D&D 3.x Running 3e D&D for the first time in a while, any advice?

Lord Zack

Lord Zack

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Yeah, so I am planning a 3.5 game set in the Forgotten Realms. The thing is I haven't played 3.5 in like, forever. Even back in the day I never played 3.5 as much as I have played Pathfinder. So is there anything I should do/not do? Anything I should look out for? I should note I I am using Trailblazer from Bad Axe Games. Oh, and I am planning to run a modified version of Expedition to Undermountain.
 
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My #1 recommendation is to start at level 1 and work your way up. It may feel like a bit of a slog, and some PC's may die. But it's absolutely the best way to get into the system. Starting at higher level and higher complications could be a very steep hill to climb.

Other than that, check out this thread for ideas of what people have trouble with: Still playing 3e? Share your 3.0 and/or 3.5 house rules
 

I love the Trailblazer phantom attack bonuses for rogues and monks. I added them as house rules in my 3e and pathfinder 1e games.

My advice, don’t sweat the exact calculations on monsters and NPCs in your prep, close enough is a great time saver on the DM end. Also reskinning is allowed. You want appropriate challenges for their level, don’t sweat exact skill point allocations if you don’t want to.
 

Limit your players to pulling from no more than 2 books for their abilities. Not so much for the player’s sake, but for the DMs.The more sources the DM has to track or prep for, the less is spent on handling the adventure and actin at hand.

Completely personal opinion: 3E is a severe headache past 8th level. You can tell a pretty complete story in that level range, for me the system breaks down too much beyond that to be enjoyable for a DM.
 

Keep an eye on wealth by level. Folks will say the game works fine never giving any magic items, but I have found that to be completely untrue.
 

Lord Zack said:
Yeah, so I am planning a 3.5 game set in the Forgotten Realms. The thing is I haven't played 3.5 in like, forever. Even back in the day I never played 3.5 as much as I have played Pathfinder. So is there anything I should do/not do? Anything I should look out for? I should note I I am using Trailblazer from Bad Axe Games. Oh, and I am planning to run a modified version of Expedition to Undermountain.
Click to expand...
Pathfinder fixes issues with 3.5 like grappling and skills while adding far more race, class, feat, trait and spell options. Why would you go backwards and play 3.5?

elmo-sesame-street.gif
 

I recall it being a pain to make monsters, mostly monsters with class levels. I would more or less just wing creation if I was going to play 3x games. I would not plan out spells or most of the class abilities and just add a couple things and encounter spells. I could add later if the monsters lives and it was needed. I'm also guessing there are lots of sites online that have tools you can use.
 

If I'd ever go back I'd use e6 or e8, essentially cap at that level and PCs gain Feats every other level or so, and with greater level spells requiring either one of the below or combination thereof:
  • multiple casters;
  • be rituals (i.e. 10 minutes or longer); or
  • granted as rewards in the form of spell scrolls by powerful entities. These spell scrolls can be scribed but are impossible to memorise.
 

I was completely happy using monsters from any 3e based d20 system in the same game, so 3.0, 3.5, d20 modern, and all the pathfinder 1e SRDs give a huge free monster palette, not to mention monster books from stuff like EverQuest d20.

I found the Trailblazer idea of using 4e style minions and elites and solos worked really well in my 3e games in practice, providing more fun challenging combats.

Modules from any d20 system should be easy to convert on the fly as well providing lots of options.
 

Theory of Games said:
Pathfinder fixes issues with 3.5 like grappling and skills while adding far more race, class, feat, trait and spell options. Why would you go backwards and play 3.5?

elmo-sesame-street.gif
Click to expand...
Well, the answer to that is Trailblazer, which also offers solutions to many of these problems. Also, this campaign is set in a particular time period and has certain themes that make 3rd edition particularly appropriate. The PCs will actually have a chance to prevent the Spellplague (not that I am a 4e hater, though it is not my favorite edition. Indeed I plan to have a prelude set in a potential future that uses 4e before switching over to 3e for the main campaign.
 
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