Soooo....

Yeah, I'm learning DnD 3.5e. I've got the manual in a clonky AF 300+ page Gdoc and links to the wiki, but still...

I'd like advice. Help. Discussion. Pointers. Anything that could make my life a bit easier. :D

I've read into the, idk, first 80+ pages of the manual, so I have a pretty decent working knowledge of things right now to start with. Beyond that...yeah, I'm in the dark.

So, in short, I'm asking anyone who feels qualified to toss their two cents on here.

If it makes a difference, for my first DnD session (with some friends) that will be starting next week I think I'm leaning towards an Half-Orc Druid, and multiclass to barbarian on the side. Don't have any other real thoughts beyond that, so...have at me!

Why do you want to learn 3.5 when v5 is so much more streamlined

Half-Orc Druid/Barbarian? Nice
Here's a couple of guides for your classes, they should be quite elucidating.
Eggynack’s Comprehensive Druid Handbook

Eldariel's Guide to Barbarians

I guess the key thing is conceptualizing the character once you're wondering which direction to take him. But I'm also totally down to talk about min-maxing, I've been known to make characters optimal. I assume you're using the default rules for Half-Orc?

I've heard great things about 5e. Is it dope?

Because everyone knows 4e was a coat hanger dodging back alley abortion.

@Hew

Well, this is my first time in DnD, and I've got some good friends that are playing with me/DMing this, and their using 3.5e. If they were using 5e, I would have chosen that :P. Overall, however, I've seen more people I know use 3.5e, so I feel like I'll get more use out of it. I'll still want to learn 5e eventually, though.

@Vorp

So, the desert option actually is really cool -- problem is the map/setting we are using is more or less a fantasy version of early-medieval Britain...so, don't think desert would really fit IC. I'll probably go with traditional.

What I was planning was based off of my stats. If I get a couple of 18s, I was figuring on putting at least one 18 into intel, that way I minimize the negatives. The other 18 would go into wisdom. Strength would get my lowest skill, to take advantage of the boost, and the rest would be in between.

About the barb, yeah, I was essentially planning to just obtain it as a class, and take it in just enough to get the benefits of rage and all that. I'm picturing getting high lvls in Druid, taking an Wild Form of some high-str high-hp creature, then raging in that. >:} Not sure if that would work, but the idea is cool.

I'll be reading those guides, and probably dropping more questions by you as I go along.

how do I into DnD? several of my friends and i are all interested in trying it some time but someone's gotta take the initiative and learn what to do or it'll never happen

Quote from Scarecrow

how do I into DnD? several of my friends and i are all interested in trying it some time but someone's gotta take the initiative and learn what to do or it'll never happen

i know the feeling. the only one of us who wanted to try it, only wanted to do it to DM a cave battle.

I had to pass.


Also I DM'd CoC, UA, and AFMBE once haha. Why can't this thread be about rpgs in general lol

Quote from Scarecrow

how do I into DnD? several of my friends and i are all interested in trying it some time but someone's gotta take the initiative and learn what to do or it'll never happen

So, Scarecrow, what I would advise is what I'm doing. I found someone that is a friend (loosely) through another forum/game. They're hosting (DMing) the DnD session, and they are SUPER experienced, and willing to help.

So, step one -- find someone you know (at least somewhat) AND is highly experienced that is willing to DM a session for you and your friends.

Step two -- read, read, read, ask tons of questions, research, read. If you're on discord, I have a full PDF of the 3.5e DnD Player Manual/Guide, as well as lots of links to other things (like a programmed char template/spreadsheet that calculates things out for you when you enter values).

Step three -- once you're ready, just jump in and play. I've pretty much only read the first 5th of the manual (mainly regarding char creation and all that, skipping parts that didn't interest me like certain races or classes)...enough to get an idea of how to create a char. Read some of the other stuff at your leisure, and then start playing. If you did find a good DM, they'll be willing to help you out along the way (my DM is on vaca right now with no internet since the session doesn't start till next week, or I'd actually be much farther along in my grasp of the game).

