(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Does that work? I find most pre-written NPCs, and even those I made for myself in 3.x, to be underpar. I suppose the answer was just to use more
D&D 3E/3.5 Going back to 3.5 - advice?
- Thread starter BigCat
- Start date
Does that work? I find most pre-written NPCs, and even those I made for myself in 3.x, to be underpar. I suppose the answer was just to use more
Drowbane
First Post
3.5 prep time is only long if you think you have to make every encounter and NPC like a PC. You don't Most NPCs don't even need a full set of skills or skills by class. Know what your PCs are capable of and make your encounters to suit. This may take some practice. As long as your end product doesn't "feel" faked by the players and is challenging and/or fun, then you did it right.
Pathfinder is very much over-rated as a "3e fix". It is just somebody's collection of house rules, some of which are rather bizarre. I do like CMB / CMD, At Will cantrips, and... um... the PF Paladin is cool. I do love me some Paizo modules and world fluff though. The Golarion setting is worth taking a look at.
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Li Shenron
Legend
I don't play 4e but I would have suggested the same: if the problem is combat length, just half the HP the monsters.
I also never played PF, but I don't think it's much faster to run and prepare than 3.x, especially if you know 3.x well and now you have to keep track of all the rules changes. I've read the PF SRD several times before, and it seemed more complicated than 3e just because of the sheer amount of options and variants in the core.
I also never played PF, but I don't think it's much faster to run and prepare than 3.x, especially if you know 3.x well and now you have to keep track of all the rules changes. I've read the PF SRD several times before, and it seemed more complicated than 3e just because of the sheer amount of options and variants in the core.
Kinak
First Post
I'd like to echo the "prep 3rd like 4e" crowd here, although with a bit of a twist.
I DM'd 2nd Edition for years and years and never really "learned" how to handle 3rd Edition monsters until recently. You can really just make up numbers and, if you're afraid of tripping up, write them down as you assign them.
Without obsessing over the monster numbers, prepping for 2nd, 3rd, and 4e are all a snap.
Cheers!
Kinak
I DM'd 2nd Edition for years and years and never really "learned" how to handle 3rd Edition monsters until recently. You can really just make up numbers and, if you're afraid of tripping up, write them down as you assign them.
Without obsessing over the monster numbers, prepping for 2nd, 3rd, and 4e are all a snap.
Cheers!
Kinak
Jackinthegreen
Explorer
As someone who regularly gets hung up on PC creation being perfect, I'll echo the idea that NPC creation doesn't have to be. For example, chances are the things your party is about to kill won't be using skills unless you've decided to spruce things up with skill tricks from Complete Scoundrel.
What level of play do you expect your group to do? Do they do extensive theorycrafting for their characters to make them more powerful? Or are they more lax about things and want to simplify the creation process? Those two things will of course change how you do encounters. Lowering HP and increasing damage or DCs of spells et al would of course help to make encounters shorter, but it's possible the players could eke more from their characters if they wanted to.
Have you heard of the tier system? It's fairly decent for judging how certain classes will perform if they're moderately optimized. It gets thrown out the window of course when you can optimize such that a Fighter 20 can cast 9th level spells.
You'll probably want to limit source books at the start, then expand when you're comfortable with the extra rules from some other places. 3.E is a cluster**** of odd rules that really add up, and it can get into territory that will literally break the game.
What level of play do you expect your group to do? Do they do extensive theorycrafting for their characters to make them more powerful? Or are they more lax about things and want to simplify the creation process? Those two things will of course change how you do encounters. Lowering HP and increasing damage or DCs of spells et al would of course help to make encounters shorter, but it's possible the players could eke more from their characters if they wanted to.
Have you heard of the tier system? It's fairly decent for judging how certain classes will perform if they're moderately optimized. It gets thrown out the window of course when you can optimize such that a Fighter 20 can cast 9th level spells.
You'll probably want to limit source books at the start, then expand when you're comfortable with the extra rules from some other places. 3.E is a cluster**** of odd rules that really add up, and it can get into territory that will literally break the game.
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dd.stevenson
Super KY
Does that work? I find most pre-written NPCs, and even those I made for myself in 3.x, to be underpar. I suppose the answer was just to use more
Google is not a silver bullet that makes 3.x prep a breeze, but it does ok in my experience. Just type in three or four different things that span what you're looking for in an NPC. Like "speed 30" "AC 22" "power attack" "rope of climbing". Usually you'll end up with a bunch of PCs that were posted online over the years, and that's good because 3.x players can usually be trusted to optimize their characters. Swap a few things out, and you're good to go.
It's by the by, but another nice utility for getting CR-appropriate challenges ready is the monster advancer.
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Jester David
Hero
Prep can be problematic with 3e, but it doesn't need to be. At this point there are so many resources it should be possible to find many NPCs and monsters to save on prepping. Find NPCs from adventures and look online. Search for some PDFs, and you might find some cheap options.
Plus you can still reflavour monsters like in 4e.
If you can use a tool like HeroForge that will speed up prep. Much of the advantages of 4e is from the tools and less the actual rules system.
Plus you can still reflavour monsters like in 4e.
If you can use a tool like HeroForge that will speed up prep. Much of the advantages of 4e is from the tools and less the actual rules system.
JustinAlexander
First Post
Legends & Labyrinths features a lot of tools -- XP budgets, easy monster stat block creation, a universal chart for setting DCs, etc. -- that will be similar to your 4E toolkit. And it'll be 100% compatible with 3.5, so you can use it interchangeably with zero conversion.
Drop me your e-mail in a PM and I'll toss you a copy of the beta rulebook to check out. (The final version will be appearing in the new year.)
Tequila Sunrise
Adventurer
Frankly my attitude about non-4e editions is "I'll be happy to play it...if you DM it." If a group is really keen on a particular system, one of them will step up to run it. Otherwise...
Bingo bango, problem solved!
MichaelSomething
Legend
Paizo is aware of the problem though! The Handy Dandy NPC Codex is out right now! You'll only a credit card transaction away from having dozens of pre-made NPCs ready for the playing!
