I’m new at D&D and I know I need the Core Set, but what are some other books that I may need. Granted I know that there are about 30 books for 3.5 but I can’t afford them all so which ones do I need the most. Here’s a list:
Player’s Handbook
Dungeon Master’s Guide
Monster Manual
Dragon Magic
Tome of Battle
Complete Mage
Expanded Psionics
Unearthed Arcana
Draconomicon
Heroes of Horror
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Champion
Epic Level Handbook
Complete Arcane
Heroes of Battle
Tome of Magic
Hordes of the Abyss
Tyrants of the Nine Hells
Spell Compendium
Magic Item Compendium
Planar Handbook
Deities and Demigods
Book of Vile Darkness
Magic of Incarnum
Fiend Folio
Book of Exalted Deeds
So which of these do I need the most?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You have gotten really good answers so far. Truthfully I don’t know if my answer will shed any more light on this than they have. I am running a home game now This is what I use.
1. Players Handbook
2. Dungeon Master’s Guide
3. Monster Manual
As far as interesting campaign worlds there are
1. Forgotten Realms
2. Eberron
3. Greyhawk (the basic campaign setting of the core rulebooks)
After that it’s your imagination.
The DMG has some interesting ideas on how to create the campaign world from scratch.
What I do for my players is tell them I allow everything, as long as THEY have the book to back it up. Not a print-out of the page. that way they cant skip important information.
What I have done is used several ideas from books TV movies and my own imagination to fill out the world. It grows organically along with the PC’s. I may have an idea about a certain thing, but then I get a better one from the PC’s actions and I chage it. After they have discovered something though it stays the same. Once it gets set it stays set.
I hop this helps.
If you want a prepackaged campaign try this site.
http://www.advanceddungeonsanddragonsadventures.com/index.html
As far as 4.0 goes… I have played it at some conventions recently and I find that it has been dumbed down to cater to the casual player.
It’s like playing basketball the same way all of your life and then they change the rules to where you don’t have to bounce the ball anymore so less atheletic people can compete with you. I personally will stay with 3.5
I was one of the people who didn’t play 2e either. I stuck with the original AD&D until 3e
Just my opinion.
You may want to forget about 3.5 and plan for 4.0 instead as it is coming out in June. For sure you need the major core sets, technically you don’t need any of them.
But it depends what kind of campaign you are running:
If you running a campaign based in the desert: get Sandstorm
or based in the ocean: get Stormwrack
If you are running one with alot of dwarves: Races of Stone
Fiend Folio uses 3.0 rules not 3.5 . You have a lot of research to do, but if you are just starting anyway, you might as well wait until June to start with 4.0. Also, if you are playing with a group of people (running someones campaign), ask them for suggestions on which books they have and needed.
I am also sure that all the books can be downloaded as well for cheaper, or illegally for free… This helps if you are interested in using monsters and printing it out, but having the physical book may help too
At this point go for 4.0 since that is where the game is heading for better or worse. Wizards is also putting out a number of adventures to get started and after checking out the pre-releases they aren’t that bad.
The only book you really need for planing a campaign is the Monster Manual (and maybe the PHB and DMG for npc development)
But basically all you need is your imagination. Its the story that drives the world around players not the "crunch" (a term for rules). If your story keeps their attention then it really doesnt matter what the challenges are that they over come.
Just starting out though you might want to stick to the core 3 books, to make it simpler for you. With trying to design a campaign you need to make sure you can handle the load before you start putting more in and then have to back track once you get "over your head"
My campaign world uses probably 300 books, many web based items, and experiance taken from over 20 years of gaming. But i didnt deside to make it taht detailed over night. its taken that 20+ years of gaming knowledge to work in all of these facets. Most of them though will never see light as my players will more than likely never care that the queen of Denieer’s half sister is in truth a dopleganger with connections to the cult of Mammon, but has had a change of heart and is trying to be a good sister to Queen Eloria of the Flower Court to make up for past evil.
But its there is they ever discover it lol
So keep it simple and start your campaign off with core and maybe the core 2.0 (with the "Races of", "Complete" and "Compendium" books added to flesh out the campaign
1. Starting out, you only need three books: Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. Players will expect you to know the game system inside and out, and I always offer the advice, if possible, to be a player first and then try to plan and run campaigns.
2. There is also a Dungeon Master’s Guide II, and if you are new to designing campaigns, that will be of immense use as it jumps into more than just technical rules and discusses game design.
3. Most books in the list offer alternative player classes and tweaks to the rules (like the "Complete" series and "Unearthed Arcana"). Good stuff, but starting out, you won’t need them. Others, like "Fiend Folio" and "Hordes of the Abyss" offer very specific additions to outer-planar campaigns. Again, starting out, you won’t need them as the Monster Manual and DMG have more than enough encounters, creatures, and settings to keep your players occupied.
4. As mentioned by others, 4th edition is here and Wizards will no longer publish new material for 3rd edition. However, the books you seek should be more affordable, and the onset of 4th edition does not diminish your ability to use your imagination and create your own adventures!
Core books are a must (phb, dmg, mm)
don’t worry about other stuff that is designed to enhance the players such as "the complete mage," ect… make your players buy these if they want them.
There are books designed to help you with campaign design, whether you want these or not depends on how imaginative you are. I don’t use them very often.