I mean, if you REALLY want, you can join the game I'm in (NationStates.net) since it has almost 0 commitment and time demands, join the regional forums I'm in, and then join the same DM session as me. (Seems a bit impractical, so...yeah, there is probably a much better option for you personally unless you just love my presence that much :P).


UPDATE:

Started putting together my char sheet. Got some good rolls, stats balanced out quite nicely with the standard half-orc. I am doing the racial substitutions, as this makes for a huge bonus. Depending on how things go, I may or may not end up multiclassing into Barb -- that's somewhat depended on how the session turns out.

Devour may remember this character from when I first tested him as an npc in a game I played with him =3, I had to remake him so here it is.
Pathfinder Archer character sheet

Backstory and mysterious motivations: Though Xalix appears to be a young teenager, he's actually 73 years of age in Human time. Because of this new companions may be surprised by his lethality and resourcefulness, despite his harmless appearance. While his limber youthful body and supreme genetics allow him a supernatural level of dexterity, he's still too small and lithe to be powerful. Because of this ranged weapons have become his forte.

Though still a novice in the ways of combat and adventuring, Xalix ran the gauntlet of assassin training as a child learning many ways to infiltrate using both speech and shadow. As the prodigal son of his family, he made his first kill at the youngest age in his clans history shooting the man clean through the back of the neck before his father even gave the prompt. It's not that Xalix doesn't hesitate, it's that the idea of hesitation never even occurred to him.

He's not strictly evil however, he doesn't enjoy the kill without purpose or for what he sees as just poultry earnings. This mentality has put him at odds with his beloved family, who kill professionally. While it's what his family perceive as fulfillment of their destiny, Xalix has much greater ambition in mind for his abundant talents and intends to deliver on them with aplomb to prove them wrong.


Description: Xalix stands about 5'3 and is typically smirking or scowling, but always posh. Ladies tend to find him adorable while large men have a hard time taking him seriously, a trend which frustrates him to no end considering his age. This doesn't stop him from firing back with his own witticisms however, as he's both whimsical and supremely confident in his ability to kill. Making his personality a combination of bright and chilling, just like his arctic white eyes and hair.

Xalix prefers to stay clean and dapper, he isn't accustomed to doing grunt labor and will complain if pressured to. But he'll attempt nearly anything if he feels like his abilities are brought into question because the challenge thrills him. Particularly the challenge of making a difficult shot with his bow, since he aspires to become the greatest archer he could possibly be.

Character sheet: The stats are a fantastic 10, 12, 14, 16, 16, 18. +2 Dexterity and Charisma, -2 Constitution. The first thing you'll notice is that I meta gamed myself up to a 12 initiative, that's right, buckle your goddamn seatbelt because that's a 12 fucking initiative. I did this by taking improved initiative as my starting feat, and taking the two traits that boost my initiative. So with my huge dexterity the result is +5 +4 +2 +1 = 12, amazing right?

I took a couple alternates for the Drow which you'll find here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-drow/ but it all checks out. Particularly I thought there was no reason to stack poison use from drow with ninja and take the free hit bonus against elves and dwarves instead.

And if you think he looks good now, that's not even counting when he gets his ki pool at level 2, uncanny dodge or how immensely useful ninja tricks can be for an archer.
The best part is, there's literally nothing stopping me from taking weapon finesse, with katana or rapier*which I have a racial familiarity with as early as level 2 and functionally also becoming a melee character with my 20 dexterity. Though I would most likely take a ninja trick at 2, precise shot as my feat at level 3 and then a combat trick to gain weapon finesse at 4. But I digress.

He's designed to be a killer fucking ranged combatant and to have the social skills to potentially be the party leader. Something I think he pulls off greatly, considering how massive his potential critical is, combined with his stealth, combined with his diplomacy and still having an 18 armor class somehow.
Honestly if it weren't for the great role playing and party leading implications I'd be a bit uncomfortable allowing a player to bring this to my table. Just barely acceptable, but then again that's what min-maxing is all about.

That sounds awesome. One of the char's I've created is Drow as well, actually, except I'm going Druid/Monk. Stats are decent (13, 16, 15, 11, 17, 11), as is initiative (+5) and AC (15, no armor). There are three real kickers though. First, I've got a spell resistance at lvl 1 of 12. Secondly, I was able to rig things out so that I started with SIX feats, in addition to all the wonderful Abilities you get as the Drow race AND druid AND monk. Third, because of one of my abilities, I get to start with the Fleshraker as my companion animal. Like...that's just nuts. All in all, I'm quite pleased. :P

Drow = great. Druid = Great. Drow + Druid = hilarious.


Though I have good ranged (using a heavy crossbow, and will be buying a heavy repeating Xbow shortly) and good melee (due to the monk side, as well as Druid spells), the big thing I'm gong for is summoning (which involves a good chunk of my feats already). I've put a ton of my skill points into Listen and Spot, plus having a companion that has a ton in listen and spot, so I can see you first. Using my SLA's I can make magic darkness to conceal myself as well, plus other spells and whatnot. The basic idea here is that I can shoot farther than my enemies, send my companion to attack you, send summoned beings to attack you, send spells to kill you...all without coming near enough for you to kill me. Oh, if you do try to jump me, though, I have several bonuses to my grapple (as well as a feat).

Because of how I'm starting, and the feat's I'll be taking, the other thing is that the power scaling on this build will be ridiculous. For example...by the time I'm level 7 I'll have specialty summon swarms with hiveminds that can takeover the bodies of slain enemies, for example, as well as the Dire Tortoise as my animal companion (170 HP and 25 AC, with a huge main attack PLUS a super powerful trample attack and the ability lightning strike for super fast killing speed AND a burrowing speed...). OH, and don't forget all my wild shapes (which will be including dragons, even at that level).

I'm not too OP starting out, but essentially by lvl 7 90% of my main Monk abilities will be in place, 90% of my main Druid abilities will be in place, all of my core summoning, animal companion, and wild shape skills will have come into fruition, I'll have about ten feats....soo, yeah.

Scaling, bro. :P

Quote from Alphaeus

That sounds awesome. One of the char's I've created is Drow as well, actually, except I'm going Druid/Monk. Stats are decent (13, 16, 15, 11, 17, 11), as is initiative (+5) and AC (15, no armor). There are three real kickers though. First, I've got a spell resistance at lvl 1 of 12. Secondly, I was able to rig things out so that I started with SIX feats, in addition to all the wonderful Abilities you get as the Drow race AND druid AND monk. Third, because of one of my abilities, I get to start with the Fleshraker as my companion animal. Like...that's just nuts. All in all, I'm quite pleased. :P

Drow = great. Druid = Great. Drow + Druid = hilarious.


Though I have good ranged (using a heavy crossbow, and will be buying a heavy repeating Xbow shortly) and good melee (due to the monk side, as well as Druid spells), the big thing I'm gong for is summoning (which involves a good chunk of my feats already). I've put a ton of my skill points into Listen and Spot, plus having a companion that has a ton in listen and spot, so I can see you first. Using my SLA's I can make magic darkness to conceal myself as well, plus other spells and whatnot. The basic idea here is that I can shoot farther than my enemies, send my companion to attack you, send summoned beings to attack you, send spells to kill you...all without coming near enough for you to kill me. Oh, if you do try to jump me, though, I have several bonuses to my grapple (as well as a feat).

Because of how I'm starting, and the feat's I'll be taking, the other thing is that the power scaling on this build will be ridiculous. For example...by the time I'm level 7 I'll have specialty summon swarms with hiveminds that can takeover the bodies of slain enemies, for example, as well as the Dire Tortoise as my animal companion (170 HP and 25 AC, with a huge main attack PLUS a super powerful trample attack and the ability lightning strike for super fast killing speed AND a burrowing speed...). OH, and don't forget all my wild shapes (which will be including dragons, even at that level).

I'm not too OP starting out, but essentially by lvl 7 90% of my main Monk abilities will be in place, 90% of my main Druid abilities will be in place, all of my core summoning, animal companion, and wild shape skills will have come into fruition, I'll have about ten feats....soo, yeah.

