3.5 Rules, 1E Feel

[Reynard]

So, after some discussion and negotiation, we (my local group) came to the conclusion that me running 3.5 in an "old school" style was the option (between playing AD&D, tryinga new system, etc..). I grabbed DCC #35 (nice maps! nice adventure! haven't gotten much farther yet) and we hope to be off and running for a monthly marathon game very soon.

So, EN WOrld, I need your help: every tip, trick, tool, house rule and/ore 3rd party supplement that helps run 3.5 not like the cumbersome monstrosity it is, but like the sleek, PC chewing old school model I want it to be.

Plus, you know, warnings and stuff so it's "fair" when the PCs get devoured, entombed and/or dismembered.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Honestly, the simplest thing you can do?

(1) Drop XP awards to one-quarter the by-the-book rate.
(2) Drop treasure awarded to one-quarter the by-the-book rate.
(3) Pretend the game goes no higher than 12th level.

 

[EricNoah]

I would say part of it has to do with races, classes, prestige classes, and multiclassing:

1) Encourage players to run the four core classes with possible branching out to paladin and ranger. No 3.5 bards, no barbarians, no sorcerers, and with a couple of exceptions I think the druid would have a pretty boring time in Castle Whiterock.
2) No prestige classes.
3) Encourage old school multiclassing combos (fighter/wizard, rogue/wizard, etc.) if multiclassing is desired.
4) Encourage old school race/class matchups (elf fighter/wizard, dwarf fighter, halfling rogue, gnome illusionist, etc.).

I think spell selection goes a long way toward that feel as well. Consider removing some spells that you think change the atmosphere of the game - I personally would consider removing the stat-boosting spells.

And maybe one more area would be magic items - nothing says 1E like a flametongue, vs. 3E's unholy ghost touch flaming shocking burst kukri or whathaveyou.

 

[Dr Simon]

Don't sweat too much about what does and doesn't provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

Don't worry too much about bonus stacking. Possibly limit the number of buff spells usable in one go.

 

[delericho]

I think an awful lot of 1e feel is going to come down to the attitude of the players. That said, there are a number of things you can do.

1) Go "Core Rules Only", at least mostly. If you can get your hands on a good Cavalier or Assassin class, those might be worth adding. But restricting magic items and spells like this cuts out a huge amount of complexity, and also cuts out most of the 3e additions.

2) Ban the purchase of magic items. PCs can make items, or they can find items, but they can't buy items.

3) The suggestion to reduce treasure and XP is a good one.

4) Strongly discourage multiclassing, especially outside of the 'classic' combinations. And ban prestige classes. (That said, if you want the classic elf fighter/mage, the Eldritch Knight or the Duskblade is almost a necessity - without one of these, that archetype is painfully suboptimal.)

5) Select and use only old-school monsters. No half-dragons!

6) Put the miniatures away, and de-emphasise attacks of opportunity. Don't try to keep an exact picture of who is where exactly.

7) Once you get to 'name' level, start focussing the game more on castle construction, kingdom management, and land acquisition, and less on pure dungeon crawls. Or, end the game at that point, since 3e slows down a lot at higher levels.

 

[ExploderWizard]

One important adjustment for old school feel is to use side based rather than individual turn based initiative. One of the reasons casters in 3E seemed overpowered was that there was very little chance of thier spells getting disrupted unless they cast in melee. The greater uncertainty of spell use during combat helped balance out the powerful effects of the spells.

Requiring any spellcasting to be declared prior to initiative will help keep the casters from dominating play at higher levels.

 

[scruffygrognard]

Not trying to be a wise guy BUT I'd say go with Castles & Crusades. It is based on 3.X but has stripped out a lot of the sticking points that make that game a beast to run or play (especially at high levels).

If that's not an option, then I'd:
1] Go with core books only (PHB, MM and DMG)... though I'd use the Tome of Horrors for extra monsters.
2] Go with classic race/class combos (no dwarven wizards or halfling barbarians).
3] Use fighter, clerics, wizards, rogues, druids, rangers, paladins, barbarians and illusionists (specialty wizard).
4] Limit PrCs to those that emulate classic multiclassing options (eldritch knight for fighter/magic-users, arcane trickster for magic-user/thieves, mystic theurge for magic-user/cleric, fochlucan lyrist for old-school bards). You don't need to emulate fighter/clerics because clerics are easily tweaked BUT, if you need to run a cleric/fighter use the warpriest.
5] Cut the use of stat-boosting items... limiting them to gauntlets of ogre power and girdles of giant strength (fighter-types can use the boost).
6] Cut back the availability of magic items for purchase. Magic stores ruin the wonder of getting magic items.

 

[pawsplay]

6) Put the miniatures away, and de-emphasise attacks of opportunity. Don't try to keep an exact picture of who is where exactly.

I'm not sure how this is "old school." I owned some of the official minis line, and Basic D&D had rules for drawing free attacks by moving.

 

[delericho]

I'm not sure how this is "old school." I owned some of the official minis line, and Basic D&D had rules for drawing free attacks by moving.

It may be my personal experiences showing here, but I've found that the game plays very differently with miniatures than it does without, and that the tactical mini-game aspect of it when minis are used doesn't resemble the games I used to run very much at all (where the games where we didn't use minis did to a much greater extent).

Also, the Basic D&D rule giving a bonus attack when an enemy disengages in combat is, indeed, essentially an AoO in function, but it is vastly less pervasive than AoOs in D&D 3.5e.

YMMV of course.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I agree with a few things already said: limit classes, races, class+race combos, slow XP right down (I'd go with an increasing ratio for the amounts of XP between levels), no magic shops, reduce or discard entirely the standardisation of magic item acquisition, severely limit multiclassing and PrCs (or just get rid of PrCs; either way), use Tome of Horrors.

There are some base classes around that might be appropriate (for example, Assassin- and Cavalier-types). This could help a bit.

Also, I'd look at streamlining skills (or getting rid of them altogether; matter of taste there). This process might, for me, include reducing the number of skills (e.g., Stealth, Perception, Athletics, Acrobatics, etc.) but that's pretty much not essential to streamlining them *in play*, I guess. For the guts of that, here are a couple of options. Particularly the latter could work to reduce the fiddliness of the d20 skill system. Some ideas to start with and maybe work out from, anyhow.

Oh, and for the love of Pelor (or whomever you might favour) - roll stats! I know, you know that. Still.

I'll have to think about this one some more, and get back to it, post additional stuff when it comes to me.