What are the "must have" 3.x supplements?

[Desdichado]

Oh, and I'll second the nomination of Epic Level Handbook as one of the worst 3e products; certainly the worst produced by WotC.

Although the monster chapter did at least give it some small material to redeem it.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Hm. Well, what kind of thing do you like, and what do you dislike? What general types of material do you (or might you) consider important, interesting, fun, usable, etc. . . ?

Otherwise, you'll probably just end up with a few people's personal faves at this time, half of them at odds with those of others, and not much connecting the lot. . . except that they are - presumably - easy to use with D&D 3e. :\

Unless you are just curious, and want to find out what certain individuals at EN World happen to like, whatever the reasons. In which case, fine, and I'll oblige.

 

[nytflyr]

Unless you are just curious, and want to find out what certain individuals at EN World happen to like, whatever the reasons. In which case, fine, and I'll oblige.

mostly just curiosity, as there is so much stuff out there, that maybe I overlooked something (like Darkness and Dread which was suggested to me on another board, and it is pretty darn cool)

 

[pawsplay]

Oh, and I'll second the nomination of Epic Level Handbook as one of the worst 3e products; certainly the worst produced by WotC.

Oh, come on; easily 4-5% of the Epic Level Handbook might be useful. Just throw out epic spell seeds, 3/4ths of the feats and monsters, all but a handful of epic skill uses, and the epic magic item rules, and you're golden.

Weapons of Legacy will actually suck fun out of your game just by sitting on your game shelf.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Huh. I've found Weapons of Legacy to be very much more easily modifiable so as to be useful, than the Epic Level Handbook. Yes, it needs tweaking, or overhauling really, but the ELH needs burning, or perhaps recycling (if you are 'environmentally-minded'.)

But anyway. . .

I've found the following supplements to be indispensible for running D&D 3e, but - of course - I don't expect they would generally be. So, in no particular order:

• Crime & Punishment - An area that needed to be covered. This book does that.
• Dynasties & Demagogues - As above, but this time it's politics and such.
• Legends of Sorcery - Ditch the pseudo-Vancian clunker that is 3e magic (and replace it with a very neat, elegant solution for low, medium or high magic campaigns,) but use any 3e spell without alteration? Oh yeah.
• Book of Iron Might - Makes combat more interesting and varied for all, using manoeuvres, stunts, called shots and so on. . . without stressing the system or throwing things out of whack.
• Hot Pursuit, and Hot Pursuit: On Foot - Chases are cool.
• Book of Templates, deluxe edition - With this. . .
• Advanced Bestiary - . . . and/or this, you won't need any more monster books. Seriously.
• Nature's Wrath - Poisons, diseases and addiction, all dealt with very neatly.
• Book of Broken Dreams - Stress, psychological disorders, and other things.
• Immortals Handbook: appendix v5 - CR, ECL and EL. . . that pretty much work!
• Unearthed Arcana - So many options, some of which are worth toying with.
• From Stone to Steel - Tons of weapons and armour (it's a big book) from many different times and places, all statted up for d20 fantasy, with bits of descriptive text and illustration, sniippets of history, and the occasional added rules feature (e.g., PrC.)
• Psychic's Handbook - Psychic powers, for any character (but with a dedicated class for fantasy, and one for modern) that actually feel like psychic powers, not just retagged spells and arcane casters.
• Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era - No, really. It covers a lot more ground than one might think, much of it applicable to (high or low) fantasy in general, I've found.
• Tome of Horrors - Just because I can make just about any monster with some patience, cleverness and maybe a template, doesn't mean I would always want to (or have the time to.) This book has lots and lots of great critters, ready to go - or adapt - without all the extra garbage that so many products come with.

And that's after paring it down a bit. Yikes, no wonder I'm running M&M fantasy* now, eh?

* Not that many of the above books aren't useful for that too, mind you.

 

[Desdichado]

I do like Darkness & Dread, and at least in some ways it covers some ground better than Heroes of Horror does (although in other ways... vice versa.)

If you like that kind of thing, one of my favorite tricks of the trade is to use d20 Call of Cthulhu material in D&D games. There's nothing quite like having byakhee, hounds of tindalos, night gaunts or even shoggoths face off against D&D characters.

Although Pathfinder has recently done new interpretations of a lot of that stuff that's better, IMO.

Still; I didn't mention it because although it's technically compatible with D&D it wasn't necessarily meant to be used as such. The d20 Call of Cthulhu book is my favorite RPG book of any game line, any system, any style at all. Bar none.

 

[joela]

my absolutes

Rules Compendium -- for those fast, quick searches
Unearthed Arcana -- show you ways to customize your campaign
Spell Compendium -- there's no such thing as too many spells
Any monster book from any publisher -- to surprise your players

 

[Desdichado]

I also second the recommendation of the Demonomicon of Iggwilv articles in Dragon.

It's a shame that they didn't do a few more demon lords and publish it all together as a book. I guess we'll never see that now.

Honestly, I don't know what (if anything) I'd ever do with, say CR 30 stats for Dagon, but it's still cool. Fun reading, and lots of story hook potential.

 

[Greg K]

Spell Compendium -- there's no such thing as too many spells

Well, since I dislike about 2/3 to 3/4 or the spells in that book, I would have to disagree

 

[Greg K]

why are these must haves? I only have two of the books (UA & MM2)

I'm getting ready to go visit my dad's graveside (it's been one years since he passed) and then I have to run errands and prepare for a game tonight. However, I'll explain why I consider them essential tomorrow or Sunday when I have more time.