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Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e

Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e

Originally created by Monte Cook, Skip Williams, and Jonathan Tweet

In August 2000, Wizards of the Coast published the first new edition of Dungeons & Dragons in eleven years. Three years after they acquired TSR, the publisher of 2nd Edition, D&D 3e marked the beginning of Wizards' stewardship of the game. This edition introduced Skills, Feats, new classes, and standardized rules that would come to be known as the D20 System, arguably the most influential game system of all time. Three years later, a revised version of the 3e rules was released that made lots of small changes to the rules, and expanding on the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual. This version, known as 3.5e, sought to address balancing and gameplay issues from 3e, and made many changes to help improve the game. With its numerous character options, piles of splatbooks full of new rules, races, classes, prestige classes, spells, items, monsters, and ideas, and crunchy rules, D&D 3.5 brought massive popularity to character building and theorycrafting. It's a system players love to tinker with and optimize, and learn the details of to maximize their mastery. Even 25 years later, there are players who still swear by Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, and dozens if not hundreds of other games, including such giants as D&D 5e and Pathfinder, can trace their direct lineage to it.

Details

3-5 Players
D20 System

Release Date

August 2000 / July 2003

Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e Reviews (6)

See what other Game Masters and players are saying about Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e

Michael avatar

Michael

Definitely the version of D&D I played the most of. It had its charm, and was mostly sound mechanically. There was a wide array of options, with a wild range of power levels. Almost too many options when you really get down to it. But, definitely enjoyable.

(Nick Fotopoulos) Dungeon Master Adamantine avatar

(Nick Fotopoulos) Dungeon Master Adamantine

Mechanically speaking ONLY (3.0 and 3.5 not the same!) Worst edition was by far 3.5 by Wizards of the Coast and its plethora of supplements, nothing was compatible, this was when Dungeons and Dragons took the wrong turn, for example why would I need criticals to be nerfed and not be able to roll a 12+ crit with scimitar keen and improved critical, and why would I want Transmutation school to be nerfed as well, yes teleportation is changing matter in space not summoning spirits so conjuration is not the correct school for this type of magic. Best edition using the base rules was 3.0 AD&D by TSR and Monte Cook took a lot of brain matter into creating synergy bonuses, that meant every skill was useful.

Morse avatar

Morse

I started playing TTRPGs just over a year ago, and 3.5 was the system my group used. I found it very easy to learn, with lots of customization and interesting unique aspects such as the skill ranks system, the prestige classes, and the magical items system. I'm really glad I was introduced to DnD through 3.5.

The GameBastard avatar

The GameBastard

Those familiar with 5e will find a lot that they immediately grok when they sit down with 3rd Edition. Essentially, D&D 5e is a direct descendent of this game. In my mind? It's an improvement, but there's something really special (probably nostalgia) about the original for me. If you want to play 5e's Dad, then hit me up.

Belus Handen avatar

Belus Handen

Ran 10 sessions

Third edition of the dungeons and dragons game is the pinnacle of game design. It introduced us to the d20 system, did away with THAC0 and offers the most and deadliest challenges. Tarrasque is nothing compared to El Minster or Mordenkainen, both of whom are in the Epic Level Handbook. 3e introduced prestige classes and detailed designs for creating your own magic items. It also allows you to play monstrous races through a level adjustment system. 3e is deadly and even the gods have been detailed in Deities and Demigods. This is a system that leaves no details missing. I highly recommend 3e as the most advanced version of the dungeons and dragons game.

AP avatar

AP

This system was an enjoyable experience with numerous enhancements over previous editions. As a player, I appreciated the improved gameplay, although I found myself leaning towards certain character builds in standard games. As a Dungeon Master (DM), I recognize the value of Fantasy Grounds, which offers support and ready-to-run content from the publisher (Wizards of the Coast). While their selection could be more extensive, I appreciate the convenience and quality of the available resources.

How to Play Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e

The core mechanic of Dungeons and Dragons is rolling a 20-sided die, adding bonuses and modifiers from your character’s abilities, and trying to beat a target number set by the Dungeon Master. Players build their characters by choosing a fantastical species, class, abilities, skills, equipment, and magic spells, then embark on adventures to advance their wealth and power. D&D also has a robust tactical combat system for fighting monsters and other adversaries, plus rules for delving dungeons and exploring the wilderness. It is assumed to be played on a grid of 5-foot squares for dungeon exploration and combat.

