Explaining 3.5 to a 2nd Edition Veteran

Nareau

Explorer
I've recently welcomed 2 new players into my campaign. They've played D&D back in highschool, back in the days of 2nd edition. So I've been tasked with bringing them up to speed.

How would you explain 3.5 to such a person? What are the most fundamental changes that a player would need to be aware of? I'm not talking about the specifics of class abilities, spell durations, and the like. I'm talking about the core concepts that have been introduced/updated in the new edition.

Spider
 

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1) It is always better to roll higher than lower. Higher is always better than lower.
2) skills are like nonweapon proficiencies, feats like weapon proficiencies (wild generality, but accurate enough, IMO)
3) Multiclassing is like Dual Classing (another genrality)
 

Most important to explain:

a) Feats. Never exsisted, and a totally new concept.
b) Racial Restrictions. Dwarves cannot be wizards, now they can 'nuff said. They exsisted pre 3e.
c) Multi-classing. It's totally different from 2e. See the conversion book from 2e to 3e here.

edit:
d) Skills. Easy idea, but new concept.
e) Armor Class. BIG change, higher is better in 3e. Thac0 is dead. All hail the victorious DC. ;)

That's the MAJOR things.
 

Higher is always better on a die roll you make. No matter if its a saving throw or an attack roll.

There is only one exp table and multiclassing is much easier.

Skills replaced proficiencies but you can gain ranks and thus improve how well a character can do somethign a whole lot easier than could be done in 2nd ed.

Weapon proficiencies became feats (or class abilities).

Feats are cool and wrth their weight in gold.

Read the combat action section in the PHB (combat basics onpg 135).

Critical hits are great, much like the common house-rule of a natural 20 did double damage.
 


As ThirdWizard said. But to elaborate a bit:

1. THAC0 is replaced by Base Attack Bonus, and for an attack you just roll 1d20 + your BAB + any additional modifiers, and hit if you roll equal to or better than the opponent's AC. Base AC is still 10, but high AC is now desirable.

2. High levels in a class now grant rolled HP from hit dice, rather than a fixed number.

3. There are only three kinds of saving throw now, and you stack the base save bonuses from each class level you gain.

4. Multi-classing is now universal for all creatures, and resembles 2E dual-classing. However, when you multi-class you retain all your old abilities, suffer no special penalties/hindrances for using them, and can return to advancing in previous classes at any point.

5. You can only gain each feat once, unless it specifically says otherwise in its description.

6. Thief Skills are now just normal skills mixed in with the others, which are all sorta like non-weapon proficiencies from 2E. Any character can gain ranks in most thief-ish skills.

7. Arcane casters, such as wizards, sorcerers, and bards, can now cast their spells while armored. However, they suffer from an Arcane Spell Failure chance from armor they wear.

8. Clerics and druids do not suck, and are now the best classes. No, really, I'm not yanking your chain. Stop laughing, I'm really freaking serious here. Clerics are actually good to play in 3E/3.5E. Clerics can wield any weapon now, they just need to spend a feat on Martial or Exotic Weapon Proficiency if they want to be good with that weapon.

9. Characters are no longer limited in level nor class options due to race. Any race can take any class, and gain any number of levels in it. Play all the halfling wizards and gnome druids and dwarf paladin/enchanter/rogues you want, or whatever.

10. Magic Resistance is now Spell Resistance, but it still applies against all magical effects, for the most part. Spell Resistance is not a percentage, instead it's a specific number, and when you cast a spell or something on a monster with Spell Resistance, you need to roll higher than its SR in order to affect it; you roll 1d20 and add your caster level to the check.

