D&D 3.5 Magic Item Compendium Review

[@marcoschaves94]

Awesome this edition was amazing!!

[@brettjansen8053]

My group loved this book. It had so many interesting concepts. The armor and weapon crystals. The new staff rules. And a lot of cheap items for lower level games. The DMG has a lot of items but many are so expensive they never made it into our games.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Dude I use this book all the time in my 3.5 campaign. I love this book. The crystals for weapons are very useful too.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

They do seem really useful.

[@RevDungeonMaster]

This is one of my favorite books of any edition - I use it to this day in my Pathfinder games. The magic item set rules and relics were an especially interesting take that I’ve adapted into a number of campaigns. Also, a belt of healing is essential for any group that doesn’t have a dedicated healer.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

Did you ever read the Zoogonia comics back in the day? There was one where the characters were walking towards a dungeon when one of them points out that they have no Cleric and the group starts to panic until someone else says "I bought three Potions of Healing", then the last panel was them walking again with smiles on their faces. Your comment reminded me of that, Zoogonia was awesome.

[@shannonyork4625]

Dave, in our 3.5 game the next magic item I find I would like it drawn from this tome!

[@DravenSwiftbow]

Sorry, published campaign. All items are predetermined......well maybe I can sub out something, but only if you're good!

[@ChrisOverby-k9t]

I didn't have the book while it was out. I have a POD of it now. I play a once or twice a month 3.5 game as a DM. We are playing The Savage Tide from Dungeon magazine. Once I started putting some of the items into the game, more of my players are now liking it a lot. Such items I find to be popular are the healing belt, many of the charms, and the tool section. Thanks for the review of a book I like a great deal.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

I'm also running Savage Tide! I started it in 2022 and it was the first 3.5 game I DM'd in nearly a decade. I hope the campaign is going well for you. How far have you made it so far?

[@ChrisOverby-k9t]

@DravenSwiftbow We are in our 4th month of playing Savage Tide. In the second adventure. We meet once to twice a month, 3 players and myself DM. We are also playing the adventure in the Forgotten Realms. So far so good.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

That's awesome. I'm on the 8th chapter. It's been a great campaign so far.

[@TwiddleFingersDB]

Been getting back to bingeing your videos lately. Missed you, guy!

[@DravenSwiftbow]

Welcome back! It really means a lot to me to see comments like this.

[@TwiddleFingersDB]

Keep it up! I don't know anyone on youtube who goes into depth on these books as much as you do!

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

I love the magic item compendium! I use that, the dmg2, weapons of legacy, draconomicom, and the dragon compendium. I often tailor a couple items to be a set to highlight the player's style.

[@ObatongoSensei]

If I had this book when 3.5 was out, I would have used it a lot. Unfortunately, it came out towards the end of the 3.5 cycle, so I had very little chances to use it with it. I had some occasions to use it with Pathfinder 1e, though, which is basically a revised 3.5. Since I mostly eliminated the magic item pricing and market from my games, the only things that mattered to me were item power (minor, medium, major, level, etc.) and the general category. In the latter case, I liked the Magic Item Compendium's categories more, to which I added three more: consumables (potions, scrolls, oils, elixirs, powders, etc.), charged items (wands, staves, and the like), and jewelry (rings, many rods, and any worn precious item). The reason for the three extra categories was that the consumables can be used by anyone (I include scrolls among those, with a failure chance, removing the "spell completion" category), the charged items can be used only by trained spellcasters, and jewelry has an inherent high value of itself even as a common item, unlike other worn items. I also put shields under weapons, not armors. In Pathfinder 1e I had homeruled them to be a more active part of a player's arsenal, so they were not static boards attached to a character's arm anymore. Another reason for having my own personalized random table is that I like to have my players roll for what they find in a treasure, apart from the items I really want them to get. And usually my players really love trying their luck with the tables, which feels a lot like rummaging through the loot to see what's in there. This fits really well with my sandbox style of DMing too. Magic sets were something that many DMs, me included, had imported straight from games such as Diablo II. They made for wonderful unique collectibles, capable of fueling an entire "treasure hunt" campaign. Having them somewhat officialized felt nice.

[@natehewett4009]

I personally think this is one of the best books in 3.5, and it's one of the 'always available' books in any campaign. That's partially because it has items that are useful for ANYONE. Basically regardless of level, regardless of class, regardless of preferences. This book has items that you'll use. And frankly, I think the difference is simple: even as a GM, I'd rarely roll randomly for magic items. Basically ever.

[@natehewett4009]

I'll also point out what I think is the best feature of the Magic Item Compendium - the tables in the back of the book. The ones that have magic items organized by item slot and then sorted by price. I genuinely wish I had those same tables only including all magic items in the game.

[@azzaelulbrinter]

I really hoped that the DMG 2024 had the enchantments and an adaptation of the 3.5e pricing system, as well as a determined price for every item.

[@Hobberhobbit]

Hey man love the 3.5 videos keep it up.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

I will be for sure. I have plenty of books left to cover!

[@blackbarnz]

It was good for erratum. Never used any legacy items. I was disappointed when it was released. I think it had a few new items but I can't recall exactly. The foil cover of the 2012 rerelease is superior to the original cover.