When characters test their skills, the Dungeon Master might call for a "skill check" and set the difficulty at a certain number. That character will then roll a 20-sided die, add their bonus from the relevant stat and skill (plus or minus any circumstantial modifiers) and compare the result to the target number. If it's equal to or greater than that number, the character succeeds! Attacking works similarly to making skill checks, except it uses an attack bonus, instead of a skill, and the target number is set by the target's "armor class," or AC, how hard they are to hit.

Spellcasting is a bit more complex, as every spell has its own rules, but may include making attack roll, or requiring the target to make a reactive "saving throw" to avoid its worst effects. Saving throws are special stats derived from the basic stats and a character's class.

D&D 3.5 has plenty of specific rules to simulate a large number of possible situations, but these will cover most of the basics!

How to Create a D&D 3.5 Character

To create a character for D&D 3.5 (or 3), start with their stats: the six traits that define their innate abilities. These are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. You might roll these randomly with 3d6, or use the point-buy rules to choose which to excel at and which to leave flawed. These stats translate to "modifiers," or a numerical bonus that will apply to rolls using that stat. Then you'll choose your character's race, what kind of creature they are, and their class, what type of fantasy hero they'll be. Different races offer different bonuses to abilities, and different classes require certain abilities to excel; for example, fighters tend to be strong and wizards intelligent.

Your character's class and stats will help you fill in much of the rest of your sheet: their bonus to your saving throws (fortitude, reflex, and will), your base attack bonus, your hit points, and your starting abilities. You'll also have some number of points to put into your skills at first level, where most characters begin. Each point improves your bonus in that skill, and each class has a different number of points they get each level, as well as class skills that offer a bonus when a rank is applied. If your class casts spells, you may get a number of spells known to choose from, as well as how many spells you can cast each day.

Next you can choose a starting Feat for your character, a special ability or bonus in a certain situation. Many feats come in trees, allowing you to build toward more powerful abilities. Then you'll purchase starting equipment with your gold, figure out any bonus languages your character speaks, and calculate their armor class based on their armor and stats, and their attacks based on their weapons and stats. Outfit your new character with a name, a patron deity, and a character backstory, and you're ready to go!

Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e map makers

Venatus Maps

Venatus Maps specializes in creating clean, modular battle maps for virtual tabletops. Their work covers a wide range of environments, from haunted forests to ancient ruins, with meticulous attention to detail. Venatus Maps also offers map packs designed for specific adventures, making it easier to plug them into existing campaigns.

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Tom Cartos

Tom Cartos is a renowned creator of highly detailed, multi-level battlemaps for tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons. His work enhances gameplay by providing immersive environments that captivate players. Tom offers a diverse range of maps, including fantasy and modern settings, available through his website and Patreon. Patreon supporters gain access to weekly map sets, asset packs, and monthly adventures, with higher tiers offering additional benefits such as DungeonDraft integration and limited commercial licensing.

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Heroic Maps

Heroic Maps delivers high-quality, printable battlemaps that cater to both fantasy and sci-fi settings. Known for their versatility, Heroic Maps provide a mix of atmospheric dungeons, vivid landscapes, and detailed interiors. Their offerings include modular designs that can be pieced together for expansive settings, perfect for GMs looking for flexibility in map design.

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Cze and Peku

Cze and Peku are well-known in the TTRPG community for their vibrant and highly detailed battle maps. They specialize in fantasy, sci-fi, and modern settings, offering maps for everything from dungeons to sprawling cities. Their Patreon provides a variety of map styles, along with grid and gridless options, making them perfect for both virtual tabletops and print. With frequent updates, they’re a go-to for immersive game experiences.

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Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e community artists

Wayne Reynolds

Wayne Reynolds is a British artist renowned for his dynamic and detailed illustrations. He has contributed extensively to several fantasy roleplaying games, including Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons.

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Todd Lockwood

Todd Lockwood is a fantasy artist best known for his work with Wizards of the Coast on Dungeons & Dragons (beginning with 3rd edition) and Magic: the Gathering.

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Frequently asked questions about Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e

Explore Dungeons & Dragons 3/3.5e Classes

Barbarian image

Barbarian

The barbarian is an excellent warrior. Where the fighter's skill in combat comes from training and discipline, however, the barbarian has a powerful rage. While in this berserk fury, they become stronger and tougher, better able to defeat their foes and withstand their attacks. These rages leave them winded, and they have the energy for only a few such spectacular displays per day, but those few rages are usually sufficient. They are at home in the wild, and runs at great speed.

