A question about 3rd ed non-core books

[Kenneth]

I am an old school player, and It was written in the non core books back in those days that said book as completely optional to use.


now I see people referring to eberron stuff and the UA prestige paladins and all kinds fo other such things that I myself would consider optional.. and even in the regards of campaign setting specifics, liek that eberron weirdness wholey disallowed for most game settings.



I am just wondering. Does 3rd ed have the 'non-core books are optiional' rules as well or i s literally everything ever published by WoTC 100% fair legal game at any table?

[Lapak]

I am just wondering. Does 3rd ed have the 'non-core books are optiional' rules as well or i s literally everything ever published by WoTC 100% fair legal game at any table?Even the core books are optional. What material is legal at any given table is up to the players and the DM.

In this forum, people tend to assume a everything-included Rules-As-Written environment when talking about mechanical questions (unless otherwise specified) because it's the only context we can assume that everyone has available to them.

[Yora]

Even core is optional when the players and the GM agree on not using some things that are in the Player's Handbook when it fits the campaign.

That you see people referring from absolutely everything here is mostly that 12 years after the game was released, the people who are still visiting a forum about the game almost every day are mostly the kind of people who really spend a lot of time with the game and have a lot of books.
So when talking among each other, it's usually assumed that everyone knows what we're talking about. And we know all the standard rules, so when we talk about something, it's mostly the unusual stuff. When someone new comes to the forum who does not have the game as the primary hobby, it's very easy to get confused by the quite different standards that people here assume about the games.

[Tyndmyr]

I am an old school player, and It was written in the non core books back in those days that said book as completely optional to use.


now I see people referring to eberron stuff and the UA prestige paladins and all kinds fo other such things that I myself would consider optional.. and even in the regards of campaign setting specifics, liek that eberron weirdness wholey disallowed for most game settings.



I am just wondering. Does 3rd ed have the 'non-core books are optiional' rules as well or i s literally everything ever published by WoTC 100% fair legal game at any table?

Everything is optional. So...when someone doesn't specify restrictions, what advice is given is mostly dictated by personal preferences. I have certain books I admit I like rather a lot, and tend to hit pretty routinely. Others appears to be much the same, even if the exact preferred books varies somewhat.

[Kenneth]

Ok, i thought that much but wasn't sure..

I think it would just be easier fi peopel woudl say something along teh lines fo ' well if warforged are allowd in your campaign then X and Y and maybe a little f5' if not well X still wroks but you have to go Z and just saying Z the rest of teh way will get you there"

Ive seen that a few times, but most people just saying 'blah' and really don't pay attentipn wo when soembody sayd for instacne ' i am playing a paladin who is a member fo the purple dragons of Cormyr'

Im pretty sure that unearthed Arcana says' evertyhing in this book is wholly optional for use,' but was nto so sur about for siatce the Complete Mage/ Heroes of Horror etc etc.

[NeoSeraphi]

Unearthed Arcana is a book of house rules. It really is. Generic classes? House rule. Gestalt? Definitely a house rule. Traits? House rule. Flaws? House rule. The sub-races aren't really house-ruled, since they just kind of exist, but allowing sub-races in any game (from any book) is a type of house-rule.

Unearthed Arcana is the only book I know where even if a DM allows it, most of them allow material from it on a case-by-case basis. (You want traits? Sure! You want an Item Familiar? Hell no, what's wrong with you!?)

[Greenish]

Unearthed Arcana is a book of house rules.It's a book of alternative rules. That means, house rules that the designers wrote down and published. :smallcool:

[Yora]

Whoa... Don't drink and post! :smallbiggrin:

[Urpriest]

Prefacing everything with "if X is allowed" is silly, because it applies to literally everything. We do tend to be more limited with setting material if we know someone's using a different setting, but that's about it.

Also, it's generally a safe assumption that a DM allows pretty much every book. 3.5 is out of print. If you play it, likely as not you're doing so because you value the breadth of available material, since that's one of 3.5's chief virtues and there are lots of other more accessible systems to choose from if you don't value that trait. Sure you get the occasional people who try to play 3.5 like a different game, but the older 3.5 gets the fewer of these people will exist.

[bloodtide]

I am just wondering. Does 3rd ed have the 'non-core books are optiional' rules as well or i s literally everything ever published by WoTC 100% fair legal game at any table?

For 3x it's all about a simple sales and marketing gimmick. All books other then the core rules are optional....but it does not say that on the cover. See if the book said ''New optional things for your game''...it, gasp, might not sell as some people only want official stuff. And that is why they keep everything vague.

[Hiro Protagonest]

For 3x it's all about a simple sales and marketing gimmick. All books other then the core rules are optional....but it does not say that on the cover. See if the book said ''New optional things for your game''...it, gasp, might not sell as some people only want official stuff. And that is why they keep everything vague.

You should've said all things other than the core rules are optional, since that includes fighters and elves and barbarians and monks and wizards and dwarves and more, which can all be banned.

[Yora]

It's not banned. It's just not permited.

[Coidzor]

Why does this matter to you? One shouldn't need a book to tell them that it's OK for people to not follow everything that it says to the letter. :smallconfused:

Nor should one need a book to reassure you that it's OK for you to not use its content at all or to use as a crutch or external justification for a lack the confidence in one's own judgment and interpersonal skills to be able to work with others if it actually becomes a source of conflict about what is or is not in use at a given table.

Really just a waste of ink.