My Top 10 Favourite 3.5 D&D Books

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[@BanjoSick]

3E was so beautiful, much better illustrations and page making than nowadays. How is that even possible?

[@AAron-gr3jk]

This is my jam. 3.5. Such good books. Fond memories

[@wolftooth6678]

I suggest checking out Pathfinder

[@AAron-gr3jk]

@@wolftooth6678 I bought the core book when it came out. Didn't really follow up after that... too many books?

[@threefivearchive]

Incarnum was fantastic. I always meant to do a campaign that used Psionics, Incarnum, and maybe Tome of Battle for an alternative "weird fantasy" setting. My personal favorite will always be Elder Evils but that's pretty niche and most groups won't get any use out of it. You have a good list.

[@r4z0rv1n3]

So Fiendish Codex 2, Expanded Psionics, Players Handbook 2, and Lords of Madness are definitely part of my top 10 3.5 books. Others I was a big fan of were Tome of Magic, Planar Handbook, Elder Evils, and Heroes of Horror

[@justinwalters4957]

Deities and Demigods. I loved how it set out ideas for how to create your own divine pantheons, but also gave you clear cut mechanics for how to stat the gods. I am such a fan as a DM of integrating the divine into my campaigns that for me this book was absolutely essential, and is still something I refer to from time to time in my ongoing 5e campaigns.

[@richysmith7457]

Loved Draconomicon and Lords of Madness. I also think there is a lot of good stuff in Unearthed Arcana and Tome of Magic 😊

[@nicholashindman1379]

9:34 "Read the fine print." that has stuck with me too man.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

That's one of the best intro to a D&D book I have ever read.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Expanded Psionics Handbook is my fav player facing book in all of 3.5. Theres so much in that book. Item Compendium might edge it out on sheer usefulness

[@natehewett4009]

My top 5 3.5 books are (I'm going to write this from a player perspective on this post): Magic Item Compendium (magic items are so integral to the game, and this provided so many new items that were well priced and accessible to characters of virtually any level - everyone, no matter what kind of character they're playing, can find something in this book that their character would be able to take advantage of. Spell Compendium (i personally gravitate towards spellcasters in general, and there are so many good spells here - it was a wonderful addition and vastly reduced the number of books I'd actually need to carry around) Tome of Battle (If I'm not playing a spellcaster, I'm going to gravitate here because this is basically a handbook for 'how to make martial characters fun and useful at high levels) Magic of Incarnum (love this subsystem. It's an interesting take and yet there really isn't anything in it that's broken or ridiculously overpowered. It's also very good at being nice for nearly any character as a splash - a level or two dip or even just a feat - and 2/3 of the classes are quite playable by themselves as well. We...we don't talk about Soulborn) Complete Mage (again, i gravitate towards spellcasters, especially arcane ones - This one has MANY wonderful prestige classes that are good without being bonkers, notably Unseen Seer, Ultimate Magus, and Abjurant Champion, plus the ACFs and the heritage/reserve feats are quite useful) Honorable mention to Player's Handbook 2, because it added new classes, new options for existing classes, and interesting new attempts at feats for high level characters (though most of those missed the mark)

[@DravenSwiftbow]

That's a great list.

[@GeminiLupus]

Magic Item Compendium was a particular favorite of my group, even after we converted to Pathfinder 1e. The Belt of Healing was a game changer, though I can see it as a precursor to the Healing Surge mechanic of 4e, I think it works very well as a magic item. Oh, and the item sets are a concept I have implemented in numerous campaigns.

[@brettjansen8053]

I agree with most of these. I would have Magic Item Compendium, Stormwrack (and other environment books), and Rules Compendium on my list. Magic of incarnum was so different we didn't use it. Interesting ideas though.

[@midnightgreen8319]

For me it's absolutely Lords of Madness, Hordes of the Abyss, Frostburn, and Stormwrack. And ALL the 3.5 Ravenloft material!

