Then, BAM!, like a bolt from the heavens while I was bored and browsing at RPGNow, I stumbled upon Creative Mountain Games SRD 3.5 Revised. Seeing that the price had been slashed down to about $10, I put my credit card to work. A few mouse-clicks later, I had the entire 3.5 d20 SRD on my computer.
I say the following without an ounce of hyperbole: With CMG's SRD 3.5 Revised on my laptop, my life is now as good as it can possibly get.
So, what is it that I purchased for about $10 that has transformed my already pretty wonderful life into a state of perfect bliss? Well, read on, O gentle seeker.
CMG's SRD 3.5 Revised includes 17 PDFs, all fully table-of-contented. Every table of contents includes links to each entry. Want to find grig, sprite? Open up the Monsters PDF, click on S, click on sprite, and, BAM!, there it is. Sixteen of the PDFs present the entire 3.5 SRD in all of its fluff-text-free greatness. You get:
* Monsters: Every OGL monster in the SRD. Of course, all of the monsters are listed alphabetically. This PDF also includes how to read a stat block; complete information about types, subtypes, and special abilities; how to improve monsters; monster feats; and using monsters as races. The only things missing are the psionic monsters from the new psionics handbook.
* Creature Stat Blocks: Yes, that's right: Stat blocks for every single OGL monster in the SRD, including variants and dragons of all types at every age category. That's 500 electronic pages of stat blocks ready to cut-and-paste into your homemade adventures. These stat blocks also include a brief description, and the monster's data for environment, organization, treasure, and advancement. The only things missing are the psionic monsters from the new psionics handbook.
The organization of this PDF takes the cake. Not only are the monsters listed alphabetically, but the table of contents also breaks down the monsters by type and CR. The only way this could be better was if it also listed the monsters by environment. This PDF also includes all of the information about types, subtypes, and special abilities; how to improve monsters; monster feats; and monsters as races.
* Basics, Spells, & Magic Items: Every bit of the SRD from the PHB and DMG is in this PDF. This includes the chart for ability bonuses, how to make magic items, player classes, NPC classes, prestige classes, charts for wilderness encounters, all of the combat rules, and more. How wonderful is that?
* Spell PDFs: There are separate PDFs of the spells for adepts, assassins, blackguards, bards, clerics (and another for domain spells - but unfortunately not the extra domains included in the Divine PDF), druids, paladins, rangers, and sorcerers/wizards. Each of these PDFs' tables of contents allows you to access the spell by level, by level, and alphabetically, all depending on where you point and click.
* Psionics: All of the newly revised psionics rules from the SRD are here. This includes psionic races, psionic classes and prestige classes, the basics of how psionic powers work, psionic skills and feats, all of the psionic powers themselves, psionic monsters, and psionic items. It would be nice if this PDF were broken apart and integrated into the Monsters, Creature Stat Blocks, and Basics PDFs as appropriate, but this is a minor issue at best.
* Divine and Epic: These two PDFs aren't really 3.5, but do layout the SRD material from Deities & Demigods and the Epic Level Handbook. This material is certainly handy to have, especially the extra domains included in the Divine PDF.
Even after considering all of the crunchy goodness of the preceding 16 PDFs, there still remains that seventeenth PDF:
* The Index PDF: This is the piece de resistance. It is a single page with 16 little pictures, one for each of the other PDFs. Want to access the Creature Stat Block PDF? Click on its picture. Done with the Creature Stat Block PDF? Go back to its cover, click on the CMG logo in the top right corner, and, BAM!, you're back in the Index PDF, ready to access any of the other documents, all of which also have the point-and-click-to-return-to-the-Index feature. As my favorite evil Republican would say while tenting his fingers, "Excellent."
This one $10 purchase provided me with an easy-to-use, well-organized SRD, plus relieved me of any desire to go out buy the 3.5 Monster Manual and new psionics rules. So, to sum up, this product rawks! It is truly a gift from the gawds themselves. The only thing I can think of it that would improve it would be for the psionic monsters to be included in the Creature Stat Blocks PDF and for this same PDF to also list monsters by environment.
No, that's not quite accurate. One other thing that would be great is if each PDF included some appropriate theme music as well, but that's probably too much to ask for.
