Sell me on...

[Knightfall]

Okay, I'm going to visit my FLGS tomorrow and will likely be picking up at least the latest issue of Dragon Magazine. However, I'm trying to decide which sourcebook to buy as well, and the Player's Handbook II is the first thing I'm considering.

I've decided against buying Complete Psionic, as many, many people have said it is horrible, both from a content and # of errors standpoint. However, I'm still deciding if I should take the plunge and just buy the Conan RPG: Atlantean Edition.

Here are the other options I'm considering...

> A Magical Society: Beast Builder

> Bard's Gate - is this out yet?

> D&D Spell Compedium

Cheers!

Knightfall1972

 

[Treebore]

Bards Gate is out. Check the Necromancer boards and Nightfalls thread on this board.

I like it a lot. About as good as CSIO (City State of the Invincible Overlord), in my opinion.

 

[Bront]

Conan is cool, has some nifty ideas, and was fun to play for the short time I did. However, the origional version was badly edited (They had Spellbook misprinted with symbols everywhere it was referenced, among other things), and not sure how the new version is. It's a good soursebook for ideas, but it's just different enough from the core to not be as interchangable as you might like.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, it depends on what you want.

Conan Atlantean edition is the one with most, if not all, the major errors removed. A good stand alone game if you want some barbarians running around.

Beast Builder is very nice if you are one of those people who frequently creates your own critters. While, in my estimation, it is the weakest of the Magical Society books this speaks more to the excellence of the rest of the series than to any failings in the book. It is a very useful book.

Bard's Gate... I got nothin'.

The Auld Grump

 

[Pinotage]

> A Magical Society: Beast Builder

> Bard's Gate - is this out yet?

> D&D Spell Compedium

Cheers!

Knightfall1972

Beast Builder is extremely useful, but only if you're creating critters. If you had to choose one, I'd go Spell Compendium. Very useful to have all those spells in one book.

Pinotage

 

[TheAranan]

I've decided against buying Complete Psionic, as many, many people have said it is horrible, both from a content and # of errors standpoint.

I think the content itself in XPH is really great. There are some errors in the book, but it's certainly not enough to make it unplayable or unreadable. In fact, I liked it so much that my setting in the works is using only psionics instead of any other kind of magic. To each his own, though.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I think the content itself in XPH is really great. There are some errors in the book, but it's certainly not enough to make it unplayable or unreadable. In fact, I liked it so much that my setting in the works is using only psionics instead of any other kind of magic. To each his own, though.

No one was complaining about the XPH. It's a good book, despite its errors. The complaints were about Complete Psionics.

 

[Crothian]

D&D Spell Compedium is really good. Within a week of it hitting shelves 5 of the 6 people I game with had it. We are working on the 6th.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Spell Compendium is a solid reference work and useful for players of spellcasters.

Beast Builder is a solid reference work useful for GM's who want to bring more than stats to the table.

Bard's Gate: I got nothing but if it's being comapred favorably to City State of the Invicible Overlord, it's gotta be good.

 

[Gold Roger]

I think both Spell Compendium and PHB2 have lots of usefull crunch you can use immediatly in your game. (SC has the advantage of pure mass, while PHB2 wins with inovation).

Though the fluff of PHB2 isn't really bad, I doubt you need it and it's more helpful for inexpirienced players. Both books are more for you if you want to enhance the gaming aspect of D&D.

I'd say take the PHB2, it's great, but I don't know your preferences and can't comment on the other things you consider.