[@williamcase426]

Ah a man of culture I see

[@ObatongoSensei]

It's weird how most of the books in your top list do not even come close to be in mine instead. And for exactly the same reason why they are in your list! The monster manual 4, for example, is amongst my least favorite of all times precisely because it was filled with "readied variants" of creatures that advanced by class. I had no use for that. I created my own variants whenever I needed one and usually using criteria a lot different than those used by the developers of that book. Same goes for maps. I loved Monster Manual 2 and Fiend Folio instead, with the conversion booklet of course, because they were packed full with new unique creatures and many conversions of my old favorites from 2nd edition. No useless variants, only new creatures to use and modify on my own. A similar reason kept me from appreciating the ecology, the environmental and most of the races books. I didn't need them to tell me how elves or dragons work in their campaigns, I alone decide how they work in mine. The only parts of those books I had some use for were the new creatures, new feats, new spells and new equipment, maybe some racial option. That said, I only have a top five for my 3.5 books: on top is Player's Handbook 2, followed by Revised Psionics Handbook, Rules Compendium, Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium. I also have a trash list, with Tome of Battle and Tome of Magic at rock bottom, followed by Races of the Dragon, Dragon Magic and Weapons of Legacy. I had absolutely no use for those garbage books. They simply do not fit in my game worlds or game style. All the other generic, non-setting books were used for "spare parts". They were either not good enough or not bad enough to get into either of those lists, but I could always salvage something from them to be used in an adventure or a campaign. In particular, I got feats from every possible source, as well as spells and magic items not appearing in the respective compendiums. New races and monsters were also appreciated, as well as some new classes, such as healer, marshal, swashbuckler, warlock and warmage. Some variant rules too, but only those that made sense.

[@kedraroth]

Great top 10, 3.5 had so much great books, even the Forgotten Realms ones are great for me

[@_AutoCoder]

Amen

[@Kaiyanwang82]

Great list, albeit I prefer older monster manuals like the Fiend Folio. Dracoomicon for me is the #1

[@phoboskittym8500]

I find most of the 3.5 books useful as a DM, Expanded Psionics is one of my faves.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

That's a great book

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

I had a red dragon with iron golems that it constantly centered its fire breath and flame spells on. Nasty AoEs that healed its minions while harming the intruders. The party almost wiped on that fight.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

That sounds absolutely brutal....I may have to borrow that.

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

@DravenSwiftbow it was part of my dragon slayer campaign. I'll be happy to share all the different dragon tactics I used. They almost had to fight an Adamantine dragon because of the fact it didn't like the party had killed multiple dragons, even if they were all evil chromatic dragons, the party was deemed a threat to all of dragonkind by that Adamantine dragon.

[@MrBrad9]

Yes Lords of Madness is still one of my all time faves. I have been trying to get the spell compendium, but have been unsuccessful.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Not mentioned but good: Rules Compendium, Item Compendium [editted]

[@houstonroberts8569]

Spell compendium - 18:09 bruh

[@AAron-gr3jk]

@@houstonroberts8569 sorry I meant Item Compendium

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

One of my favorites is the complete scoundrel. I like a lot of the complete books

[@patricksullivan6988]

I would have loved for the whole quartet: Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, Complete Warrior, Complete Adventurer to get a shout-out even if they couldn't each have a place on the list. I think they were a really solid set of books. (And yes, Complete Arcane was the coolest of them.)

[@natehewett4009]

There were actually more than that! Complete Adventurer, Arcane, Champion, Divine, Mage, Psionic, Scoundrel, and Warrior.

[@patricksullivan6988]

@natehewett4009 I consider Mage, Champion, and Scoundrel to be a second set. And Psionic, despite the similar naming convention, seems sui generis.

[@natehewett4009]

@@patricksullivan6988 That's fair to consider the others a second set, though I don't really agree that Psionic was that much different. It was certainly more hit & and miss, and a surprising number of page space was taken up by 'turn your mind blade into an obscure weapon' - plus the Erudite was one of the more poorly edited classes in existence. I mostly appreciate Complete Psionic for the new powers than much else. But other than that, I absolutely think that the 'second set' was better written than the first set.

[@mrcatchingup]

I lov e many of the subsystems of the game like Psionics, Incarnum, Book of Nine Swords, and Tomb of Magic. Really wish I had more people to play those classes with. I am rather sick and tired of the same classes from the core rulebook.

[@kamakazekid83]

Knowing you as I do, I'm legit stunned the Draconomicon isn't your #1. Also, justice for the true best 3.5 book, the Libris Mortis

[@amherstwarehouse3382]

I hope you get to feeling better soon. Take your time to heal. If you need to stop filming for a little while, we, your fans will understand! We will be here when you're ready. Question: I'm still learning DnD, and chainmail. Am I able to mix and match different DnD editions to write my own campaign? Or, do I have to keep to each edition? I like the character creation from 5E, but the T.P.K from 0DnD. Also a lot of the rules from DnD2, and some from 3. And of course, the "bad guys" across the board. Keep up the great work, and get better soon.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

You can certainly borrow elements from any Edition. As an example in a 3.5 game I was running I incorporated Minions, Elite and Solo enemies from 4th Edition. For greater lethality a rule were characters die at 0 HP could work, which is how the pre-D20 systems did it.

