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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 6536541" data-attributes="member: 20564">Previous campaign I ran was a 7 year 3.5 campaign, been running 13th Age since it came out.&nbsp; My experiences vary from yours, they play VERY differently at my table.&nbsp; Have you had the chance to play it in a campaign?13th Age doesn't support the number crunching, must-plan-ahead feat chain/prestige class/multiclassing cherry picking PC creation that 3.5 had.&nbsp; Monsters and NPCs use a simple system to build, not the same interestingly complex rules as players that made every high level encounter was a chore to build.&nbsp; It's theater of the mind, not grid based tactical combat.&nbsp; The background system is wonderfully freeform compared to 3.5 skills.&nbsp; Character creation and leveling up are simple.&nbsp; Encounter design is quick and easy to improv while still having appropriate numbers.&nbsp; 3.5 had nothing like the Icon relationships or One Unique Thing.&nbsp; The escalation die makes the &quot;first round Nova&quot; of 3.5 not a no-brained tactical choice, and prevents fights from turning into grinds.&nbsp; PCs aren't magic item christmas trees to keep up with the math.&nbsp; DCs are straightforward.&nbsp; No spreadsheets to run complex PCs to track all the different types of bonuses.&nbsp; Combat even at higher levels runs quickly because there aren't loads of buffs and bonuses that constantly need to be calculated nor option paralysis of too many spells, each player can take their turn rapidly.&nbsp; Number of spells are kept manageable and include your choice of taking dailies, encounter, at-will, or a variety of together (recharge, etc.)&nbsp; Weapons do [level]dX dice so weapon users are on par with casters for damage, and it balances quadratic casters in other ways as well.&nbsp; It doesn't bother with low level spell slots at higher level, and EVERY spell gets a boost for being cast with a higher level slot.&nbsp; It did a lot of what 5e did before 5e way out.&nbsp; (And yes, these were in the playtests that were out before the D&amp;D Next playtests.)&nbsp; it doesn't try to have rules (and conditional modifiers) for all situations and actively encourages the DM to not only make rulings, but to tinker with the rules for what works at their table.&nbsp; It has self-healing liek 4e and 5e and doesn't need a cleric or other healer.&nbsp; It encourages PC risk taking by allowing successful retreats with explicit narrative failure results instead of worrying about TPK.&nbsp; Sidebars include things like a variant not killing off PCs with unnamed foes, or the other side many monsters have &quot;nastier specials&quot; to customize with to throw the PCs more in harm's way.I wouldn't classify it as an indie game, but it does have more indie elements then 5e or earlier editions.&nbsp; And it's plays very differently than 3.5 in my experience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 6536541, member: 20564"] Previous campaign I ran was a 7 year 3.5 campaign, been running 13th Age since it came out. My experiences vary from yours, they play VERY differently at my table. Have you had the chance to play it in a campaign? 13th Age doesn't support the number crunching, must-plan-ahead feat chain/prestige class/multiclassing cherry picking PC creation that 3.5 had. Monsters and NPCs use a simple system to build, not the same interestingly complex rules as players that made every high level encounter was a chore to build. It's theater of the mind, not grid based tactical combat. The background system is wonderfully freeform compared to 3.5 skills. Character creation and leveling up are simple. Encounter design is quick and easy to improv while still having appropriate numbers. 3.5 had nothing like the Icon relationships or One Unique Thing. The escalation die makes the "first round Nova" of 3.5 not a no-brained tactical choice, and prevents fights from turning into grinds. PCs aren't magic item christmas trees to keep up with the math. DCs are straightforward. No spreadsheets to run complex PCs to track all the different types of bonuses. Combat even at higher levels runs quickly because there aren't loads of buffs and bonuses that constantly need to be calculated nor option paralysis of too many spells, each player can take their turn rapidly. Number of spells are kept manageable and include your choice of taking dailies, encounter, at-will, or a variety of together (recharge, etc.) Weapons do [level]dX dice so weapon users are on par with casters for damage, and it balances quadratic casters in other ways as well. It doesn't bother with low level spell slots at higher level, and EVERY spell gets a boost for being cast with a higher level slot. It did a lot of what 5e did before 5e way out. (And yes, these were in the playtests that were out before the D&D Next playtests.) it doesn't try to have rules (and conditional modifiers) for all situations and actively encourages the DM to not only make rulings, but to tinker with the rules for what works at their table. It has self-healing liek 4e and 5e and doesn't need a cleric or other healer. It encourages PC risk taking by allowing successful retreats with explicit narrative failure results instead of worrying about TPK. Sidebars include things like a variant not killing off PCs with unnamed foes, or the other side many monsters have "nastier specials" to customize with to throw the PCs more in harm's way. I wouldn't classify it as an indie game, but it does have more indie elements then 5e or earlier editions. And it's plays very differently than 3.5 in my experience. [/QUOTE]

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