How would you do 3.5e in 160 pages?

[Philotomy Jurament]

- 4 races
- 4 classes
- Cut out skills
- Basic (fighter) feats
- Cut-down equipment
- Monsters from the OD&D set
- Levels 1-12, hence only spells 1-6

I like all of this. Big thumbs up on the removal of skills. The feats should either be fighter class abilities or manuevers that anyone can attempt, but fighters are better at. (I'd lean towards anyone-can-attempt/fighters-are-better.)

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

We'll just have to agree to disagree

Well, okay, but you're disturbing my wa, man.

 

[Delta]

Paring it down to four classes may be a little too "basic". I see no reason not to include Ranger, Bard, and Paladin.

It's funny that you specifically pick the 3 classes that pop up in the Unearthed Arcana "Prestigious Classes" variant ( http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm ). To me, those classes are the most obvious roles filled in by the multiclassing mechanic.

Paladin -- Fighter/Cleric
Ranger -- Fighter/Rogue
Bard -- Rogue/Wizard

(And Philotomy, thanks for the compliment!)

 

[Ry]

Reading through my PHB 3.5; wow could this thing be better organized.

Let's take a look at Move Silently. First of all, it's only next to Listen because of alphabetical luck. Secondly, some modifiers (speed related) are in the text, and other ones (surface) are in a handy chart. Put them all in the chart. And why is the info about a cat familiar in here? That kind of cross-referencing about piddly details for a subset of a subset of characters really isn't necessary. Likewise the Stealth feat - let the familiar or the feat description handle that.

This kind of crap is all over this book; Spot and Hide are even worse. Sniping is hidden next to hide, rather than described with the combat actions. It should be part of the combat actions, and if it's mentioned here at all, point to the combat chapter. The skills chapter is about describing skills and adjudicating skill rolls.

Grr... Do we have to do everything ourselves?

 

[Ry]

I can imagine a whole bunch of .pdfs

Short and sweet: 3.5 Abilities (1 page)
Short and sweet: 3.5 Races
Short and sweet: 3.5 Classes
Short and sweet: 3.5 Skills

Hmmm...

 

[jmucchiello]

That would be a very impressive document, especially if it didn't have size 0.001 fonts.

I mocked up a list of spells at 8 pt, 3 columns and HEAVY abbreviations for that thread. (To prove they didn't need to modify the spells a lot.) Here's all the spells starting with a, b, and c. While this file is under 12 pages, I suspect the rest of the spells would bloat that up to 60 or so pages. Liberally cutting out spells and limiting the spell levels would be needed to hit a target of 32 or 40 pages.

Still spells are 120+ pages in the PHB and simple formatting and abbreviation cuts that in half without doing any editing of the text.

 

[Delta]

I mocked up a list of spells...

I notice in the key at the bottom of the page it says "cl = cl" and "L = L". Now *that* is abbreviated!

 

[Felnar]

if you just want a smaller book...
print the first half in red, then superimpose the second half in cyan
wear your handy 3d glasses, and close either eye!

 

[green slime]

What I'd like to see in a rules compendium of 160 page length?

Complete removal of "fluff". In order to use this book at the table as a rules reference!
No reiteration of DMG information.

Ability Scores: 2 pages.
Races: 10 pages (20 races): Aasimaar, Changeling, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Hobgoblin, Human, Kalashtar, Kobold, Lizardfolk, Orc, Shifter, Teifling, Warforged. +2 more (Drow? genesai?)
Classes: 40 pages (20 classes): Barbarian, Bard, Beguiler, Cleric, Dread Necromancer, Druid, Favoured Soul, Fighter, Hexblade, Monk, Paladin, Psion, Psychic Warrior, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard +2 more (ShadowMage from ToM?)
Equipment: 8 pages
Feats: 40 pages
Prestige Classes: 20 pages (10 nonDMG PrC's )

10 pages Domain/Spell/Invocation/Power lists per class, listing which book contains the spell.

No Spells instead an indexed reference sheet containing all the spells from PHB, SC, CM, CArc, etc. After the arrival of the Spell Compendium, I see no need for yet a further reference book containing spells.

No Monsters (indexed reference sheet)

130 pages not counting the indexed reference sheets, which I would prefer to be removable for lamination. I guess I have room for more feats, classes & races.

Of course, if there were a Feat Compendium on the horizon, I'd gladly dump the feats, and go for more Equipment, classes and races.

Dammit. Forgot Skills. Need skills.

 

[green slime]

I mocked up a list of spells at 8 pt, 3 columns and HEAVY abbreviations for that thread. (To prove they didn't need to modify the spells a lot.) Here's all the spells starting with a, b, and c. While this file is under 12 pages, I suspect the rest of the spells would bloat that up to 60 or so pages. Liberally cutting out spells and limiting the spell levels would be needed to hit a target of 32 or 40 pages.

Still spells are 120+ pages in the PHB and simple formatting and abbreviation cuts that in half without doing any editing of the text.

Which given this, and the existance of a SC, I'd rather not see spells contained in yet another book.