Want a free copy of Pathfinder? One of the things that will stick in my mind about GenCon 2009 was the sight of people carrying stacks of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook around the exhibit hall. I’m mostly a D&D girl myself, but I enjoyed the short time I played 3.5 and am flipping through Pathfinder to check it out.
Unlike the edition wars crowd, I enjoy 4e as much as I enjoyed 3.5. (Though I will admit I enjoy that there are fewer numbers in 4e. I’ve never been good at numbers.) I got a chance to play Savage Worlds at ConCarolinas in May and had a blast. For me, it’s never really been about a system as much as having fun with friends and getting to be part of a crazy story.
So, in the spirit of happy roleplayers everywhere, I’ve teamed with the wonderful folks at Gator Games to give away a free copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook.
How To Enter
There are two ways to enter this contest. Both ways have an equal chance of winning, to be accommodating to those folks who aren’t Twitter addicts.
Due to shipping costs (heavy book!), this contest is open to US residents (and overseas military personnel with an APO/FPO address) only.
Comment Entry
Leave a comment on this post detailing your absolute favorite thing about the 3.x system. It doesn’t have to be long (unless you want to be long-winded), maybe just your favorite class or feat or spell or magic item.
WARNING: Comments that are phrased in a way that incite ill will toward 4e will be deleted. You all are mature enough to be able to do this without being snarky. As an example of what NOT to do: “What I loved about 3.x is that it wasn’t like an MMO.“ Got it? Good. We want to pick winners, not wieners.
Comments are one per person and are weighted equally with the Twitter half of the contest. More on that in a minute…
Twitter Entry
Entering the Twitter half of the contest is really easy. Follow the contest sponsor (@gatorgames), and retweet things you find interesting. You may RT up to five times per day from Monday through Friday.
Gator Games’ owner, Jean Seaborg, posts from 6-10 game links a day – current news, game updates, reviews, podcasts. She’s also known to find and tweet cool freebie deals. The last one was a free cookie at Mrs. Fields… om nom nom.
The Randomness
On Saturday, I will roll for the two finalists… one from the comments section here, and one from the week’s Twitter entries. To determine the winner, a coin will be flipped. A post announcing the winner will be made on Monday morning, October 12, 2009.
About Our Sponsor
Many thanks to Gator Games of San Mateo, California for sponsoring the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook contest! If you’re close enough to make them your Friendly Local Gaming Store, please go check them out in person.
If you’re clear across the country like me, Gator Games has an online store full of used games, cards to build your ultimate Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh deck, minis, and all sorts of goodies.
You can also sign up for the weekly newsletter to get a quick review of all the new releases of the week. Last, but not least, feel free to friend them on Facebook (Gator Games & Hobby), Myspace, or FriendFeed in addition to Twitter.
Thanks Jean for donating this prize! I’m looking forward to reading some great comments below and giving away this book to a lucky reader!
(Note: I know my audience well, so I’m going to say this before someone points it out. I realize this is in the D&D category of posts and that Pathfinder is not D&D. The reason it is categorized D&D is because RPGBloggers only grabs my posts in that category’s feed – and I wanted to be sure this post got put up there. If this gets your tightywhities in a wad, I apologize and will try to still love you even though you’re anal. Much love, e.)
About e
Example Comment: When I played 3.5, I really loved playing my Scout. Skirmish was fun!
The best thing about 3.5 was having to keep a 6 page character sheet. It got really really out of hand for a while when I was playing a wizard… at the beginning of our campaign my character sheet was 3 pages long and by the end it was 6… FOUR pages of spells
)
One of the things I loved most about the 3.x system was how much easier it was to learn than AD&D… Sure, there were still quite a few numbers to crunch, but how many people still remember how to calculate a hit using THAC0? 3.x made an effort to demystify some of those needlessly arcane rules.
Well, one of the best things I liked about 3.5 was the ability to tailor-make your class with the umpteenth variety of prestige classes that were available.
.-= deadorcs´s last blog ..It’s a Dirty, Dirty, World: Part 10 =-.
I most enjoyed the ability to grab levels from any class as I leveled.
