Top Ten Reasons I Love 3E

[Reynard]

I like 3e as a player. Even when playing only core rules I can customize a character as I see fit. After all those years playing 3e, I still feel like I haven't exhausted all its options--like playing a gnome fighter!

"Say hello to my little friend" and you're the little friend?

 

[WayneLigon]

I'll do both sides

What I Like

1. No more weird reverse armor class.
2. No racial limitations.
3. Multiclassing.
4. The bonus distribution means you no longer got an extra heaping reward for being already vastly better off than everyone else to start with.
5. The sorcerer. We did spontaneous casting for clerics in 2E and the idea worked very well. I was glad to see a core class witsuch a thing.
6. Finally, a real skill system. It only took you 20 years.
7. Streamlined saving throws.
8. Minimized save or die/suck abilities.
9. The art. Not your father's D&D.
10. Faster leveling means that you got to actually play at higher levels without spending 10 years to do it.

What I Didn't Like So Much

1. We still have Vancian casting. Bleh. Almost every other game has some kind of point/fatigue system to limit magic.
2. Some aspects of high level play
3. The prep time after about 9th level, before I learned to just chunk 90% of what I was doing
4. Class features that don't have some degree of equivilancy or degree of choice. 'Immunity to disease' is a good example. Dude, I've played D&D for 30 years and never had a GM that bothered to give me so much as a head cold.
5. Feats still too rare.
6. Still not a really good 'everyone else' stat/skill/ability system
7. Problematic spells, such as 'Zone of Truth' that
8. A few too many sacred cows retained. They could have done a little better in that regard.
9. Multiclassing a caster = terrible mistake you pay for later on
10. Still with the 'three big-ass hardbacks' approach for core rules.

 

[Tetsubo]

What I love about 3.5 is the versatility. With the SRD/OGL you can push the rules in so many directions and still have a similar core mechanic. Look at M&M, the best supers game ever written. Or any of the OGL books, especially the Steampunk book. I'm currently reading Everstone and I am loving what they did with the classes. Still a D20 system but different and frankly I think an improvement over the core PHB classes.

I am still shocked and dismayed that WotC chose to abandon such a useful and versatile rules system.

 

[RefinedBean]

I love being a caster and getting access to higher spell slots. The sheer magnitude of how many effing awesome abilities that open up always takes my breath away.

Also, the Beguiler. Awesome, awesome class, and one I just don't see being emulated in 4E, which is what I mainly play now.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ok, a lot of things in the OPs post at least sound great, but the actual implementation in the 3.5 rules are sometimes a bit frustrating and need a GM who knows when to say yes and no...

there could ave been a 3.75 version which fixes those little issues, but i at least have not seen fixes which make the situation better... so many of those things on the OPs list are things which characterize 3.5 and it is a game i still have fun with... with halfling fighters, muticlassed characters and flavourful skilled fighters that decided to raise her charisma from 13 to 14 at Level 4^^ (it actually helps versus charm person).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yes, that list doesn't seem too overlap much with mine.

Stuff I love.

1) Challenge Ratings. A handy way to gauge the difficulty of any situation. Regardless whether I tailor my encounters or whether I just want to know if the PCs stand a chance (or the monsters) in any given encounter. I miss these in most other systems.

2) Skill System. Not all the details, but there is a system to resolve non-combat actions (that can also be used inside combat).

3) Feats. Mini Special Abilities for everyone. A lot of other systems now use such concepts, too. They give even those without spells or supernatural abilities a way to "style" their characters.

4) "Exotic Magic". Magic can have very different effects. It is not just "insert damage level, apply drain modifier". I came from playing Shadowrun to D&D, and while I still don't like spell slots, the fact that you can have magic that ranges from something straightforward as Magic Missile to something more complex as Mordekainens Magnificent Mansion or Bigby's Grasping Hand or Meteor Swarm rocks. (Though I must admit I prefer a distinction between "combat magic" and "ritual magic" in systems.)

5) Combat System. I liked the fact that tactics always mattered. Getting into flanking position, targeting area effects and all that stuff. Yes, it's grid focused, but combat was always interesting. Yes, even optimizing Combat Expertise and Power Attack values added to the experience.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I love 3.5 if

- i don´t have to look at statblocks. Especially not those with lots of abilities or spells explained somewhere on page xx.

- none of my players try to minmax in earnest.

- i don´t have to read too many books like RHoD where "lets cram words and letters really tight together!" seemes to be the prime idea of typography.

- i can stop DMing at level 12 or play a wizard.

Loved my campaigns. Great game. Won´t go back. Have fun.

 

[Shazman]