[@michaellui5108]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@sylvaincousineau5073]

Libris Mortis not on the list , i'm shock . 😮Would had the Magic Item Compendium to the honorable mention list , this book was so useful for reducing the number of book you needed to bring to the game . And DMG 2 because of all the cool stuff to go with the PHB 2 . 3.5 had so mush cool books , very hard to pick a simple list of only 10 . :P

[@DravenSwiftbow]

It was very tough. I might do another video with some that didn't make the list.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Tyrants ot9h, Lords of madness, Drow ot underdark are amazing books that have not seen their equal since. (Libris Mortis should have been in this list but sadly it was a miss)

[@Abp.Mars-Assembly]

Monster Manual 2 doesnt have a 3.5 edition. Spell Compendium, Magic Item Compendium, and Tome of Battle were my favorite supplements.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

Monster Manual 2 and Fiend Folio had conversion errata, but never did get reprinted with it incorporated, which was interesting because there was a gift set that had MM 2, 3 and Fiend Folio during the 3.5 era.

[@Pit_Wizard]

3.5 had so many cool alternative power systems. Psionics, Incarnum, Pact Magic (very different from warlocks), and Martial Manuevers / Blade Magic. To me it really speaks to the laziness of the 5e dev team that they've never even tried to do anything that was anywhere near as interesting.

[@amherstwarehouse3382]

No one seems to mention the DnD cookbook... Great food...

[@DravenSwiftbow]

I've heard that, but never did pick it up.

[@amherstwarehouse3382]

@@DravenSwiftbow worth the money. And a nice addition to the collection.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Now Eberron 3.5 books?

[@DravenSwiftbow]

Soon, I'll do that one after my Forgotten Realms list

[@Stone_Orchids]

Races of Stone is way better than Races of the Wild, to me there's no competition whatsoever but elves and halfling are way more popular than dwarves and gnomes so I understand that, I am quite surprised of not seeing the tome of magic even if the classes are not on the strong side it's a great book in the same vein of magic of incarnum, also quite surprised to seeing psionics, they have their niche but nobody likes psionics their magic doesn't sit right with the community

[@Abp.Mars-Assembly]

I think Races of the Wild had the coolest races and weapon variety, but Races of Stone was more popular solely because of the Goliath race.

[@Stone_Orchids]

Personally I liked Races of Stone because of dwarves and gnomes lore, classes and the stuff about exploration and the underground, to me they didn't do a great job in Races of the Wild with halflings and espetially elves and wilderness exploration, when reading the book I expected to see stuff that wasn't there, maybe with 50 more pages they could do it... To me new races really are secondary, I prefer to have a really interesting flashed out races with a lot of unique things they can chose than a lot of races each with just a page of description

[@Abp.Mars-Assembly]

Yeah, thats why 5th edition is so easy for new players. Less pages to read, less material to learn. 3.5 was all about depth and options@@Stone_Orchids

[@Stone_Orchids]

@@Abp.Mars-Assembly not really, you can have both, 5e was made to be a more refined and easy to learn version of 3.5, they did it but lost what made 3.5 so good, part of it was dept and immersion

[@RPGImaginings]

The 3.5 era really bothers me (whether DND or SW D20) because it was essentially just endless repetition of selling people prestige classes. Splatbooks took a nose dive and it was all about mechanics. A person needs to eat, but I'm betting that Robin D. Laws wasn't a fan of the writing expectations. Stats are the least interesting thing of any ttrpg to me, but to each their own!

[@Abp.Mars-Assembly]

That was beauty of it. The vastness of player choices. You had to do your homework!

[@RPGImaginings]

Fun fact: I am a trained Ed Professor who is vehemently against homework. Because it doesn't work. ;)

[@Kaiyanwang82]

Maybe it's endless, but is not repetition at all.

[@RPGImaginings]

The surface look isn't repetition. The endless ways of just recombining stats is boring and repetitive.

[@Kaiyanwang82]

@@RPGImaginings If someone is unable or unwilling to look at why certain things are shaped in a certain way, of course can only see boring repetition. It would be like explaining Braille to someone what only sees little dots on embossed paper, or the color red to someone colorblind. Now there is a lot of "chaff"? Yep. It's endless repetition? Nope.