D&D 3E/3.5 Countdown to Fourth Edition

Ralif Redhammer · Jul 11, 2019

I was puttering around the old 3e D&D archives when I came across this:

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20010401a

It’s an April Fools joke from 2001. What I find amusing is that it overshot 4e’s arrival time by about three years. What I find interesting is that they joke about a “revolutionary d30 system,” but 4e, when it arrived, was indeed a dramatic departure from the past.

In any case, if you have the time and inclination, there’s all sorts of interesting stuff (and a trip down memory lane) to be found in the archive.wizards site.

Zardnaar · Jul 12, 2019

4E was functionally out if print by 2011. Still combine that with the start of the 4E phb about the next decade it seems the assumption is 10 years for a D&D edition.

Spitting out 3 editions in 7 or 8 years doesn't work as they did 3 editions of Star Wars as well.

aco175 · Jul 12, 2019

Is it too soon to speculate on 7e, I mean 6e. I choose GenCon 2023

generic · Jul 12, 2019

I can't wait for 10e, when there will only be Gnomes, Paladins, and Rapiers, nothing else.

MockingBird · Jul 12, 2019

I remember reading an article about 5e or Next rather. In the article it said (or at least how I interpreted it) that you could potentially make a character from any edition and be able to play at a 5e table. It made sense to me at the time cause they had just rereleased 1e, 2e, and 3e core books. I always thought that was an interesting concept. I was perplexed however how it could actually work in practice.

Charlaquin · Jul 12, 2019

Aebir-Toril said:
I can't wait for 10e, when there will only be Gnomes, Paladins, and Rapiers, nothing else.

You forgot pets.

Zardnaar · Jul 12, 2019

MockingBird said:
I remember reading an article about 5e or Next rather. In the article it said (or at least how I interpreted it) that you could potentially make a character from any edition and be able to play at a 5e table. It made sense to me at the time cause they had just rereleased 1e, 2e, and 3e core books. I always thought that was an interesting concept. I was perplexed however how it could actually work in practice.

I think people took it to literally.

A AD&D Druid is a land Druid, the Battlemaster is a 4E concept, a thief is your AD&D one etc.

Charlaquin · Jul 12, 2019

Zardnaar said:
the Battlemaster is a 4E concept

No.

Zardnaar · Jul 12, 2019

Charlaquin said:
No.

It might not be what hardcore 4E players want but concept wise it's not really any other edition. It's only 1/3rd warlord.

Garthanos · Jul 12, 2019

Zardnaar said:
It might not be what hardcore 4E players want but concept wise it's not really any other edition. It's only 1/3rd warlord.

If might be seen to derive from the Book of Nine Swords classes (Swordsage etc) the maneuver sharing was more complete in that ... the most magical ones maneuvers were directly swappable with other maneuvers.