Dungeons and Dragons: Official TL Thread

So I searched for a thread and I was shocked there wasn't one. I don't know how many traditional game nerds there are here on TL, but I figured since the community is so big there might be quite a few. So here's the D&D General Thread! I've played since 3rd edition, mostly dungeon mastering but occasionally playing PC's. (Generally Wizard, since magic tends to confuse most people and a good wizard is sooooooo essential)

Epic Sorcerer

First of all, the big question is, what edition do you prefer to play? It's been soooo long since I've played but me and my friends really prefer 3.5 over the new 4th edition (a bit more user friendly but a more limiting experience imo).

Any DM's wanna share some of their homebrew?

Resources

System Reference Documents (Online Players Handbook, Monster Manual, Etc.)

Host Online Character Sheets

So this OP is just a tad bare right now, but if some good discussion is generated I'll continue updating it with some resources and such.

Last edit: 2009-11-27 18:04:35

CTStalker Canada. November 27 2009 21:33. Posts 9665

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i think 3.5 is definitely better than 4th, but it's a matter of taste. personally, i don't like the idea that in later levels the skills and total attack bonus for every class converges. they basically took away two ways for a character to distinguish itself and called it a playability improvement. i guess some people look at it akin to removing THACO in favor of a base attack bonus from 2nd to 3rd, but i think it's a much different change than that.

one thing 4th is good at though is introducing people to the game.

By the way, my name is Funk. I am not of your world

Manit0u Poland. November 27 2009 21:53. Posts 9848

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It's THAC0 not THACO. (To Hit Armour Class 0)

Never was a big fan of D&D though. When it comes to mechanics then World of Darkness is pretty good, easy to grasp and works fine, the only problem is that skills etc. they have are complete bullshit (but the sole mechanics are fine). When it comes to story and general playing experience I believe that Call of Cthulhu is king, followed closely by WFRP and Inquisitor (now called Dark Heresy, have to check it out because the universe there is god damn awesome but Inquisitor mechanics were seriously flawed, even with my x-teen experience with various RPG systems I couldn't quite grasp it).

Edit: When it comes to D&D though, I was always a fan of Dragonlance setting. Was really neat.

Last edit: 2009-11-27 21:55:10

Time is precious. Waste it wisely.

CTStalker Canada. November 27 2009 22:16. Posts 9665

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On November 27 2009 21:53 Manit0u wrote:
It's THAC0 not THACO. (To Hit Armour Class 0)

i know what it is... i wrote it out in the way it's pronounced.

By the way, my name is Funk. I am not of your world

TheYango United States. November 27 2009 22:18. Posts 15783

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On November 27 2009 18:02 DoctorHelvetica wrote:
I've played since 3rd edition, mostly dungeon mastering but occasionally playing PC's. (Generally Wizard, since magic tends to confuse most people and a good wizard is sooooooo imba)

Fixed.

Class balance is a joke after about level 10 or so (7 being about the breakpoint where Wizards/Clerics cross the line of "somewhat better" into "strictly better" than everything else). Not that it SHOULD matter, but the disparity is so great that I remember having a player once who got pissed at the fact that the Wizard and Cleric could resolve virtually every encounter, regardless of whether it involved combat, while all he would do is occasionally hit things when the Wizard blinded/stunned/Black Tentacled them.

4E is kind of a fix for it, but all in all, doesn't feel like a very versatile ruleset. I prefer homebrews to fix the class issues.

On November 27 2009 21:53 Manit0u wrote:
When it comes to story and general playing experience I believe that Call of Cthulhu is king,

Agreed.

On November 27 2009 21:53 Manit0u wrote:
Edit: When it comes to D&D though, I was always a fan of Dragonlance setting. Was really neat.

Eh, I always had a thing for Dark Sun, and Planescape, though it does bring up a point about how WotC basically discontinued every non-Forgotten Realms lorebase. IMO FR got popular through people who WEREN'T playing games with it (Salvatore's novels and whatnot, though I will grant that they are worth a read), because most of the people that I've talked to that have played the old editions preferred other settings.

Last edit: 2009-11-27 22:26:08

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Manit0u Poland. November 27 2009 22:51. Posts 9848

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On November 27 2009 22:18 TheYango wrote:

4E is kind of a fix for it, but all in all, doesn't feel like a very versatile ruleset. I prefer homebrews to fix the class issues.

I've heard that Druid class is the new Wizard class in 4E. At level 7 it gets way better than others and then just increases the gap.
But I may be wrong, I'm not really into D&D.

Time is precious. Waste it wisely.

Raelcun United States. November 28 2009 08:35. Posts 3574

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Does pathfinder count towards this thread? It's a 3.5 mod that makes a lot of good improvements a lot of people refer to it as 3.75.

TheYango United States. November 28 2009 08:38. Posts 15783

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On November 28 2009 08:35 iCCup.Raelcun wrote:
Does pathfinder count towards this thread? It's a 3.5 mod that makes a lot of good improvements a lot of people refer to it as 3.75.