I liked the way that you could put together various classes out of parts with multi-classing. My favorite thing to do would be to get together a power build but then figure out what that would mean from a role playing perspective. It was like a role playing challenge that I would give myself as I kicked ass. What would a paladin/sorcerer actually be like? How about a monk/cleric of animal domain?
Since I usually DMed and would have to model NPCs like this I became quite adept at using the class system as an atomic unit of both character action and characterization. Once you grokked it you could pretty much model any fictional character using 3.5′s system.
.-= Nicholas McDowell´s last blog ..Superhero Discussion =-.
I really liked the breadth of the skill choice in 3.x. It allowed for a great deal of RP flavor, I think. My first time playing, I was unreasonable pleased when I could have a +4 bonus to Crafting(Fletching). For what it’s worth.
The thing I liked best about 3.x was the sheer number of options available. You could play 10 games with 40 players and never see 2 characters that heavily resembled each other.
.-= WolfSamurai´s last blog ..WolfSamurai: @bananacave Yeah, it’s pretty crazy to do. But in the end, it looks way cool and that’s half the point. To have a cool souvenir of the game. =-.
One of my still favorite additions with 3rd Edition was feats, so I’d say that some of the more hilarious / fun feats were my favorite part! Monkey Grip is definitely up there as one of them!
(You can feel free to disqualify me, as you’d be able to just hand me the book and that’s no fun!
)
.-= Bartoneus´s last blog ..The 4th Power Project: Classes, Part 2 (At-Will Powers) =-.
No THAC0. Higher is always better! This was such an improvement from 2E, especially for a non-number cruncher like me. In 2E, sometimes you needed to roll low, sometimes high, and most of the time you had no idea which was which. Also, the skills in 3.x are actually easy to use (and useful!), which was a marked improvement.
.-= Jason Ramboz´s last blog ..50 First Lines – #22 =-.
The thing I liked most about 3.x was getting to throw away my gamer first aid kit.
After years of playing 2E my group and I had cut out things we thought were silly, amputated whole rule sets, and added house rules and so many fix-it bandages that the poor system needed life support.
3.x addressed almost all of the problems we had with 2E. We spent years nursing the old system and suddenly had a healthy system again – what a miracle! With 3.x I had a game I could run straight out of the book.
The best thing in 3.x is multiclassing! Why? Well, I am quite shizophrenic when it comes to class-based systems vs. classless ones, and 3.x created an interesting balance for me. Sure, my character might start the campaign as a wizard, but later on he can become whatever he wants by taking a few levels in different classes. It might look cheesy to others, but multiclassing is my personal equilibrium between class-based and classless games. Go 3.x!
.-= Markus Schmidt´s last blog ..Rule of Cool =-.
When it comes to the 3.x rules, I have always enjoyed the amount of customization you can do with each of your characters. It isn’t like GURPS or Hero where you have to build the character from the ground up, but there is enough customization in the system to make 10 characters of the same class and have every one of them be different. For my group 3.x has been exactly what we wanted in a system, which is why we don’t move on to the newer and shinier systems.
For the DM, which is usually me, I don’t have to build the monsters and villains like I do in many other systems. So much of it was done for you, but still incredibly easy to customize if you are so inclined. Plus so much of the system can be easily removed and/or changed if you don’t want to use it, without impacting gameplay.
I’ve run several different systems, including 4e, with my group and every time we get done playing in system X, they ask to go back to “real D&D”. So it is just that simple, for us 3.x is D&D and that’s how we like it.
My favorite thing about 3.5 is hunting through my books to find just the right combination of classes/PrCs/feats to fit my character concept. Equally, I love running across something new that inspires me to try it out with a concept I might not otherwise have thought of.
I love the way the game play works and characters were limitless in originality. A true classic in the making.
I think my favorite thing about 3.x was that it reintroduced me to DnD, and showed me that I could run a game and have a lot of fun.
I liked that the system had more unified mechanics than previous editions of D&D. It made it easier to play and much easier to teach.
favorite part about 3.5:
I enjoyed playing the druid, and thinking up new ways to use wild shape. wild shape into a bird and sit in a tree outside a house or tavern eavesdropping, into a snake to slither under a doorway to unlock it, into a rhino to bash down a wall. The possibilities are endless.
What I love so much about 3.x was that it was very easy to customize your class in so many ways. If some sort of customization didn’t exist it is really easy to create it.
