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The title of the thread pretty much sums up the topic of the thread. Note that I'm not asking for an argument on which book is the best, just suggestions as to which ones are good. Basically, which third party books are comprehensive, interesting, and worth buying?
I've heard that Untapped Potential, Hyperconscious, Secrets of Pact Magic, and Bastards & Bloodlines are all good. Does anyone have opinions on those?
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The title of the thread pretty much sums up the topic of the thread. Note that I'm not asking for an argument on which book is the best, just suggestions as to which ones are good. Basically, which third party books are comprehensive, interesting, and worth buying?
I've heard that Untapped Potential, Hyperconscious, Secrets of Pact Magic, and Bastards & Bloodlines are all good. Does anyone have opinions on those?
The first three are normally among my top recommendations, and even though I'm not a huge fan of B&B specifically, Green Ronin does good work.
If you're into monster books, Necromancer Games' Tomes of Horrors are a lot of fun - lots of traditional monsters like leprechauns and sea serpents, plus older editions' staples like nilbogs (snilbog?), flail snails and froghemoths, and other out-there monsters in the same spirit of the older games (my favorite examples are a maneating land-clam and an undead tornado with fists to punch things). Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary is also very useful on the monster front - it's essentially a full length monster manual-type book filled with templates.
The other book that really filled a useful niche was Bastion's Into the Green, which is a Sandstorm/Frostburn/Stormwrack-type environment resource about forests and jungles.
The first three are normally among my top recommendations, and even though I'm not a huge fan of B&B specifically, Green Ronin does good work.
If you're into monster books, Necromancer Games' Tomes of Horrors are a lot of fun - lots of traditional monsters like leprechauns and sea serpents, plus older editions' staples like nilbogs (snilbog?), flail snails and froghemoths, and other out-there monsters in the same spirit of the older games (my favorite examples are a maneating land-clam and an undead tornado with fists to punch things). Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary is also very useful on the monster front - it's essentially a full length monster manual-type book filled with templates.
The other book that really filled a useful niche was Bastion's Into the Green, which is a Sandstorm/Frostburn/Stormwrack-type environment resource about forests and jungles.
Thanks! Into the Green sounds especially interesting so I'll make sure to check that out.
What Green Ronin books, in particular, would you suggest?
EDIT: Flail Snails sound hilarious, I'll have to try and obtain that book.
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Last edited by Blueiji : 10-29-2012 at 08:58 PM.
Reason: To add a tidbit concerning Flail Snails
Well, the base classes all suck, (No pun intended) but the PrC's in there are well balanced and decently written. The Feats are about as useful as Heroes of Horror's, and the sample adventures are pretty epic.
Oh, and the spells are good.
Well, the base classes all suck, (No pun intended) but the PrC's in there are well balanced and decently written. The Feats are about as useful as Heroes of Horror's, and the sample adventures are pretty epic.
Oh, and the spells are good.
But how many times are you going to use those prestige classes in-game? For the same amount of money you could have gotten a book that's full of great content and is much more likely to be allowed.
Also, I reccomend anything by dreamscarred press (the guys who did untapped potential). The company was partly co-founded by 3 very famous optimizers of the old WOTC boards. This is why the content is much more balanced than is normal for 3rd party.
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Last edited by 123456789blaaa : 10-29-2012 at 09:27 PM.
But how many times are you going to use those prestige classes in-game? For the same amount of money you could have gotten a book that's full of great content and is much more likely to be allowed.
I don't know about you, but if I didn't get the book banned with my Cleric Hammer build, I would use Metaphysical Spellshaper all the time!
Well, the base classes all suck, (No pun intended) but the PrC's in there are well balanced and decently written. The Feats are about as useful as Heroes of Horror's, and the sample adventures are pretty epic.
Oh, and the spells are good.
Actually, my group has had some positive experiences using the BoEF. Analyze Ancestry is actually a really useful spell in a feudal society when people start trying to mess with the succession. Throw in Voice of the Prophet, and do the big reveal in open court, makes for a pretty compelling scene actually.
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BoEF has some nice stuff, some interesting stuff, and some not so nice stuff.
It's definitely aimed at a niche market within the PNP RPG market though. Unless your group is reasonably mature and fairly comfortable in their sexuallity, simply bringing it to the table can cause a bit of a row. Definitely way more suited to a group of close, long-term friends than your FLGS group.