I'm assuming this thread has room for everyone's d20 system variant of choice.

如果有一天星际没有了,如果有一天DOTA没有了,我不会消失.

Raelcun United States. November 28 2009 08:58. Posts 3574

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The changes to Sorcerer and many individual changes to spells in Pathfinder are very nice I like the 'system' a lot it's not a completely different system it's more of just taking 3.5 and 'fixing' it a bit so to speak.

PangO Chile. November 28 2009 09:07. Posts 1870

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Im surpresed you guys play de 3,5 version.
I used to play the 2.0, and loved Ravenloff so much.

In Economics, the majority is always wrong. aka: MattRz

numLoCK Canada. November 28 2009 09:27. Posts 1413

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I play 3.5
Never really got into 4e at all, and I don't think I will. The huge amount of sources out for 3.5 and the fact that many people think 4e sucks is enough to keep me with 3.5.

plated.rawr Norway. November 28 2009 09:55. Posts 1387

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I'd post a picture of my norwegian translation of DND 1st edition, but there's none on the internets and I can't be arsed finding my mobile cable. Such an awesome translation of an awesome game - using words that barely exists in the norwegian language in places where it really doesn't fit. That book alone is a good read for laughs - playing it using their translated terminology is even more hillarious!

Anyhow, I've mainly played 2nd and 3rd ed the last few years, but I'm not very fond of the d20 system. The entire thing seems built for mathfreaks, statbalancers, munchkining and level-hunting, not roleplaying. I generally use homebrews based off Cyberpunk 2020, Mutant Chronicles or something completely different altogether rather than using the d20 system.

Savior broke my heart ;_;

Mori600 Japan. November 28 2009 10:06. Posts 311

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I switched from 3.5 to 4.0 mainly because my older brother insisted that we do so and I found the battle system to be much better. I know an elderly DnD player who has been playing since 1st edition and he told me that whenever a new edition came out, everyone hated it and viewed it as the arrival of the Antichrist. I do not have a problem with people preferring 3.5 over 4.0 since they are already established, but the people who say 4.0 is unrealistic can go fuck themselves.

Last edit: 2009-11-28 10:08:58

Build a man a fire, he will be warm for a night. Lite a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

John49ers United States. November 28 2009 10:32. Posts 237

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Always wanted to get back into DnD. I heard about 4th and waited for the online virtual table. I think it was called DnDi or Dungeons and Dragons Inside. I don't remember if that ever came out or not. Haven't played in over 15 years and that was with 2nd ed.

Now I play 1 shots of Call of Cthulhu twice a year. A lot more fun than number crunching.

“The beauty of Bill's system was that there was always a place to go with the ball, ... I was the mailman, just delivering people's mail, and there were all kinds of houses to go to.”-Joe Montana

Sadistx Zimbabwe. November 28 2009 10:42. Posts 5471

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I played 4th edition, but just couldn't get into it. It just feels like it lacks the variety of 3.5. Fights actually feel like playing an MMO on paper :/

DoctorHelvetica United States. November 28 2009 11:34. Posts 13955

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On November 28 2009 09:55 plated.rawr wrote:
I'd post a picture of my norwegian translation of DND 1st edition, but there's none on the internets and I can't be arsed finding my mobile cable. Such an awesome translation of an awesome game - using words that barely exists in the norwegian language in places where it really doesn't fit. That book alone is a good read for laughs - playing it using their translated terminology is even more hillarious!

Anyhow, I've mainly played 2nd and 3rd ed the last few years, but I'm not very fond of the d20 system. The entire thing seems built for mathfreaks, statbalancers, munchkining and level-hunting, not roleplaying. I generally use homebrews based off Cyberpunk 2020, Mutant Chronicles or something completely different altogether rather than using the d20 system.

I think the advantage of d20 is how flexible and easy to learn it is. Although I try to get my groups to go more toward roleplay, the munchkin aspect has its merits as well.

Boblion France. November 28 2009 11:38. Posts 7797

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ADD bestiary is hilarious.

fuck all those elitists brb watching streams of elite players.

SayaSP Laos. November 28 2009 11:48. Posts 5478

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Is this for playing something? I wanna play but I dont know how

[iHs]SSP | I-NO-KI BOM-BA-YE | のヮの http://tinyurl.com/MLIStheCV , MLIS.

GeneralStan United States. November 28 2009 11:54. Posts 2889

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While, I confess that 3rd Edition was a pretty drastic jump from 2nd, it was still a logical evolution of the game, keeping the core elements that made D&D what it was.

4th edition was such a drastic change that it no longer feels like D&D, but rather a generic modern role playing game. I'll never warm up to it.

More Human than Human

Musoeun United States. November 28 2009 11:57. Posts 4324

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I haven't played for a while... was introduced to it in college but since then I've been pretty much on my own and don't actually own the books.

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