancy; Enchantment: Fire in the Mind)
Path of Magic
Spells and Spellcraft (FFG)
Spells and Magic (Bastion Press)
Wild Spellcraft
Occult Lore (Penumbra, Atlas Games)
Elements of Magic
Voadams Mystical Compendium Volume I: Spell Mastery
UMBRAGIA: Volume III - Liber Veneficium
Pocket Grimore Arcana (Green Ronin)
Blight Magic (Mystic Eye Games; new evil form of magic)
Arcana--Societies of Magic (Green Ronin; Info on six societies each using a unique form of magic)
The Secret College of Necromancy (Green Ronin)

The Quintessential Witch
The Witch's Handbooks (Green Ronin)


The Complete Wizard's Handbook (2e)
The Tome of Magic (2e)
The Spellslinger's Guide to Wurld Domination: Crushing Empires for Fun and Profit (Hackmaster)

[Editing note: I'm adding works to this list as suggestions are being made. Thanks again for everybody's suggestions.]

 

[drquestion]

I haven't seen all of the books you list above, but my personal favorite of the ones I have seen is defintely The Quintessential Wizard.

A few new, interesting prestige classes. Rules for a new type of magical item called an Arcane Nexus that lets you create the kind of staffs that Wizards in literature have - staffs that help you cast spells and have a few new abilities added in.

If you want a classbook, TQW is definitely better than T&B

drquestion

 

[Nightfall]

GET RELICS AND RITUALS 1 AND 2!!!

Don't mean to shouting but believe me, these are great books and can be used in any campaign setting.

 

[Tewligan]

Relics & Rituals 1 and 2
Occult Lore

EDIT: Crap, Nightfall beat me to the punch. I guess his Scarred Lands radar went off.

 

[johnsemlak]

I missed Relics and Rituals. Thanks guys. I'll edit the original post to include them.

 

[Nightfall]

EDIT: Crap, Nightfall beat me to the punch. I guess his Scarred Lands radar went off.

Yep. It light up like a christmas tree.

 

[psionotic]

My personal favorite is Magic of Faerun. Even if you don't play in the realms (and I don't) there is a trove of great spells, PrCs, feats, magic items, as well as rules for Mage Duels, and cool new stuff for druids and bards, too.

BoEM 1 & 2 are great, too.

 

[Thanee]

Well, I actually like Tome & Blood, but apart from Relics & Rituals I don't know any of the non-Wizards books on this matter.

The Quintessential Wizard - I might take a look for that one...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Garmorn]

The Path of Magic is also very good. The items of power are intresting and balanced

No new spells but lots of other stuff.

 

[Chun-tzu]

I'm thinking of which Wizard/Arcane Magic sourcebook to invest in; there are so many of these things nowadays.

What do people recommend?

That really depends on what you're looking for in a sourcebook. Some of these books are considerable different from each other.

Tome and Blood - I highly recommend this one to get next. It's an excellent sourcebook, and since it's WotC, you'll see much more discussion about stuff from this book than d20 stuff. It has some excellent PrCs.

Magic of Faerun - I second Psionotic. This is also a great sourcebook, whether or not you're playing in the Realms. A lot of good spells, some good PrCs, some alternate forms of magic.

The Quintessential Wizard - A good supplement. Personally, the PrCs didn't do much for me; there are only 5, and 3 of those are 5-level classes (I prefer 10-level ones, esp. given epic advancement). The rules for new staves (the Arcane Nexus) are really good, as are the alternates to spellbooks. There's also some other good stuff I haven't seen covered elsewhere, like arcane towers and apprentices. I'm still not sold on "character concepts," which are like kits from 2E. Some of these are more like alt.classes, really; for example, the Pyromancer is a specialist in fire magic, like any other specialist, and gives up a school of magic. The concepts aren't terribly balanced.

Book of Eldritch Might I & II (III upcoming) - I bought them in PDF, and how can you turn down great material for such a low price? The alt.bard and alt.sorcerer are very interesting, as are some of the PrCs (I like the Eldritch Warrior) and spells.

Relics and Rituals I&II - I've only seen the first. It has some good stuff: some decent PrCs, and lots of spells. R&R1 is already a 3E classic.

Encyclopedia Arcane series - I haven't seen any of these. The ones I'd be most interested in are Battle Magic and Elementalism, but I have not been sufficiently impressed with the reviews I've seen so far. Some of these are very specific; for example, the next one focuses exclusively on Enchanters.

Path of Magic - This is the book I'm getting next. I stopped by my FLGS yesterday for it, but they sold the last one minutes before I got there (arrgh!).

Spells and Spellcraft (FFG) - Another d20 book I recommend. There are rules for different bards (based on performance type) and sorcerers (based on the source of their power), new spells, rituals, new types of magic (I like the rules for Chaos magic and Cooperative magic), and some really cool materials on Familiars.

Spells and Magic (Bastion Press) - I almost bought this one, but went with Spells and Spellcraft instead. Looks like some interesting alt.magic types in here.

Wild Spellcraft - I haven't seen it.

Voadams Mystical Compendium Volume I: Spell Mastery - Haven't seen this one, either.