I'm not big on 3rd party stuff for the most part, but if you wanna try a more political campaign (and are fond of feudal Japan) the d20 rokugan books are kind of interesting. Monsters of Rokugan can work in any game though, and one of the water-demon thingies lets you do the "Dark Link" fights from legend of zelda in a game.
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Thanks! Into the Green sounds especially interesting so I'll make sure to check that out.
What Green Ronin books, in particular, would you suggest?
Pretty much the ones oriented toward DMs. The Advanced Bestiary I mentioned is probably their best and most applicable. Following that, Book of Fiends is well done in the vein of the Fiendish Codices, but I should probably qualify that by saying that its writers did go for a gross-out factor. Beyond that, it's pretty much just a question of whether you're into the premise of a campaign setting; if you are, GR usually has pretty good production values and adequate coverage of a setting to provide backstory, interesting plothooks and to answer any questions that might arise.
The major weak point in GR's materials is usually their player content. The classes just tend to be dry and somewhat weaker than related WotC material (in the case of casters, that's not a bad thing; when their Paladin-like classes crop up, it can be a problem).
Well, the base classes all suck, (No pun intended) but the PrC's in there are well balanced and decently written. The Feats are about as useful as Heroes of Horror's, and the sample adventures are pretty epic.
Oh, and the spells are good.
It is true base classes all are just a very small spin on something you already have, by I used water down Tantrist, for PG-13 games, as a blood mage. IT has worked out well so far.
Just think of it this way, when your g/f or b/f gets in the mood, bring out your BOEF and say to them with a straight face.
" How about we LARP tonight"
Last edited by silverwolfer : 10-30-2012 at 09:33 AM.
But how many times are you going to use those prestige classes in-game? For the same amount of money you could have gotten a book that's full of great content and is much more likely to be allowed.
Also, I reccomend anything by dreamscarred press (the guys who did untapped potential). The company was partly co-founded by 3 very famous optimizers of the old WOTC boards. This is why the content is much more balanced than is normal for 3rd party.
By any chance do you know who are they?
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It is true base classes all are just a very small spin on something you already have, by I used water down Tantrist, for PG-13 games, as a blood mage. IT has worked out well so far.
Just think of it this way, when your g/f or b/f gets in the mood, bring out your BOEF and say to them with a straight face.
" How about we LARP tonight"
Even personal experiences with doing that aside, that sounds like a terrible idea. The last thing I want to do is being thinking about DnD. Heck, with my ADD I'm more likely get distracted by a optimization idea than getting anything done.
Also, I reccomend anything by dreamscarred press (the guys who did untapped potential). The company was partly co-founded by 3 very famous optimizers of the old WOTC boards. This is why the content is much more balanced than is normal for 3rd party.anything written by WotC.
I rather like Guildcraft for a more urban adventure.
As a lover of urban adventures I have to ask: what is in Guildcraft? From the title, I'd assume rules for running guilds and businesses, which I don't really think I need, but is there anything else good in there?
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A great Spell from BoEF is a 6th level Cleric Spell: Body to Body. Cast upon the party at the begining of the day, Get your Persistent Spells cast on you, and spread them to the party as well. Need to heal that injured party member, cast a heal spell upon yourself, and it will heal everyone.
Tempest Stormwind, Radical Taoist, Bacris and DisposableHero were responsible for Untapped Potential. Later books tend toward less familiar CO names.
Wow. I feel like I've been living under a rock for not having heard of this before now then.
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Knowledge (local) being trained only, and not a class skill for many classes, means that your average human may well not be able to identify other humans! This may explain the exceptional quantity of half-human hybrids.
I'm not big on 3rd party stuff for the most part, but if you wanna try a more political campaign (and are fond of feudal Japan) the d20 rokugan books are kind of interesting. Monsters of Rokugan can work in any game though, and one of the water-demon thingies lets you do the "Dark Link" fights from legend of zelda in a game.
Is the Rokugan stuff the same as the Oriental Adventures sourcebook?
So the current list of good third part books to acquire seems to amount to the following.
- Hyperconscious
- Untapped Potential
- Secrets of Pact Magic
- Tome of Horrors
- Advanced Bestiary
- Into the Green
- Guildcraft
- Book of Fiends
Did I miss anything?
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Best 3.5e Third Party Books?
Wow. I feel like I've been living under a rock for not having heard of this before now then.
