Does 3E/3.5 dictate a certain style of play?

[molonel]

That is Monte Hall DMing which can occur in any edition, we are talking about if 3.xE DnD lends itself to or evn encourages Knight/warlock/fighter/invisible blade/dervish/ninja/shadowdancer PCs because i sure didn't see any walking around in ADnD.

No, that's POWERGAMING using every available resource at your disposal, including gear but also Weapon Specialization and Double Weapon Specialization from Unearthed Arcana, and Drow (which were introduced for the first time as a PC race in that book) and classes like the Cavalier and the Barbarian and the Ninja from Oriental Adventures. That's leafing through the Deities and Demigods book like it's a Neiman Marcus catalog deciding who you're going to kill, first.

It was powergaming then, and it's powergaming now.

 

[Shadeydm]

Those options for the most part were not there. So, it's a moot point.

But 3.x doesn't lend itself to that type of gaming. I've never seen anything like that and I play quite a biut. Now, there are players that will play that kind of character. But in claiming the game lends itself to that character it must cause people who wouldn't play that way to play that way: and it does not.

How often in your experience in 3.xE DnD do your players resist the siren's call of cherry picking and actually play a single class with no Prc 1 to 20 by choice?

 

[Crothian]

How strange that in all those years of DMing there was never a single grey elf cavalier yet in 3.xE I would be hard pressed to cite an example of a single instance where someone intended to go single class from level 1 to 20. Why no level 1 to 20 single class characters perhaps it's because the 3.xE rules encourage and reward cherry picking classes/ abilities crazy stuff.

That's is because of prestige classes, options that were not in the erarly game. If they were the same problem would happen. Also, multi classing is much easier now.

And if you want to cite someone who went from 1-20 in one class cite me. I've done it with a Ranger and with a Bard.

 

[Crothian]

How often in your experience in 3.xE DnD do your players resist the siren's call of cherry picking and actually play a single class with no Prc 1 to 20 by choice?

I limit this to the campiagns that went to 20th level.

First campaign of 3.0 we had three players. 1 took wizard to 20th level, the other two did base class 10/prestige class 10. No cherry picking

Second campaign: 4 players. 2 did 10/10, one did a 5/5/10, the other did a 15/5

Third campaign 3 players. One went 10/10, the other two did 20 levels one class.

Those were me as DM. As a Player I've taken Bard nad Ranger 1-20.

I've had players that multi class , but I have never had a player cherry pick.

 

[Shadeydm]

And if you want to cite someone who went from 1-20 in one class cite me. I've done it with a Ranger and with a Bard.

You have no idea how happy I am to read this but I am afraid you might be more the exception than the rule in 3.xE.

Hey I am not saying I hate 3.xE I play it and enjoy it for what it is but I would be lying if i said I got even a 10th of the enjoyment from Dming it that I did with ADnD.

 

[ruleslawyer]

That's a bit of a faulty argument; D&D isn't a fantasy literature simulator, it is a fantasy trope simulator.


I'm quite sure I could find some fantasy characters that even the current incarnation couldn't simulate without DM fiat, fudging and all that.

But the fact remains that 3e can simulate a wider range of archetypes without DM fiat than 1e can. That's a net benefit.

 

[Shadeydm]

I limit this to the campiagns that went to 20th level.

First campaign of 3.0 we had three players. 1 took wizard to 20th level, the other two did base class 10/prestige class 10. No cherry picking

Second campaign: 4 players. 2 did 10/10, one did a 5/5/10, the other did a 15/5

Third campaign 3 players. One went 10/10, the other two did 20 levels one class.

Those were me as DM. As a Player I've taken Bard nad Ranger 1-20.

I've had players that multi class , but I have never had a player cherry pick.

That's 3 out of 10 that went 1 to 20 single class no Prc.

 

[Crothian]

You have no idea how happy I am to read this but I am afraid you might be more the exception than the rule in 3.xE.

Hey I am not saying I hate 3.xE I play it and enjoy it for what it is but I would be lying if i said I got even a 10th of the enjoyment from Dming it that I did with ADnD.

I know it is a rare thing, though I do imagine among the people that use core rules only it is more common.

For me the enjoyment doesn't come from the game but from the group. I love the group of players I have now and if we played oD&D or 3.5D&D we would still have an enjoyiable time. Heck, I think we'd have fun with practically any game (I don't think they could handle Nobolis though).

 

[billd91]

That is Monte Hall DMing which can occur in any edition, we are talking about if 3.xE DnD lends itself to or evn encourages Knight/warlock/fighter/invisible blade/dervish/ninja/shadowdancer PCs because i sure didn't see any walking around in ADnD.

Perhaps not, but you saw plenty of fighter/thief/bard-druid thingies running around. And those PCs rocketed up the bard XP chart like nothing else... and got tons of hit points to boot because those were a whole lot more hit dice, meaning the Con modifier applied again.

1e bards: the original prestige class

 

[Psion]

How strange that in all those years of DMing there was never a single grey elf cavalier yet in 3.xE I would be hard pressed to cite an example of a single instance where someone intended to go single class from level 1 to 20. Why no level 1 to 20 single class characters perhaps it's because the 3.xE rules encourage and reward cherry picking classes/ abilities crazy stuff.

For reference, I find single class characters to be the norm for 3e. Only a minority of players seem to be willing to consider multi-class characters.

Much to my chagrin. I'm sure this mentality is behind the to-me-incomprehensible love of the execrable duskblade class among some players.