D&D 3E/3.5 3rd Edition Revisited - Better play with the power of hindsight?

[Thomas Shey]

I think there was distinctly a case for something to support operating procedures the game didn't handle well but that weren't necessarily things to demand a whole class to themselves--something for a rogue who wanted to specialize with knives and not have it just be strictly worse than other options for example--but perhaps the PrCs that did that sort of thing should have had a different term for them ("specialty class" perhaps) to make the distinction.

 

[rgard]

You could use dispel magic or there was a feat that allowed you to use any spell of the same level and school. However, none the lipstick they came up with could make the pig not a pig.

I played 3e/3.5 from the day it came out all the way through late 2019. In all that time I saw counterspell used exactly 0 times. It just wasn't worth it to give up an entire round of spells to maybe counterspell something. Even if you knew the enemy had this spell you wanted to counter, he wasn't guaranteed to use it in the round you were waiting. If he didn't, you lost a round and the next round you had to decide if you were going to lose another round of spells for a maybe, or actually start participating and affecting the battle with your spells.

Did it once with dispel magic. The recurring NPC caster enemy would always teleport out when he got thin on minions. Readied the dispel magic, didn't do anything on my turn. NPC started to cast the spell. I think the DM had me roll to identify the spell (knowledge arcane). It was teleport. Cast the dispel magic and foiled his spell. NPC died the next round.

 

[Yora]

I'm doing some actual campaign prep now, and it's been an interesting experience going through the book catalog deciding which books I want to use as my GM toolbox to create the world for the campaign.
It currently consists of the PHB and MM, Monsters of Faerûn, Manual of the Planes, Frostburn, and Lords of Madness. (While I like the mechanical design of the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the thematic style of the powers is just really meh.)

Aside from the pure Player Character Options books, which 3rd edition books from any publishers did you find to be great or at least interesting GM resources for expanding campaigns beyond the default core material?

 

[rgard]

I'm doing some actual campaign prep now, and it's been an interesting experience going through the book catalog deciding which books I want to use as my GM toolbox to create the world for the campaign.
It currently consists of the PHB and MM, Monsters of Faerûn, Manual of the Planes, Frostburn, and Lords of Madness. (While I like the mechanical design of the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the thematic style of the powers is just really meh.)

Aside from the pure Player Character Options books, which 3rd edition books from any publishers did you find to be great or at least interesting GM resources for expanding campaigns beyond the default core material?

Check out Green Ronin Publishing's 3rd Era Bundle

The Psychic Handbook is part of the bundle. Psionics are done with feats and skill points. I really like it and you can plug it into any D20 type game. I linked the bundle instead of the handbook because there is a metric ton of D20 fun in that bundle. It includes just about all that Green Ronin published for 3.0/3.5.

 

[payn]

I'm doing some actual campaign prep now, and it's been an interesting experience going through the book catalog deciding which books I want to use as my GM toolbox to create the world for the campaign.
It currently consists of the PHB and MM, Monsters of Faerûn, Manual of the Planes, Frostburn, and Lords of Madness. (While I like the mechanical design of the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the thematic style of the powers is just really meh.)

Aside from the pure Player Character Options books, which 3rd edition books from any publishers did you find to be great or at least interesting GM resources for expanding campaigns beyond the default core material?

The 3E DMG II

 

[Yora]

The 3E DMG II

Please tell us more.

 

[Alzrius]

Check out Green Ronin Publishing's 3rd Era Bundle

The Psychic Handbook is part of the bundle. Psionics are done with feats and skill points. I really like it and you can plug it into any D20 type game. I linked the bundle instead of the handbook because there is a metric ton of D20 fun in that bundle. It includes just about all that Green Ronin published for 3.0/3.5.

Seconded. Not only is the bundle a great deal, but the psionics system there really feels like AD&D-style psionics...or at least more so than 3.X's native psionics system did.

 

[payn]

Please tell us more.

Tables for adventure rumors, a full run down of Saltmarsh, NPCs, factions, etc.. Its a great resource for building a campaign sandbox or otherwise.

 

[rgard]

Seconded. Not only is the bundle a great deal, but the psionics system there really feels like AD&D-style psionics...or at least more so than 3.X's native psionics system did.

Yes, it does feel like AD&D psionics. I've used the Psychic's Handbook for D20 Modern/Future type games. I replaced the psionics in T20 (Traveller D20) with it too.

That bundle is great. So much stuff. So many NPCs and the like. Best $30 I've spent in the hobby.

FWIW, there's an OSR class on drivethru that pulled the AD&D psionics system out of the appendix and turned it into a player class: OSR Psychic Class

 

[Voadam]

Check out Green Ronin Publishing's 3rd Era Bundle

The Psychic Handbook is part of the bundle. Psionics are done with feats and skill points. I really like it and you can plug it into any D20 type game. I linked the bundle instead of the handbook because there is a metric ton of D20 fun in that bundle. It includes just about all that Green Ronin published for 3.0/3.5.

I really like Green Ronin's GM oriented stuff, Freeport and the Book of Fiends in particular. Book of Fiends has great demonology flavor with lots of demons, devils, and daemons, and a really nice set of narrative fiend lords, though the stats for statted monsters are mostly designed for lower level games, I believe there is a statted out minor CR 10 demon lord for example where the flavor is he would wreck a country but it is obvious the stats are designed to be a boss monster for a mid level group.

A bunch of their player oriented stuff has fun flavor stuff but I am less a fan of their player mechanic stuff. I have played an unholy warrior and DM'd a witch and much preferred the roleplaying angles over the mechanical implementations.