D&D 3E/3.5 C&C / 3E compatability (spells and items)

[GregoryOatmeal]

I'm sort of a young grognard and I'm trying to get folks to play C&C but I'm having issues convincing people to purchase the books. This isn't so much an issue with the exception of spell casting or buying items.

Like everyone on earth these guys all own the 3.5 PHB. It's not really known for being C&C compatible but I thought maybe the spells and items hadn't changed much. I skimmed three iconic combat spells, fireball, lightning bolt, and magic missle, and noticed all three were essentially identical in both player books (class, level, damage rolls, components, saving throw to a degree, everything). To me this indicates magic in the two games is built on the same foundation as AD&D and spells between all of these games should be compatible. I don't see any reason why a player couldn't use a 3.5 PHB for spells (or even an AD&D spellbook, Pathfinder, 2E class compendiums, etc). Surely their would be some discrepancies between the books but essentially the systems are very very similar and converting them ad-hoc (picking a logical C&C saving throw, for example) wouldn't slow the game down as much as sharing a single PHB. Also it would dramatically increase the amount of spells available to spellcasters. What do you think? Has anyone had experience with this?

I also noticed the weapons were similar, in damage if not cost. This seems like it wouldn't break the game if I allowed players to shop from one or the other. For the sake of consistency it may be better to pick a single book. Since the 3.5 books are so common it would probably be the winner. Which begs the question - would the 3.5 crit system break game balance in C&C?

In the interest of not making things complicated I also lift the deities everyone already knows from the 3.5 book

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

C&C is actually known for being highly compatible with 3E. And no, so long as the DM kept an eye on the official C&C version and was aware of the differences -- even if they decided not to use them -- there's no harm using the spells, etc., from 3E.

That said, Troll Lords is having a big sale right now, with the PHB, Monsters & Treasures and a 1st level module for $20 plus postage. If anyone was open to buying the books at all, now is the time to do it.

 

[kitcik]

C&C is awesome. Steve Chenault is a brilliant DM.

 

[GreyLord]

Much of C&C is almost rote transference of the SRD. With that in mind, it should be no surprise that there is a great deal of similarities between 3.X and C&C.

They are extremely compatible, and in fact I'd say take what you want from both and play how you and your players like best. C&C can easily be seen as a simplified version of 3.X where you don't have to worry so much about skills and feats (replaced with the Siege system), but retaining other areas core to 3.X D&D (rising BAB, AC, etc).

Because of the simplicity it's also easily adaptable to other versions of D&D, but it's very adaptable to any version of 3e/3.5 due to the transference of much of the SRD to the game system.

I'd say, take what you want from C&C and transfer it to your 3.5 game (such as using the Siege idea, but everything else 3.5) OR take what you want from 3.5 and use it in your C&C game (the Saves perhaps, more of the 3.5 spells since there are more of them available, etc.).

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

I tended to think of C&C as having more compatibility with AD&D since the numbers seem similar. While the mechanics are obviously similar 3E games seem to be on a different level in power due to the inclusion of feats. Also classes and races seem a bit more powerful, but I haven't done a real close inspection.

Monsters are substantially more powerful in 3E games. In PF the HP bonus practically doubles the HP of the monster. I figured if the monsters were more powerful the spells would get buffed as well - surprisingly they don't seem to.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

And I do steal liberally for my C&C game. I'm working on incorporating 4E grabs and combat maneuvers since I never really figured them out in 3E

 

[juboke]

Chris Rutkowsky did the conversion of the Mysterious Tower from d20 to C&C. He wrote some notes on how to convert d20, D&D and AD&D to C&C.

I don't know if it will help you or not but here is the link.