D&D 3E/3.5 Issues that might arise from a "core book only" 3.5 campaign and possible fixes?

[Rocksome]

Hi all,

I used to be a huge 3.5e player, before moving on to other editions and other games. Soon I'm going to be running some 3.5e games again (Eberron: Shadows of the Last War, Whispers of the Vampires Blade and Grasp of the Emerald Claw, plus I plan on running Red Hand of Doom for some new players).

I don't really have the time to convert these games to 5e which is mostly what we've been playing lately. Red Hand of Doom was also this very delicate difficulty balance that made everything absolutely grueling and helped lend an epic feel to the adventure. So I plan on going back to 3.5 to run them as printed.

The time we last played Red Hand of Doom, there were a tonne of splats available. As my players are relatively new I was going to restrict access to the core rules. This however leads me to my question...

Are there any splats that you would consider "essential" for fixing any issues in the 3.5 core rules? I've mostly forgot what problems 3.5 even has.

I'm thinking splats that might fix issues like mid-to-high level monk power or other problems. What about universally accepted house rule fixes?

Also I'm wondering about the opposite side of things... Are there any splats (prestige classes, feats, spells, races) that I should be extremely wary of allowing? My players are mostly RPing non-power games but I might still need to avoud them accidentally falling through some power loopholes.

I'm not particularly concerned about things that are a little over-powered or strong, but those few rare things that in your experience completely broke down the game.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

A druid, cleric, or wizard is broken right out of the PHB so I wouldn't worry about anything else.

But make sure you ban Book of Exalted Deeds on principle. That really was crap with a capital K.

Personally, if I was going to run 3.5E again I would make a full attack into a standard action (so, yes, move then full attack), drop the -5 iterative penalty for multiple attacks, and make all saving throws good (and based on total character level) with those classes that previously got a "good" saving throw getting a simple non-stackable +2 bonus. That's probably the fastest way to bring things up to scratch without messing with the rest of the sheer brokenness of 3.5E (and I type that as someone who loves that edition ).

 

[Dandu]

Well, why don't you tell us what your players want to do and we'll talk about our options?

Offhand, The Expanded Psionics Handbook is a good substitute for Arcane casters, and the Tome of Battle "fixes" monks, fighters, and paladins. The PHB2 Shapeshfiter ACF for the Druid helps reign it in, and the Complete Divine's Favored Soul limits the Cleric.

Bards are fine as is, but allowing Inspire Courage boosts from other sources, like Song of the Heart from the Eberron Campaign Setting, Masterwork Instruments from the Complete Adventurer, Inspirational Boost from the Spell Compendium, etc, might be worwhile.

 

[Rocksome]

No idea yet.

We're still just finishing off our Out of the Abyss campaign. I'm more just getting a heads up on any 3.5 pitfalls I might have forgotten about.

Possibly considering using Pathfinder or 13th Age PCs.

 

[Rocksome]

Thanks, these are the kind of "fixes" I was looking for.

 

[Dandu]

I hope you saw my edits?

If so, do you have any questions you'd like to ask?

 

[Rocksome]

I hope you saw my edits?

If so, do you have any questions you'd like to ask?

Yeah, I saw them. Thanks. No questions for now. I want to open up the books for players that are interested without fear of opening the flood gates. that's a good start.

 

[Dandu]

The vital thing to remember about Psionics is that there are occasionally broken powers, but it's largely more manageable. Also, you can't spend more PP on a power than your manifested level, unless you have an ability that explicitly allows you to do so.

 

[Imaculata]

You might also want to consider using alternate Turn Undead rules, allowing clerics to do damage to undead instead. I forgot what book this rule came from.

 

[delericho]

Are there any splats that you would consider "essential" for fixing any issues in the 3.5 core rules? I've mostly forgot what problems 3.5 even has.

The biggest issue is probably caster supremacy - the Wizard, Cleric, and Druid are vastly more powerful than everyone else (with the Sorcerer next, then the Bard). But the supplements don't fix this; they make it worse.

My first, and biggest fix, would be to ban item crafting, ban the purchase of magic items, and assign treasure strictly using the random treasure tables in the DMG. (One of the big issues is that the casters can craft cheap scrolls and wands, and thus bypass Vancian casting. Since that is pretty much the only thing keeping them in check, that's a major issue.)

Are there any splats (prestige classes, feats, spells, races) that I should be extremely wary of allowing?

Don't allow any Prestige Class that grants "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" at 1st level - any such class is almost guranteed to be overpowered. And don't allow any spell with a casting time of a Swift or Immediate action, for the same reason (it was fine to have a few such spells, but these proliferated massively, with the effect that high level casters were now routinely casting two spells per round).

In fact, more generally I'd say you can include almost anything aimed at martial characters but should ban just about everything aimed at spellcasters. (Except the "Book of Exalted Deeds". That should be banned for everyone.)