The Campaign Builder's Guild

Alright people, thread necromancy here.

My birthday is in 13 days, and I'm going all out for D&D books.  I need to know what is worth my money.

I plan to get a subscription to both Dragon and Dungeon magazines, but I'm not so sure about Dungeon...  Any thoughts?

Anyway, I need Races of Eberron for my CS, and Races of the Wild as well.  Any thoguhts on the other Races of... books?

I own all the Complete's except Complete Psionic, do you think that's worth it?

Any thoughts on Magic of Incarnum?

Anything else that anyone feels worht special mention?  I only buy 3.5, so keep that in mind.  no 3rd party stuff either...  Alright, that's about it, so help me please...

Races of the Wild is a MUST BUY. It is my favorite splatbook, and is definitely worth every penny.

If you're going into Eberron I would suggest Eberron CS (Duh), Races of Eberron, and Magic of Eberron. You don't really need anything other than those 3 books. RoE is my 2nd favorite Races book, and the stuff they give for Eberron races is terrific. Magic of Eberron has some great equipment (that's all I really use it for, sadly), but if you plan to go with a spellcaster it's a great book to have.

I should clarify I guess, I'm not going to play in Eberron, but I will be using some of the races in my setting of Godswalk.

not quite sure what kind of content you're looking for, but some of my favourite supplements are Libris Mortis, Lords of Madness, and the two-set of BoVD and BoED (especially Boed).
I haven't actually bought too much stuff recently, so i can't suggest too many things.

yeah... I'll be of little help, as I am somewhat of a supplement addict (I MUST put EVERYTHING *twitch* SOMEWHERE)... and at 40$ a pop, it may hardly be woth it to buy. For gifts, go for CRUNCH. Eberron (just as an example) has produced some good stuff and utilizes many new ideas from other supplements (deathless, posession, psionics...) but as far as I'm concerned, the Explorer's Handbook is a flop... which is a damned shame, considering what amazing illustrations it had. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah... just skim the shelves for crunchy rules goodness. Always useful.

I loved Heroes of Horror.

Makes me giddy with negative energy just looking at it:D

Tome of Magic and the Spell Compendium

My issue with the Spell Compendium is the sheer amount of errors in it and the fact that it isn't truly a compendium, as a lot of spells were left out.

Alright I'm gonna toss my hat in the ring here. When it come to the various sourcebooks they have different values to different people depending upon which things they find most useful to them. So I'll break them down as best as I can.

1. The environmental series

These three books have loads of useful information for any DM who enjoys using the weather to set the mood or tone of their game. Personally I find them all quite interesting and useful at times, though they are conditional sourcebooks. You won't find you need them or even want to use them for long periods of time. Stormy seas, frigid conditions, and deserts all have their place (mind you these are not the only conditions outlined in the series, but hopefully you catch my drift), but unless you have a setting that is overwhelmingly influenced by such conditions you won't use them all the time.

2. The Complete Series

These are the best selling books outside of the core three for a reason. They are useful to both players and dungeon masters, and are loaded with crunchy goodness. While I don't plan to argue the merits of crunch vs. fluff, I will say this. Crunch sells. Feats, spells, PrCs and so on are equally valuable to both the players and the DM. The game revolves around the player characters and BBEGs more than anything else. A DM who prefers using monstrous NPCs more than character based ones wouldn't find the completes as important as I do, but for me they are an invaluable resource.

3. The Spell Compendium

Not much to say here. You can double the number of options for your spell-casting classes with this book. If spells play an important part in your game, then this is good investment.

4. The Expanded Psionics Handbook

This is one of the finest books produced outside of the core thus far by WotC. It's a shame that psionics are not better received by the RPG community, because many people have no idea how well designed and interesting this book actually is. Homebrews are a great way to take full advantage of these optional rules, and I almost always find a way to bring some measure of psionics into my games. If you like psionics, you will buy this book. So take a look at it, and consider it, but only if you actually plan to use psionics at some point will it ever be useful to you.

5. Tome of Magic

Tome of Magic has loads of potential, but in order to get your money's worth out of it, you really want to use all three new magic systems. Adding three new sub-sets of magic to an existing setting however is a pain in the neck, and often compromises the integrity of the world. When building from scratch however, you could easily make a case for some of them. I wish the three sections were released seperately in soft cover for people like me, who would like to use one or another, but not all of them. Alas we can't all get what we want.

6. Others

Most other books fall somewhere to the wayside for me. There have been a handful of books that I found very interesting and worthwhile like Heroes of Horror (a must buy in my opinion), but for the most part I pass over many of the other publications. I'm not a huge fan of the races series, nor do I like Lords of Madness (even though I love aberrations), or Incarnum. Some people do, but they seem like the minority from what I have seen thus far.

-Nasty-

P.S. I hope that helps make the decision a little easier for you Tony

thanks everyone, and I have taken your advice seriously.  now for the update, it has become apparent that I can get most, if not all, of the 3.5 books.  I want to ask now, what shouldn't I buy?

Quote from: nastynateAlright I'm gonna toss my hat in the ring here. When it come to the various sourcebooks they have different values to different people depending upon which things they find most useful to them. So I'll break them down as best as I can.

