What are the "must have" 4E supplements thus far?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Six months into 4E, what do you think are the "must have" supplemental products beyond the core three rulebooks, and why?

I'm leaving aside adventures for the moment to focus on rules/fluff products.

 

[Lorthanoth]

Oo, first votes! Martial Power and Adventurer's Vault - the new options in MP and the hundreds of items in AV add a whole new dimension to the game, with beast companions, alchemy, tempest fighter etc etc

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Oo, first votes! Martial Power and Adventurer's Vault - the new options in MP and the hundreds of items in AV add a whole new dimension to the game, with beast companions, alchemy, tempest fighter etc etc

The DM Screen and the Manual of the Planes are also great resources for the DM.
The DM Screen is very handy at the table.
You rarely, if ever, need to look into the DMG with this screen during the game.

The Manual of the Planes provides a lot of interesting fluff to run some adventures on the planes. It even contains material for players to run a plane-hopping campaign.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Players Handbook *I know its not on the list, but it's the best thing out there
Manual of the Planes *I use this instead of the DMG
Adventurer's Vault *More stuff is always good
Martial Power *More options and powers is so cool!
DM Screen *you can throw out all your books except the PHB and run a game off of this alone
Character Record Sheet *yeah, definately a must. Get one with the empty power sheets as well, those are worth their weight in gold

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Adventurer's Vault: Enough items to sink a ship, plus more mounts, vehicles, alchemy, and new weapons.

Martial Power: Tons of new options for Martial characters and new multiclass options for non.

Manual of The Planes: This is more specific must have. But I love my planar games, so this is very much a must have and is good anyways.

Other: While not a physical product/book. I would say DDI is another must have, it is incredibly useful and always expanding/giving new crunch and fluff.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Must-have Supplements

IMHO, the must-haves for this edition are (will be):

1.- Adventurer's Vault (at least the first one): The PHB does not have nearly enough magic items to fill the parcel system as described in the DMG (not that they could have crammed more info into that book, poor editors...)

2.- Martial Power, Divine Power, Arcane Power, etc... More options for players, enough said.

3.- PHB2, PHB3, etc... Entirely new classes and races. Of course, these are supposed to be "core books", but if by Core you mean "you need this to play", then items number 1 and 2 are also Core.

The DM screen is also very nice and useful. Open Grave and Draconomicon are good for DMs who enjoy a particular type of campaign (I know my DM is going to love them both), but they don't have the same universal appeal.

 

[Phaezen]

Another vote for the DDI subscription, there is a ton of usefull stuff in the Dragon magazines and the compendium is a nice resource to have access to.

For non-wotc material I can only comment on APG and Plague both of which are getting quite a big workout in my current campaign planning.

Phaezen

 

[Jack99]

Just as everyone else, I think that Martial Power, Adventurers Vault and DM screen are just about invaluable to my 4e game.

The Forgotten Realms Player Guide is also great, because it holds the swordmage and another pact for the warlock. It also holds a large number of rituals to add the the repertoire of the ritual casters.

The DDI subscripton because it has everything, from Illusion-spells to fluff on masse.

As for GSL products, there are several items that would enrich any campaign. Are they must-haves? Well, I guess it depends on a number of things. Anyway, in no particulary order:

The Heroes Handbook: The Dragonborn, because it's frankly an amazing product that helps both DM and player "get" the dragonborn (IMO).

Just about anything from One Bad Egg: This is IMO the company to watch out for. Their products are edgy and they clearly understand the mechanism of 4e and are not afraid to push the crunchy envelope. From nasty undeads, a cool new race to edgy gods and a super-cool-awesome multiclass, they just keep on delivering stuff that can improve your game - if you add it.

Advanced Player's Guide: I consider this a must-have, because it gives us the best druid, monk, bard etc, at least for now. And lets face it, from the numerous rants, whines and otherwise eloquent posts on the various boards, it's quite clear that some think that having those classes is a must for a game to be D&D.

EDIT: Why add Open Grave, when no one has it yet? I doubt it would get many votes, no matter how great it is, but that's besides the point.

 

[malraux]

I voted other, because for me, the DDI includes so much. I also would have voted for the DM screen if i would have seen it.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I voted other for the Advanced Player's Guide, in addition to the Vault, Martial Power, and Manual of the Planes.