The Best & Worst of 3rd Edition: Ultimate 3E: Unearthed Arcana, Eberron, Pathfinder

TerraDave · Feb 19, 2008

A new year begins and 3E comes to its end. To commemorate the end of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, a series of polls have been held to find the best (and worst products) of 3E.

We are finally at the final poll. As this is a internet fan poll, I continue to use my option to tweak how we do this. This includes public voting—for reasons some of you may guess—and allowing the two best, plus one more, to advance.

Three products did extremely well on the last poll and earlier polls. This poll will determine which really is the ultimate product of 3E: Eberron, Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords, or Unearthed Arcana.

Remember, this poll is all in fun. As this is a public poll, we do have the option for a “hand count” if needed, but again, this is all in fun.

Also, be sure to check out all the products that have already won.

Kristian Serrano · Feb 19, 2008

I still have issues with Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords being considered a singular product. That's no different than listing "Eberron supplements and adventures" as a singular product. Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords is a series of individual adventure modules (individuals products) tied together in a campaign arc rather than a single product in itself.

TerraDave · Feb 19, 2008

Its a good point. Though not one emphasized weeks ago when I could have done something about it. On the other hand, I didn't really have a big problem with people voting on the first five as a set. They are all part of a well defined ongoing series and designed to be used together.

More importantly, I think if I had put: Pathfinder 1, the results would have been similar. And as far as Eberron goes, I am sure it is getting many of its votes thanks in part to all its supporting products.

But remember, its just an internet poll. To determine the ultimate product of 3E.

GlassJaw · Feb 19, 2008

amaril said:
I still have issues with Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords being considered a singular product. That's no different than listing "Eberron supplements and adventures" as a singular product. Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords is a series of individual adventure modules (individuals products) tied together in a campaign arc rather than a single product in itself.

I'm kind of in the same boat, but moreso with the individual modules themselves. For example, I thought 1-3 were excellent but 4-6 extremely lacking. I can't really vote for the entire series because as a whole, I only half liked it.

Hamburger Mary · Feb 19, 2008

It's been interesting following the process. I see TerraDave's point that Eberron is likely getting support from its following books, and if Ptolus was still on the list, I might vote for that as the "Single most impressive *individual* product". However, looking to these individual books, Eberron is the one I've used and enjoyed the most. I've occasionally used bits and pieces of UA, but there's a lot of things in it I really don't care for. And while that may be the point - I can pick and choose - I just haven't used it that much. And for that matter, that's something I like about Eberron itself - I can pick and choose what I want in the world, how I want to answer key questions, and so on. It gives me a foundation to work with, but my version of Eberron can be different from my friend's without one of us being "wrong."

blargney the second · Feb 19, 2008

The foundation of most of my games is Eberron + different parts of Unearthed Arcana. One of them is even a port of Savage Tide into Eberron, so a combination of all three of those finalist books isn't a far cry from what we play...

RichGreen · Feb 19, 2008

Hi,

I voted for Pathfinder this time round now that Ptolus has been knocked out. However, I agree it's a bit odd that something that's basically six books (one of which isn't out yet here in the UK) is eligible but hey ho!

Cheers

Richard

Pinotage · Feb 19, 2008

Hmm. I've played the first adventure of Pathfinder, and quite frankly it wasn't that exciting. And, by the looks of things, the adventures don't hang together as nicely. So I wasn't overly fond of it. It's good but not excellent.

So it's between Eberron and UA. Both have good utility and can continue to be used as long as you wish to game 3.5e. In the old end I voted for UA. I've used it more and like it more. It probably won't win, but I liked it.

Pinotage

Wombat · Feb 19, 2008

At this point I go "None Of The Above"...

WizarDru · Feb 19, 2008

Pinotage said:
Hmm. I've played the first adventure of Pathfinder, and quite frankly it wasn't that exciting. And, by the looks of things, the adventures don't hang together as nicely. So I wasn't overly fond of it. It's good but not excellent.

Which is funny, because I was thinking that exact opposite. We had just ended the Shackled City game half-way through, because it didn't hang together well at all, while Rise of the Runelords hangs together extremely well. I particularly liked the unusual take on goblins in the first module which dropped hooks for later modules IN the first module and explained the overall arc from the beginning (and how to pre-sage future modules and enemies). The second module's take on classic horror tropes are excellent, as are the disturbing villains of the Hook Mountain Massacre, and so on. My players have loved every minute of 'Runelords'.

UA had some fantastic ideas, but none of them ever really found their way into our games. Some of them were simply too 'out there' for what we wanted. Eberron was a grand setting with some great crunch and would be a very close second for me, but somehow it never quite gelled with our group.