D&D General Why was 3.5 needed?

[BigZebra]

I absolutely love D&D history and "archeology". I played AD&D 2nd back in school, and then after a long hiatus in 2018 I returned to the hobby with 5e. I have since bought some 3.5 and 4e stuff so I could see what I have missed (and absolutely fell in love with 4e in the process).
There is one thing though I don't really understand: the need for 3.5. What was it in 3.0 that necessitated a new version with a new PHB and DMG so early in 3.0's life cycle? I have googled a bit but didn't really get a definitive anser. Perhaps there are some players from back then on this board that can enlighten me?

 

[TerraDave]

To sell core books and pre-painted plastic miniatures.

 

[Stormonu]

It wasn't "needed". In fact the designers started laying the foundation for 3.5 as soon as they had finished 3.0 (Monte Cook has stated this in old interviews). It was back in the day that D&D survived on churning out content on a monthly basis, and they knew at some point they would want to release a "revision" that would stimulate sales and renew interest in product. They therefore used 3.5 to push out errata and tweaks in a format that would encourage players to purchase new core books. It occurred sooner than the original designers expected, but was pushed out the door regardless. It actually had a large cooling effect, a lot of 3rd party publishers got burned holding 3.0 content suddenly people no longer wanted, and a fair number of players turned away who did not want to make the switch.

Near the tail end of 3.5's lifespan, there was actually a stealth 3.75 around 2007, with the release of the 2nd wave of Complete Books (Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel, Complete Champion & Tome of... books), PHB/DMG2, MM4 and the uptake of the Delve Format in adventures.

 

[BigZebra]

Yeah if I squint my eyes just like that, and look at my Tome of Magic and Tome of Battle and PHB2 I can kind of see a new game; a 3.75. I think I would have loved to see WotC rum with that. But again I really like 4e so

 

[Stormonu]

Yeah if I squint my eyes just like that, and look at my Tome of Magic and Tome of Battle and PHB2 I can kind of see a new game; a 3.75. I think I would have loved to see WotC rum with that. But again I really like 4e so

At the time they came out, I remember thinking that it was a precursor of what was coming for the next edition. I've always thought those books were 4E rules bent backwards into the 3.5 system. You could also see the way the winds were shifting with the release of Star Wars SAGA, which obviously used an early pre-iteration of 4th. By the time the Rules Compendium dropped, everyone knew 4E was coming soon.

 

[humble minion]

I absolutely love D&D history and "archeology". I played AD&D 2nd back in school, and then after a long hiatus in 2018 I returned to the hobby with 5e. I have since bought some 3.5 and 4e stuff so I could see what I have missed (and absolutely fell in love with 4e in the process).
There is one thing though I don't really understand: the need for 3.5. What was it in 3.0 that necessitated a new version with a new PHB and DMG so early in 3.0's life cycle? I have googled a bit but didn't really get a definitive anser. Perhaps there are some players from back then on this board that can enlighten me?

Mostly it was a balancing exercise. Rangers got all their good stuff at level 1and were weak after, they got a bit of a boost. Haste was changed so it wouldn’t allow you to cast two spells in a round. But mostly it was about discouraging (or making more difficult) the buff-layering playstyle. In an edition where there was no limit on concentrating on multiple spells, a cleric or Druid in particular could easily stack themselves with 6 or 7 buff spells that’s turn them into a juggernaut, and then stomp around like that for multiple encounters, because many of these spells had a duration of 10 mins per level or even an hour per level. 3.5 hacked that right down to rounds or minutes per level, which made it less of a no-brainer hyper efficient use of resources.

 

[Zardnaar]

It was pretty much a cash grab and lead in to selling randomized minis.

 

[Stormonu]

It was pretty much a cash grab and lead in to selling randomized minis.

The randomized minis were already available in 3.0, as seen in the existance of the Miniature's Handbook.

 

[Zardnaar]

The randomized minis were already available in 3.0, as seen in the existance of the Miniature's Handbook.

Minis was a separate game and that book may be 3.5. I owned it and the minis game.

More emphasis on minis from 3.0 anyway.

I like 3.5 better but wouldn't rush out to play either one.

 

[Stormonu]

Yikes! Had to look back - 3.5 PHB was released in July 2003, Miniatures Handbook came out in October 2003 - so you are correct it's 3.5. I bought the plastic minis left, right and center for my D&D games to replace my metal minis, but never played the Minis game.

I was an early adopter of 3.0, but it was about 6 months to a year before I switched to 3.5. D&D was my life back then, and I had invested a lot of money into 3.0. I disliked the idea of buying the new core books, even though I was buying the other 3.5 books as they came out. I sort of gave up and switch core books when the conversion guide was ~40 pages.