To buy or not to buy the splattbooks

[johnsemlak]

I'm currently playing a wizard character, and I've bought a few 3rd party books to enhance my options and flavor. But I havne't yet bought Tome and Blood; I've been able to rely on borrowing it from another member.

Obviously, i'd be nice to own the 'official' wizard splattbook, but I'm wondering if it's worth it at this point. As I dove into 3e rather late in the game (last year), it had already been out a while, and of course it's not 3.5.

Finally, I figure at this point, WotC must have some plan for a 3.5 replacement for the splattbooks, though other than the Complete Warrior, which I haven't seen yet, and which I'm not sure whether it's a 3.5 rehash of Sword and Fist (it appears not to be), I haven't heard of any such product.

So, to sum up, is it worth it at this point to buy the WotC splattbooks, or better to wait until some revised splattbooks come out?

 

[jester47]

I'm currently playing a wizard character, and I've bought a few 3rd party books to enhance my options and flavor. But I havne't yet bought Tome and Blood; I've been able to rely on borrowing it from another member.

Obviously, i'd be nice to own the 'official' wizard splattbook, but I'm wondering if it's worth it at this point. As I dove into 3e rather late in the game (last year), it had already been out a while, and of course it's not 3.5.

Finally, I figure at this point, WotC must have some plan for a 3.5 replacement for the splattbooks, though other than the Complete Warrior, which I haven't seen yet, and which I'm not sure whether it's a 3.5 rehash of Sword and Fist (it appears not to be), I haven't heard of any such product.

So, to sum up, is it worth it at this point to buy the WotC splattbooks, or better to wait until some revised splattbooks come out?

Really, in a word, no.

The 3.5 core, Draconomicon, the Complete Warrior and the Arms and Equipment Guide get about 75% of all the splatbooks. The only real thing missing now is a book that does for spellcasting what Complete Warrior did for fighting. Essentially there are a bunch of Prcs that did not make it into 3.5 core and the complete warrior that are favorites.

So I would say don't waste your time and wait. However, should you be able to find it used, then get it and use it until somthing better comes along.

Aaron.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

So, to sum up, is it worth it at this point to buy the WotC splattbooks, or better to wait until some revised splattbooks come out?

Oh, probably not. But I just found one on ebay, pretty cheap-o. I bid on it, so I win it I'll send it to ya. But ya gotta post a pic of the book in Red Square!

 

[johnsemlak]

The 3.5 core, Draconomicon, the Complete Warrior and the Arms and Equipment Guide get about 75% of all the splatbooks. The only real thing missing now is a book that does for spellcasting what Complete Warrior did for fighting. Essentially there are a bunch of Prcs that did not make it into 3.5 core and the complete warrior that are favorites.

That's an important point--much the the material, particularly the good material, from T&B seems to have been reprinted elsewhere, and in 3.5 format. Probably a good enough reason to wait on it.

 

[Psion]

Personally, the Question I would as is: would you use it in the meantime? If you are running a game with wizardly villains (or PCs), the book may well be worth it.

Question number two is: can you expect the new book to be as good as the old? While even I have some house rule tweaks to some of the classes (designed to take some of the classes into Epic levels that don't scale well), overall, I found T&B pretty useful. However, except for Draconomicon, I have found 3.5 supplements sort of lackluster.

At any rate, you should be able to find a copy at a discount on Ebay or Half or some other spot... if you can get it at a discount, go for it, I say.

 

[d12]

I'm currently playing a wizard character, and I've bought a few 3rd party books to enhance my options and flavor. But I havne't yet bought Tome and Blood; I've been able to rely on borrowing it from another member.

Obviously, i'd be nice to own the 'official' wizard splattbook, but I'm wondering if it's worth it at this point. As I dove into 3e rather late in the game (last year), it had already been out a while, and of course it's not 3.5.

Finally, I figure at this point, WotC must have some plan for a 3.5 replacement for the splattbooks, though other than the Complete Warrior, which I haven't seen yet, and which I'm not sure whether it's a 3.5 rehash of Sword and Fist (it appears not to be), I haven't heard of any such product.

So, to sum up, is it worth it at this point to buy the WotC splattbooks, or better to wait until some revised splattbooks come out?

Well, if you are already using Tome and Blood, then yes, it's worth buying. I like the suggestion of going to ebay or half.com.

My group owns all of the splat books and Magic of Faerun. Here's a really quick run-down of how much use we get out of each. These are just my opinions.

Tome and Blood - some use - there are quite a few spells in here we use. As a DM, I use a lot of these spells. Worth buying.

Defenders of the Fatih - little use. I like the book, but just don't use it that much. And I played a cleric. Not worth buying.

Masters of the Wild - lots of use. Good feats, Good spells, Good prestige classes. We got a lot of use out of this one. Worth buying.

Song and Silence - not a lot of use out of this one. Not worth buying.

Sword and Fist - again, not a lot of use. Not worth buying.

Magic of Faerun - if you play a spellcaster, buy this book. Lots of great spells. Also, its very pretty. Do get the eratta off the WotC website though. A must buy.