I just picked up the 3.0 players handbook. How close to 3.5 is this?

(Got it for 12 bucks with the character gnerator CD)

By Richard Wells (Rwwells) on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 10:25 pm: Edit

There are several SRD derived publications that might serve one's needs better like Mongoose's Pocket Player's Handbook. (Mongoose is not the only company to provide stripped down print versions based on the SRD; it was the first example I could think of. I make no claims regarding the suitability of any such product for any specific purpose.)

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Thursday, December 29, 2005 - 11:27 pm: Edit

Loren. 3.5 fixes most of the bugs with 3.0; not quite as big as Designers to Captains...but close.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 01:11 am: Edit

Is there a place to find these bugs or do you have to just get the 3.5 PHB?

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 10:51 am: Edit

Loren.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DnD35_update_booklet.zip

has a summary of the changes, but lacks the specifics.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 11:28 am: Edit

Thanks. I got this in order to have a basic understanding of the game system. This should help me be more accurate. Thank you Andy.

By Craig Tenhoff (Cktenhoff) on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 06:32 pm: Edit

Loren,

feel free to drop me a line if you need more specifics. I have the 3.5 books and can look up the differences.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Thanks Craig, I will.

But I probably will anyway.

By F. Douglas Wall (Knarf) on Sunday, January 01, 2006 - 10:52 pm: Edit

The only things that would affect PD20 would be combat feats and combat rules. The classes underwent some revision (especially the ranger), but PD20 uses it's own classes. The psionics rules underwent some revision, but I think PD20 uses a more feat based system. I haven't really had the chance to really look it over, having just browsed it in the store.

One thing I did notice was the heavy usage of odd numbers for ability adjustments for the races. Anyone who knows anything about the D20 system knows that it takes an even number to guarantee that the derived ability modifier is changed. That's why all the basic D&D races have even numbered ability score adjustments. The only reason to take an odd numbered adjustment is if you rolled an odd number for an ability score and you need the extra +1 to get an even number and qualify for the modifier.

I was surprised to find that Vulcans got a +5 level adjustment. It is definitely appropriate given all of the abilities that they get, but I would have preferred something that would be a little more approachable, perhaps just a +1 or +2 level adjust.

For some reason, most of the Klingon abilities revolve around holding their alcohol. I don't think the GURPS version even got Alcohol Tolerance or anything like that.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Monday, January 02, 2006 - 08:56 am: Edit

FDW. The ability score modifiers were deliberately done with that in mind. i.e., races tend to be weaker/stronger in that ability, but not so much as to guarantee an adjust. We found that it still impacts ability score decisions, especially when looking ahead to 4th level and its ability bump.

re: Vulcans. I'm away from my book right now, but I recall Vulcans being ETL +3, not ETL +5.

re: Klingons. I'll have to check my books to confirm the specifics; I can confirm that there were detailed efforts to match across systems.

By Jonathan M. Thompson (Bpi_Jonathan) on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 08:40 pm: Edit

I am having some trouble getting on to the boards most of the time. However if anyone has specific questions about something in the PD20, or other d20 books, you are free to email me at thompsonjm@gmail.com and put [PD20 Question] in the subject and I will get back to you as soon as its possible. That should not however stop you from posting on this board also as Andy has done an excellent job in helping out. Between SVC and AP I have managed to keep up with the important points anyway.

By F. Douglas Wall (Knarf) on Friday, January 13, 2006 - 06:01 pm: Edit

Andy: The Level Adjustment for Vulcans is somewhere in the 3-5 range, which might seem a little daunting to a player wishing to play one. They do get a big list of special abilities for it, admittedly, but it is quite a trade off, with everyone having more hit points and skills and class abilities.

I noticed that the Level Adjustments were listed as optional, which, on the one hand makes Vulcans and the other level adjusted races more tempting options and has the potential to unbalance the game, but on the other hand removes the barrier to playing those races and creates a more narratively balanced game than traditional D20.

I should probably stop complaining about PD20, since I played little to no role in its creation and I was being such a curmudgeon about it.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Friday, January 13, 2006 - 11:19 pm: Edit

FDW. Listing the ECL as optional was a comprimise to those who don't like the D20 ECL system. If you normally use ECL, then I recommend using them.

The Vulcans are listed with an ECL of +3. There was more discussion about their ECL level than for most, but the final decision was +3.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 11:14 am: Edit

I remember that "discussion". The problem you have is that Vulcans are simply so darn cool with so much cool stuff. You have to look at them in the context of everything else. They're obviously better than races that got +2, which are obviously better than those that got +1, which are obviously better than those that got 0.

By F. Douglas Wall (Knarf) on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 04:30 pm: Edit

Andy: I may not have said it very well, but I am agreeing with you on the optional ECL thing. ECLs allow the game to be more "balanced," like a traditional D&D game, but without them, there are more options and less paperwork for the players. However, the GM has to make the adventures so that "weaker" races still have things that they can do that are not outshined by the more "powerful" characters.

By Dale McKee (Brigman) on Friday, January 20, 2006 - 10:29 pm: Edit

Interestingly, I found in the PD D20 book that the Gorns have tails, whereas in the fiction guides elsewhere on this site, it mentions editing a story that presented Gorns with tails because "they don't have tails"...

Being a Gorn affecianado, I was surprised they have tails in PD, when they clearly don't on the show.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 12:32 am: Edit

Cosmetic surgery.

Just don't ask if it is to remove the tail, or add one. Gorns are REALLY touchy about this.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 10:51 am: Edit

Gorns do not have tails.

By Dale McKee (Brigman) on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 01:33 am: Edit

Is there an errata page for PD D20 then? Or should I just use white out?

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 02:27 am: Edit

Gorns tell tails. Maybe that's what it means.

Not likely, just read it. Wow, how did that get through?!? They don't need those bonuses either. That entire line should be stricken from the text, IMO.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 09:25 am: Edit

Yes - the entire line should be stricken.

It was caught, but slipped through on file versioning.

By Vince Burke (Darthkahn) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 02:33 am: Edit

If this was covered already, I apologize. It says under the Naval Line Officer class, in the skills section, it lists the skill Leadership (CHA) on pg 46. Is this a misprint or is there a new skill I have not read yet?

By Vince Burke (Darthkahn) on Saturday, April 08, 2006 - 08:31 pm: Edit

.. I'm glad I didnt need the info right away.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Saturday, April 08, 2006 - 10:11 pm: Edit

Sorry, Vince - I thought I had replied (one of the downfalls of only using the "check for new messages" feature).

You can strike the reference to the Leadership skill.

By Mark Gedak (Mark_Gedak) on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 11:09 pm: Edit

In regards to the ECL for Vulcans. It would be possible to include a basic vulcan and then have racial levels the character could pick-up to increase thier natural abilities.