I'm new to d20. I recently acquired a bunch of D&D books and I'm sure they are all either 3.0 or 3.5, but it doesn't say in the book which version it is. How can I tell which version the book is?
For instance, I have "Complete Warrior - A Player's Guide to Combat for All Classes". It's hard back, published in '03. Is it 3.0 or 3.5?
Another example, I have "Sword and Fist - A Guidebook to Fighters and Monks". Perfect Bound, published in '01. Is it 3.0 or 3.5?
Note that thefemmedm's answer indicates a spot in the book where you can look this up directly.
D&D3.5 was first published in July, 2003. Anything published by Wizards of the Coast after that date will almost certainly be for 3.5. Anything published before that date will certainly be for 3.0.
Except... Some books published close to the release of 3.5 (Book of Vile Darkness, Savage Species, a couple FR books) were published in a weird "3.25" state, using only some of the rules from the upcoming 3.5 (which had not yet been finalized).
Another source of information is vendors like Amazon.com. The edition will often be in the product description, as it is here: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Warrior-Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying/dp/0786928808
Or, for your specific examples:
Sword and Fist: 3.0 (too old to be 3.5).
Complete Warrior: 3.5 (according to Amazon.com).
Based on my memory, Complete Warrior is essentially the 3.5 equivalent to Sword and Fist.
For a quick answer turn to page 2 in the book, usually a brown-orange colour with all the designers' names, etc.
Look near the bottom of the page where it says "Based on the original Dungeons and Dragons rules [...], and Peter Atkinson."
Under this, if it is a 3.5 book, it will say:
This product uses updated material from the v.3.5 revision.
If it's a 3.0 book, it will continue:
This Wizards of the Coast game product [...]
Use this handy list of...
The following presented in year/month order for easier sorting. Products released in the same month are presented alphabetically. Parenthetical references are official abbreviations gleaned Wizards of the Coast's indices; some products lack abbreviations. Even abbreviations are italicized lest, for example, Champions of Ruin be confused with Challenge Rating, for instance. Wizards of the Coast makes available official errata. Starting with The Speaker in Dreams, Wizards of the Coast made available for many products online-only Web enhancements.
Dragon #275-308, Dragon Annual #5 and #6, and Dungeon #81-99 present Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition content. Dragon #298 and Dungeon #94 see Paizo publishing the magazines under license from Wizards of the Coast. Paizo published no Dragon Annuals.
1 Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods, Epic Level Handbook, Monster Manual II, and Fiend Folio are updated to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 via the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Accessory Update Booklet.
2 The article "Rules Reference: Feats, Prestige Classes, and Spells" lists titular items from the Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition class guidebooks that were updated to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. Its most recent revision is Jan. 2005.
3 Monsters of Faerûn is updated to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 via the Player's Guide to Faerûn Web enhancement "Player's Guide to Faerûn: Monster Update."
4 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Magic of Faerûn receive major updates and Lords of Darkness, Faiths and Pantheons, Silver Marches, City of the Spider Queen, Races of Faerûn, and Unapproachable East receive minor updates to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 via the Player's Guide to Faerûn (5).
5 Oriental Adventures is updated to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 via the Dragon #318 article "Oriental Adventures Update: Eastern Flavor" (32-48).
6 Ghostwalk is updated to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 via the Ghostwalk Web enhancement "Ghostwalk, Part 2: Ghostwalk 3.5 Update."
Wizards of the Coast explains the purpose of Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 in the Revision Spotlight column "Compiled D&D Revision Spotlight."
Dragon #309 and Dungeon #100 present Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 content. Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150 are the last Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 issues and the last published by Paizo after Wizards of the Coast doesn't renew Paizo's magazine licenses (see Wizards of the Coast's announcement and Paizo's announcement). Although officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast, Dragon Compendium Volume 1 (Oct. 2005) is published by Paizo; Paizo makes available for it errata.
1 Dragonlance Campaign Setting is published by Wizards of the Coast; subsequent products in the line are officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast but not published by Wizards of the Coast.
2 Animated Series Handbook's 2007 printed publication year contradicts the release date of BCI's Dungeons and Dragons: The Complete Animated Series which included the Animated Series Handbook. Mill Creek Entertainment's August 2009 Dungeons and Dragons: The Complete Animated Series doesn't include the Animated Series Handbook.
ENWorld's Wiki article "Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition Collector's Guide" was essential for making this list.
Officially licensed products—products bearing some combination of the Dungeons and Dragons logo and the Wizards of the Coast officially licensed product seal or including on their title pages that the product is officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast—include the following:
Some Web sites were given official permission to create new material for defunct settings. Sites support the settings Birthright, Dark Sun, Mystara, Planescape, and Spelljammer.
In addition to all the other answers, which are quite accurate, you can also tell from looking at classes or characters. If they have skills like Intuit Direction, Innuendo, Animal Handling, Wilderness Lore, or a single Perform skill, it's a 3.0 book. If it instead has Slight of Hand, Survival, and Perform (type) skills, it's a 3.5 book.
For third party material, which often doesn't specify clearly which version of the SRD it's based on, this can be a more useful way.
There are several databases out there which will tell you such things (besides Googling in general or checking Amazon).
RPG.net has a searchable index of most any RPG product ever. Search it for "Complete Warrior" and it says "Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (2003 Hardcover)" in the search results even.
RPG Geek (a variant site off BoardGameGeek) also has a huge searchable index. Searching that for "Complete Warrior" gets a search result that says "Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 Edition) - d20 System" concisely in its search results.
Between these two, no RPG product question ever needs to go unanswered.
There is a handy online database of roleplaying games called RPG Geek that you can search.
If you put "Sword and Fist" into the search box, it gives you this result. Notice that it lists the game and the edition in a hierarchy above the title of the book in the search result (as well as on the book's page if you click through). Sword and Fist happens to be for "3rd Edition". Similarly, the search result for Complete Warrior lists it under "3.5 Edition".
This will work for any D&D book you have. If there were two versions of a book, one for 3 and one for 3.5, then you should be able to tell which one you have by comparing it to the book covers in the database.
It's 3.0. 3.5 has been released in 2003, so it's likely that anything you have is 3.0. In any case, the differences between 3.0 and 3.5 are minimal. Yes, there are some, but porting anything 3.0 to 3.5 is generally a minor issue.
