D&D General Back-Learning to 3.5e

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Oee suggestion I might offer is to ditch the "full round attack action" for players and just let people move and make all their attacks. It only incentivized going through splats to get pounce to ensure player's fighter/monk/whatever can actually move and do stuff, vs the casters who by default could move and do stuff.

There's a lot I hated about 3E, but the static slugfests were the most un-fun.

 

[Staffan]

There is actually a huge Binder redo and expansion called Pact Magic from Radiance House with 3.5 and Pathfinder versions. Fun stuff.

Nice! I'd love to have seen one for 5e or PF2, but it's nice to see such a flavorful concept getting some third-party love at least.

 

[Ancalagon]

Oee suggestion I might offer is to ditch the "full round attack action" for players and just let people move and make all their attacks. It only incentivized going through splats to get pounce to ensure player's fighter/monk/whatever can actually move and do stuff, vs the casters who by default could move and do stuff.

There's a lot I hated about 3E, but the static slugfests were the most un-fun.

It has ... very strange impacts on melee combatants.

In my second PF1e game, I play a Magus who is murderous in melee... if he gets all his attacks. In such a case he can do well over 100 dmg per round. (If you must know, 1d6+9+1d6+1+3+1d6+11, or 3d6+24 4 times in a round, lots of debuffing too).

So a lot of combats became this strange maneuvering game where getting my PC next to an important foe was one of the key objectives, and how successful the combat was reliant on how well this happened. Because if my PC had to move more than 5 feet - one attack only, sad trumpet sounds.

 

[Voadam]

Nice! I'd love to have seen one for 5e or PF2, but it's nice to see such a flavorful concept getting some third-party love at least.

Check out Mage Hand Press's 5e Complete Binder. I don't own it, but it seems to be an OGL attempt at a 5e binder.

"The binder is a band new class which lets you redefine your playstyle each day by attuning to the spirits of dead gods and heroes. These spirits from the past, called vestiges, afford their own features and traits, and each has a backstory all their own, drawn from the margins of world mythology. Their revisionist stories shine a light on tragic tales from across time, and ground the binder's personalities in genuine myth. The Complete Binder further expands the class's options with a plethora of variant rules, brand new subclasses, and even more vestiges to experiment with. If you want to play a character that can truly slide into any role, the binder is the class for you!"

I am not aware of a PF2 version.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

It has ... very strange impacts on melee combatants.

In my second PF1e game, I play a Magus who is murderous in melee... if he gets all his attacks. In such a case he can do well over 100 dmg per round. (If you must know, 1d6+9+1d6+1+3+1d6+11, or 3d6+24 4 times in a round, lots of debuffing too).

So a lot of combats became this strange maneuvering game where getting my PC next to an important foe was one of the key objectives, and how successful the combat was reliant on how well this happened. Because if my PC had to move more than 5 feet - one attack only, sad trumpet sounds.

Or you just be a caster/archer and win. It's an undue hurdle for melee combatants, and it sucks. It ruins the schtick of a class, the monk, who is mobile with lots of attacks, with some lame anti-synergy.

 

[Voadam]

Or even just any of your favorite customizable things from 3.5e that I might be able to homebrew and update for 5e?

In 3.5 a monster or NPC can have a full PC type class.

In 5e as DM if there is a PC option that catches your eye, feel free to use it with a monster. A protector fighting style for a bodyguard NPC. A full polearm master feat for a hobgoblin pikeman. Alternatively do out a full PC and use them as an NPC instead of the abbreviated stat blocks if you wish. This gives a lot more potential range of challenges for each class type than one monster stat block.

In 3.5 monster templates allowed a great variety of themes to be added to a monster or NPC. You could turn an NPC into a vampire which would add on vampire themed powers and adjustments. You could add multiple templates and have a fiendish two-headed dire boar.

In 5e take the 3e template general idea of a theme and add it to a monster. Turn a Giant Ape into an Elemental Giant Ape and use the Giant Ape stats as a base while adding on some fire elemental characteristics such as their Fire Form, Illumination, and Water Susceptibility, and change the ape's damage type to fire.

 

[Ancalagon]

Or you just be a caster/archer and win. It's an undue hurdle for melee combatants, and it sucks. It ruins the schtick of a class, the monk, who is mobile with lots of attacks, with some lame anti-synergy.

It definitely is a problem. Archers already have a pretty solid advantage tactically speaking, so as you say, it really it rough for melee combatants.

 

[haakon1]

I would also suggest trying out some of the computer games based on 3.5 to get the feel. In addition to the two Pathfinder games there are two older games Neverwinter Knights (not the MMO) (actually 3.0) and Neverwinter Knights 2.

Also Temple of Elemental Evil. Umm, I probably said that before.

 

[Steel_Wind]

And if Pathfinder is a possibility for you (since it's like D&D 3.8), here are the changes it made to 3.5.

PF1, that is. PF2 is very different -- much more like 5e, but with far more character options. PF2's action economy is a true innovation though.