The Best of 3.0

[Reynard]

Perpetually fighting with 3.5, I pulled out my 3.0 PHB and DMG (sadly, I lost my 3.0 MM somewhere down the line) and ws reading through them. I was really struck by how different in tone they are and how much closer to "traditional" D&D they are. I remembered suddenly why the arrival of 3rd Edition was such a good thing for me and my gaming.

However, I missed a good portion of 3.0 supplementary products, both official and 3rd party. So as I get ready to order a copy of the MM, I want to know what supplements, adventures and campaign settings made specifically for 3.0 are really good.

As an aside, part of me wants to try and convince some folks to play a "rediscovering 3.0" campaign with me, playing the official "adventure path" or perhaps some "1st edition feel" type modules. I re-read Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury, and while the former was kind of "meh" to me, Forge of Fury is a good "old school" style adventure.

 

[Dandu]

Pick up Savage Species.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Well, I can but post a bunch of things I like, or have liked, for 3.0. Hard to say what you would like, really.

• Tome of Horrors
• Toolbox
• City Works
• Wildscape
• Portals & Planes (only if you like planar adventuring, naturally)
• Dynasties & Demagogues (if politicking is your/their thing)
• A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (though this one's just about system-neutral, and quite possibly not useful at all)
• Occult Lore (much of this is pretty 'weird', and some of it rather dubious, but still. . .)

And the D&D 3.0 Forgotten Realms main book is the best version of that setting I've seen. Whether that setting appeals, I could only guess.

For adventures, there were quite a few Dungeon magazines of course, and a number of Dungeon Crawl Classics. Necromancer Games might be another place to start looking.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Pick up Savage Species.

...And deposit it into the nearest trash receptacle.

 

[Walking Dad]

I liked Sword & Fist and the other class books.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I liked Sword & Fist and the other class books.

I did, too. Though, many of them had broken items that needed correction. The speed armor enhancement in the Divine book in particular. +3 Armor enhancement (ie, costs half the price of a +3 weapon enhancement...except Speed is a +4 on weapons, too) to get a permanent haste effect, basically. S&F had a lot of issues. I know there were those gauntlets that were printed as having 17-20 crit range, though that WAS errata'd. I always thought the Knockdown feat (do 10 damage and foe is either instantly tripped or you get a free check, I forget) was over the top. Also, back then I had a monk with those Tiger sandal thingies that did double damage on an unarmed charge attack. That seemed pretty crazy, but probably not broken, especially considering it's for a monk, who's even weaker in 3.0 than in 3.5. Oh, and Ninja of the Crescent Moon from Song and Silence...that's the power level Ninjas really should be, but is probably too much for most games. (They sure swung the pendulum pretty far the other way on the power curve when they made the Ninja base class in 3.5, though, right? ).

I'm sure there's more, that's just all I can recall from memory.

 

[Voadam]

Supplements:

Monsters: MM2, Fiend Folio, Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Tome of Horrors, Monsternomicon (original), Creature Collection II, Minions, Legions of Hell.

Class Books: A bunch of the WotC ones had good stuff, Some Quintessential X books were fun (I liked Quint Wizard), Encyclopedia Arcane was a great series, Some X Handbook ones from Green Ronin.

Campaign Settings: Forgotten Realms, Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Ravenloft, Oathbound, Twin Crowns, Midnight (original), Codex Arcanis (original), Nyambe, Rokugan. I haven't read Codex of Erde yet so I won't go either way on recommending it. I don't have the Kingdoms of Kalamar but it was 3.0 (only had stats for god domains).

Adventures: Freeport Trilogy, Banewarrens, Demon God's Fane. I'm having trouble remembering where the Goodman Games DCCs switched to 3.5 and which Monkeygod ones were 3.0. Tomb of Abysthor from Necromancer looks great and I think it was 3.0.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Best things I had for 3.0 were:

Manual of the planes 3.0. Landmark book.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. Big and chock-full of ideas.

Oriental Adventures - really good attempt at oriental flavour, and great artwork.

Monster Manual 2 - lots of interesting new creatures.

Most of the "this and that" books were flavourless and not well thought through in terms of balance IMO. I wouldn't bother with them.

 

[Greg K]

Some of these are 3.5, but, with the exception of a few, I can't recall which

Fewer Absolutes (Sean K Reynolds): a couple of free articles from a series he never finished on his site

General:
Artificer's Handbook (Mystic Eye Games)
Elements of Magic: Revised (EN Publishing)
Elements of Magic: Lyceian Arcana (EN Publishing)
Hot Pursuit (Adamant)
Hot Pursuit: On Foot (Adamant)
Poisoncraft (Blue Devil Games)
Experts 3.5 (Skirmisher)
Unearthed Arcana (WOTC)

Classes:
Psychic's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Shaman's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Witch's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Unholy Warrior's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Cavalier's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Book of Iron Might (Malhavoc)

Monsters:
MM2 (WOTC)
Fiend Folio (WOTC)
Advanced Bestiary (Green Ronin)
Book of Templates, Deluxe (Silverthorne)
Book of Fiends (Green Ronin) (or Armies of the Abyss and Legions of Hell)
The Bestiary: Predators (Betabunny)

Misc
Noble Steeds (Avalanche)
Beyond Countless Doorways (Malhavoc)
Ink and Quill (Bastion)
Tournaments, Taverns and Faires (EN Publishing)
Advanced Rules for Beginners (EN Publishing)
From Stone to Steel (Monkey God/ Highmoon)

 

[Aus_Snow]

Jumpin' jiminy, how did I forget From Stone to Steel?! The jewel of my 3e collection. One of them. One of many.

Well, it's a good 'un.