thanks for all the help finding a place to buy this stuff at, and I apologize for cross posting. Now, I found where I can buy the game, just, I'm not sure what to buy! Any help here would be nice. I would probaly buy the "Defending the Faith: A Guide to Clerics and Paladins" since I would probaly be a Paladin.
What else do I need? I see the wizards of the coast site has maps and stuff, too.

Uh, first you'll need a DM; you can't play PnP with only a PC.
That "Defending the Faith" book is something you really don't need; all the things you need to run a game are:

Player's handbook
Dungeon Master's guide
Monster Manual (and MM2 if you like)
4 sets of dice (4 of all 6)
and a premade campaign or adventure, in this case a module would fit best

*Note that the DMguide and MM are for the DM alone, they are not intended for the PC to look at.

All those extra books, those that go into detail about a specific class are for a better playing experience. If you're just starting to play PnP, I would say you should stick to the basics, then when you've experimented a little, that's when you should move onto these class-related books.

Player's Handbook (PHB) is the essential tome. Read it and go from there. Get the character class specific handbooks (Defenders of the Faith, Tome and Blood, Song and Silence, etc) as you like. Remember, 3E D&D is the system used in Icewind Dale II.

If you like Baldur's Gate better, you're talking 2nd Ed D&D. If you're looking for those books, PM me, as I *may* still have a spare PHB. Though you can't have the one with Jeff Easley's sig. in it. ;)

Personally, as much as I truly enjoy computer RPGs, they just can't match a truly inventive DM along with a group of players you like hanging with. So my advice is to find a GOOD DM and play under him or her. If you truly want to learn in this fashion then just purchase the Players Handbook and leave the rest alone. The best memories I have come from being a novice player when you didn't know all the attributes of monters, etc. Once you memorize the Monster Manual a lot of the freshness and awe is lost, IMO. Have fun!

another thing you might want is a hexagonal/square mat which you can lay your PC peices down on top of so that maps can be drawn out and situations handeled more easily. Thats what me and my friends did after a while, when we started though we just drew a map on an 8 1/2 by 11'' sheet of paper. Pesonally I liked that method better than the huge map but when you're dealing with a large group its better to sometimes just go with the map. Little hard to depict flight on it though, unless its a top-down simple map of course [img]tongue.gif[/img] then you just hold the characters up with strings, just kidding [img]tongue.gif[/img]

anyway, Another thing you'll need is sheets to put your characters on, cant go without those [img]tongue.gif[/img]

If you want one that's easy to print out that I made click here It's a version catered to Artists in particular, and in order to expand your inventory, spells, or feats, simply staple a peice of line paper to the back of it :D you can open it up in Paint and color it and switch around things as you like too...
here is a custom version of the character sheet I did for a freind.

and here's a REALLY REALLY old character sheet I did a few years back catered for second ediditon but usable in Third, just put Feats where nonweapon proofs are said to go and ignore the whole THACO thing [img]tongue.gif[/img]
front back

of course other, and probably unnoriginal, character sheets can be found at the official Wizards of the coast website.

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http://img3.ranchoweb.com/images/dea...inokorosha.jpg

So, someone not playing the game has to be the dungeon master? cause I dunno how many people I can find that will actually want to play. Especially someone to just be the dungeon master.

Also, there is no THACO in 3rd edition?

[ 01-17-2003, 10:49 PM: Message edited by: The Cavalier ]

Everyone's forgetting the obvious..........

Paper and pencil. ;) :D

WotC doesn't provide free character sheets anymore. They do, however, have the basic format in the back of the PH, p. 287-88.

dont forget refreshments [img]smile.gif[/img]

Cavalier, playing the DM is often the most fun. You shouldn't have a problem finding someone who would want to assume that position. I'm sure people have fought over the privledge of designing and running the campaign. I mean, you're essentially the center of attention as the storyteller.

btw, you can download free Adobe Acrobat (PDF) versions of the 3rd edition player's handbook, dungeon master's guide etc. using programs like kazaa lite. It's just a handy way for everyone to refer to rules when not actually playing with the hardcover books. PM me if you need more info on that...

[ 01-18-2003, 01:03 AM: Message edited by: Heartless Butterscotch ]