How to Play Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition | Part 1: Introduction
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2020
- #dungeonsanddragons #howtoplaydnd #bluedragonrpgreview
Welcome back to Blue Dragon RPG Review. Today we begin my wife Ava's new series on how to play 3.5 Edition Dungeons & Dragons. She's learning how to play this edition and thought it might help her to also explain it to other people. She's a great teacher so I hope you enjoy her video. I'll be starting a series as well on how to DM 3.5E. That series will start soon. If you like our videos, please consider subscribing. The bigger we are able to get on TH-cam, the better our content will hopefully get. We love doing this and enjoy interacting and contributing to this wonderful TRPG community. Thank you so much for watching! We appreciate each and every one of you!
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As DM who both remembers how hard learning the game was back in middle school '03 and a player who has watched countless games fizzle on role 20 as recently as today, the only advice I would ever give to a new DM is to start new players off with One Shot modules and restrict character building to only Players Handbook.
My advice to new players is to try solo DMng. Grab a One Shot module and practice the rules on your own. The thing about 3.5 is that it comes from a robust lineage of a crowd of well read and highly experienced D&D players. This is why 3.5 exist. Its because all the other editions left players wanting more. So Wizards of the Coast churned out so much content for 3.0 and then churned out a whole lot more for 3.5. I remember people waiting for the next book at the bookstore/comic book store and just absorbing the material as soon as theh got it. Whether it was 240 or 320 pages. This is what we looked forward to. So we were self driven and motivated. Coming from the Harry Potter and Chronicle of Narnia book era, where it wasnt strange for a kid to go to a library and just read 300 page books because he liked it.
An era when if you were too much into role playing Dragon Ball Z scenarios at the school ground, play WWE stars in the backyard, BMX, rolle blade or play tag, the school still obligated parents to have thwir kids read at least one book a month. So even a jock (like me at the time) could pick up three 3.5 books and learn it so he can play with friends after school with the science teacher. So the more books came out over the years, the happier we were.
But today, new players are more about digital consumerism. And thats fine you dont have to learn how to build a mechanically sensible character. You can spend most of the campaign just role playing, chatting and narrating. No problem with that. In that case just play AD&D, 5th edition or Call of Cthulhu. Because 3.5 shines in mechanics and learning the game just to play a prestige class because of the cool name is hardly worth it if your not going to learn the vast mechanics of the game. 3.0/3.5 is really nerdiest D&D game there is. You know your 3pointfiving right when build a character from an assortment of books you toiled over for hours and now your DM has to hit the books hard too to patch whatever wacky nonsense your character is legally capable of.
3.5e was amazing! The amount of books out there, classes, feats, spells, races, etc. So much to choose from.
Definitely one of the reasons I love this edition!
Lupin half dragon paladin of freedom. Following a goddess of luck and gambling. OwO
too much crunch though.
DnD lacks in lore and consistent world building considerably.
Cool ideas spread out on too many different settings.
3.5 had so much powercreep in later books that DMing was not fun for me any more.
Dervish, Divine Metamagic, Shock Trooper, Spell Compendium's spells (especially Orb of xyz spells) to name a few.
I recommend playing only with core books plus a few select feats and PrC from the martial books to close the power gap between casters and melee characters a little bit.
I actually haven’t played in so long I need a refresher ha! I’ll be watching for more videos in this series.
Thanks for watching our video! We appreciate it!
I'm quite happy to see people still playing DnD's best iteration. Of course, the video is from three years ago, but I hope you guys still on it.
I started with 3.5 back in 2004. Tried other editions but always end up coming back to this one.
I started in 3.0, and just played all throughout it and 3.5! Great memories!
Some of my favorite memories as well! Cheers!
Man, this series is underrated. I love your channel's high quality.
Definitely appreciate the kind words. We’ve been super busy with work lately, but we’re hoping to get back to making videos soon. Thanks for watching!
One thing about the crits...
You don't get a crit on a 20, you get the possiblity of a crit if you roll in the weapon's crit range. You have to do a second roll and hit again.
For example a Kukri crits on 18-20 (feats can also add onto this: if you had the improved critical feat you could double your crit range too, and crit on 15-20).
The amount of damage the crit does is also dependant on the weapon, while the Kukri is only x2 damage, a Long bow (which only crits on 20 [or 19-20 with the improved critical feat] does x3 damage).
Though melee weapons like the kukri add strength modifer to damage and ranged attacks only do the roll for damage.
That is, other than composite bows (which can add a strength bonus up to their bow quality [a +1 composite bow can only add 1 strength modifer, even if you had a higher strength modifer than that, though if you didn't have any modifer to strength you wouldn't be strong enough to use the composite bow in the first place]).
Crits also don't multipy damage, they multiply the amount of dice you roll. They do however multipy the strength modifer in addition of multipling the dice.
Though even if you crit on a lower roll than 20, only 20s are auto hits. If you can crit on a roll of 15, but can't hit on a roll of 15, you still miss and don't get to attempt confirm the crit.
This is a really great intro to 3.5. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series!
Thank you! Ava will be glad to hear this because she was nervous about whether or not she'd do well presenting information on something she's trying to learn herself. The plus side of her doing this is that she's picking up the system fast. Sometimes I think it's easier to learn something if you are trying to explain it to others as well. The information sticks better. Thanks for watching!
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews Ava did a great job as always. Learning something to teach is a great move!
JNJ Tabletop I just relayed your comment and she is very appreciative! Thank you for your kind words!
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews :-)
Awesome idea.. already loving this series.. was an old school player that was brought back to the game in 5th and now pathfinder 2e. I missed 3.5 and 4th editions. Two editions that are most frequently mentioned. Very curious to see what i missed. Thanks
Awesome! We are glad you enjoyed! We plan on covering 4E as well as Pathfinder 1E too. We really appreciate you watching!
3.5 is where I learned to dm. There’s a lot I miss about it in 5e.
Me too man. I grew up playing AD&D with my dad, but 3.5 was the system that I actually started DMing. Such great memories playing that edition. My wife, daughter, 3 friends and I are starting a new 3.5 game Sunday. I'm so excited!
Blue Dragon RPG Review that’s sounds fun. I got my wife to play once. Haven’t really tried again.
@@SaveorDie Was she not into it?
Blue Dragon RPG Review yeah, the three kids and her, in the sunless citadel 3.5. She had fun. They got up to meepo. Thing is she won’t admit she had fun.
@@SaveorDie I love sunless citadel lol
Thank you for this vid.
I've played for over 30 years, SRD 3.5 is my Fav
Thank you for watching! Work has kept me busy lately but I promise that we’ll get back to making this series of 3.5 videos really soon!
I'm a long time 3.5 DM. Subbed because of this series. One can always learn more
Now that work is slowing down for me I plan on returning to this series and releasing more videos soon. Thanks for watching!
My favorite edition, our table runs it almost exclusively. Not enough videos out there on 3.5e stuff.
Great intro to this series, very well edited and easy to follow. Can't wait to see more
TIRANthegreat Thank you! Really appreciate that!
These videos are perfect and just what i was looking for, thank you both for all the effort and looking forward to learning from you guys before jumping into an upcoming campaign in 3.5
We appreciate you watching! We plan on releasing new episodes in this 3.5 series soon.
Great whistlestop tour!
Awesome video! I started my journey with RPGs with dnd 3.5!
Cheers.
Me and my friends were gonna start a campaign, but the dm only knew third edition, while I’m more experienced in fifth. Thank you for this guide!!!
Wanted to let you know that as of now this video is the first thing that pops up on TH-cam when you search dnd 3.5
Wow! Thanks for pointing that out to us. This might be the sign we need to continue this series. We’re shocked this video is at 7K views! We appreciate you watching!
