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Ed Stark's thoughts on the Complete Warrior and other 3.5 topics
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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 1252034" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>A few more snippets from searching the Wizards boards:</p><p></p><p><strong>Ed:</strong> (<a href="http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1348207#post1348207" target="_blank">this thread</a>): </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">When we first did the new edition of the game, we picked out 11 archetypical class concepts we wanted to support, and we felt it was important to continue to be clear and concise in what could, and should, make up a base class in D&D. The system was new to us, too, and as you've seen there were definitely things we felt we needed to learn about the system and how it would play in the real world before we tinkered with certain core concepts.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">After a few years and a revision to the core rules, we feel more comfortable with the idea of introducing a wider variety of choices into the game. Part of this is due to our experiences with designing new D&D product, but lots of d20 product (including our own) have tried new things we're eager to test out in D&D. Call of Cthuhlu d20, d20 Modern , Wheel of Time , and a lot of d20 product from other publishers have introduced new class identities. We want to try some things out in D&D.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">We've also learned a lot about prestige class design, too. Some of the restrictions we placed on prestige classes don't seem to be as meaningful anymore and we're testing assumptions. I think that some of the new classes and prestige classes you'll see in books like Complete Warrior and the Miniatures Handbook will be pretty interesting. Some of them might push the envelope too far, but I think the majority of them will be interesting additions to your game. We won't know until we try.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>On Using 3.0E Material with 3.5E:</strong> (<a href="http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1121032#post1121032" target="_blank">this thread</a>)</p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">I just had what I thought would be a helpful idea. If you're going to run a 3.0 adventure (or, heck, use a 3.0 product at all) with the 3.5 rulebooks, what are the "Top 10" (and you don't have to feel restricted either way by the number) things you should take into account?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Also, what are the "Top 10" things you shouldn't worry about if you use 3.0 material in a 3.5 game.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Let me throw a few ideas out there:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"><strong>Top Ten Look Fors</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Monster CRs: Some monsters changed power level when going from 3.0 to 3.5. If you use a 3.0 monster as written up it might not, in many cases, be as tough as its 3.5 version. It certainly won't use the 3.5 DR rules, and some of its spell like or supernatural abilities may be more or less powerful, but if you're running it from 3.0 stats, it's still a D&D monster.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">PC Capabilities: You should be aware that some character classes have more/different class abilities. If your PCs can do things you don't know about, it could surprise you. Familiarize yourself with each PCs' abilities.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Spell Lists: Many spellcasting encounters were built with 3.0 capabilities in mind. If, for example, you see a creature that's supposed to have bull's strength on it all the time, the duration's shorter now. You might want to account for that by giving the creature a magic item or forcing it to cast the spell during combat. Check out the spell lists and see if there are any major differences; since spells are descibed in the PH, you shouldn't have much trouble.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"><strong>Top Ten Don't Worries</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">NPC Capabilities: You've got all the capabilities for the NPC in front of you, in the stat block. If you run a 3.0 monk or bard, your players might not even notice; you probably don't need to convert them unless you feel the character is going to be recurring and will progress along with the party.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">New Spells: Your 3.0 casters won't have many of the new spells. So what? They don't have any of the spells from, oh, Tome and Blood either. Add 'em in as you see fit, or swap 'em out--or don't use them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Magic Items: I wrestled with this one a little bit, but it came down to if an NPC has a magic item that got reworked, chances are good you can use the 3.5 version without missing a beat. The names didn't change in every case I can remember. There might be a few wonky stats (hello, boots of striding and springing ), but when that occurs it'll be "behind the screen" anyway. If you take a quick glance at the 3.5 versions you should be able to make quick calls on whether an upgrade is necessary--and it probably isn't for purposes of an encounter. When your PCs get the item, give them the 3.5 version.