D&D Book Buyer[Me]

[iamkoolerthanu]

I am going into the city tommorow and there is a large selection of D&D books at Barnes N' Nobles. What are some I should get? I have 'The Arms and Eqiuptment Guide', 'The Players Handbook', and 'Forgotten Realms'. I am planning on buying 'The Dungeon Masters Guide', 'The Monster Manual', and some type of magical item book. Is there anything else that other people have found useful at one point or another?

Thanks in advance! :smallwink:

[OverdrivePrime]

See if they have the Spell Compendium, as well as Complete Warrior, Complete Arcane and Complete Adventurer. The spell compendium is excellent, and I found those three "Complete" series books to be very useful. Stay away from Complete Divine - it's riddled with holes.

[Jewish_Joke]

May I direct your attention to the Gaming (d20 and General RPG) forum? They are better prepared to answer your question.

Ya see, some of the people on the friendly banter forum don't even play dnd. :smalleek:

It's crazy, I know, but all we can do is hope they come around one day, the invitation is always there, after all...:smallwink:


http://http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30)

[Gaelbert]

Complete Arcane is good because it has warlocks, one of the bestest classes, period. I don't have Complete Mage, but I've heard good things about it.

[iamkoolerthanu]

May I direct your attention to the Gaming (d20 and General RPG) forum? They are better prepared to answer your question.

Ya see, some of the people on the friendly banter forum don't even play dnd.

It's crazy, I know, but all we can do is hope they come around one day, the invitation is always there, after all...

I didn't know if I should even put it there...But I'm not going to get many responses anyway, because I only have 'till tomorow. Plus, I'm going to be there anyway, looking through the books. This is just to help direct me from some books and away from others. Can't believe some of you..things don't play D&D. :smalltongue: Oh well, you will be converted!


See if they have the Spell Compendium, as well as Complete Warrior, Complete Arcane and Complete Adventurer. The spell compendium is excellent, and I found those three "Complete" series books to be very useful. Stay away from Complete Divine - it's riddled with holes.

Alright, I might not buy all of them, but I'll definately look at them. Thanks!


Complete Arcane is good because it has warlocks, one of the bestest classes, period. I don't have Complete Mage, but I've heard good things about it.

I'm not trying for just spellcasting, fighting, healing, ect, but for books in general. Although I do like spellcasting, so I might look at those.


Thanks for everyone's help, I will post what I actaully bought tommorow or the next day. Still accepting comments! :smallbiggrin:

[Harold]

I like unearthed arcana that is useful. you do know that the 4e is coming out right? If I was you I would wait for that to come out and buy those books. But thats just me.

[Brickwall]

See if they have Exalted by White Wolf. :smallbiggrin:

Otherwise, save up for 4e. You might as well, if you've got the money available. It won't be too long now, until all of these books are rendered obselete. :smallannoyed:

Goddamn Wizards.

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

Exalted looks like a lot of fun. I made a character for it last night.

Ummmm....for a good D&D 3. book for someone who likes spell casting, I'd go with Tome of Magic. It has three unique and interesting new types of magic that are sure to muck with your DM.

[iamkoolerthanu]

See if they have Exalted by White Wolf. :smallbiggrin:

Otherwise, save up for 4e. You might as well, if you've got the money available. It won't be too long now, until all of these books are rendered obselete. :smallannoyed:

Goddamn Wizards.

...I was thinking about that, but here's what I was thinking. It's coming out in like, what 8 months from now? Then people will still use 3.5 fow a few months after that. I can't go on playing with these limited books that I have. I'm not planning on buying more than the Dongeons Masters Guide and the Monsters Manual, and 1-2 more books after that, and they'll still be good for at least another 8-10 months. I know of a local gamestore that will be ordering alot of the 4.0 books, and then I can get a few of those, but I'm going to the city and stopping in a place filled with D&D books on sale, with coupons and such, I'd have to be a fool to not buy something.

Thanks for your concern, because if I didn't know 4.0 was coming out, I'd buy alot more than just a few books.


I like unearthed arcana that is useful. you do know that the 4e is coming out right? If I was you I would wait for that to come out and buy those books. But thats just me.

What is unearthed arcana about? Sorcerers, wizards, both, something else?

And as I stated above, with the coupons and sales I'm getting on these books, and with there still being at least 8-10 months before 4.0 really gets popular, it's worth it.

Once again, thanks for the input eberybody!

[Harold]

Unearthed arcana is like new spells, feats and a lot more. so its a bit like another players handbook with no new rules, but new creations.

[Exachix]

Why not just go there and see what they have. Buy what you think is good.

[smellie_hippie]

See if they have Exalted by White Wolf. :smallbiggrin:

Otherwise, save up for 4e. You might as well, if you've got the money available. It won't be too long now, until all of these books are rendered obselete. :smallannoyed:

Goddamn Wizards.

Mmmmmm.... Exalted. Yeah... that's my Exalted campaign that I'll be beating Llama up in fairly soon. I'd gotten an Exalted thread started in there last year, but it gets buried by the DnD crap. :smallannoyed:

Exalted = shiney :smallbiggrin:

[jamroar]

What is unearthed arcana about? Sorcerers, wizards, both, something else?


Unearthed Arcana is basically a splatbook of optional variant rule systems on the standard D&D system rules , and a overall guide on how to houserule a game.

[Charity]

Gaming will answer this one for you ... Quicker, better, stonger... we can rebuild this thread...

PHB
PHB II
DMG
MM

I would suggest.

Or you could wait for 4th Edition next year.

[Indurain]

I may just be sucking up because this is Rich's site, but Dungeonscape is a good read.

As far as splat books go, I'd also recommend:

Draconomicon
Magic Item Compendium
Races of the Dragon


If you want something different from D&D, I'm going to recommend the other end of the Unearthed Arcana scale...

Iron Heroes.

It's a (very) low magic system, with some great options for combat, and a lot more use of skills (both in and out of battles).

[bosssmiley]

Gaming will answer this one for you ... Quicker, better, stonger... we can rebuild this thread...

PHB
PHB II
DMG
MM

I would suggest.

Or you could wait for 4th Edition next year.

Listen to Charity, for he is filled with Great British Win (and all the ladies sigh as he walks by). :smallcool:

Eggy recommends you nose over the online SRD at d20SRD.org before springing for either of the core books you don't have yet. Most of the rules you *need* to play the game are there, for free and all totally legally.

After you've got yer Core books sorted it really does depend on what you are interested in. With only one or two dishonourable exceptions ("Races of the Wild", "MM4" :smallannoyed: ) I've found every D&D book I've brought to be more than worth the cover price. Go with what interests you...

[Moff Chumley]

PHB II is your best bet, but certainly save up for 4ed.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Thank you everyone, and I'm back from the city. I ended up buying 'Dungeon Masters Guide', 'Monsters Manual', and 'Magic Item Compendium'. I am still just thumbing through them all, but they look pretty helful so far. Thanks everyone!

[Logic]

As far as splat books go, I'd also recommend:

Draconomicon
Magic Item Compendium
Races of the Dragon

I have to question your taste now Indy. Seriously. Whuuuaaa?

Thank you everyone, and I'm back from the city. I ended up buying 'Dungeon Masters Guide', 'Monsters Manual', and 'Magic Item Compendium'. I am still just thumbing through them all, but they look pretty helful so far. Thanks everyone!

Good choices. If I had gotten to this thread in time I would have also recommended PHB II, Spell Compendium, and/or Complete Warrior.