In an announcement that was surely designed to calm nervous gamers, Wizards of the Coast made it clear today that next month's release of D&D 3.5 will not invalidate the WotC rulebooks. Or at least, in cases where things get changed, a free backward-compatibility guide will be available to straighten things out. The freely-downloadable guide will address the necessary revisions for the Fiend Folio, Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods, Monster Manual II and the Epic Level Handbook. The compatibility guide will become available at the same time the core rulebooks hit the streets. Click "Read more" for the full announcement, if you like.

Wizards of the Coast press release follows: