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<blockquote data-quote="timbannock" data-source="post: 4618209" data-attributes="member: 17913">Taking this in a different direction, much of the the OP's &quot;misconceptions&quot; (prolly not the right choice of word, but whatever) to me point to the idea that there is some kind of argument against 3.5's versatility: i.e., 3.5's rules were limiting, straight-jacketed creativity, and caused there to be a smaller set of options.IMO, 3.5's strength is that it has tons of options because it has a lot of very specific rules that can be interacted with.&nbsp; This is exageration, but it seems like every piece of gear has its own little rules, every spell has its own fiddly bits, different interactions exist between indoor/outdoor movement rules, some class abilities trump feats and some later feats trumped class abilities (I mostly mean Prestige Class abilities here), and so on.&nbsp; Basically, there were a ton of rules on every page of the PHB, and later books expanded on those, redefined some, fixed others, created combos that broke still more.Anyway, 3.5 is what I call a player's paradise: player's can go through and look at all the little rule interactions, meticulously pick each item, feat, skill rank, skill trick, and class ability to maximize their character's specialty.Other editions were more about either limiting the choices (early editions, with level caps, small numbers of classes, equipment largely being defined only on their cost, damage die, and weight), or about making the choices less about the individual rules and more about the overall gameplay (4e, with its more ingrained &quot;teamwork&quot; mechanics and the much more obvious similarity in how all classes operate on Powers).I personally don't think that makes any edition better than any other on principle alone.&nbsp; If I want an ultra-detailed character, I'd play 3.5.&nbsp; If I want a tactical character with a more defined role and not as many &quot;fiddly bits&quot;, I'll play 4e.&nbsp; If I want to just pick up a character and bust down the dungeon door, I'll go with 1e.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="timbannock, post: 4618209, member: 17913"] Taking this in a different direction, much of the the OP's "misconceptions" (prolly not the right choice of word, but whatever) to me point to the idea that there is some kind of argument against 3.5's versatility: i.e., 3.5's rules were limiting, straight-jacketed creativity, and caused there to be a smaller set of options. IMO, 3.5's strength is that it has tons of options because it has a lot of very specific rules that can be interacted with. This is exageration, but it seems like every piece of gear has its own little rules, every spell has its own fiddly bits, different interactions exist between indoor/outdoor movement rules, some class abilities trump feats and some later feats trumped class abilities (I mostly mean Prestige Class abilities here), and so on. Basically, there were a ton of rules on every page of the PHB, and later books expanded on those, redefined some, fixed others, created combos that broke still more. Anyway, 3.5 is what I call a player's paradise: player's can go through and look at all the little rule interactions, meticulously pick each item, feat, skill rank, skill trick, and class ability to maximize their character's specialty. Other editions were more about either limiting the choices (early editions, with level caps, small numbers of classes, equipment largely being defined only on their cost, damage die, and weight), or about making the choices less about the individual rules and more about the overall gameplay (4e, with its more ingrained "teamwork" mechanics and the much more obvious similarity in how all classes operate on Powers). I personally don't think that makes any edition better than any other on principle alone. If I want an ultra-detailed character, I'd play 3.5. If I want a tactical character with a more defined role and not as many "fiddly bits", I'll play 4e. If I want to just pick up a character and bust down the dungeon door, I'll go with 1e. [/QUOTE]

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