3.0 was so long ago now I don’t recall much. I didn’t play it for long. It was too big of a change and flawed. I recall some dumbass hex moves like it was a wargame. Basically at this point all I can say is I and many others thought it sucked.
Almost no improvements and many problems.
Hexes were an optional variant rule in both 3.0 and 3.5, but none of the groups I was in used them. And a good thing, too, because a properly-implemented square grid is better in every way than hexes. Aside from the fact that a lot of folks apparently don’t understand a properly-implemented square grid: “Why should moving on a diagonal cost half again as much movement, just because I’m moving half again as much distance?”
I started playing with 1st edition, but 3.5 was D&D’s peak, at least for me. I loved the multiclassing rules, in particular. 4th edition is where I fell off, and jumped to Pathfinder. I’ve tried 5th edition, and it’s not really my thing. I like really complicated character building systems, I guess, and 5th just doesn’t scratch that itch.
Same here. There were a bunch of 2e materials published in Dragon prior to release and everyone I knew felt comfortable either with the backwards compatability or else moving ahead into the new version.
Big world though so I’m sure some people complained.
Do you liek 3e or 3.5? because no one I know liked 3e or plays it today, but 3.5 is still quite popular. In fact Pathfinder 1 is a 3.5 set of houserules.
To me, 3.5 was a lot of fun, but a DM had to carefully balance out “dipping” in Prestige classes and such. Otherwise PCs could get more powerful than the Deities . PF1 fixed a lot of that.
5e has the advantage in that the rules are simpler and easier to learn than anything but Basic. 5e has brought in many hundreds of thousands of new players. I am not saying it is better, mind you, but far easier to learn .
I started with OD&D.
Is the O needed or normal? I assume you mean original, but D&D covers that well, especially where everyone including you are using terms like 3e or 2nd.
Were you the small format 3 book box set and extras or the thin full size D&D book?
“Needed” is up for debate but I see it regularly enough. I think since WOTC switched from the AD&D name back to everything is D&D (or ‘DnD’ as the kids like to say) and BECMI calls to mind the Red Box set when discussing the D&D that ran concurrent with 1e. OD&D is rather specific on which rules you’re talking about.
Three volume set- We started in 1974 or 5.
Thanks for the questions!
I started with 1E DND in 1980. My older brother had a group and I joined them. When he went off to college, I inherited them because I was willing to DM.
I much prefer 3.0. This goes back to spell durations. Gloves of Dexterity save the wizard from one Cat’s Grace spell. I like wizards who use their spells.
I’m going to generalize and am glad to be proven wrong. I think a lot of people read fifth level spells or higher and think that wizards must dominate the battlefield. In some ways, they do. Combat rarely lasts longer than six rounds, imx. A quick google search aligns with three rounds, which I agree with. That’s three spells without Quicken metamagic. That one fight exhausts less than fifth level, is a good amount up to tenth level, and is trivial for levels after that.
This gets really deep into a lot of ideas. For example, I see why they made cantrips more useful and scale in 5E, because it makes wizards feel more magical. I do the same in my PF games. I go one step further and allow adding their casting stat mod to damage. Ray of Frost or Acid Splash is used a lot by my players.
So, to make this as short as I can. A 3.5/PF wizard has to guess when combat might start so they can cast their minute / level spells, so that they can cast their round / level spells or damage spell in combat. It’s fun! It can be satisfying. They might use a few non combat here and there. (My players spam Detect Magic as a cantrip.)
A 3.0 wizard has different stages of casting. When they wake up, who do they buff and with what? Is contingency used for teleport or fireball? Clerics gets some of this but also can use divination spells, probably as rituals now, to learn some things or answer those questions. (That opens up adventure design and why Mork Borg style games do not appeal to me.) Then the casters cast spells at night, again due to long durations. Glyphs, protection, and Leomund’s Secure Shelter.
Those ideas aren’t completely gone with 3.5 or later but I liked seeing and playing wizards who were exhausted mentally from casting spells. At least in my mind, that’s how I saw it. These days, even after three or four encounters, casters usually have spells left over. Certainly casters above tenth level do.
That’s why I prefer and miss 3.0.
My game is about to start but lots more later!
Thanks for the discussion!
Casters get the same number of spells in 3.0 and 3.5. How are 3.0 casters getting exhausted but not 3.5 ones?