</span></p><p></p><p><strong>On Adventure Modules for 3.5:</strong> (<a href="http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1063356#post1063356" target="_blank">this thread</a>)</p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">I strongly recommend Dungeon magazine as a source for D&D adventures. The guys who work at Paizo coordinate with our RPG staff on a regular basis, and many of the adventures written there are written by authors who have done work for Wizards RPG R&D. They really understand D&D and they're comfortable with the rules set.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">As for Wizards publishing adventures, we will occasionally do some but while we really love writing them, the effort that goes into them isn't usually reflected in their sales. A strong super adventure (like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil or City of the Spider Queen is usually much more resource-intensive to produce than a similarly-sized sourcebook or accessory and doesn't usually sell nearly as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Shorter adventures usually only do well when they're linked to something very specific. When we released The Sunless Citadel , it was the first full-length 3.0 adventure and it did extraordinarily well. The later adventures in the series experienced typical series dropoff.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Right now, I have to say that Dungeon is a great value for you and for us. Because of the magazine format, you get (usually) a couple or even several strong D&D adventures for less cost than one adventure from virtually anywhere else. Even those tiny little 16 pagers I've seen around are priced only a little bit under a full-length Dungeon magazine. Add to that the more important consideration--quality--and I think you've got an excellent source of adventure material.</span></p><p></p><p><strong>On the D&D RPG staff:</strong> (<a href="http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1317367#post1317367" target="_blank">this thread</a>):</p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Charles Ryan is the Category Manager for RPGs (and was previously an editor focusing on d20 Modern and Star Wars, but with D&D experience). Charles will be joining our business team, and I'll let him introduce the rest of those folks if he wishes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">On the R&D side, Andy Collins, Bruce Cordell, James Wyatt, David Noonan, Rich Baker, and Jesse Decker (all of whom you may have seen frequenting these boards) are RPG designers (Andy and Rich also do development duty).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Andrew Finch is our Development Manager, while Chris Perkins and I are the Design Managers for d20 products and D&D, respectively. Mike Donais is one of our developers and miniatures-focused people, while Jonathan Tweet is the Design Manager for minis and Rob Heinsoo is the lead designer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">Kim Mohan is our senior Managing Editor, while Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel is also a Managing Editor (late of editing fame). Michele Carter is also a Senior Editor focusing on RPGs. Bill Slavicsek is, of course, our boss, the Director of RPG and Miniatures Design and Development.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'arial'">There are other staff who work on the R&D side of RPGs, plus several other wizards staff members who frequenty the RPG boards. </span></p><p></p><p>Hope you find these quotes interesting! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 1252034, member: 3586"] A few more snippets from searching the Wizards boards: [b]Ed:[/b] ([url=http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1348207#post1348207]this thread[/url]): [font=Arial]When we first did the new edition of the game, we picked out 11 archetypical class concepts we wanted to support, and we felt it was important to continue to be clear and concise in what could, and should, make up a base class in D&D. The system was new to us, too, and as you've seen there were definitely things we felt we needed to learn about the system and how it would play in the real world before we tinkered with certain core concepts. After a few years and a revision to the core rules, we feel more comfortable with the idea of introducing a wider variety of choices into the game. Part of this is due to our experiences with designing new D&D product, but lots of d20 product (including our own) have tried new things we're eager to test out in D&D. Call of Cthuhlu d20, d20 Modern , Wheel of Time , and a lot of d20 product from other publishers have introduced new class identities. We want to try some things out in D&D. We've also learned a lot about prestige class design, too. Some of the restrictions we placed on prestige classes don't seem to be as meaningful anymore and we're testing assumptions. I think that some of the new classes and prestige classes you'll see in books like Complete Warrior and the Miniatures Handbook will be pretty interesting. Some of them might push the envelope too far, but I think the majority of them will be interesting additions to your game. We won't know until we try.