How to tell what is 3.5 and 3.0

[Name_Here]

Is there some way of telling which edition of D&D a book is? The last couple times I've been out and looked over the books I couldn't find any indication of whether it was for 3.0 or 3.5 and since I didn't want to buy a product that doesn't sync well with my 3.5 books I left without buying one even though I really did want to look over the magic item compendium a bit more throughly.

[Assassinfox]

How I check is just glancing at the skills list for PrCs. If you see weird stuff like Scry, Innuendo, or Wilderness Lore, then it's a 3.0 book.

[Raum]

The easiest way is probably to look at the book's print date. The 3.5 PHB was printed in July of 2003, anything prior to that should be 3.0 or earlier versions.

[Annarrkkii]

As for monsters, anything with DR X/+x is certainly 3.0, as that became DR X/magic in 3.5. Anything without an LA line is definitely 3.0, but some 3.0 does have LA lines in their stat blocks.

Any magic item that grants a skill bonus of more than +5 without the word "improved" or "greater" in its name is probably 3.0, as is anything that adds more than +10 ft. to a humanoid's land speed.

[UglyPanda]

Wikipedia is a great help with nearly everything:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edition...to_3.5_Edition

Other differences to look out for:
Damage reduction is much lower. There are almost no monsters with over 20/x or 10/- damage reduction.
There are no partial actions in 3.5. Swift, free, and immediate actions are used instead.
Some other skills that do not exist in 3.5 and/or have been turned into functions of other skills: Intuit direction, alchemy, animal empathy, pickpocket, and read lips.
Multishot doesn't exist in 3.0.
Ambidexterity doesn't exist in 3.5.
Combat expertise and Improved Sunder are named expertise and sunder respectively in 3.0.
Mystic Theurge was the first WotC prestige class to have dual-spellcasting progression. No WotC 3.0 classes have dual progression.

[kamikasei]

Most 3.5 books have a line on the "credits" page, near the bottom, saying:

This book incorporates material from the v3.5 revision.

[Ranis]

Most 3.5 books have a line on the "credits" page, near the bottom, saying:

This book incorporates material from the v3.5 revision.

Yes, actually, all of them do. I think there's one or two of them that are 3.5 and don't have that line because nothing or so little was changed that it wasn't worth reprinting the book.

[Name_Here]

Most 3.5 books have a line on the "credits" page, near the bottom, saying:

This book incorporates material from the v3.5 revision.

Okay great that's perfect.
Now why they couldn't put a scroll across them saying version 3.5 like they did with the Players handbook I'll never get but at least now I know what to look for.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Also in the monster stat block 3.0 ones have Space/Reach written differently and a seperate block for attack and damage while the 3.5 ones have grapple modifiers and Attack and Full attack as seperate but with damage built in.

[Ruarc]

...even though I really did want to look over the magic item compendium a bit more throughly.

Just a note, the Magic Item Compendium is brand new, I think it's been out about a month.

I never thought about it before, but the Forgotten Realms campaign sourcebook is 3.0. Is there anything that I should be aware of using it in a 3.5 campaign?

[PinkysBrain]

The carefully hidden customer service webpage has a list. Not completely up to date, but anything newer is 3.5 anyway.

[Matthew]

I never thought about it before, but the Forgotten Realms campaign sourcebook is 3.0. Is there anything that I should be aware of using it in a 3.5 campaign?

I could have sworn there was an update, but I couldn't find it via a cursory search. Oh well. all you have to look out for is the usual stuff, really. Feat and Skill changes for the most part.

[Ruarc]

The carefully hidden customer service webpage has a list. Not completely up to date, but anything newer is 3.5 anyway.

That's a great link, thanks for sharing it.

[Zherog]

Multishot doesn't exist in 3.0.

Multishot doesn't exist in 3.5 either.

Ambidexterity doesn't exist in 3.5.

It does, but it's not the same thing. It's now an ability of the Tempest prestige class (in Complete Adventurer).

I could have sworn there was an update, but I couldn't find it via a cursory search. Oh well. all you have to look out for is the usual stuff, really. Feat and Skill changes for the most part.

Player's Guide to Faerun updated a lot of the crunch from the FRCS.

[Matthew]

Ah, right, that would be it then.