Scaling, bro. :P

I love the idea of the drow druid in 3.5, I didn't realize they got access to the flesh raker and that's fucking badass.

The only problem with going drow in D&D 3.5 instead of pathfinder is that in D&D the Drow has that +2 level adjustment which hurts optimizations pretty bad. pathfinder completely resolved the level adjustment problem, but I don't get all the same stuff as the D&D Drow. With that in mind though I realized the pathfinder Drow was amazing for the ninja, as dexterity and charisma are the main statistics there.

Max potential damage at level 1: 1d6 x 3 +3 +1d6 = 7-27 damage
Average Sneak attack damage at level 1: 1d6 + 1d6 = 2-12 damage

I'll be getting my sneak attack against any flat-footed or flanked foe, by level 2 ninja I'll be able to snap my fingers and turn invisible as a swift action. And with a whopping 12'inch initiative I am most likely always going first each round for as long as the campaign goes on.
Why would you play ninja as an archer they say, that doesn't make any sense they say. FOOLS!

Scaling indeed, bro.
Keep in mind my character is traditional and not gestalt.

Well, for one thing Vorp, in 3.5e there is a drow variant that has an LA +0 (here). So, I went with that.

Spent today honing my char, and the build-out is going well. I'm sticking with a Riding Dog as my starting animal, but it's advanced to lvl 4. I needed the benefit of the packsaddle for getting things off my back as a str 12 build. Besides, with the Druid companion advancement, it's pretty damn good. I'll change out later, once I've got a bit more independence from belongings, which will be soon as a druid. Besides, once I hit lvl 3, I'll get to take a Fleshraker and instantly up it into lvl 3 and the second teir of the Druid animal companion progression.

Studying my spell list, and was picking out what spells I wanted. One of the things I'm going with is the Heart of X series. There are only 4 spells, but once you have prepared all of them (you get the final by around lvl 11, I think), you get 100% immunity to sneak attacks and crits (plus all the wonderful stuff from the spells themselves).

Also, I spent some of my break from work today just playing around with builds. I came up with one I'm calling The Hulk. Start as a Black Orc (+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis, -4 Cha). Apply the Natural Lycanthrope: Werecrodile template. Put your highest stat (assuming an 18) in Str. The result will be a starting char with about 40 str. Yes. 40. Constitution, if you use it as your second highest, will likely top out in the 25-30 range. Put your third highest in Dex (you get an armor +2 bonus anyway with the template).

You might have an LA +3, but you've also got a slew of abilities and feats, immunities, and a dire form that is extremely capable (and great in aquatic, incidentally). Besides, pair this with an Orc Double-Axe and multiattack, and your base damage at lvl 1 will be approx. 32-56 (assuming you have literally NO other effects in place).

I plan to use this next chance I get :P. I mean, LA buy downs is legal...and with that kind of power, it's worth it. I'd pair this with a good Cleric or Fighter build...and then kickass.

Quote from Alphaeus

Well, for one thing Vorp, in 3.5e there is a drow variant that has an LA +0 (here). So, I went with that.

Spent today honing my char, and the build-out is going well. I'm sticking with a Riding Dog as my starting animal, but it's advanced to lvl 4. I needed the benefit of the packsaddle for getting things off my back as a str 12 build. Besides, with the Druid companion advancement, it's pretty damn good. I'll change out later, once I've got a bit more independence from belongings, which will be soon as a druid. Besides, once I hit lvl 3, I'll get to take a Fleshraker and instantly up it into lvl 3 and the second teir of the Druid animal companion progression.

Studying my spell list, and was picking out what spells I wanted. One of the things I'm going with is the Heart of X series. There are only 4 spells, but once you have prepared all of them (you get the final by around lvl 11, I think), you get 100% immunity to sneak attacks and crits (plus all the wonderful stuff from the spells themselves).

Also, I spent some of my break from work today just playing around with builds. I came up with one I'm calling The Hulk. Start as a Black Orc (+4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis, -4 Cha). Apply the Natural Lycanthrope: Werecrodile template. Put your highest stat (assuming an 18) in Str. The result will be a starting char with about 40 str. Yes. 40. Constitution, if you use it as your second highest, will likely top out in the 25-30 range. Put your third highest in Dex (you get an armor +2 bonus anyway with the template).

