What book should I get? Suggestions, please.

[Nightchilde-2]

PHB2 for sure. Excellent crunch, IMHO. Perhaps the best book I've bought since Spell Compendium.

Yeah, a lot of the DMG is covered in the SRD, but a lot of it isn't covered as well.

Spell Compendium is awesome.

I found the Complete series to be, overall, wicked awesome and quite useful. Complete Divine, maybe not so much but the others, yeah. IMHO, I wouldn't leave them out of my "to buy" list.

As for the MMIII and MMIV, I prefer III of the two. IV is too chock full of MMI monsters with class levels (i.e. stuff I can easily do on my own) and perhaps goes a little too far in the "hold the DM by the hand" department. Plus...dragonspawn. Bleh. I'd get MMI before either III or IV, if I were you and II, which did have some great monsters, REALLY needs a 3.5 upgrade (yeah, I can change that info myself, but it's a pain).

 

[Stormborn]

"Book of Aberrations" is probably a colloquialism for Lords of Madness, which is a monster book focused on... aberrations. Mind flayers, aboleth, grell, stuff like that. Similar to Libris Mortis for undead or Draconomicon for dragons.
Spell Compendium is just that, a bunch of spells collected from other non-PH sources -- including the Complete books, so it would be a good buy for you as you wouldn't be duplicating spells you already own in other books.

Oops. Not a colloquialism. Just a misstatement.

As others have said the things in the DMG that you have to have are the charts and formulas for XP etc.

 

[Nightfall]

Advanced Game Master's Guide also deserves a look see for Experienced and newbie DMs/GMs.

 

[blargney the second]

What parts of DMing do you find the hardest?

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Despite the fact the SRD is there I think that you should still buy MM1 and the DMG.

The SRD doesn't have any pictures of the monsters. Sometimes it is better and a lot easier if you show your players a picture of the monster so they can really understand what they're up against. The SRD MM also doesn't have any of the flavour text that is in the MM. It also doesn't have several monsters in it like Yuan-Ti, Slaads, Beholders, etc.,

As for the DMG. A lot of the advancement tables aren't included in the SRD.

If you really want something outside of the core and don't want any of the Complete books I would suggest Spell Compendium.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nightfall]

Spell Compendium is rather nice.

I do advocate getting DMG II and Advanced Game Master's Guide followed by the Advanced Beastiary. Best way to make some great monsters, in my book.

 

[Valesin]

Alright, I'm playing D&D 3.5, and I'm thinking of getting two books (this is based on cost, of course). I currently have the PHB and Libris Mortis. Any suggestions? I've had a few chances to look though the Player's Handbook II, and despite being able to borrow it frequently I'm thinking of buying it (I like it a lot). For my second book I was thinking it would be nice to have something useful as a DM, possibly a Monster Manual (using the SRD for monsters is inconvenient, IMO).

I do NOT want campaign settings, Complete Adventurer, Complete Scoundrel, Complete Arcane, Complete Warrior, or Complete Divine. Also, no psionics.

I like feats, spells, items, base classes, maps, and monsters. Crunch is good.

1) Are MM III or IV any good for entire level spreads, or would the basic be better?
2) Are there any other WotC books that are good for DM's?
3) I don't think I need a DMG I (am I wrong?), but is the DMG II any good?
4) Other suggestions?

DMGI is a no-brainer. Without it you will be hard-pressed to run a game, period. MM is obviously a great choice, but most of it is available online as the Systems Reference Document, so you may not need it as much as some people think.

Of the remaining MMs, MMIII is by far the best and most useful, esp. for beginner DMs. Fiend Folio and MMII haven't been updated and are slanted toward high CR stuff, and MMIV is crap...just crap.

Lords of Madness and Draconomicon are both very specific to aberrations and dragons respectively, so unless you want you whole game to be undead and aberrations/dragons, I wouldn't consider them to be must buys just yet.

 

[Nightfall]

Unless you're like me and you LIKE Dragons, Undead and Abberations.

 

[DreadArchon]

IIRC, information about CR, Encounter Level,

Not enough reason for the book to beat out the competition, though, since I'm limited in what I can buy.

and experience allotment

I like to modify this to suit my campaign anyway. I wouldn't follow its advice.

Starting wealth for PCs above 1st leve, and for NPCs.

They slipped and put that into PHBII... Their loss, my gain. ^_^

There are only a few creatures in the Monster Manual that are not in the SRD. Some of them are really iconic D&D creatures, though, like beholders and yuan-ti. So the MM may be worth it for that alone.

Dang, forgot about that. I would rather like to have Umberhulks, Slaad, and Yuan-Ti, but I'm not sure that it makes it worth the book. Hmmm.

What parts of DMing do you find the hardest?

Pacing events and creating immersion (usually problems with attention to detail). Handling mechanics is so far going well, but everything feels somewhat shallow.

Currently, I'm thinking PHBII for sure, and probably DMGII.

Is Heroes of Horror any good? (I read a couple reviews, but since I'm here, any other comments?)

 

[MerricB]

If you want to DM, you need the DMG. You also should get the MM.

The DMG has more than just the rules in the SRD. It also has a heap of really useful advice. It's also a lot more compact than the SRD...

After that, the DMG2 is a really good book for a relatively new DM.

Cheers!