Sell me on Wizards books published since Complete Divine

[Festivus]

If you are a player, PHB2 and Spell Compendium were my two favorites. I bought Complete Adventurer and disliked it.

I also really like the Magic Item Compendium so far, but haven't spend enough time between it's covers to say it's tops on my list.

 

[Voadam]

PH2 and the Fiendish Codexes from among things I have I would recomend (the last two if you like reading about fiends). I don't have them but Spell Compendium and Magic Item compendium cover a lot. Similarly, Red Hand of Doom is a very well regarded big sized adventure.


I recommend PH II for the classes (beguiler is a great non sneak attack rouge sorcerer, knight is a neat concept and duskblade is a good full BAB warrior blaster) and class variations mostly. Feats are OK and a few other bits but I like the class stuff the best.

 

[DreadArchon]

I will second (third? fourth?) the recommendations for PH2. What you get, from memory:
* 3 new base classes: duskblade (yet another fighter-wizard, but this one is actually good), knight (a defensive-oriented tank), and dragon shaman (gains beneficial "auras", sort of like the marshall)
* variant class features for all of the core PH classes plus selected other classes such as swashbuckler, and, uh, some other ones I can't remember
* the variant Druid class feature is worth the price of the book alone, IMHO
* new feats, and they are damn good... some may even appear TOO good, depending upon your tastes; lots of feats to make single-classes fighters better
* a smatternig of new spells, including some very interesting ones that have growing levels of effect depending upon how long you spend casting the spell
* rebuild and retraining rules, so there is an official way for a PC to dump a no-longer-desired feat for a new one, or even change races or classes -- also two sample adventure sites to go with these rules
* Affiliations, a set of rules around groups the PCs can join, then gain actual tangible benefits that are neatly tied into role-playing hooks... there's an example of play that goes with these rules that made me more excited about D&D than I have been in years
* note, the affiliation rules are getting extensive support in the Savage Tide Adventure Path in Dungeon magazine
* quick-build tables for generating N/PCs, with suggested skills, feats, equipment, spells, etc. -- this is also worth its weight in gold

All in all, PH2 is extremely solid.

There's 4 base classes, you forgot Beguiler (which is basically a Rogue/Sorceror).

The variant classes are:
Barbarian (get a reasonable Rage variant)
Bard (get a omgwtfbbq broken Bardic Knowledge replacement)
Cleric (a new take on Spontaneous Domain Casting, and my favorite version that I've seen)
Druid (two: super-spiffy Wild Shape variant and a lame Spontaneous Summoning replacement)
Favored Soul (I don't use this class in the first place...)
Fighter (some blah feat replacement options, but they get some nice feats in this book!)
Hexblade (replace familiar with something useful)
Marshal (lame replacement for Grant Move Action)
Monk (lame replacement for Flurry of Blows)
Paladin (replace special mount with option to do lots of damage if smiting on a charge)
Ranger (AWESOME animal companion replacement--anyone the Ranger hits, ever, counts as flanked that turn!)
Rogue (some lame uncanny dodge replacement)
Scout (sacrifice move speed bonus for a climb speed)
Swashbuckler (swap dodge bonus for a bonus to AC when dual-wielding)
Sorceror (fast metamagic instead of a familiar)
Warlock (swap 1/day healing with 1/day damage aura)
Warmage (learn spells from all schools, but at lower levels)
Wizard (some really nifty special powers for specialists)

Yeah, this book is awesome. I've only bought three books, and this was the second, beating out such competition as the DMG and Monster Manual (feh, I've got the SRD).

 

[sniffles]

All of the other Complete books, the PHB II, the Spell Compendium and the Magic Item Compendium. If I had to play in a game where these books weren't allowed I think I'd quit.

 

[Aus_Snow]

PHBII would be the first [WotC D&D 3.5 book] I'd pick up past CD, for D&D 3.5.

Even if you ignore the 4 'new' base classes, there is a lot of stuff to make 3e more interesting and fun.

I quite like the Tome of Magic, but some people have reservations regarding it (in particular two of the three new classes, being allegedly underpowered/tricky).

Mouseferatu (Ari Marmell), who designed the Shadowcaster, has posted a simple fix for that class - kind of 'optional errata', I guess.

Anyway, I think the book was a real breath of fresh air for 3e. YMMV.

 

[Nightfall]

Nightfall, do you have an "off" switch? Seriously, dude, give it a rest.

This is a thread in which someone is asking for advice about WotC books to buy. Saying "WotC books suck" isn't helpful.

Yeah but it made me feel better for a bit.

 

[Olive]

So I had a look at a few books at the LSG today and PHB2 looks cool as do both tome books. Tome of Magic I want to like a whole heap but I'm not sure I do. I'd kind of prefer options to introduce magical systems to existing classes.

Tome of Battle I expected to be totally uninterested in, but I'm actually not. Again, can someone confirm for me that these are systems for whole new classes, not stunt systems for existing characters (like I believe Iron Heroes is)? Tell me more!

 

[Darklone]

I wouldn't pick some of the Complete Series. Take all or none.

Since that's a lot... go for PHB2 and not much else. That's what I bought lately.

Bo9s is the next thing I'll get.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Tome of Battle I expected to be totally uninterested in, but I'm actually not. Again, can someone confirm for me that these are systems for whole new classes, not stunt systems for existing characters (like I believe Iron Heroes is)? Tell me more!

While the system in Tome of Battle does have three new base classes associated with it, compared to the new systems in Tome of Magic it is a lot easier for characters not using one of these classes to make use of the material by taking feats.

Iron Heroes is actually an OGL product which presents a complete game for playing heroic warrior classes with no magical spells or items who can still (in most cases) cope with the same challenges as a D&D party of equal level.

Mike Mearls, the designer of Iron Heroes, wrote a d20 System supplement called the Book of Iron Might which is closer to what you describe - a book of D&D-compatible stunt systems and special martial feats for existing D&D characters to use.

 

[DreadArchon]

I wouldn't pick some of the Complete Series. Take all or none.

Disagree. Arcane is okay (but it has the Warlock... !), Adventurer is good and probably worth buying, Divine and Warrior are rather lame, Scoundrel is meh (Master of Masks tickles me, but you can get it in full for free from the WotC site, and Spellwarp Sniper rocks hard but I can do without it), Mage is competing with Adventurer for status as my favorite, but Champion doesn't look like it will interest me. (And Psionic is just... no. Just no.)

Not that any of them compete with PHBII, mind you.