You might have an LA +3, but you've also got a slew of abilities and feats, immunities, and a dire form that is extremely capable (and great in aquatic, incidentally). Besides, pair this with an Orc Double-Axe and multiattack, and your base damage at lvl 1 will be approx. 32-56 (assuming you have literally NO other effects in place).

I plan to use this next chance I get :P. I mean, LA buy downs is legal...and with that kind of power, it's worth it. I'd pair this with a good Cleric or Fighter build...and then kickass.

I hate to tell you but that's not the official 3.5 drow, it's homebrew meaning it wasn't from wizards of the coast officially.
What I said still stands.

Not that I don't agree with the changes made to the race, it's quite similar to what pathfinder did actually. But since it's unofficial just make sure to run it by your dungeon master.

As for the werecrocodile, it seems you're starting to realize how busted D&D 3.5 can be. Especially if your DM allows you to play gestalt. Shit's magical.

Lmao, yeah, although the werecroc idea is not even gestalt. Also, my DM was fine with it, since it's essentially taking a drow race and applying high-elf stats.

I plan on learning Pathfinder once I get my footing in DnD. At that point I expect to see my druid drow pairing up with your ninja :P.

Decided to post this here, as Kotor's leveling system is based on DnD 3.5, literally. So with that in mind, please take a look at my jedi's stats after clicking two buttons at the start of combat.

Awwww yeah, it's time to get shwifty. It's time to get shwifty in'yheeeeeerrrr.

What you're looking at is the single most busted jedi I have ever played. He's essentially a completely unstoppable dual-wielding melee character, that I leveled and meta gamed in such a way he's still essentially the parties strongest caster.
The small trade off was slightly weaker melee early game, at the advantage of tons of force points and powers from picking consular and then transitioning into Sith maurader. In other words, the bonuses granted by starting jedi consular outweigh the advantages given by jedi guardian in the long run.
No opponent in the game could best me in melee combat and my force powers were still strong enough to roast ten commandos in an instant with master force lightning.

You may have noticed "sith maurader" but I appear to be pure good, that's because I went straight evil until my prestige class and then 180'd to pure good.
The reason I did this is simple, I unlock force enlightenment for going pure good near the end which insta casts the best of my Force Valor, Force Shield and Force Speed abilities at a discounted price. Then if need be I stacked it with my master Fury ability given to me by the Sith Maurader prestige class.

So generally speaking Force Enlightenment was always on, as my Force Speed ability allows me to traverse the map very fast. Often when I'd get into a room full of baddies I'd get into the center next to the baddest dude before the game could even pause to acknowledge danger. Then in the first round of combat I would drop the strongest guy with one attack, or abuse my force powers and abundance of late game force points.

His only weakness is that he relies on others to use skills, but considering the nature of the game it's easy as hell to just bring a skilled character with you, one that is most likely going to be more skilled than your jedi anyways.
So I made my character the one thing none of the NPC's could be, fucking godly.

I'm considering posting my equipment list, but the buffs on my left handed lightsaber alone are so long I'd have to screen shot it twice.

Awesome man. I mean, that sounds fucking nuts. Also, Kotor itself is awesome. I’ve got a friend who plays it…might have to jump in a bit.

As to DnD, I’ve gotten into a couple things, and am quite happy. I’ve been doing well with my first non-gestalt char. Correction…I’ve not just been doing well, I’ve been 100% trolling the DM just by my existence. For this char, I went with the Unbodied race, which doesn’t get much love because of the LA +4 tacked onto it. Thing is, Unbodied get the absolute best stuff of being incorporeal without ANY of the downsides from Ghosts. And…in addition to all of their impressive powers, Unbodied come automatically with four effective manifester levels in Psion Telepath. So, we were doing a point-assign system, which works well. Since I have no strength stat, the DM allowed me to redistribute the base points (the basic 8 before point-buy) into my other five stats. Long story short, I’ve turned into a Charisma dump – at ECL 12 I have 50 Charisma.