Top Ten Reasons I Love 3E
1. I love our core-only game. We have plenty of classes and races, and with multiclassing it there is even more. I love my single-classed gnome fighter.
2. I love spending my skill points when I go up a level. Sure, some places are automatic picks, but I usually give my character enough intelligence so I can take a few ranks of swim or profession(sailor) after an extended sea voyage.
3. I love rolling for stats. Who would have expected a fighter to have a 13 charisma. I gladly forgo optimization for uniqueness.
4. I love rolling for hit points. I love the excitement of hitting that 10 for my fighter. I gladly accept the chance of rolling a 1.
5. I love save or die. Say what you will, but it is dramatic. The barbarian intentionally sets off a save or die trapping knowing full well he could die if he rolls a 1. That's heroism. The mage kills a significant NPC with a single finger of death. We will be talking about that for years to come.
6. I love buff spells. I love buffing up the party to take on a green dragon that is way out of our league. I love hacking part the buffed NPC after the mage takes him down twenty notches with a well-placed Greater Dispelling.
7. I love Mordenkainen's Disjunction. It is a nuclear bomb. If someone drops it on you, you are hosed as your current wealth is decimated. If you drop it on someone, you are also hosed as your potential wealth is decimated. We fear it in a way that is hard to reach in RPGs.
8. I love level drain. If I had one wish for 3E, it would be that level drain was more old school and permanent like 1E then it would have the same fear potential as Mordenkainen's Disjunction. Still level drain can kill you quickly and turn you undead. Fighting against something like that is just too cool.
9. I love attribute drain. One shadow can teach your mage to dump stat strength, one allip can teach you to grab a high wisdom for your next character. And nothing quite hurts as much as the constitution drain of the wraith. Charisma-drain is also loads of fun.
10. When we get sick of core only (which ain't happened yet), we have literally hundreds of books from various publishers to choose from. We have cool variants from Monte Cook, from Wizards' own Unearthed Arcana, from Necromancer, etc. Not to mention loads of adventures (although we tend to run stuff we write outselves).

I can't say I like 7, 8, and 9, but the rest are spot on.

 

[Remathilis]

Ok, I promised myself I wasn't going to do this, but dammit I can't look at this list without comment anymore....

[sblock=Dropped into a sblock by admin
1. I love our core-only game. We have plenty of classes and races, and with multiclassing it there is even more. I love my single-classed gnome fighter.


While I have nothing against core-only games, but Gnome Fighter? Gnome "-2 strength, must use weapons one-die smaller" fighter? Ranger, I'd buy (skills) or even gnome barbarian (for the lolz) but fighter?

2. I love spending my skill points when I go up a level. Sure, some places are automatic picks, but I usually give my character enough intelligence so I can take a few ranks of swim or profession(sailor) after an extended sea voyage.

And by automatic picks, you mean "rogues need Search/DD, bards perform, rangers survival, wizards spellcraft, etc at max levels to beat the escalating DCs.

3. I love rolling for stats. Who would have expected a fighter to have a 13 charisma. I gladly forgo optimization for uniqueness.

I'm going to assume you mean "my lowest score was a 13, since I can arrange to taste and I already put higher scores in Str (melee), dex (AC/init/ref/missile), Con (hp/fort), Wis (will), and Int (skill points).

4. I love rolling for hit points. I love the excitement of hitting that 10 for my fighter. I gladly accept the chance of rolling a 1.

Tell me that when your second-level fighter has 11+ con hp.

5. I love save or die. Say what you will, but it is dramatic. The barbarian intentionally sets off a save or die trapping knowing full well he could die if he rolls a 1. That's heroism. The mage kills a significant NPC with a single finger of death. We will be talking about that for years to come.

No, that's not heroism, that's stupidity. Its like running across a warzone with a bullseye on your chest. Any D&D player knows that you're better off with a rogue disabling it or a spellcaster dispelling it. Or summoning a monster/animal to set it off.

As to one-round killing an important climax BEFORE other PCs get to play is something we'll talk about; we'll fondly recall how lame it was to watch the climax of years of gaming end in one character's turn.

6. I love buff spells. I love buffing up the party to take on a green dragon that is way out of our league. I love hacking part the buffed NPC after the mage takes him down twenty notches with a well-placed Greater Dispelling.

I love it too, until we spend half-an-hour or more re-calculating AC, saves, attacks, temp hp, spell DCs, skills, etc along with what type or bonus it is and does that stack with my magical do-hickey +1, and...

Oh year, dispelling. Welcome to "Remember that half-an-hour you just spent figuring out your new stats? Crumple it up."

7. I love Mordenkainen's Disjunction. It is a nuclear bomb. If someone drops it on you, you are hosed as your current wealth is decimated. If you drop it on someone, you are also hosed as your potential wealth is decimated. We fear it in a way that is hard to reach in RPGs.

Ah yes. Mordie. Watch as the cleric and wizard walk through with a few items lost and the fighter and rogue get spiffy new masterwork armor and swords...

8. I love level drain. If I had one wish for 3E, it would be that level drain was more old school and permanent like 1E then it would have the same fear potential as Mordenkainen's Disjunction. Still level drain can kill you quickly and turn you undead. Fighting against something like that is just too cool.

Right. PCs gain two things as they play; XP/levels and GP/treasure. We already talked about how to get rid of the latter, now lets get rid of the former.

9. I love attribute drain. One shadow can teach your mage to dump stat strength, one allip can teach you to grab a high wisdom for your next character. And nothing quite hurts as much as the constitution drain of the wraith. Charisma-drain is also loads of fun.

This should be a problem, since your lowest score in a 13 (see .3) but what are you supposed to do with that "8" you just rolled? No PC (barring certain types of players) can have ALL good stats, so then ability drain like that is just kicking PCs in their weak-spots.

Oh, and that doens't take into account the effects of stat-loss (see .6)

10. When we get sick of core only (which ain't happened yet), we have literally hundreds of books from various publishers to choose from. We have cool variants from Monte Cook, from Wizards' own Unearthed Arcana, from Necromancer, etc. Not to mention loads of adventures (although we tend to run stuff we write outselves).


Go for it man. Here we agree.[/sblock]Note: I've dropped this into a sblock due to its nature. Please see my note below. ~ Piratecat

 

[Roman]

I too love 3.XE! Essentially, I currently refuse to DM any other edition of D&D than 3.5E (I will GM other games, including Pathfinder), though I guess I might be willing to play another edition, even though even as a player my preference among all D&D's would be 3.5E.