Should I buy Complete books? Advice needed...

[ThirdWizard]

I wouldn't buy books just to buy books.

Look at what you want for your game. Look at what is out there. Then decide if it is worth it to purchase more books and which ones to purchase. Read through the reviews section here on ENWorld, they're very useful, and then flip through them in the store. If you think it would add something to your game, and you're in the market, go ahead and buy it. But, they definately arn't a necessary addition.

Converting old material depends on the material, but mostly its pretty simple. There weren't a whole lot of changes from 3.0 to 3.5, really, so its not like you're converting 2E material to 3E in complexity.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

When I was playing 3.5 a while back, we used the Complete books all the time. I love them because I love PrCs, spells, and feats.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Tuzenbach, good point about PHBII, I'm sure if I bought the Complete books now I would just wanna shoot myself again when that came out.

There's little, if anything, SFAIK, known about PHB2.

I rather doubt it'll include every single thing from the Complete books. In fact, I think it's rather unlikely, so I wouldn't worry about it overly, if I were you.

I rather like the Complete books, because they're nice and fun. There's lots of useful stuff in them; a lot of the old class series PrCs are converted to 3.5, but the newer PrCs are usually pretty good. Also, the PrCs aren't those "take up five pages with nothing useful" new style versions, which I absolutely postively loathe.

Also, the new Base classes are quite nice, in general. While I think the oriental classes could've been replaced, classes like the Swashbuckler, Favored Soul, Warlock, Warmage, and Scout are well worth having in game.

Brad

 

[GeorgeFields]

I was lucky enough to purchase Complete Warrion and Complete Divine and about half proce on eBay about a year ago. I've seen but don't own Complete Arcane and Complete Adventurer. Overall, I love Comp War & Div. I agree with Crothian as far as converting, though. the big question is: Is it worth your time compared to what you can get the books for to do it yourself. Personally, my time is short as I have a 45+ hour / week job, a 14 year old AND a 2 year old. Getting the books cheap was the better option for me as converting the splats wasn't worth my time. I did have one situation come up where I had to convert a prestige class from Sword & Fist, but I had the player do it with my final approval before he could use it.

 

[Macrovore]

Ok, so I want to buy the "Complete" books, but I don't want to! Gosh, I want more options for the core stuff that doesn't deviate too much from the WOTC norm, but I already have all the 3E class books - you know, Masters of the Wild and what have you. I almost don't want to buy the Complete Books just because its more money that I feel like I've already spent.

What should I do??!!?!

I think it depends completely upon what kind of PC's you have. If you have a PC that likes to play as mage-type classes, but only casts evocations anyway and wants to improve his combat abilities, then buy Complete Arcane and make him a warmage (or a warlock, if he plays evil or chaotic). If he's really interested in asian culture (or is asian) and wants his character to reflect that, each of the Complete books have a class derived from Oriental Adventures. (Wu Jen for Arcane, Ninja for Adventurer, Shujena for Divine, and Samurai for Warrior). If you play a combaty cleric that feels limited by preparing spells, give him the Favored Soul from Complete Divine. It's kinda like a sorcerer with wings and the cleric spell list. I could go on for days. Each book has base classes, PrC's, items, feats, and spells specifically tailored to playing those specific types of characters, as well as suggestions for DM's on how to use those things in a game.
You could, potentially make your PC's buy them and borrow them when needed so you both have access to the material that applies to what the PC wants to be.
Another alternitave, although time-consuming is look through the books and create/adapt classes, spells, feats, and magic items, tailoring them to your campaign.
Macrovore out. Join the DMF, biotches

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I think they're all worth the money-- I haven't regretted the purchase of any of them. I don't use nearly as much of Complete Divine as I do any of the others, but that's mainly because of things my own House Rules invalidate-- and if anyone ever played a Cleric, I'm sure the Prestige Classes would get some uses.

Complete Warrior gets used in just about every game I'm involved with, and Complete Adventurer almost as often.

 

[Presto2112]

Ok, so I want to buy the "Complete" books, but I don't want to! Gosh, I want more options for the core stuff that doesn't deviate too much from the WOTC norm, but I already have all the 3E class books - you know, Masters of the Wild and what have you. I almost don't want to buy the Complete Books just because its more money that I feel like I've already spent.

What should I do??!!?!

Check Amazon regularly for used ones. They'll be a load cheaper.

The only one I have is Complete Divine, and I use it a LOT for my druid character (some of the spells are kickbum).

 

[Estlor]

From my perspective, Complete Warrior and Complete Adventurer have the most universal appeal. That's not to say that Complete Divine and Complete Arcane are poor books, rather, they're going to see a lot more utility for clerics and wizards. If you aren't playing one of those classes and don't have anyone in your group playing one of those classes, they probably won't do you much good.

Of course, by and large, the Complete books are loads better than the 3.0 splatbooks. They are mostly updates from those splatbooks and Dragon Magazine, but if you were dissatisfied with the final product and balance of a splat book (*cough* Sword and Fist *cough*) they come in handy.

 

[Janx]

So they're each worth a skim at the bookstore.

Some simple questions you should ask yourself:
If you are a player, only buy the book for the class you are playing right now

If you are a DM, only buy the books that have something your going to use for the next game.

Sounds more like you got some money that's burning a hole in your pocket.

If you've already got an advanced PC with a prestige class already, what's the point of buying a book of prestige classes you're not going to use? Basically, buy the book because its got something your planning on using soon.

Janx

 

[Li Shenron]

Ok, so I want to buy the "Complete" books, but I don't want to! Gosh, I want more options for the core stuff that doesn't deviate too much from the WOTC norm, but I already have all the 3E class books - you know, Masters of the Wild and what have you. I almost don't want to buy the Complete Books just because its more money that I feel like I've already spent.

What should I do??!!?!

I have all the 5 classbooks of 3.0 and did not buy the new 4 books, but used the old ones in 3.5 games as well. No problems.

The new books are overall as good as the old books, there is some reprinted material but most is new stuff, although the new stuff is not all good (and the concepts are rarely innovative).

The old class books really need "update" only regarding the prestige classes, and it's almost always a matter of simply updating the skill list. Other "corrections" done by the new books to 3.0 stuff are questionable whether they actually improve the old version (and new PrCls are not exempt from need of some "fixing" as well).
Spells, feats, items etc. can be used in 3.5 games as they are in the 3.0 version, except a very very few cases.

On the other hand, if you want to go with the mainstream feeling, you must always have the latest version available... Meaning that if your PC still has Win98, you can't be serious when you say that you are using that PC and it's working, you must have WinXP or people will see you as "outdated". (After you get WinXP, you'll be outdated again when the next comes out.) The other option is to buy a very old typing machine, which instead will make you "old-fashioned" or a "collector".