Ok. First things first:
WS-EDITION-WAR = 'N'
Now that I have that out of the way, I have a question. I can pick up the 3.0 books cheaply. Is there any reason that I shouldn't use them? Is a game using just the 3.0 books playable (and hopefully enjoyable)? Your experiences and/or opinions are welcome!
Oh, yeah. Very enjoyable. The things that I liked most about 3.0 even though some of you have made it quite clear that you hated these, so if you disagree with me, that's fine, but remember, everyone's got their own tastes:
1. Haste. Yes, it's broken. Broken with a capital B, but if it didn't bring about some really nasty, hair-raising, hang-by-nails fights, I don't know what did. Being able to cast up to three spells in a single round was cool unless you were on that receiving end, but hey, it's all good!
2. Double a monster's HD only increases the CR by 2. Really nasty for higher CR monsters, but overall made for a fun encounter when you just wanted to have a solo encounter. You got the HP, the attack mojo, the size increase, etc, and it was fun. As a DM, I used these advancing rules a lot.
3. Toughness feats (dwarves toughness, dragon's toughness, etc.). Very easy to build up a fighting type character and cap out around 400+ hp at 20th level.
Now, others will say that the rules were broken, battles were wonky, etc, etc. Again, everyone's got their own tastes. As you can see, I'm a bit of a powergamer, so are my players. 3.0 scratched that itch for me.
Happy Gaming!