Bard image

Bard

It is said that music has a special magic, and the bard proves that saying true. Wandering across the land, gathering lore, telling stories, working magic with their music, and living on the gratitude of their audience - such is the life of a bard. When chance or opportunity draws them into a conflict, bards serve as diplomats, negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies.

Cleric image

Cleric

The handiwork of the gods is everywhere - in places of natural beauty, in mighty crusades, in soaring temples, and in the hearts of worshipers. Like people, gods run the gamut from benevolent to malicious, reserved to intrusive, simple to inscrutable. The gods, however, work mostly through intermediaries - their clerics. Good clerics heal, protect, and avenge. Evil clerics pillage, destroy, and sabotage. A cleric uses the power of their god to make their god's will manifest. And if a cleric uses their god's power to improve their own lot, that's to be expected, too.

Druid image

Druid

The fury of a storm, the gentle strength of the morning sun, the cunning of the fox, the power of the bear - all these and more are at the druid's command. The druid however, claims no mastery over nature. That claim, they say, is the empty boast of a city dweller. The druid gains their power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. To trespassers in a druid's sacred grove, and to those who feel their wrath, the distinction is overly fine.

Fighter image

Fighter

The questing knight, the conquering overlord, the king's champion, the elite foot soldier, the hardened mercenary, and the bandit king - all are fighters. Fighters can be stalwart defenders of those in need, cruel marauders, or gutsy adventurers. Some are among the land's best souls, willing to face death for the greater good. Others are among the worst, with no qualms about killing for private gain, or even for sport. Fighters who are not actively adventuring may be soldiers, guards, bodyguards, champions, or criminal enforcers. An adventuring fighter might call themselves a warrior, a mercenary, a thug, or simply an adventurer.

Monk image

Monk

Dotted across the landscape are monasteries - small, walled cloisters inhabited by monks who pursue personal perfection through action as well as contemplation. They train themselves to be versatile warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armor. The inhabitants of monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant clothes, monks can travel unnoticed among the populace, catching bandits, warlords, and corrupt nobles unawares. In contrast, the residents of monasteries headed by evil masters rule the surrounding lands through fear, as an evil warlord and his entourage might. Evil monks make ideal spies, infiltrators, and assassins.

Paladin image

Paladin

The compassion to pursue good, the will to uphold law, and the power to defeat evil - these are the three weapons of the paladin. Few have the purity and devotion that it takes to walk the paladin's path, but those few are rewarded with the power to protect, to heal, and to smite. In a land of scheming wizards, unholy priests, bloodthirsty dragons, and infernal fiends, the paladin is the final hope that cannot be extinguished.

Ranger image

Ranger

The forests are home to fierce and cunning creatures, such as bloodthirsty owlbears and malicious displacer beasts. But more cunning and powerful than these monsters is the ranger, a skilled hunter and stalker. They know the woods as if they were their home (as indeed they are), and they know their prey in deadly detail.

Rogue image

Rogue

Rogues share little in common with each other. Some are stealthy thieves. Others are silver-tongued tricksters. Still others are scouts, infiltrators, spies, diplomats, or thugs. What they share is versatility, adaptability, and resourcefulness. In general, rogues are skilled at getting what others don't want them to get: entrance into a locked treasure vault, safe passage past a deadly trap, secret battle plans, a guard's trust, or some random person's pocket money.

Sorcerer image

Sorcerer

Sorcerers create magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn talent honed by practice. They have no books, no mentors, no theories - just raw power that they direct at will. Some sorcerers claim that the blood of dragons courses through their veins. That claim may even be true in some cases - it is common knowledge that certain powerful dragons can take humanoid form and even have humanoid lovers, and it's difficult to prove that a given sorcerer does not have a dragon ancestor. It's true that sorcerers often have striking good looks, usually with a touch of the exotic that hints at an unusual heritage. Others hold that the claim is either an unsubstantiated boast on the part of certain sorcerers or envious gossip on the part of those who lack the sorcerer's gift.

Wizard image

Wizard

A few unintelligible words and fleeting gestures carry more power than a battleaxe, when they are the words and gestures of a wizard. These simple acts make magic seem easy, but they only hint at the time the wizard must spend poring over their spellbook preparing each spell for casting, and the years before that spent in apprenticeship to learn the arts of magic. Wizards depend on intensive study to create their magic. They examine musty old tomes, debate magical theory with their peers, and practice minor magics whenever they can. For a wizard, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art.

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