What's your core?

[taliesin15]

3.5 is where I saw WoTC start to go off the rails, and is why (along with certain spoilers written on these boards) why I have never, nor likely will ever, look at 4th edition.

I think 3.0 is as close to perfect as it can get. The core books I use are:
3.0 PHB, DMG & MM. I also consider some of the stuff in Deities and Demigods (1st ed) pretty core too. The official Human D&D Gods I don't use at all though.

Beyond this, I have house rules, mainly for cultural flavor IMC. For example, since it is Western European and in a quasi "Dark Ages" setting, there are no Oriental weapons, and no Rapiers.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I'm completely unconvinced that limiting a campaign to a small number of "core" books solves any of 3e inherent balance problems. There's plenty that potentially unbalanced in the PHB, while there's great, usable material to be found in some of the later books, like the Bo9S.

Game elements are probably best evaluated on a case by case basis. Wait, strike that, it's actually best when they're not evaluated at all; when you play in a high-trust environment where the players are free to use any material that strikes their fancy and the DM trusts that they'll work out any balance or campaign flavor issues that might crop up.

Personally, I'd argue that adding splat improves balance on the whole. Tome of Battle, Players Handbook II, and some of the splats are pretty much required to put together strong builds involving classes that aren't Wizard/CoDzilla. In core only, Wizard/CoDzilla is worse, if anything. What happens when you add splats is the game becomes messier and more difficult to manage, not less balanced.

 

[The Highway Man]

PHB, DMG, MM, Rules Compendium is what I would call Core, more or less.

If I was to run a Core game, I'm pretty sure I'd use Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium as well. PHB2 would be high on the list as well. Tome of Horrors Revised for sure.

Beyond that, it wouldn't have a chance to claim being "core", IMO. Don't get me wrong though: there's a metric assload of stuff out there that is brilliant to use in a 3.5 game (some of the Complete series, "Whatever" Might books, Arcana Evolved, Advanced core books... the list could go on and on and on).

 

[MrFilthyIke]

If Greyhawk:

3.0 PHB, DMG, MM, MotP
Tome of Horrors
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer



If Forgotten Realms:

3.0 PHB, DMG, MM
3.0 FRC, Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun, Faith and Pantheons



If Eberron:
3.5 PHB, DMG, MM
All Eberron books (yes, I have the complete set)

 

[Dragonbait]

When GMing and playing 3.5, my groups core has been the following:

All non-setting-specific books + setting specific books + some feats and powers from other setting specific books.

We claerly love our players and hate our GMs. So when trying to run a game for our group, the GM often feels a little overwhealmed..

PS: While a classic gif, I'll take it down if it's too gross. But that represents how we often feel.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

PHB/DMG/MM
Book of Experimental Might I & II
Magic Item Compendium
Spell Compendium (a bit)

I would say that we're playing 3.75, since BOXM really changes things.

 

[pawsplay]

PHB, MM (I-III), DMG, Fiend Folio. I also allow most feats from PHB II, Comple Warrior, Complete Adventurer, and Complete Arcane, excepting those that grant supernatural abilities. I allow further prestige classes and other material on an approved basis only.

 

[RFisher]

• phb
• dmg
• ua