Just jumped into this game with my brother and his group of friends. This is going to be my first campaign where I’m not being spoon fed all my information. I can’t thank you enough. You earned a new sub :)
I appreciate that a lot. I plan on releasing new episodes in this 3.5 series soon.
Subscribed for more of these vids. I'm about to start DM'ing a group for 3.5 and I'm looking forward to more of this series.
Soso Nation I promise we have more in the works. I’m just trying to play catch up with all the footage I have that’s already filmed. More are coming though.
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews Looking forward to it. Notifications set to on.
I both read the rule book and watch these kinds of videos as it best fits my learning style. Miigwetch for sharing your knowledge
Glad it was helpful!
Good art selection.
Good video
We still play 3.5
Glad I found you guys
Welcome! We always enjoy finding new friends in the RPG community! We just subbed to your channel!
Blue Dragon RPG Review thank you
I still play a custom 3.5 with my 40-50 year old friends. We agree is the best edition.
I play on 3.5 but it felt wrong thx so much very helpful
Glad it helped!
As a first time DM that has never played ttrpg, with two players that have similar experience to me, this is going to be a great help. No one seems to talk about 3.5 on yt, only 5e, but i got the 3.5 books because i understand is the least complicated between the 2 to understand and play
I’m glad it’s helping. I promise that I’ll continue this series as soon as work calms down!
I hope your game's going well!
That said, as someone who started in 3.5E and has played some amount of 5E, 5E is *BY FAR* less complicated and easier to understand than 3.5E.
3.5E is like an esoteric tome compared to 5E's children's book level of simplicity.
(This isn't a knock on 5E, by the way. I think simplicity is a strength.)
And if you're looking for an even simpler, smoother experience, I recommend checking out the "Old School Renaissance" (OSR)-style games. One of my favorites is Five Torches Deep (a fusion of some of the principles of 5E *and* the OSR), but some other great ones are Basic Fantasy RPG (which is completely free!), Old-School Essentials, Whitehack, Labyrinth Lord, Castles & Crusades, White Box, Dungeon Crawl Classics, etc.
And if you want to go even simpler, there's very rules-lite systems like KNAVE/Maze Rats to check out!
Thanks you. I start to buy Pathfinder 1 books because are wonderful, D&D 3.5 is a great game.
It is a great game!
I have the same shirt and the same book!
I actually looked for a 3.5 after 5e video as a dm I'll probably still watch both versions to play it either in or with my group when our 5e campaign ist finished
Both editions have their merits!
Haven't played 3.5 since 2010 so I needed a refresher course
It's a great system!
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews I prefer it over 5e but it takes so long to make a character
@@yamatohekatsue9143 Yeah 5E definitely has the faster character creation system.
Why doesn't this have more views?
I appreciate any view I get! Thanks for watching!
I've resolved to think of 3.5 as now just my official "miniatures-focused D&D"/D&D "tactics", sort of like your Final
Fantasy: Tactics to your default Final Fantasy game. 3.5 had the Chainmail/Miniatures Game embedded within it for a reason. I'll never attempt play it over webcam, but it's the kind of D&D I'm open to playing at a grid-covered table, with lots of minis, with a gameplay focused on [and taking your time with] combat and the perhaps deeper intricacies dungeon-delving (lots of traps, etc.). I think that's the kind of game that plays to its strengths... in comparison to 5e, which is just a better default for fantasy roleplaying.
I couldn't afford the 3.5 books, so I got the 3.0 books. I hope I can still at least use them for ideas for my other games, or maybe just use them to play 3.0. Thank for these videos! I am interested in 5e and other osr games.
Yeah the 3.5 books are crazy expensive on the second hand market. I just had to pay over $200 for Monster Manual 5. I wish they let DriveThruRPG do print-on-demand for all of the 3.5 stuff. That would greatly help!
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews Do you think I can use the 3.5 Player's Hand book with the 3.0 DM's Guide and Monster Manual?
