What 4E books should I get for a new campaign?

[Cerebral Paladin]

I'm going to be starting up a new D&D 4E campaign soon. I have the original core 3, but basically nothing else. I'm trying to decide what other books to get. I'm an experienced GM, and I don't feel the need for much in the way of prepared adventures or GMing advice, at least for current purposes. What I would like are more crunchy stuff that will be useful in game-play.

My current thoughts are to definitely get the PHB II (significantly because I really like a couple of the classes in there conceptually) and MM II, for more monsters and perhaps better designed monsters. I feel like I should get a book of extra magic items-- the PHB seems light in that regard-- so I'm trying to decide between Adventurer's Vault and AV II. I'd be interested in hearing opinions on that issue. (Contrary to 4E norms, I mostly plan on pre-generating treasure, not letting the players pick treasure through a wish-list.)

Should I get the DMG II? I'm not at all sure, and I'd like advice. I'm interested in the Companion rules and the revised Skill Challenge stuff-- Skill Challenges offer a key area of gameplay in my mind, but the Skill Challenge chapter in the first DMG has some serious problems, as has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. Does DMG II fix that?

Is there anything else I should be getting? Does anyone think I should skip one of the things I'm currently planning on getting? My current plan with regard to the Martial/Arcane/etc. Power books is that I won't get them, but I'll let players get them and use them for their characters if they want. That's mostly my trying to economize, since I don't want to spend a ton on this, without wanting to restrict player options too much.

Thoughts?

(The campaign will be in a homebrew points of light setting, so I doubt that there would be a good reason to get any of the campaign sourcebooks.)

 

[malraux]

If you are DMing, I'd recommend a subscription to DDi far before I'd recommend anything else. After that, I'd recommend DMG 2, then any fluff books you feel you need.

 

[Stoat]

Malraux is right. Your money is best spent on a DDI subscription. Most of what you'll need is available there.

I have the DMG2, but haven't read much of it yet. It looks good, and is probably the hardest to duplicate using the DDI. Some of it looks to have come from Dragon articles, and some of it should show up in the compendium, but the total package would be hard to duplicate with what's available online. I'd buy a hard copy.

I have the PHB2 and I'm glad I do. All of the class info is probably available in the DDI Compendium and Character Builder, but I find it helpful to have all in one place. I'd buy a hard copy.

All the monsters in the MM2 are in the DDI Compendium, and the Compendium handles the errata automatically. The book has a little more fluff and some pictures. So if that's important to you, the hard copy is worth while.

I'd skip the Adventurer's Vaults. As far as I can tell, everything you need from them can be found in the DDI. I'd skip the Martial/Arcane/Divine Power books too. As a DM you don't really need them, and (say it with me) it's all in the DDI Compendium anyway.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I would also echo the reccomendation to subscribe to the DDI, the Compendium and Character Builder and the Monster Builder are well worth it.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

My impression is that D&DI is a lot less valuable to Mac users like me-- no character builder, the flash monster builder instead of the full version. Dungeon's unlikely to be useful to me, so really at that point I'm paying for Dragon, the Compendium, and some flash tools. That doesn't seem like a good deal. Am I missing something?

 

[Obryn]

Sounds like a good start!

You can definitely run a game with just the three core books, but I think that a few of the non-core books can make everything better.

* PHB2 is great for exactly the reason you describe. Also, every new class and race vastly increases the number of options for your players. It'd be top on my list for extra books.

* AV1 is also pretty great. The highlights aren't the magic items, IMO. It's the expanded Superior Weapons, the vehicles, and the alchemical items. I'd say it's more of a must-have than AV2. (You may want to ban the Iron Armbands and Bracers of Archery, though.) There's no assumption that players will have wishlists - assigning treasure your way is still completely valid, and AV1 is awesome for this purpose. (But see below - I think DDI is even better.)

* MM2 is solid. I don't know if I'd consider it necessary, though.

* Really, though, I'll echo malraux. Get a 1-month DDI subscription, though - no need to go whole hog. It will cost you less than $10, and you get both the character builder (with all the character options) and the monster builder (with every single monster yet published, plus tools to easily modify them or make your own). It's the single best investment you can make, and if you like it, you can always extend your subscription. With the DDI, you pretty much never need any of the X Power books. Also, you'll get real gems from setting sourcebooks like the Swordmage and Artificer, pretty much my two favorite 4e classes. Finally, you will have the Compendium for all those magic items and random searches. Want a 4th-level Staff? Pull up the compendium, and you can see all of them.

I hope that helps!

-O

 

[Obryn]

My impression is that D&DI is a lot less valuable to Mac users like me-- no character builder, the flash monster builder instead of the full version. Dungeon's unlikely to be useful to me, so really at that point I'm paying for Dragon, the Compendium, and some flash tools. That doesn't seem like a good deal. Am I missing something?

Ohhh, the mac angle... Yeah, it makes it considerably less awesome, I'm sad to say. The Compendium still rocks, and it might be worth your $10 to check out, but it's not the same level of value you'd get otherwise.

Unless you have boot camp set up, that is.

Also, can Macs use WINE?

-O

 

[malraux]

Unless you have boot camp set up, that is.

Also, can Macs use WINE?

-O

Macs can use WINE. WINE isn't compatible with the .NET 3.5, which is required for character builder and monster builder.

That said, any of the virtualization software programs will work as will bootcamp, assuming you have a intel mac. I prefer Virtual Box. The only downside is the need for a copy of windows.

 

[Dice4Hire]

WEll, if I were DMing pastthe original three I would get

AVI: It has more items than AVII, and has more basic things that will improve equipment choices.

MMII: Lots of monsters.

PHBII: Races and classes, all of which are pretty good.

And that is about it. As for DDI, consider how long you will subscribe. If for the forseeable future, then it might be worth it, just might, as you can do all of that stuff yourself at home. If you only want a month or so, then it is definitely not worth the money.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The Compendium gives everything in the Adventure Vaults and the Monster Manuals, and the encounter builder is a good way to browse monsters for an encounter since you can the party level and browse monsters. So it might be worth it.

Are the CB and MB worth the price of a copy of Windows? is a much harder question. I am not a Mac user but they will save a lot of time and hassle.