.-= Joey´s last blog ..It’s wrapping around the column =-.
The thing I liked best about 3.x was its open source nature. It unleashed a plethora of third-party products and fan-created material (for good or ill) which showed that nearly anything was possible under that rules set!
What I loved most from 3.5 was being able to use fun non-combat spells. Grease, Ventriloquism, and Leomund’s Secure Shelter come to mind. I’ve missed that in 4e.
I always played the strangest, most bizarre PCs I could think of. So with 3.x, I like the standardized, solid baseline framework that allowed some fun variation in class mechanics but still kept it balanced. For example, I love 3.5 psionics as the best version of D&D psionics ever.
Plus, “Tome of Magic” is hands down, my favorite D&D book of all time – even considering a certain 1/3 that is awesome idea questionably executed. It’s ironic that the material I enjoyed the most from WotC was from when 3.5 was winding down and so they were getting riskier in their 3.5 releases. Then with someone like Dario Nardi coming along and producing “Secrets of Pact Magic” (and releasing it with the OGL, my favorite non-system aspect of 3.x), I’m a very happy camper with plenty of bizarre PCs to last me a long time.
The Iron Heroes variant of 3.5 long ago stole my heart. My Man-at-Arms can do absurd amounts of damage with nearly every weapon in the book, and has two pack-dogs to help him carry it all.
My favourite thing about regular old 3.5 is the cleric domains. My cleric of healing and destruction was a lot of fun.
My reasoning for sticking with 3.x was initially practical. This summer I started running a game for kids between ages 9 and 17. Some of them had gotten 3.x material before I formed the group while I had an adequate cache myself. I didn’t want them to have to spend their hard-earned allowance on yet another group of books. I also like knowing the game well enough to teach it with confidence to the younger or inexperienced gamers.
Pathfinder changed the game in ways I can readily understand and appreciate, and that I think can only enhance the experience of my players without overwhelming them.
Improved Cleave.
Hoping that this isn’t inflammatory enough to be considered edition-warring, but I really love Pathfinder in that it allows me to still play with my friends who can’t be convinced to switch over to 4e.
PS. I just re-read through the rules for the Comment entry, so I’m gonna add an addendum instead of completely revise. No specific mechanical loving for 3.x, but it just so happened to be 3.5 where I had my halfling rogue run up a soldier’s back, flip in mid-air, and plummet a throwing dagger into his skull, causing it to explode (nat20, confirmed crit), all while in his nightgown and cap (was rudely awakened while dozing at inn). Of course, badassery turned into hilarity when said halfling slipped on same soldier’s now-spilled blood and totally ruining his best nightgown.
I love 3.x because of the freedom it gives you to choose third party options. Some might find the extent of the options overwhelming but I believe for every good book out there for a system a thousand ideas are spawned for a crafty DM. I used everything I could find on 3.x to read and create my own things. After all, imagination is what RPGs are all about isn’t it?
My favorite part of 3.5 was having a common language to help break the ice when meeting new people in a roleplaying situation. Even if we weren’t playing D&D itself, we could all fall back on the parlance and common experiences for a laugh.
.-= Tyler´s last blog ..Atlas Games Wants Your Unknown Armies Lunacy =-.
I enjoy the 3x system because it allows me to add quirky,odd characters. I have always tried to play characters that are colorful and unique. The system enabled me to create a sneaky fighter without multi-classing the character to death,or a half-orc wizard, or what ever. 3x broke DnD out of the “molded” wooden characters for me and enabled characters to develop in a more natural or real manner.
I loved my 3.x demi-god Rougue I played in an Epic level game. What a truely unbalanced character that was compared to the rest of the group. The DM insisted someone had to be a demi-god, no one else would play a demi-god so I did.
One of the many things I have enjoyed from 3d edition was the spontaneous casters. The sorcerer was very fun to play.
I was a big fan of spells that always hits (even if you got a limited number per day)! Plus in 3.5 we still got to play with D4s on a more consistent basis (I really love my D4s and I can’t say I have seen my current 4.0 party actually break out the D4s for any actual game related rolling).
