Ravellion
serves Gnome Master
(didn't read the thread, so apologies if this has already come up)
I don't think PC friendliness is inherent to the system. It is directly tied to DM style.
New DMs in 3rd or 3.5 however, will "grow up" with ideas about CRs and ELs. They might be influenced towards what you might think of as "soft DMing". However, this is not inherent to the system, even though it seems to be encouraged by the game.
That said, the DMG also advocates pitching encounters that are definitely too strong for the party, but this seems to be ignored by many players and DMs.
Rav
I don't think PC friendliness is inherent to the system. It is directly tied to DM style.
New DMs in 3rd or 3.5 however, will "grow up" with ideas about CRs and ELs. They might be influenced towards what you might think of as "soft DMing". However, this is not inherent to the system, even though it seems to be encouraged by the game.
That said, the DMG also advocates pitching encounters that are definitely too strong for the party, but this seems to be ignored by many players and DMs.
Rav