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View Full Version : Out with the old, in with the new!



Vaniel
2007-06-05, 09:15 AM
Alright, here's the situation!

I will be running a published Wizard 3.0 campaign in a 3.5 world though have never DMed a 3.0 game.

Are there any significant differences concerning CR, XP gain, etc, from 3.0 and 3.5?
Are difficulty levels the same?
If you were me, would you change anything?
How many players is used to determine 3.0 CR, etc, and what would you do if you were 1 or 2 players over? Add more goblins, gnolls, monsters?
Are DC levels for traps and the like harder/easier in 3.5 than 3.0?

Thanks for your answers, whatever they may be

/Vaniel

Matthew
2007-06-05, 09:57 AM
For the most part, things in 3.0 and 3.5 are exactly the same in this regard. However, there are some Monsters that have changed listed CR, such as Kobolds, as a result of changes to their stat block. There is no real difference in the relative strength of party level to CR, however. Regardless, CR is only a general guideline. In the end, you will have to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Player Characters and balance them against appropriate challenges.

Toliudar
2007-06-05, 10:07 AM
Because of changes in things like Damage Reduction, higher level monsters seemed more likely to bounce up and down in CR for the transition 3.0 - 3.5. If you're running adventures with goblins and gnolls, you probably won't notice too many differences.

For an added player or two, adding a couple extra low-level characters to group scenes rarely increases anyone's fun, since they're so often mopped up by area effects and mown down in cleaves. Adding a few HP to the climactic battle bad guys might make it more likely that everyone gets their licks in.

Making sure that everyone still has a chance to shine is even better. If you've got two rogue-types, one of whom is focused on traps and mechanics, and the other is more socially oriented, make sure the adventure has something for each. Even with published materials, it's not too hard to focus some encounters' strategies to give everybody a chance to save the day.

JaronK
2007-06-05, 10:17 AM
The two things to watch out for are skill boosting items (they used to be much more effective... +10 skill items used to be common) and monster DR (that system has changed noticeably). Otherwise, you should be fine.

JaronK

Vaniel
2007-06-05, 10:31 AM
Because of changes in things like Damage Reduction, higher level monsters seemed more likely to bounce up and down in CR for the transition 3.0 - 3.5. If you're running adventures with goblins and gnolls, you probably won't notice too many differences.

Actually, the gnolls and goblins was a poor example.

I'll be running "The Return of the Temple of Elemental Evil", with completely new players that have almost to never played any D&D game.

Matthew
2007-06-05, 11:08 AM
Take a look at the Monsters in Temple of Elemental Evil and compare them to their 3.5 versions beforehand (either via the SRD or 3.5 Monster Manual). For the most part, CR should be very similar. Trap CR hasn't changed, as far as I am aware.

When playing with a group new to the game, you should decide ahead of time how you are going to treat them. There are several schools of thought on how to 'break players into' D&D. One suggests 'giving them the world', fudging the dice when necessary and keeping encounters fairly easy, to kind of ease them into the game. I'm not a big fan of this style of play, but neither do I subscribe to that hardcore school of thought, which is to throw them into the deep end and watch them crash and burn (or not, as the case may be).

Assess the group you are playing with and their emotional investment in their Characters. In many ways, a bit of early party death is no bad thing. It reinforces the possibility of failure and the consequences, making future successes all the sweeter. However, for some people, it can be a turn off or a reason never to invest in their Character(s).

I got my ass kicked in the first D&D game I ever played. It was the Red Box set and my Halfling (Bilbo, probably) and his Elf companion (Tanis certainly), managed to get themselves eaten by a Carrion Crawler. I remember being annoyed at first, but it didn't take us long for me to roll up a new Character (Bilbo Mark II) and we were back to the same Dungeon with some allies and a healthy fear of dungeon denizens.

It mightn't be the same for everyone, but it was a good introduction for me. Okay, I'm rambling a bit now, but the point is that you need to decide how you are going to handle encounters without worrying about CR and the like. The fact is that new players haven't got a clue about CR or what's appropriate. They might well rush from encounter to encounter with little to no planning, they might get lucky or they might get unlucky.

In short, don't worry about CR too much, just be familiar with the Monsters and Player Characters ahead of time.

Vaniel
2007-06-05, 11:31 AM
I'm aiming to give them rough encounters, but in the end all more satisfying when the defeat their enemies. Sure, one might die along the way, but casualties isn't uncommon.

Matthew
2007-06-09, 08:55 AM
Well, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil is supposed to be difficult, so I don't think you'll have any troubles there.