Why do I feel the need to buy the new core books?

[Brown Jenkin]

I personally despise 3.5 for many reasons and refuse to buy the books ever. Unfortunately my group insists on converting so I too await the SRD compitition so I will have something to refrence until the end of the campain and we move to HERO and leave 3.5 behind hopefully forever.

 

[Voadam]

The 3.5 monster manual is supposedly more useful for tabletop use layoutwise than the 3.0 MM. Almost every monster illustrated! (animals, vermin, and I think the half celestial were left out).

The 3.5PH has supposedly clearer explanations everywhere and it has the spells, class abilities, skill, and feat descriptions you might want at the table.

The 3.5 DMG, uhm, you might want to read it in bed sometime when you are away from your computer and can't access the srd magic item, epic or planar rules. Or you want new DM advice I guess.

Fight the power! Resist the siren call! you can do it!

The campaign I'm in has gone 3.5 but I go off the srd.

 

[barsoomcore]

Wow people are oddly stirred up about all this. I don't get it.

I'm not buying the books because, um, I already have a Player's Handbook, and a DM's Guide and a Monster Manual. The 3.0 versions. Which work great. And with the SRD I have a chance to look over the new rules and decide which ones I want to use. My players got me the PHB 3.5 which was awfully nice of them and a buddy got the DMG 3.5 -- which I think is a great book, much better than the original but don't think I can justify spending the money on something I basically already have.

I'm glad they revised the books. Well done. Needed doing, in my opinion. Not buying them, but well done.

To answer the question: You feel the need to buy the new core books because you want to spend more money on your gaming habit, because you like the new covers better, because for you the new books offer immense value, or possibly just because you like having new things. Good for you.

 

[Desdichado]

I have the 3.5 MM, mainly just because I like monster books, and Wayne Reynolds and Sam Wood artwork (seem to have done most of the new artwork.) I'm glad I got it. I don't have the 3.5 PHB or DMG, but I'll get them eventually. I'm not in any hurry to do so, though.

All in all, though, I can't see how this is something worth getting worked up about either way. Buy them if you want them, don't if you don't -- really, how hard does it have to be?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'm like a crack addict. But I'm fighting the urge.

I'm putting off all purchases until the con here in October. By then the urge should be gone.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Find 'em discounted and buy them one at a time, very gradually.

Y'know, I have to say that I like most of the changes so far. Plus, I really like the expanded DMG and MM. Since 3e came out, I always felt just a bit disappointed that those two books were substantially smaller than the PHB. I was very pleased to see the DMG, especially, packed with a lot of cool stuff. OK, I have the Epic Level book and the Manual of the Planes, but I still enjoyed seeing some of that stuff make it in.

I do think they shouldn't have made such a substantial revision so soon, so I'm not too happy about that on principle. In reality, though, much of the revision is stuff I simply like a lot, so in that respect I'm glad it was done.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Go on, buy just the PHB.

It won't hurt.

It'll be good for you.

Everyone else is buying it. You don't want to look foolish, do you?

C'mon, just one little book...

 

[JeffB]

My sentiments Echo Colonel H's pretty much.

I like the majority of changes, not all but most of them. Many goofy things have been clarified. Some things have been simplified (always a good thing IMO). I also like the expanded DMG & MM. they are much more useful in-game now AFAIC.

IMO, they are very much worth it, and a big improvement over the 3.0 books.

 

[Henry]

I love that time with the family is number seven. Are you one of those guys that's honest to a fault?

Nope, just saving it for the punchline. My gaming time has to fit in those three six-hour time windows each month, and if 3.5's left in the cold, so be it.

 

[Will]

I bought the 3.5 books grudgingly... I'm a freelancer, and nothing beats having physical books to peruse and put post-its in.

I am very very happy I did. While some things had me head scratching, I think 3.5 is a significantly more playable and robust game than 3.0.

Me, I like making and tweaking monsters. It's now _significantly_ easier to, oh, make a werebear paladin than it was in 3.0.

DR makes sense. Movement makes sense. Advice on terrain is great. DMG now includes epic and planar info... great! I didn't really want to have to buy a bunch of other books just for scraps I might use.

If you're going to play D&D, I highly recommend moving to 3.5.

The things I minded were generally things I don't like about D&D overall... like easy death and resurrection. I don't like the way items and wealth work. But it's pretty much the same issue, 1e-3.5e... that's D&D for you.