I’m not sure how well things would be balanced if you did that. I’d have to go through and see how different the math is on things like encounters and monster stats.
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews I read a post where some one found that the only difference between the monster manuals is that the 3e one doesn't list the CR in the monster description, but the stats are the same. I haven't been able to find a comparison between the DMG's yet.
Oh ok awesome! I’m not super familiar with 3.0 because I don’t own those core rulebooks. It wasn’t out super long before 3.5 so my friends and I played that after we had finished our 2nd Edition AD&D campaign. We kinda skipped over 3.0 hahahaha. So it sounds like you probably could mix and match without too many problems.
Hello. Please recommend us D&D 3.5 Adventures. Thanks for your attention.
Excellent series. Ive been collecting 3.5 books for years. Havnt played since high school. I'm 56 now and tired of waiting to find a game. Id like to put my wife through a solo adventure, but not so easy to do. Any tips where to look? I've also never been a DM.
The 1E Pathfinder Beginner Box Set has a great solo adventure and the rules are basically 3.5, just a bit improved on. You might want to check that out!
Crpg player, hate how there turning out.
Was told about fifth editions and cringed, was intimidated by advanced dnd but 3.5 was a nice looking system.
Plunged in, and wanted a refresher for my game this weekend.
It’s a fantastic system! Have a great game!
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews thanks for the vid.
Can you guys cover lupins and or drugs?
3.5 is the last great edition of d&d, at least from a character creation perspective, it allows for such depth and min-maxing of characters, for instance, being able to take an abomination of a class that is the monk, and cross class into rogue to hit stunning sneak attacks that get sneak attacks, turning an almost useless class into a sneak attack powerhouse with flurry of blows, doing like 10d6 at low levels and later 24d6 at higher levels, making a Bruce lee character of sorts, and the weaponry is unparalleled, the biggest downside to 3.5 is that it is 1000x more complex than 5e and can be intimidating to new players
5:11 So for example I have no points in stealth and no ability modifier for dexterity. This means I get +0 on the roll, but why is that different from a standard unopposed or opposed action? Can't you always have a modifier of 0?
Here after the OGL leaks.
I paint minis for fun, but I've run multiple 3.5 games without them. Don't dismiss the chance to play 3.5 because you think you need a load of models
Absolutely
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews Thanks, that wasn't a criticism of the video, just a plea for people to give 3.5 a chance. As you know, it's got a loyal fanbase, but new blood is always welcome. I love the more seamless mind-theatre of 5e and minis are awesome. I live in Japan and I'm looking for a game to join as a player, but timezones make it tough. No shortage of games when I'm DMing, but not a single game I can be a player in
@@TheUplate That’s the same problem I have. I’ve been stuck in the role of DM for 20 years.
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews sucks, righr? I've got an underpowered cleric ready to go
3.5 or Die... Bit more of a learning curve, but infinitely more flexible.
Do y'all have any series on AD&D 2e? I am a fan of 3 & 3.5 but my main passion is in AD&D
We may have some AD&D content in the future!
I DM near exclusively 3.5, read the rest and just didn't like the rule changes and introduction of subclasses. It completely removed the desire of prestige classes. Nor could I stand advantage and disadvantage die, it removed alot of my players "thinking" before acting as the could just flank everyone.
Hi all, started playing dnd for the first time, anyone know how exactly hawk damage is calculated? Talons +5 melee (1d4-2) does this mean that if my bird rolls 2 or lower it does no dmg?
You roll a d20 to attack and add 5 to that number. Compare that to the targets armor class (AC). If your number is one or above that AC, then you hit. You roll a d4 for damage and subtract 2 to that number. On a successful hit you’ll always do at least 1 point of damage.
So I have a question is there a feat or skill to “Size up” NPC’s. Like if I walk in a bar and I’m looking around the room I wanna be able to know who I can mess with and who I can’t mess with. Like if a 50lvl npc walk in I can roll and know I won’t be able to take him 1 on 1. Type of deal. Like a combat insight type deal.
