Which tome to procure...

[mmadsen]

Try Oriental Adventures, much usable material for ANY campaign. I recomend this because theres a lot of crunch for fighting types and thats rare. Its chock full of good ideas cool concepts and knickable stuff.

I have to second Limper's unorthodox suggestion. Oriental Adventures is chock full of material perfect for an occidental campaign. Don't let the title fool you!

 

[S'mon]

MotP

Manual of the Planes, no doubt about it. This is the best bang-for-your-buck idea generator I've yet to buy for 3e/d20. Forget about extraplanar stuff while you read it, and it becomes a wonderful guide to tailoring one's campaign world - or even just sections of it - for certain styles of play. It's the best 3e hardback besides the core.

Maybe it's because I already have the 1e MoTP, but I found the 3e version very disappointing when I bought it, considering it cost much more than the 3 core books. Having 3e stats for Githyanki etc is ok, but there's very little info on eg alternate prime material planes or how to actually run a planes-hopping campaign a la Sliders, say. Maybe I'm missing something, but I found very little 'meat' in it, just some generic guff about what each plane looks like. No sample NPCs, no concrete adventure ideas, no substantial campaign advice.

 

[Vanye]

Relics and Rituals was ok, not the best tho. Spells and Spellcraft was a lot better, if a little sparse.

I'd have to disagree with you on that one. There were a bunch of bugs in Sp&Sp that just leapt out at me: editing gaffes, incorrect schools on spells(Disintegration is a Transmutation spell; Disintegration Sphere is an Evocation (Energy) spell.), new subtypes with no explanations as to what they mean (Evocation (Positive Energy)), and things of that nature.

And that's just in the spells section. I haven't had the chance to get to the other portions of the book. I'm sure there will be other off the wall and poorly explained things in those sections.

Sp&Sp is the more recent product: with almost 2 years of 3E experience at this point, I expected a better product from AEG. Instead, I find that a product made when 3E was brand new to be far superior.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

I wrote a great 2 page review of the merits and flaws of both Magic of Faerun and Relics and Rituals. Then i tried to post and the site had logged me off. So, in short, Magic of Faerun kicks butt. OA and R&R are nice too.

 

[Nightfall]

Kapt's ringing endorsement not withstanding, I still believe R&R a superior product to Spells and Spellcraft. I don' t know about editing gaffes, (didn't really READ that close into it)

Vanye, it was FFG not AEG that made Spells and Spellcraft.

Background stuff?! What do you call ritual magic? Or perhaps you don't think it's pretty neat the way the Blood Witch works with BOTH druidic and arcane spellcasting? I also though Sea Witch was a great idea, and certainly while it had it's faults, Penumbral Lords was a better concept idea than Shadow Adept. The magic weapons I don't deal with much since that's not what I enjoyed the most. The relics in the book were probably my favorite (Long live Swords of Scarn! ) but it's not what I enjoyed as much as the tatooes and the new spells that I felt were much better than some in even Magic of Faerun (which I still enjoy a lot.)

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Re: MotP

Maybe it's because I already have the 1e MoTP, but I found the 3e version very disappointing when I bought it, considering it cost much more than the 3 core books. Having 3e stats for Githyanki etc is ok, but there's very little info on eg alternate prime material planes or how to actually run a planes-hopping campaign a la Sliders, say. Maybe I'm missing something, but I found very little 'meat' in it, just some generic guff about what each plane looks like. No sample NPCs, no concrete adventure ideas, no substantial campaign advice.

I have the original also, have had it since it first came out, and the 3e version is simply superior.

You can easily use Faerie, for example, as either an alternate Prime or a section of a Prime. The same is true of any of the other planes described.

I mean no offense to you, S'mon, sincerely, but I think this is a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. MotP gives tons of examples of what the book was written to help design: planes and worlds. The planar construction guidelines could easily be used to create alternate Primes, or sections of a Prime plane, along the lines of how TORG used world rules to differentiate between realms. Using MotP, I created rough guidelines for a Pulp world (before the Polyhedron Pulp Heroes game came along), a Film Noir world, and Barsoom by E.R. Burroughs. In addition, MotP opens the door for even more customization.

 

[Geoff Watson]

R&R is crap. Balance is rare, and they have a poor understanding of the rules.

Magic of Faerun is much better if you want magic-stuff. Lords of Darkness is good if you're running a FR campaign.

Oriental Adventures is a really good book, even for non-oriental settings.

Geoff.

 

[Eryx]

R&R is crap. Balance is rare, and they have a poor understanding of the rules.

Thats it! Your off my Christmas Card list!

Seriously, R&R is the best third party book out there for spells and magics. The spells are very balanced and are of more use than most in the PHB. The prestige classes are balanced, although the Incarnate has since been redone (Check out Secrets & Societies).
The MI's are better than most of those in the DMG and a little more creative.

 

[Nightfall]

Please, crap my foot. I still have plenty of players that want BECAUSE they like the spells in there MORE than Magic of Faerun.

Eryx/Colin, you are right, I DID enjoy the revised Incarnate MUCH more than the R&R one. Especially with the new feat too.