Is there a big difference between 3e & 3.5e D &D ?

[N35t0r]

The real reason people prefer the old way is because it's the old way. If 4e rules had been released in the 70s, and right now they came out with 1e rules, people would wonder what the hell was wrong with the new generation of game designers. After 5,000 XP a paladin is level 2, a ranger level 3, and a thief is level 4? Why are the races limited arbitrarily to how many levels they can earn in different classes, and why are some races completely forbidden from certain classes? Do you really get a better role playing experience because halflings are forbidden from becoming clerics, or because gnomes are limited to level 6 as fighters? Should your character's reaction to an NPC be based on some racial preferences table, or should you perhaps role play it? Why can an illusionist use a dagger, dart, or staff, but not a club? Are clubs really advanced weapons to figure out?

1st edition is full of absolutely pointless rules that serve no purpose. No way would I want to swap 4e for the insane hodge-podge of 1st edition.

+1

[Dinner]

I think I'm going to reinstall Neverwinter Nights 2. I haven't played that game in ages.

[Jon Miller]

If the only way there is to make the world 'unfair' is power imbalances between the classes (especially from a role-playing point of view - WTF?), then all I'm seeing is lack of imagination.

Yes, the only way to role play that sort of stories that I am generally most interested in is to have power imbalances between characters/etc. Most fundamentally, between magic users and fighters.

Nothing to do with lack of imagination.

JM

[Dinner]

Low level mages are quite weak but by high level they become the most powerful characters in the game. The hard part is surviving to get to high level.

[Jon Miller]

Oerdin obviously should be playing 4ed.

JM

[Lorizael]

Only if you were a ******. You just had to be able to count backwards from 20.

THAC0 isn't hard, obviously. But there's also no good reason why the system should be designed that way.

[Fake Boris]

Boris, Felch was being sarcastic and making fun of the 3.5'ers.

NO **** SHERLOCK???

[Fake Boris]

If the only way there is to make the world 'unfair' is power imbalances between the classes (especially from a role-playing point of view - WTF?), then all I'm seeing is lack of imagination.

No, it's a purist point of view.

The real lack of imagination is to presume that all characters in a party have to be "equal" in order for the game to be fun.

[Felch]

No, it's a purist point of view.

The real lack of imagination is to presume that all characters in a party have to be "equal" in order for the game to be fun.

Well should halflings be allowed to be clerics? Because according to 1st edition rules, they can't. Is that the purist point of view? Or am I just showing a lack of imagination?

[Elok]

I believe the objection to halfling clerics is based on the first epistle to Drizzt, but I'm not sure.

[Felch]

It's because hobbits were known to be godless atheists, and Gary Gygax didn't have the imagination to get past that.

[Hauldren Collider]

In my mind, D&D should have a simple core set of rules that can be easily expanded upon by the DM to fit whatever scenario he is envisioning. This requires the rules to be balanced and easily understood. Imbalance can be added in, but not so easily removed.

[Felch]

Yes, but that's because you're relying on reason instead of nostalgia. Anybody with half a brain cell can see that 4e is a better designed game than 1st edition. But because they've got rose-colored glasses, they're forgetting how lame it is to have first level magic-users that can only cast one randomly determined spell per day. How is it more organic to role play in a world where assassination fees are determined by a chart in the book? Shouldn't the players be role playing the negotiations instead?

There's no reason why magic couldn't exist in a world where it was balanced with physical prowess. It's all made up anyways. If you want to implement house rules that introduce imbalance based on your campaign, that's your business. Dark Sun is a great example of making magic more risky through the internal logic of the setting.

[Hauldren Collider]

So 4e is only videogamey in the sense that it's built on 30 years of development in the field of game design, like most video games today are. Got it.

[Elok]

It's because hobbits were known to be godless atheists, and Gary Gygax didn't have the imagination to get past that.

Six meals a day just sounds suspiciously Epicurean. And you can't have them smoking pipe-weed in front of the children.