There's a ton of source books for 3.5 so I'm not sure if there's a "size up" skill exactly, but speaking as a DM, I would allow my players to size up NPC's with a simple perception check. It shouldn't be too hard to walk into a room and know who you can take on just by looking at them. Plus it could lead to a fun encounter of the players grossly underestimating the power of an NPC if they roll bad lol.
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews thanks so much! Also sense motive can be used. Complete adventure 3.5 in skills breaks it down.
Yeah that would be a great skill to use, especially to see which NPC's may be a threat. Not just physically either. You'd be able to tell if the seemingly sweet old frail art dealer was going to secretly alert the enemy of your presence in town! Or something to that affect.
Does anyone see the damage on the amazing lute at 7:00?!? XD
Glad someone is paying attention!
cool channel logo
Ditto
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews hey happy new btw
@@monishvj5172 Happy New Year to you as well!!!
3.5/Pathfinder Step 1: Take a deep breath and have a therapist on speed dial. Also, a graphing calculator. Step 2: Everything else you talked about. XD I think I'm funny at least haha.
LOL!
Solely came here to figure out wtf the chart is trying to tell me for random height and weight...... Hope this video covers that....
According to this chart the average height is 4'11" and I rolled 2d10 and got 16....... So I'm 6'3"? Doesn't sound right
Would you mine running me through a 3.5 tutorial campaign? I got an email if you’d like to discuss this more!
You can email me at bluedragonarcana@gmail.com if you want. I work full time but we might be able to set something up. I always like helping people learn 3.5 D&D.
The legend of Namfoodle Stumbleduck began here?!
JNJ Tabletop Hahaha yep. And what a legend it is! I’m talking to my friend actually about doing a video discussing that epic Gnome Bard lol
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews DO IT!!!
What if your players want to be Dragons and no other humanoid races??? Could you possibly do a tutorial on how to make such a character??
Yeah we could totally do that! There’s a really good 3.5 source book that covers this. We’ll start working on that.
Do they want to be actual Dragons, or something like Dragonborn?
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews FULL BLOODED DRAGONS hahah!
excuse me but... AMAZING LUTE 6D12 +4 DAMAGE??!!! look I know music can change the world and stuff but that thing is either gargantuan in size or a fucking boom-box bazooka to deal that kind of damage
There was no D&D after 3.5. These other ones were imposters :|
im new dmd is a 3.5 dm and im getting to play a dragon from dragoninca so im interested in this
Hope you enjoy!
3.5 4lyfe
I’m a total newbie.
I have that 👕
where can you get 3.5
Either from 3rd party sellers on sites like eBay, or PDF/ Print-on-Demand through DriveThruRPG.
1:58 skip
To bad you are not continuing this series :/
My wife and I are actually scripting out a continuation of this series. We’ve both been busy with work, but we’re hoping to get some more videos released soon.
@@BlackDragonRPGReviews Glad to hear that :)
Anyone else here to escape WoTC?
Is this really a series we need to 2020? This edition released in 2003.
Yes it is, for anyone looking to go back and explore D&D's History videos like these can be very helpful.
Yes, I think it is needed. I know plenty of people that have only ever played 5E and want to go back and learn about past editions. However, if people end up not watching this, that's ok. This is also a way for Ava to better learn the system as she tries explaining it to others. That really works for her, so if that's all that comes from this series, it's worth the time and effort.
DravenSwiftbow I just realized that my comment probably didn’t come off nice. I’m not against them doing this series, I was just curious if they thought anyone would be searching for this information. I’m totally looking forward to the rest of the series.
Blue Dragon RPG Review that’s awesome that she is going back to learn older systems. I can’t wait to see more of this series.
We appreciate you watching!
Played 3.5 for 2 decades without minis. Not needed.
Obviously not needed. This isn’t 4E. Still, for my group and I, it’s our preferred way to play. Thanks for watching.