[/font] [b]On Using 3.0E Material with 3.5E:[/b] ([url=http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1121032#post1121032]this thread[/url]) [font=arial]I just had what I thought would be a helpful idea. If you're going to run a 3.0 adventure (or, heck, use a 3.0 product at all) with the 3.5 rulebooks, what are the "Top 10" (and you don't have to feel restricted either way by the number) things you should take into account? Also, what are the "Top 10" things you shouldn't worry about if you use 3.0 material in a 3.5 game. Let me throw a few ideas out there: [b]Top Ten Look Fors[/b] Monster CRs: Some monsters changed power level when going from 3.0 to 3.5. If you use a 3.0 monster as written up it might not, in many cases, be as tough as its 3.5 version. It certainly won't use the 3.5 DR rules, and some of its spell like or supernatural abilities may be more or less powerful, but if you're running it from 3.0 stats, it's still a D&D monster. PC Capabilities: You should be aware that some character classes have more/different class abilities. If your PCs can do things you don't know about, it could surprise you. Familiarize yourself with each PCs' abilities. Spell Lists: Many spellcasting encounters were built with 3.0 capabilities in mind. If, for example, you see a creature that's supposed to have bull's strength on it all the time, the duration's shorter now. You might want to account for that by giving the creature a magic item or forcing it to cast the spell during combat. Check out the spell lists and see if there are any major differences; since spells are descibed in the PH, you shouldn't have much trouble. [b]Top Ten Don't Worries[/b] NPC Capabilities: You've got all the capabilities for the NPC in front of you, in the stat block. If you run a 3.0 monk or bard, your players might not even notice; you probably don't need to convert them unless you feel the character is going to be recurring and will progress along with the party. New Spells: Your 3.0 casters won't have many of the new spells. So what? They don't have any of the spells from, oh, Tome and Blood either. Add 'em in as you see fit, or swap 'em out--or don't use them. Magic Items: I wrestled with this one a little bit, but it came down to if an NPC has a magic item that got reworked, chances are good you can use the 3.5 version without missing a beat. The names didn't change in every case I can remember. There might be a few wonky stats (hello, boots of striding and springing ), but when that occurs it'll be "behind the screen" anyway. If you take a quick glance at the 3.5 versions you should be able to make quick calls on whether an upgrade is necessary--and it probably isn't for purposes of an encounter. When your PCs get the item, give them the 3.5 version.[/font] [b]On Adventure Modules for 3.5:[/b] ([url=http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1063356#post1063356]this thread[/url]) [font=arial] I strongly recommend Dungeon magazine as a source for D&D adventures. The guys who work at Paizo coordinate with our RPG staff on a regular basis, and many of the adventures written there are written by authors who have done work for Wizards RPG R&D. They really understand D&D and they're comfortable with the rules set. As for Wizards publishing adventures, we will occasionally do some but while we really love writing them, the effort that goes into them isn't usually reflected in their sales. A strong super adventure (like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil or City of the Spider Queen is usually much more resource-intensive to produce than a similarly-sized sourcebook or accessory and doesn't usually sell nearly as well. Shorter adventures usually only do well when they're linked to something very specific. When we released The Sunless Citadel , it was the first full-length 3.0 adventure and it did extraordinarily well. The later adventures in the series experienced typical series dropoff. Right now, I have to say that Dungeon is a great value for you and for us. Because of the magazine format, you get (usually) a couple or even several strong D&D adventures for less cost than one adventure from virtually anywhere else. Even those tiny little 16 pagers I've seen around are priced only a little bit under a full-length Dungeon magazine. Add to that the more important consideration--quality--and I think you've got an excellent source of adventure material.[/font] [b]On the D&D RPG staff:[/b] ([url=http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1317367#post1317367]this thread[/url]): [font=arial] Charles Ryan is the Category Manager for RPGs (and was previously an editor focusing on d20 Modern and Star Wars, but with D&D experience). Charles will be joining our business team, and I'll let him introduce the rest of those folks if he wishes. On the R&D side, Andy Collins, Bruce Cordell, James Wyatt, David Noonan, Rich Baker, and Jesse Decker (all of whom you may have seen frequenting these boards) are RPG designers (Andy and Rich also do development duty). Andrew Finch is our Development Manager, while Chris Perkins and I are the Design Managers for d20 products and D&D, respectively. Mike Donais is one of our developers and miniatures-focused people, while Jonathan Tweet is the Design Manager for minis and Rob Heinsoo is the lead designer. Kim Mohan is our senior Managing Editor, while Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel is also a Managing Editor (late of editing fame). Michele Carter is also a Senior Editor focusing on RPGs. Bill Slavicsek is, of course, our boss, the Director of RPG and Miniatures Design and Development. There are other staff who work on the R&D side of RPGs, plus several other wizards staff members who frequenty the RPG boards. [/font] Hope you find these quotes interesting! :) Cheers! [/QUOTE]
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