11. Oh, and you don't get automatic double damage on a critical hit. You also don't get automatically get a crit on a natural 20. A natural 20 is still an automatic hit. On a crit, you roll extra times for damage, based on the weapon you use; the default is double damage on a crit, in which case you just roll damage twice and add the modifiers twice, but if you wield a battleaxe for instance, you instead deal triple damage on a crit. Also, your weapon determines how often you get a crit. Weapons have a 'threat range' which is the range of numbers you can get a crit on, with a natural d20 roll; for instance, longswords have a threat range of 19-20, so you threaten a critical hit if your attack roll is a natural 19 or natural 20, before modifiers. Instead of an auto-crit, however, you have to roll the attack a second time, and see if that second roll (after modifiers) equals or exceeds the target's AC. If so, then you get a critical hit, but if not, you just get a normal hit. However, if you roll less than a natural 20 on your normal attack roll, you don't threaten a crit unless your hit succeeds. So for instance, if you wield a longsword and hit the opponent with a natural 19, but happen to have an attack roll modifier of -3 (for instance, if you were hit by a Ray of Enfeeblement), the attack misses unless your opponent has an AC of 16 or lower. If you did hit then, though, you'd roll again because you had a natural 19 (which is in the longsword's threat range), and if your second roll would've hit the AC, you got a critical hit.
 
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Also something to remind people:

Your ability scores aren't fixed at 1st level, you get the ability to raise them every 4th level. Magic items and spells that provide temporary boosts are fairly easy to get.

While there are no arbitary limts on demihumans in races and classes, humans aren't left out, they get more skill points than other races and an extra feat at 1st level.

Ability scores progress linearly. A 19 in something isn't anywhere near as special as it used to be. All ability scores also provide a uniform rate of bonuses and penalties.

There is no real easy "dump stat" anymore, low Wisdom penalizes everybody because it hurts your saves, low Intelligence reduces the number of skill points you get, even low Charisma hurts your interaction skills like Diplomacy and Intimidate (and Clerics definitely need it, because it influences Undead turning).

There are no ability score prerequisites for classes. Classes might have abilities that are not very useful without an ability score of at least 12 (so you have a "bonus" in it), but you can still take the class.

Paladins don't need a 17 Charisma for example, although a good charisma helps their saving throws. You can play a fighter with an 8 Strength and 8 Con if you really want, you just won't be very good at it. You still need a good Intelligence or Wisdom to be a good Wizard or Cleric/Druid but nothing's stopping you from taking the class, but you need an casting ability score of 10 + spell level to actually cast spells. Thus you have to have an Intelligence of 19 to cast 9th level spells as a Wizard, this is where raising your ability scores every 4 levels comes in.

Wizards don't have an arbitary limit on the number of spells they can know at any given level. If they've got the access to spellbooks and the money to copy spells, any wizard can know every spell in the PHB they could theoretically cast.

Prestige Classes: They replaced kits, you can't start with them at 1st level (normally you have to be at least 5th to qualify for them, but some have much higher prerequisites), and they let your character specialize or gain special powers you couldn't normally have.
 

Adding to others suggestions (not comprehensive)

Wierd races (like drow or 1/2 ogres will start a level or 2 behind and never catch up.

Read AoO section of combat. and grappling, and flanking, and .....

skills work like thus ranks + ability mod +1d20 compared to a DC 5-10 easy, 15 normal, 20 hard 30 epic.

Magic items are cheap and plentiful, you cant start making them at 4th level, scrolls and potions even earlier

a str 12 gives you a + 1 to hit and damage, 14 a +2, 8 a -1 increasing or decreasing a the same rate infinatly.

be ready to explain the role of monks (ie not front line butt kicking)

Clerics can substuitute and spell for a healing spell of that level.

Rounds are 6 seconds.

in 1 round you can move and attack, move twice, or run (x3 or x4). If you want more than a single attack you cant go further than 5'
 

Balance is now an important factor in game design.

The rules are designed to enable a fantasy world to be created. That world is created by the DM, not the books.

Sneak Attacks are not the same as Backstabbing. There is no facing in 3.x.
 

Deset Gled said:
Balance is now an important factor in game design.

lol that one's sure to make them gawk

"A 5th level wizard is balanced to be as powerful as a 5th level fighter."
"Suuuure, HAHAHAHA!"
"No... really... and they have the same xp table."
"HAHA, you're crackin' me up, man."
"Guys! They're good at low levels and not overpowered at high levels!"
"Alright, man, the joke's starting to get old, we get it already. Now, where's the wizard xp table?"
 

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