1. The environmental series

These three books have loads of useful information for any DM who enjoys using the weather to set the mood or tone of their game. Personally I find them all quite interesting and useful at times, though they are conditional sourcebooks. You won't find you need them or even want to use them for long periods of time. Stormy seas, frigid conditions, and deserts all have their place (mind you these are not the only conditions outlined in the series, but hopefully you catch my drift), but unless you have a setting that is overwhelmingly influenced by such conditions you won't use them all the time.

Agreed. Your mileage may vary.

Quote from: nastynate2. The Complete Series

These are the best selling books outside of the core three for a reason. They are useful to both players and dungeon masters, and are loaded with crunchy goodness. While I don't plan to argue the merits of crunch vs. fluff, I will say this. Crunch sells. Feats, spells, PrCs and so on are equally valuable to both the players and the DM. The game revolves around the player characters and BBEGs more than anything else. A DM who prefers using monstrous NPCs more than character based ones wouldn't find the completes as important as I do, but for me they are an invaluable resource.

I would recommend skipping Complete Divine, personally. I dislike the book.

Quote from: nastynate3. The Spell Compendium

Not much to say here. You can double the number of options for your spell-casting classes with this book. If spells play an important part in your game, then this is good investment.  

I haven't used Spell Compendium once since I got it, but I guarantee if I was playing a caster I would crack that baby open.

Quote from: nastynate4. The Expanded Psionics Handbook

This is one of the finest books produced outside of the core thus far by WotC. It's a shame that psionics are not better received by the RPG community, because many people have no idea how well designed and interesting this book actually is. Homebrews are a great way to take full advantage of these optional rules, and I almost always find a way to bring some measure of psionics into my games. If you like psionics, you will buy this book. So take a look at it, and consider it, but only if you actually plan to use psionics at some point will it ever be useful to you.

Agreed. Psionics is awesome, and the book is great.

Quote from: nastynate5. Tome of Magic

Tome of Magic has loads of potential, but in order to get your money's worth out of it, you really want to use all three new magic systems. Adding three new sub-sets of magic to an existing setting however is a pain in the neck, and often compromises the integrity of the world. When building from scratch however, you could easily make a case for some of them. I wish the three sections were released seperately in soft cover for people like me, who would like to use one or another, but not all of them. Alas we can't all get what we want.

To be fair, Wizards doesn't release many softcovers for a reason. There wasn't a ton of demand for the older class books, and people tended to pass them over to buy the hardbacks. Their individual price (20 bucks a pop) would've made the three systems 60 dollars for the collector who wanted all three, and the binding would have been sucky-- softcovers are notorious for getting screwed up on bookshelves.

That being said, I've stated my opinons on Tome of Magic before, and I stand by them.

Quote from: nastynate6. Others

Most other books fall somewhere to the wayside for me. There have been a handful of books that I found very interesting and worthwhile like Heroes of Horror (a must buy in my opinion), but for the most part I pass over many of the other publications. I'm not a huge fan of the races series, nor do I like Lords of Madness (even though I love aberrations), or Incarnum. Some people do, but they seem like the minority from what I have seen thus far.

I loathe the Races series, excepting Races of Eberron and the Illumians from Races of Destiny. I rather liked Lords of Madness, though I'll concede that it isn't for everyone. The monster books are always fun in my opinion.

I love the classics, though. Epic Level Handbook, Deities and Demigods, Manual of the Planes-- all 3.0, all outdated, but all are great fun. There's a conversion booklet available for free, and I absolutely adore these tomes. I also enjoy Oriental Adventures.

Dungeon Master's Guide II is a must in my opinion. Great book for aspiring and expert DMs alike.

Ghostwalk is perhaps one of the most underrated and intriguing books I've seen, as well-- I enjoy it, though it's not for everyone.

~Elven Doritos
Pompeius Magnus

Just to save time, I already have the complete books.  Any thoughts on the planar handbook?  I've herd very mixed reviews on it...

Is the DMG II worth buying?  What about Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness?  Planar Handbook (currently borrowing Manual of the Planes)?  Anyone know whether Tome of Battle is worth pre-ordering?  And is Magic of Incarnum worth my money?  Lastly, I hear the miniatures handbook has some good stuff.  Is it worth the cost if I don't use any minis?

Quote from: Natural 20Is the DMG II worth buying?  What about Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness?  Planar Handbook (currently borrowing Manual of the Planes)?  Anyone know whether Tome of Battle is worth pre-ordering?  And is Magic of Incarnum worth my money?  Lastly, I hear the miniatures handbook has some good stuff.  Is it worth the cost if I don't use any minis?

The PHB II looks like it'll be worth its salt to me... might want to get that.

Quote from: Natural 20Is the DMG II worth buying?  What about Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness?  Planar Handbook (currently borrowing Manual of the Planes)?  Anyone know whether Tome of Battle is worth pre-ordering?  And is Magic of Incarnum worth my money?  Lastly, I hear the miniatures handbook has some good stuff.  Is it worth the cost if I don't use any minis?

I love DMG II. Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness are very good as well, though the latter is certainly a subjective opinion that should be taken lightly (thumb through the book first!). Magic of Incarnum... as much as I would like to support it.... is really subpar. Of the three core classes presented, only one is truly interesting. And the Miniature's Handbook is subject to prodding and joking due to some of the content within, though there are new classes (some of which managed to "find their way" into other books due to the low sales of Minis Handbook), new monsters, new spells, and other goodies inside.

Can't comment on Tome of Battle-- it's too far in the future to worry about, in my opinion. I would focus on the here and now.

~Elven Doritos
MUUUUMMMMRAAAA