What WOTC book should I buy?

[Phaedrus]

I have not purchased anything but PDF's in a long time (is there any penance for that?) I'm starting to get the itch to buy another book. Of the following, which do you recommend (if I'm getting only one)?

Complete Warrior
Complete Divine
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of Exalted Deeds
Unearthed Arcana
Eberron
Draconomicon
Fiend Folio
MM 2
[Tome of Horrors II]

I don't own any of the above... which one do you think I should own?
(or did I leave anything off that should be included?)

 

[lp]

Well my advice is that you hit your local FLGS and flip through each book and see what you like and don't like. Personally, I have no desire for any of the complete * books, or the book of vd/ed. Fiend folio isn't that useful for me, and I don't even own a 3.5 mm1, so I'm not going ito suggest mm2. Draconomicon is really cool if you're into that, and Eberron will either make you cringe or laugh with delight and start rolling dice.

Personally, I went the Eberron route..

Hope that helped.

 

[Nighthawk]

Does it matter if the book is 3.0 or 3.5? Are you buying more as a player or a gm at this time? As a player, I really have no idea since the products are dependent on campaign limits and style. Overall, probably the Complete Warrior (there are many prestige classes, though, and if you are not into those...).

As a gm, I would most likely say Eberron or the Book of Vile Darkness. I am assuming campaign ideas would be useful here. Eberron, while different than what I am used to, is an enjoyable read and has numerous ideas that can be incorporated in other campaigns. The same is true of the BoVD if one is interested in dealing with evil in the campaign.

If neither is a priority and one has a strong interest in dragons, I recommend the Draconomicon. I am unsure as to how it has been received by others, but I really like its contents.

I hope this helps in some way.

 

[Ottergame]

It really depends on what you are looking for. Book of Vile Darkness and Exaulted Deeds are both good books, but really depend heavily on being n a truely mature group, munchkins and other dorks will make you rue the day you bought them.

The Complete Books are fantastic, and if you play 3.5 you can retire those 3.0 class splatbooks.

I really didn't care for Eberon, but since saying that is like paramount to damning a god on these boards, I'll not touch on it more than that, the rabid fanbois might get me. XD

Draconomicon is good is you've got a bunch of dragons in you world, but if you don't, well... it has some pretty pictures.

Unearthed Arcana is only useful if you want to use the rules inside of it, it has no actual useful stuff that just drops into a world like the other books, you kinda have to start from the ground up when using it.

As for the monster books... well, I don't GM, so I've no real use for them and don't own them.

 

[Turanil]

My suggestions:

Book of Vile Darkness Good purchase if you consider doing a campaign heavily revolving around extraplanar evil (i.e.: demon princes, hells, etc.). On the other hand, I don't think it's useful to buy Book of Exalted Deeds unless you plan to do a planar campaign (Planescape like), in which case you mould also need MoP and Planar Handbook.

Unearthed Arcana I would not buy Complete series, but this one is probably a must, with variant races, variant classes, additional rules (action points, sanity, taint, ritual casting, etc.).

Eberron The more I read about this book, the more I think it is worth the purchase (although personally I won't buy it, since I have too many stuff already).

 

[Nightfall]

Eberron,

If you like something self contained as well as a decent/good campaign setting,
Eberron is for you.

The Complete series, I'd say CW is better than CD (especially for editing), but they are both much better than the splat books in some ways. (More focus I feel and more flexible in some areas.)

The BoVD is nice but after 3.5 it's become a little weak. Especially when you compare BoED to it.

Fiend Folio is a rip off of Tome of Horrors. Though an "official" one by some estimates.

UA is nice if you want options. Otherwise it's up to you.

ToH II, you get this if you believe that more monsters are better and you loved ToH. (And you didn't shame on you!!!)

MM2 I felt was kind of hit and miss, but it did have the Death Knight template. (DLCS's Death Knight is better though.)

Draconomicion is great for the focus and detail it has on dragons. Other than that, it's decent use otherwise in some places. (Dragon Ascendent is STILL my favorite dragon Pr-class. I mean dragon gods man! )

 

[Treebore]

I have not purchased anything but PDF's in a long time (is there any penance for that?) I'm starting to get the itch to buy another book. Of the following, which do you recommend (if I'm getting only one)?

Complete Warrior
Complete Divine
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of Exalted Deeds
Unearthed Arcana
Eberron
Draconomicon
Fiend Folio
MM 2
[Tome of Horrors II]

I don't own any of the above... which one do you think I should own?
(or did I leave anything off that should be included?)

Let me put it this way. I own CW, CD, FF, MM2, Draconomicon, and ToH2. The ones I am glad i bought are ToH2, MM2, and FF. The one I really use is ToH2.

 

[Nightfall]

ToH2 rocks!

 

[sparxmith]

Exalted Characters

If you're more of a Good aligned role-player, I'd suggest the Book of Exalted Deeds. It is absolutely fantastic in its take upon, and explanation of, Good in D&D. My Co-DM (he and I take turns running games) owns it. Of the books you've listed, he owns all of them. The only one I wish I had is the BoED, and, in fact, I'll be purchasing it tommorrow. The BoVD is CRAP. I bought it and actually gave it away. It's not even fit to be torn up and used as toilet paper (though I might burn it if it were the only fuel I could find on a deserted isle ). He also owns the Draconomicon, a worthwile read and useful if playing, or planning to play, a dragon related character/campaign.

The BoED also contains the single greates feat/role-playing concept in the game: the Vow of Poverty. It alone would make me want to purchase the book.

Just my two sparx,

Sparxmith

 

[Flyspeck23]

The Draconomicon and Eberron are IMHO two of the best WotC-books. Get one of these.
If in any doubt, get Eberron