Tell me what books to buy.

[Maldur]

I use "everybody else"from ambiant ( now enpublishing)

Very usefull!

Its a npc book for common people!

 

[Gothmog]

My list of must-haves include:

FFG
Monster's Handbook
All of the Path of .... Series
Spells & Spellcraft
Traps & Treachery I and II

Mongoose
Ultimate Equipment Guide- much better than WotC's Arms & Equipment Guide
Ultimate Feats

AEG
Toolbox- tons of random tables for any locale, NPC, or setting- a great DM resource
Mercenaries- basically like adding a whole new PHB with new options

Eden Studios
Liber Bestarius- great monster book

Green Ronin
Pocket Grimoire Arcane and Divine
Pocket Magica- books of magic items
Legions of Hell
Armies of the Abyss
Book of the Righteous

Necromancer Games
Tome of Horrors

 

[jgbrowning]

I'm running my first campaign...

Thanks!

Wellcome to the joys of DMing! Since this is your first campaign, if you send me your e-mail address to josephbrowning@exp.citymax.com I'll send you a free PDF of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. I find it indespensible.

joe b.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Tome of Horrors comes highly recommended along with Legions of Hell and Armies of the Abyss for monsters.

Arms and Armor and Airships from Bastion Press are must haves.

The races of renown series from Green Ronin is also well worth it. If you use dwarfs, get Hammer and Helm. If you use a lot of drow, get Plot and Poison.

I also just picked up Paradigm Concept's Unveiled Masters. You may want to pick this one up because of the level of detail on mind flayers. In addition to this, it will likely be the only D20 book on mind flayers ever since they were pulled from the SRD.

Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might 1,2, and 3, and his Book of Hallowed Might are excellent add-ons for the standard D20 magic system.

If you like adventures, I recommend virtually everything from Necromancer Games.

 

[Kilmore]

To be honest, you can run a perfect campaign with just what you have. Some of the more detailed FR books could be useful, like Faiths and Pantheons, Monsters of Faerun, Magic of Faerun, and so on.

 

[Maerdwyn]

In the category of things no GM should be without, I'd get, or at least read, Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering. Very insightful, even for someone who has G/Dmed for a long time

http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/

 

[haiiro]

I'm looking for fairly basic "No DM Should Be Without" -type stuff. Expansions of the Core rules, as opposed to deviations therefrom. More monsters, more spells, more feats, etc. And, generally, I'd like to support good non-Wizards presses, but since I'm not familiar with any of them, I'm not sure where to start.

Some things that fit this bill, IMO:

- Book of Eldritch Might I & II (Malhavoc)
- Book of Hallowed Might (Malhavoc)

All three add spells, variant classes, feats and other neat tidbits. My group has gotten a lot of mileage out of the spells, which fill some great niches and are generally balanced and very well thought out.

- Mindscapes (Malhavoc)

If you're getting use out of the Psionics HB, pick up Mindscapes. Not only is every bit of it useful, it gives you an alternate (and better) psionic combat system and an amazing bestiary section. From content to presentation, Mindscapes is one of the best 3e books so far, IMO.

- Magic of Faerun (WotC)

A bit of general FR info, and a ton of feats, spells and magic items. The spells section is the goldmine here (particularly if you have a bard in the party, as there are a host of new bard spells). MoF is probably the book I've used the most after the core books, OA and Rokugan.

- Monster's Handbook (FFG)

Others have covered this one well, I just wanted to bring it up -- it's a cool book.

If you like the way WotC generally approaches balance issues (conservatively), I'd recommend avoiding most of what Mongoose and AEG have put out so far, as everything I've looked at from both companies has serious problems in the power level department. (AEG's Mercenaries is one definite exception -- it's an excellent book, with a lot of good material in it.)

I have found Malhavoc and Green Ronin to be the closest to WotC in terms of quality and approach to game balance. Despite having put out some of my favorite 3e books, nothing from GR made my list above because I don't think most of it fits your "No DM Should be Without" request. (Hammer & Helm, Armies of the Abyss, Legions of Hell, Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts, Bastards & Bloodlines and the Book of the Righteous are all superlative.)

 

[Gumby]

Tome and Blood is a fine splatbook for Wizards and Sorcerers. The new Fiend Folio from WotC is good as well, but the monsters are of higher CRs than the MM - don't know what levels your characters are at.

Books of Elritch Might are good as well. I find that a lot of the other D20 splatbooks are a little off in terms of Prestige Classes (either too powerful or too weak), and some of the feats are a little weird as well. Your mileage may vary.

The Kingdoms of Kalamar Player Guide has a large selection of feats, classes, Prestige Classes, and spells. Some of them are too powerful, but most are good.

 

[uberkitty]

Thanks, all. I appreciate the input.

 

[Psion]

My quick list of must-haves:

General: Green Ronin and Malhavoc produce some of the best stuff out there.

Magic Books (spells etc.):
Relics & Rituals
Book of Eldritch Might I and III.
Book of Hallowed Might

You might also try wild spellcraft and spells & spellcraft for some nifty variants.

Also, if you just want the spells from R&R and a number of other supplements collected with the core spell, check out Green Ronin's Pocket Grimoires

Traps
Some recommend Traps & Treachery, but I really find Book of Challenges more useful.

Classes
The answers are less clear cut here. Some have recommended the path series. I like many of the classes in the path series, but all of them have some unnescessary baggage IMO.

The Quintessential Series by mongoose is also a little hit-and-miss. The strongest titles are Quintessential Wizard, Quint Rogue, Quint Monk, and Quint Psion. If you like mass combat, Quint Fighter has the best abstract combat system to date in it, but am not too fond of other parts of it.

Religion
If you don't already have a pantheon in mind, I recommend Book of the Righteous. I also recommend the Book of Hallowed Might (mentioned above).

Monsters

There are already a couple of thread about this circulating about, but I think other than the MM, the best creature books are Legions of Hell, Tome of Horrors, and Creature Collection II. Monster's Handbook is also a great resource if you like making special creatures.

If you like race-specific books, I recommend the Races of Reknown series by Green Ronin, especially Hammer & Helm (dwarves) and Plot & Poison (drow).

Psionics
If you like psionics, Mindcapes has some great material, and the Quintessential Psions has some neat expansions.

Misc:
I'll second the recommendation for AEG's Toolbox.