d20 publications seriously affected by 3.5

[johnsemlak]

I was wondering which d20 works would be most affected by the 3.5 revision, and which, if any, would be difficult to use.

I assume Ranger, Bard, and Sorceror classbooks are the most affected. Is there anything else?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I was wondering which d20 works would be most affected by the 3.5 revision, and which, if any, would be difficult to use.

I assume Ranger, Bard, and Sorceror classbooks are the most affected. Is there anything else?

Sorcerer? Sorcerer hasn't changed, except for being able to swap spells. Druids and monks have changed a lot more, but the essence of them is similar enough that Druid/monk splatbooks still pretty much apply. Heck, bard splatbooks pretty much still apply, too -- while the bard has changed, he isn't that different mechanically (flipping through Quintessential Bard, for example, I can make most of it work with 3.5 with little to no effort).

Ranger splatbooks. Gnome splatbooks -- the ones that refer to illusionists (poor Badaxe!). I'd say that's it for significant changes.

Minor changes: Skill names. Spells. PrCs. Adventures -- need to tweak monsters with DR, and some NPC statblocks (though if you didn't, who'd know?) although adventures with minimal statblocks have an advantage here when they just say "see MM/CRIII".

Since so many d20 products put out new mechanics, much of it probably isn't directly impacted in a major way (at least, looking at my d20 collection). Some things should be looked at slightly different for game balance -- spells in particular. Anything with prestige classes will need a little rework of pre-requisites, but that's pretty easy to do (some class abilities become redundant, though). But by and large, I think minor tweaks that could be done on the fly are all that is required for for most d20 products out there.

I'm sure others will disagree about what "minor" and "major" changes entail. It all depends on how anal you are about compliance.

Edit: Overall as a class of product, adventures are most affected (stat blocks, changed monsters, monsters who change CR), but then that's also where you can have the most inaccuracy. If you have a 3.0 monster in amongst 3.5, or a 3.0 ranger NPC instead of a 3.5, or an NPC with 2 ranks in Intuit Direction, will it affect game play? As an anal-retentive DM, I'd like all my stat blocks to be perfect, but if they're not it's not like most players would notice, much less care.

 

[Will]

I suspect supplements that feature new spells will be hit somewhat hard.

I mean, if designers attempted (however successfully) to hit the balance present in the core books with spells, obviously that target has moved a bit.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

On the other hand, some innovative soul could take all the spells that were changed from 3.0, re-package the originals by adjusting the spell level to balance with the new versions, and put out a new spell product!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Re: Re: d20 publications seriously affected by 3.5

Gnome splatbooks -- the ones that refer to illusionists (poor Badaxe!).

Hey, don't worry about us... Nothing wrong with having the only 3.5 compatible Gnome splatbook on the market.

Err, soon to be on the market.


Wulf

 

[Treebore]

Yes, the spelldecks I bought are effected rather heavily, but i bought them knowing it was coming, so I can't complain.

The biggest headache i see, spellwise, is if you are a DM where you like to see a certain sense of logic from spell to spell. So this may bring about a lot of rewriting of 3rd party spells and such, just to bring them in line with the new spell balance philosophy of 3.5.

I, personally, am not concerned because i am primarily staying 3.0. The only 3.5 material I know I will use at this time is the rewritten classes. Other than that, I can take or leave all the other changes i have read about. For approximately $90.00, i will leave them. 3.0 works just fine for me. Maybe I'll bite when 4.0 comes along in 2 or 3 years. Especially if my 3.0 books are actually worn out by then. Until then the SRD will tell me anything I need to know.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

The biggest books impacted are the premade NPC books like 1000 Faces.

Next would likely be the monster books with the DR changes and monster types.

Also modules using monsters whose CR has changed.

 

[Kershek]

A lot of my Dragonscale counters are now wrong. I'm not happy about that.

 

[Chun-tzu]

Book of Eldritch Might II, if you're using the alt.sorcerer. The class itself isn't a problem, but it uses a separate spell list from the standard wizard or sorcerer. Spells like Shield, Invisibility, Fly, and Haste are bumped up a level, because they were powerful spells for their level. Well, now that those spells have been nerfed, should they remain higher level? And how do other changes to the spell list affect the alt.sorcerer's spell list? Perhaps in the near future Monte might offer 3.5 conversion notes.

The alt.rangers in various d20 books (Mercenaries, Book of Hallowed Might, Three Arrows for the King, Path of the Sword) are also a fair bit less attractive than the upgraded 3.5 Ranger. They weren't necessarily more powerful than the core Ranger, just different in focus. It would be nice to see 3.5 upgrades to some of these guys. Sure, some DMs will be glad to do it themselves, but others aren't so flexible.

 

[Ranger REG]

The alt.rangers in various d20 books (Mercenaries, Book of Hallowed Might, Three Arrows for the King, Path of the Sword) are also a fair bit less attractive than the upgraded 3.5 Ranger. They weren't necessarily more powerful than the core Ranger, just different in focus. It would be nice to see 3.5 upgrades to some of these guys. Sure, some DMs will be glad to do it themselves, but others aren't so flexible.

* chuckles *

Hehehe. Sorry. I'm not yet impressed with 3.5e ranger class.

As for the after-effect of 3.5e, I'm sure that most if not all d20 publishers of traditional fantasy RPG are well aware of the changes before the public knew about them and are preparing for the transition. Some have embraced them while others are working around them. I would not be surprised if they offer their own conversion guide for their own game or setting.

And even if they don't like it, they can always do their own alt.classes that is more suited to the flavor of their game officially.