D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Edition Reprints

Consonant Dude · Jun 25, 2012

ChainSawHobbit said:
Why not just buy Pathfinder? Its better written, streamlined, better organized, and (likely) cheaper.

In what universe can Pathfinder be considered to be a streamlining of 3.5?

What's streamlined about it?

I'm genuinely curious.

Warunsun · Jun 25, 2012

ChainSawHobbit said:
Why not just buy Pathfinder? Its better written, streamlined, better organized, and (likely) cheaper.

Well as to whether it is better written that is an opinion matter. However, it is not streamlined or cheaper. Pathfinder just using the "rulebooks line" is far more involved and complicated than D&D v3.5 ever was. It may have started as "house rules edition" or whatever they called it. But now it is totally a third edition version of Skills & Powers were you can trade out every racial feature and every class feature. It simply is not v3.5. So someone playing v3.5 who came to the game late would definitely prefer a v3.5 PHB over the not-compatible Pathfinder core rulebook. I have nothing against Pathfinder but I find the argument that it is "v3.5" ridiculous. It is not. It is a totally separate and advanced fork of v3.5.

Lwaxy · Jun 25, 2012

Could we please stay on the topic of the reprints, please?

Zil · Jun 25, 2012

CasvalRemDeikun said:
The Core Rulebook+Game Master Guide+Bestiary are 50+40+40=$130. The 3.5E reprints will top out at $120 for the total, could be as low as $90.

To be fair, the Game Mastery Guide should not really be included in the comparison list because the Core Pathfinder book is the equivalent to 3.5 PHB and DMG. You don't need the GMG to run a game, just the core plus bestiary.

Zil · Jun 25, 2012

soulcatcher78 said:
I'd have to add another vote for reprinting Planescape...lots of fond memories and the prices (especially the boxed sets after the initial one) show that there's a demand.

Hey, I loved the Planescape line as well. I managed to collect the full line other than the licensed miniatures and blood wars card game.

I would love to see a number of the other 2e settings materials printed again.

The 3.5 rule book reprint is interesting, but I still have my complete set of 3.5 rule books, so I won't be jumping on that.

ShinHakkaider · Jun 25, 2012

Warunsun said:
Well as to whether it is better written that is an opinion matter. However, it is not streamlined or cheaper. Pathfinder just using the "rulebooks line" is far more involved and complicated than D&D v3.5 ever was. It may have started as "house rules edition" or whatever they called it. But now it is totally a third edition version of Skills & Powers were you can trade out every racial feature and every class feature. It simply is not v3.5. So someone playing v3.5 who came to the game late would definitely prefer a v3.5 PHB over the not-compatible Pathfinder core rulebook. I have nothing against Pathfinder but I find the argument that it is "v3.5" ridiculous. It is not. It is a totally separate and advanced fork of v3.5.

If you chose to play with all of the options in 3.5 it would be just as if not more complicated as well *glances at bookshelf @ Tome of Battle and Tome of Magic for starters*. I think we're complicating things for the sake of supporting our argument.

I played both 3.5 and Pathfinder when nothing but the core rulebooks for both systems were available and they play similarly. As you add more and more options to both systems they get more and more complex. So saying that Pathfinder is worse when at this point in the 3.5 lifecycle there were waaaaay more splat books out is a bit of revisionist history there my friend.

Overall, 3.5 core books (Player's handbook, DM's guide & Monster Manual) to Pathfinder Core Books (Core Rulebook & Bestiary, the GameMaster's guide is NOT needed to run Pathfinder in the way that the 3.5 DM's guide is. The 3.5 DM's guide contains the CR/XP/Treasure info while that information is contained in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.) you're looking at roughly the same level of complexity.

Warunsun · Jun 25, 2012

mudbunny said:
Wow. WotC just can't win sometimes. They stop publishing 3.5 and move to 4E, and people start screaming at them to sell the older material. They start selling older material, and you have people complaining that it is just a money grab.
There is a reason why we don't get nice things sometimes.

While I agree that generally the message board audience on any message board seems negative it is because the folks that are happy tend to not post.

When I discovered the listing for the v3.5 reprints months ago on the Barnes and Noble website and reported it here on ENWorld some folks called me a hacker or a scammer. I am happy that WotC has finally admitted to it. I wish they would have went public back then. It actually makes me less excited over the First Edition Premium reprints. It is one thing to spend money on something I don't really need for nostalgia when it is only a few bucks. But I have no intention of buying a bunch of reprints for every edition.

I do think it is great for the folks that are trying to get their hands on new copies for the first time. In that way the errata is actually a bad thing since their gaming groups with have books with contrary text in them. They said they weren't including errata in the First Edition books and I figured it was for the same reasons. Anyone actually using them would want to have the same rules text as someone else in their group.

Warunsun · Jun 25, 2012

ShinHakkaider said:
you're looking at roughly the same level of complexity.

I disagree. The Book of Nine Swords was designed as variant optional in entirety. The newer Pathfinder books are designed to be mixed freely with the core rules. It is far more complex. tinker-able, and interchangeable. The Book of Nine Swords was far more self-contained.

I am not saying it is bad, by the way. If folks like it that level of complexity they should be able to have it. All I did say was that it is more complex than v3.5 and that is a fact.

Mark CMG · Jun 25, 2012

am181d said:
Now if they could only sell me some well indexed PDFs!

This might get most people some way toward that goal -

SRD 3.5 Revised (Full) Bundle

CasvalRemDeikun said:
I hate when people piggyback off the backs of the hard work of others, make minimal changes to that work, and that package it up as a new product.

Please, for the love of god, don't click that link.

CasvalRemDeikun · Jun 25, 2012

Zil said:
To be fair, the Game Mastery Guide should not really be included in the comparison list because the Core Pathfinder book is the equivalent to 3.5 PHB and DMG. You don't need the GMG to run a game, just the core plus bestiary.

So $90 versus $90-120. Yeah, I will still rather have the 3.5E Reprints. I still would rather player and DM material was separate.

Plus, I can dig out my box of Dragonlance 3.5 books!