D&D 3E/3.5 Yet another 3.5 thread

[Renaissance Man]

The players in my gaming group are somewhat casual hobbyists, and they have only recently learned about 3.5. I'm sensing some bitterness amongst them already - I think on some level, one or two of them still resents being "made to" convert to 3E. Are any of you experiencing similar division within your playing groups? How are you dealing with it? How do you reach consensus on which edition (revision, whatever) to use for your games?

 

[kreynolds]

Are any of you experiencing similar division within your playing groups?

Not really. We've talked about some of the rumored/confirmed changes, but obviously, the real talks don't begin until the new rules come out.

How are you dealing with it?

Mostly, we're just talking about the new changes, such as DR, but we don't get into any specifics. Why? Because there aren't any specifics yet. This is what I find so amusing about all the heated debates around here, especially the DR thread.

How do you reach consensus on which edition (revision, whatever) to use for your games?

The same way we reach a consensus about house rules. If an idea or a change is put forth, we all discuss its merits/flaws. If there aren't any objections, we go for it. If there are objections, we don't. Besides, most of our house rules are announced before the game begins. For example, I announced to my group that any future games I run will be using a point buy for stats and you get 75% max hit die, and if anyone doesn't like it, don't play.

The funny part is that two of the guys in my group both said "Well, I won't be playing then, 'cause that sucks." Guess what they asked me just last week, and the week before. "So, when are you starting up your new game, dude? I got a great idea for a new character."

 

[Spatzimaus]

Well, I seem to have had it easy. After looking at all the kludged-up 2E rules, the pages of house rules that practically everyone used, and the two dozen random splatbooks that were "essential", we were more than happy to just switch entirely to 3E. When every one of the people in the group have photocopied pages from Dragon Magazine attached to their character sheets, you know there's a problem. Converting characters to 3E took a little time, but it wasn't that bad.

Not that we don't house-rule anything, but it's nice to have a pretty stable baseline to work off of. And, frankly, 3E is a far better baseline than the older editions. The classes are pretty balanced, and the system is flexible enough to recreate most character concepts.

Now, when 3.5 comes out I don't know what'll happen. Cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose. I'm guessing we'll treat the changes as a compilation of house rules; that means we'll probably take some of the DR changes (like the Ki Strike change) but not others, and so on.

 

[Kyramus]

Spatz, I suggest that if you find something in the core rd ed that bothers you. try looking thorough this link for a similar situation then use it.

http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=msrd

It's the d20 modern srd. I've changed haste and shield to match that of d20 modern.

It works well.

 

[Bastoche]

Nope. In our games, I am the rules. When the DM is not sure about how he he should, he asks me. So I'll be the one to make the change, sort of