D&D 3.x Edition Experience - Did/Do you Play 3rd Edtion D&D? How Was/Is it?

[Zardnaar]

I ran a lot of 3.0 up until like 2007. It was not "all books are clear" in my campaigns for content.

I liked it, but I feel like the official content largely got worse and bloated over time, and my favourite books outside the core set are all Planar and FR setting books, plus maybe CityScape and Unearthed Arcana. I was (and am even more now) rather inclined to generally skip most of the non-setting WotC expansion books. If a player wants an option from one, they can sell me on it. I also deeply appreciate the high degree of playability for monster types, though it's not perfect. If a player wants to play an awakened squirrel wizard, that's not too hard for me to work out and have them be very clearly a squirrel. Or if they want to play as a Beholder, no problem. If something weird fits my campaign, I don't have to reinvent the wheel to allow it, it's relatively easy. Oslecamo's monster classes and the GitP LA Reassignment project makes it better - but many games don't even come close to this degree of playable creature variety, and I really appreciate it.

The 3pp books were mixed bag, with a lot of junk - but also some of what I would consider to be the best D&D books that aren't setting books as well are third party D&D books from before ~2005.

If I'm going to D&D it's my D&D of choice, but that's for best core rules while still supporting the 2e Settings quite well through the 3e setting books for TSR settings, and for some 3rd party expansions, not for the trillion character options bloat in WotC splats over time.

3E has the distinction of getting worse more books you add.

Early on we played it like 2E.

Once the splat books turned up things started to change.

712 prestige classes and 80 classes apparently.

 

[VHawkwinter]

3E has the distinction of getting worse more books you add.

Early on we played it like 2E.

Once the splat books turned u things started to change.

712 prestige classes and 80 classes apparently.

PHB3.0 + PHB3.5 + DMG3.0 + Monsters of Faerun + MM1(3.0) + FRCS + PGFR + Magic of Faerun + Races of Faerun + one relevant FR locational book + monster book if you're playing as a monster that fits the campaign premise (whatever the GM okays) if applicable - played pretty nicely for character options, IMO. Use the UA variant rule where PrCs are all run by an organisation and you need a teacher and they don't just have stat prereqs - but instead make you take and pass a test ingame. Add in Tome and Blood and the Arms & Equipment guide, and you're set - (unless you want to expand the gameplay loop from the usual kill and loot cycle, then add in Mongoose Strongholds and Dynasties for mass combat or construction projects, or Seas of Blood for seafaring and ship combat, or Wilds & Wildscape for wilderness hazards, or City Works + CityScape for urban faction ang guildplay, or Dynasties and Demagogues for political maneuvering, or Crime and Punishment for trials and criminal investigations; or Mongoose Ultimate Games Designer's Companion for a big grabbag of gameplay expansion (probably the first expansion book I'd recommend in that it's useful for all campaigns) ;P).

I think that was a good time, but it's very different from the "All WotC content is fair game Character Optimisation is the whole point" gameplay I see people doing who showed up in late 3.5 or got into it after the edition ended.

And you're absolutely right, 3e is a very different game depending on which and how many expansion books you add in.

 

[Zardnaar]

PHB3.0 + PHB3.5 + DMG3.0 + Monsters of Faerun + MM1(3.0) + FRCS + PGFR + Magic of Faerun + Races of Faerun + one relevant FR locational book + monster book if you're playing as a monster that fits the campaign premise (whatever the GM okays) if applicable - played pretty nicely for character options, IMO. Use the UA variant rule where PrCs are all run by an organisation and you need a teacher and they don't just have stat prereqs - but instead make you take and pass a test ingame. Add in Tome and Blood and the Arms & Equipment guide, and you're set - (unless you want to expand the gameplay loop from the usual kill and loot cycle, then add in Mongoose Strongholds and Dynasties for mass combat or construction projects, or Seas of Blood for seafaring and ship combat, or Wilds & Wildscape for wilderness hazards, or City Works + CityScape for urban faction ang guildplay, or Dynasties and Demagogues for political maneuvering, or Crime and Punishment for trials and criminal investigations ;P).

I think that was a good time, but it's very different from the "All WotC content is fair game Character Optimisation is the whole point" gameplay I see people doing who showed up in late 3.5 or got into it after the edition ended.

Local group playing it use phb+1 as a houserule.
3.5. Late 20s they never played it bitd.

 

[cbwjm]

3E has the distinction of getting worse more books you add.

Early on we played it like 2E.

Once the splat books turned u things started to change.

712 prestige classes and 80 classes apparently.

I think a large part of the problem was that they turned prestige classes into player facing components (helps pad out all of those books with player options) instead of having them as DM content that could be dropped into a game as something that could entice players to join.

 

[VHawkwinter]

Local group playing it use phb+1 as a houserule.
3.5. Late 20s they never played it bitd.

Yeah - That wouldn't be my preference, but I like my Forgotten Realms flavour - still, my FR subset is a lot less than the anything goes you see from the charop crowd.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think a large part of the problem was that they turned prestige classes into player facing components (helps pad out all of those books with player options) instead of having them as DM content that could be dropped into a game as something that could entice players to join.

Yup. And spammed it.

Prestige classes were great concept. You could add them to 5E as well. You would have to do the legwork.

 

[VHawkwinter]

Yup. And spammed it.

Prestige classes were great concept. You could add them to tE as well. You would have to do the legwork.

This (from Unearthed Arcana), I think, and making them discover PrCs in-game, made for a better experience than the convoluted multiclass prerequisite planner that became typical during 3.5.

 

[Zardnaar]

This (from Unearthed Arcana), I think, and making them discover PrCs in-game, made for a better experience than the convoluted multiclass prerequisite planner that became typical during 3.5.

Preaching to the choir.

 

[VHawkwinter]

Preaching to the choir.

Yeah, I was agreeing with you while stating a thing that I used that drastically cut down on PrC cheese. That's all.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Eh. By the time the game was in full swing, there were two kinds of PrCs: Setting-dedicated class add-ons, and specialization-representation PrCs. The first needed to be managed, but the latter were either balanced or they weren't; if they were, you shouldn't have needed to do anything special to justify access, and if they weren't they shouldn't have been in play anyway.