3rd ed. D&D revisions

[Spiderman]

Apparently the Players Handbook (which is all I looked for) is up to version 3.5 or something like that. Any meaningful changes or a website that might document them?

 

[Reverend Love]

tweaked Ranger's feats and some other stuff....less vulnerable to Revere...err...munchkins.

 

[Master Shake]

It still can not stand up to 2nd edition.

 

[Spiderman]

Actually, I like 3rd ed. and the d20 system. Makes everything a lot more consistent, kinda like Magic's stack

I haven't played in about half a year so I'm not getting the new book, just curious to what the revisions might be

 

[Notepad]

If you read your handbooks, though, you'd find a whole slew of errors and typoes. I noticed a lot of them in my three core books.

So, they took the time to revise the books that they had originally rushed out the door. But, since saying "we rushed that first volume...you better buy these revised ones" would be too much of business suicide, they put in a few tweaks here and there (you know, because in rushing through the editing department, they also didn't playtest their own rules). Now they try to pass it off as a v 3.5 just to get you to buy all the books.

Sorry, I'm sticking with my v3.0 ones and not buying anymore.

And that playtest thing is true. They didn't do anything real tough to test the limits of abuse that would be possible. What did they spend a lot of their time doing? They all made a bunch of Halfling Barbarians and acted all retarded about it. They actually posted this stuff on their RPG part of the website like it was something cool.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, talked to a friend over the weekend and he said they put the revisions up as a PDF file on the website, so I'll go looking later today to see if it's there...

 

[Notepad]

Yeah, I remember them running a corrections list at least.

My favorite typo of them all was where they are talking about a player character's history, and when it references what should obviously be "their ancestors" it instead says "their descendants."

Uh, yeah. I always get good laughs out of reading it. Haven't read those books in years, though.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I think it's more than typos or inconsistencies like that. Like the Reverend said, my friend also said they increased the Ranger and Druid class a bit and I just wanted to know what else there is.

 

[Notepad]

That to me seems like something worse than a typo, and that is lack of playtesting. Just as with the 8e artifact borders, they rushed something out the door without really caring.

If only they would have taken playtesting and editing seriously, rather than playing pint-sized barbarians, they might have solved all this with the first set of books.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, it depends how big the tweaks are. I haven't read them yet although I downloaded something yesterday off the D&D part of the site, but if it's just a couple of feats here and there, no big deal. If it's totally re-hauling the class, that's something else.

 

[Notepad]

Good point. The one major gripe I had with this new version of the game is they did not have a "make your own monster" section in any of the books. I liked that with AD&D, where I could cook up a monster and figure out how much it was worth in XP. Now with their mysterious CR thing, it's harder to make your own monsters with correct XP (and usually just have to give a story or quest XP bonus).

The overall improvements in the d20 system are pretty fun, though.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Actually, the 3rd edition rules were playtested exhaustively. Typos and editing problems are unrelated to playtesting.

If one was required to buy the new books to get the revised info, I could understand being up in arms, but all revisions were reviewed in Dragon magazine over several months, and as has been pointed out the information is available for free online.

If you think that 2nd edition rules are inferior to 3rd (and you are wrong ) then what difference does it make that there's an update?

 

[Spiderman]

I only have the Players Handbook, but I thought you could create monsters... either in the DM's Guide or in another book

 

[Notepad]

In 3e I am fairly certain there is no way to bake your own monster. Back in 2e the monsterous compendium or the dungeon master's guide (can't remember which) had a section on how to do so.

For 3e, I think an issue of Dragon magazine had an unofficial article or something...but I never saw that issue. Sucks...

I myself have the Player, DM, and Monster books. Also got the Diablo II and Everquest alternate handbooks, which make the game a lot more fun. Ever see a Iksar village meet with a Khanduran Necromancer? Well, neither have I, but I can run a campaign that way if I want.

 

[Reverend Love]

3rd Edition Monster Manual has detailed rules and information on making your own munster.

-- Kinda on topic --

Best system I've ever played was jerry rigged mixture of 3rd edition content mixed with FASA's 2nd Edition Shadowrun rules. Very fast, exciting combat seasoned by D&D's excellent fantasy content.

 

[Notepad]

For real? I looked all over and didn't find it back when I got it. Gonna have to dig that sucker up and trash it looking for the thing all over again.

This better not be a wild goose chase!