In 3.0 some of the Buff spells could last all day.
We played it for one campaign. Halfway thru one of the players printed out a handout of all the buffs, so when a buff spell was cast, you’d pencil it down, with how long it lasted, what it did, etc.
This got od really fast. But yeah, I am happy to see a big 3.0 fan here-
You are welcome.
Now we need a big fan of 4.0. 
Mind you, we did do a 4e campaign, the DM was a big computer guy, got all the programs and stuff, color printed out all the spell and ability sheets, etc. If was fun, but trying to do 4e old school with pencil and paper would be frustrating. BTW, the classes were very close, other than flavor, some were nigh identical. This was for “balance”. Turned out most players didnt care all that much that each class was precisely equal to every other class.
What most players wanted were classes that were fun and could contribute.
I was going fast and I apologize. As I said, game night.
As a generic statement, high level evocation spells overshadow lower ones. Magic Missile is probably the rare exception to that. The wizard is suddenly memorizing Bull’s Strength x3, Cat’s Grace x2 and casting those. Third level is Non -Detection. Divination, Transmutation, and Conjuration were now used more for low level slots.
So, the 3.0 wizard runs out because he casts mage armor on himself and maybe the rogue or monk. That’s all day. All his second level spells are buffs. Maybe third as you could use a higher slot for a lower level spell. As DrDeth said, wizards would cast a dozen spells after getting up. That 3.5 wizard has the same number of spells but the durations were all minute per level. A few might last ten minutes per level, so good for a dungeon run, unless it’s a mega dungeon. They might run out of their high level spells but would rarely run out of spells because they only cast them for a fight.
I had a LOT of helpers for characters. The excel spreadsheets that did all of the calculations, including buff spells and attacks. It laid it all out and did it. Then, at some point, I got Hero Lab Classic and started doing everything in that. I made my own custom gear and even did a system in it. It was needed, sadly, to track things. I still use it. It was a good helper so that the player just had to know which line to use to add to their attack.
I have come to respect what 4E tried to do more and liked it with PH1. That had defined differences in the roles. Wizards were controllers, bards were leaders, rogues were strikers, and fighters were tanks. I think PH2 introduced a martial controller and for me, that’s when I didn’t like it anymore. It didn’t help that attacks were similar across types. Having said that, they had good ideas. Ongoing damage, skill challenges, basics of three pillar play, and several other innovations were there but not realized. It wouldn’t be my first choice of a system to use but don’t know that I would avoid it. I do agree that doing it with only pen and paper would not be fun.
Thanks for the discussion! Take care!
4e had interesting ideas, i will agree.
I think most of the people I played with liked 3E but preferred 3.5E (partially because of the mostly-minor changes, but primarily because there were a lot more 3.5E supplements).
A craptonne more. And late they put out a really nice fighter supplement, that boosted the fighter quite a bit.
Never heard of that one. Unless you’re referring to Tome of Battle, which, instead of boosting fighters, introduced yet more classes that were better than them?
Nope, but yeah, that did make some strong martial PCs.
Maybe they were for PF1.
I’ve gotten burned out on D&D style fantasy lately and find my interest turning towards games like Call of Cthulhu, Aliens, Cyberpunk 2020, and a few others. There’s no doubt that I’ll purchase the 2024 D&D PHB at some point in the future, but I’m in no rush.
Since you mention you’ve been burned out on D&D style fantasy:
If you like Victorian steampunk with magical fantasy along the lines of League of Extraordinary Gentleman or Penny Dreadful, you might enjoy Kerberos Club.
https://arcdream.com/home/2011/04/introduction-to-the-kerberos-club/
The link above leads to the Wild Talents system version of the RPG.
There’s also a FATE version (which was the last version released):
It’s a bit of an older RPG, but you can still find the sourcebook on Drive Thru RPG or Amazon. Drive Thru RPG will throw in a free PDF version if you buy the hardcover. (Or you can just buy the PDF itself.)
That’s pretty much my POV, as well. I play 5E D&D regularly, with my original D&D group (some of us have been together since the '80s), but that’s the only time I play D&D at this point. I regularly play with several other groups, and I GM, too, but with other game systems.
I have no doubt that one of the players in our D&D group will be interested in changing over (since he likes shiny new stuff), but I don’t think the other players, including myself, will be in any rush.