Now…I’ve been able to stack abilities, skills, equipment, and play style to become the most insane manipulative bastard you ever saw…but one who can also kick ass. I have an incorporal touch attack that ignores all armor and whatnot. Seems week…except I got a ring that allows me to transfer my charisma to all touch attacks. That huge bonus from 50 char is now tagged onto my unstoppable attack. I also have maxxed diplomacy and intimidate, to the point that I pretty much can’t fail any check I’d normally encounter with those. Now…remember I’m a Psion Telepath (I chose that as my class as well…for obvious reasons since the racial manifester lvls stack according to the SRD). I’ve loaded myself with all those mind-warping powers suitable for a manipulative bastard. But wait, that’s not all. I can assume the form of any small, medium, or large creature. ANY creature of three different sizes. I have racial telepathy to 100ft, so conversing is rarely a problem (but I’ve also learned other languages via powers/skills). Now…I have a ring that allows me to manifest myself physically at will. Essentially, I can assume ANY form I please, then manifest physically as that form. I have the ultimate disguise. Like, even the DM has had to acknowledge that the disguise is pretty much fool proof (I have racial immunity to divination and similar abilities – they cannot reveal my true race). You get where THAT is going…my best achievement so far has been passing myself off (successfully) as a female fishnet-wearing kobold zombie to a Dark Lord. Well, that or convincing an orphaned prince and his entire council that I am actually his resurrected father, the king.

Now…you might ask about the ass kicking. Well, aside from the touch attack (where I have irked the DM by saying I go incorporeal and fly up to the fang dragon and poke it to death….which I successfully did), I have telekinesis. I have Telekinetic Force as a racial SU, which means it costs me no psion points and I get unlimited use. Besides that, however, I took Expanded Knowledge and learned Telekinetic Thrust…which allows me to fling things (or creatures) in combat. So far the best I’ve done is successfully hurl 1 ton+ boulders at oncoming ogres, as well as launching my friends at opponents. Tossing around my enemies themselves is also nice. Pretty much I can do well over 10d6 damage with these objects consistently (or a lot more if I juice it for things like the huge boulders), as well as possess the ability to use colossal+ (or larger) size weps, which is awesome.

Now, additionally, I have a psionic ability that appears to be a relatively weak 1st level power (I think it’s mind thrust or something of the like). Deals 1d10 damage. Simple…except I can augment it. In one battle, I jacked that bitch up to 50d6. IN THE MIND, which means no armor, no dodge…nothing except one will save that you will fail because my key ability (Charisma) is so high you cannot will save against any of my powers successfully.

And don’t forget I’m doing all that while being incorporeal, so you 90% of my enemies can’t do shit to me, and out of that 10% I have a high chance of still not being hit. Additionally, on TOP of incorporeal immunities I have racial immunities. And I get to fly everywhere…including through things. And I’m not a Ghost, so you can’t turn or dispel me like undead or magical creatures.

And I’m still ECL 12.

Everyone likes me in the game, though, and the DM is still cool with things because I’m kinda a two trick act (either I convice/intimidate/bluff the living daylights out of you, or I smash/mindblow/poke the living daylights out of you). So, the DM has made sure a lot of our quests and whatnot (the entire campaign is 3.5e, but based/heavily inspired by the Ravenloft horror setting from AD&D) involved things where my powers aren’t of much use (except throwing around my party members…that always seems to come in handy).

Yeah, I’m having fun. Also, I’ve started learning Pathfinder. I do agree, I like it a lot. TBH, I see learning 3.5e and Pathfinder as the perfect combination since they are mostly combatable with one another, so you can bring things across from one or the other if you see fit. 3.5e just has SOOOO much stuff that the variety is awesome, but I will say when you look at the overall bones (like the classes themselves), Pathfinder doesn’t need as much stuff because the root material itself is better. Once I learn pathfinder, I plan to take on 5e, since that is fairly popular and I know some people who want to do that with me. (And before you worry about me learning too much, just remember I’m a perfectionist who has OCD tendencies, so this ain’t nothin’ :P ).