3.5 is the system I learned to play roleplaying games with. It is also the system I really found my footing as a DM. I like the fact that 3.5 is very malleable into what you want out of it. Like we recently made an earthbender class using a mix of the Psion class, rules from McWod and D & D.
.-= Greg Seiler´s last blog ..Harry Potter and the Reluctant Reader =-.
The last time I played D&D it was the AD&D 2nd edition many years ago. I’ve played fantasy in Hero Games & GURPS in Greyhawk and the Mystara worlds for many a year. Now the Pathfinder system is the first time I’ve been interested in the D&D rules set for a long time. Now just have to get the core book or hopefully win it here.
My favorite thing about 3.5 is rocking out as a high level wizard!
3.x allowed the dm it take an ordinary monster like an orc and make it a billy bad ass to challenge a high level party. It gave the dm a chance to make things really challenging for higher levels characters without resorting to overwhelming odds.
What I liked most about 3.x was also what I liked least about 3.x. I liked that almost everything was based on one roll, compared to a difficulty. It was easy, and quick, and didn’t sacrifice detail.
.-= ambrose´s last blog ..Hogwarts RPG Species: Gnome =-.
No THAC0. It easy on the dice and not much math.
What I liked most about 3.x is that it brought us the OGL which in turn lead to a wonderful evolution in game designs based on D20 as well as opening up the possibility for other publishers (e.g., Evil Hat with FATE) to do the same thing. Pathfinder owes its very existence to the OGL.
Unfortunately it also lead to a huge glut of lousy D20 material which really disillusioned/turned-off a lot of LGS owners who got suckered into ordering stuff that they couldn’t sell.
.-= MJ Harnish´s last blog ..FTC rules that bloggers must disclose payments and freebies =-.
The best thing about 3.5 is the sorcerer, I love the spontaneous caster thing and with Pathfinder’s bloodlines, they just got even better. Claws at 1st level FTW!
For me, the breadth of classes and the introduction of prestige classes. While it could get crazy (very, very crazy, as in taser-my-players-sometimes) it did allow them to play something very close to what they were envisioning, even with a class-based system.
The best thing in 3.5 (that my least edition of D&D ever) is that it was open and allower editors to produce excellent product. PAthfinder is one!
My favorite thing about 3.5? That’s a difficult question to answer, but I’ll say that it was the transformation of the Saving Throws into more consistent categories and the unification of the d20 mechanic.
.-= Christian Lindke´s last blog ..In Memoriam Eleven Years Later: Eugenie Lela-Ilsa Johnson 05/04/1952 – 10/07/1998 =-.
The best thing in my opinion about the third edition of D&D was the sheer flexibility of the game system in such a way that you could add and subtract skills, feats, spells, & equipment as needed and end up with a game that was specific to whatever scenario you had in mind. You could in a sense create a new game out of the base roots of the 3.X system to suit.
I think that the Dark template from the Tome of Magic is my favorite thing in 3.5. I really like the flavor. One of these days I hope to have a PC with it.
My favorite thing about 3.x was that if I tried hard enough, I could fit a build (not necessarily the best build, but a build) around just about anything. Which among other things resulted at one point in a beguiler/mountebank/magical trickster with a level dip in fighter for the proficiencies toting glamered armor and a shield, both enchanted to look like more armor and shield than she was actually using, and wielding a warmace of subtlety. (Though to be fair, her concept was “superspy who’d been posing as a general in the armies of the Big Bad’s country”, and every one of those things was necessary to it. Yes, even the warmace. Azeri was a trip.)
.-= Ravyn´s last blog ..Kernel Hunting Exercises: Beyond Casting =-.
1 entry, but 2 favorite things (is this cheating?) Mechanically, fixing wacky things like THACO and Save vs Death Magic, rolling high or low is either good or bad… I really liked the whole D20 system — it was easier to grok (and recall). I also liked the greater flexibility in choosing races and classes — made it feel like no doors were closed and my imagination had free reign in coming up with character concepts.
If someone was to hold a crossbow to my head and demand that I narrow down what I love about 3.x to just one reason, I would have to say diversity. Third Edition was broad enough to take a wide range of sub-genres and feels and allow me as DM to run with them. That same diversity was seen to be reflected in the Open Game License- the past few years saw an explosion of Third Party Products that hadn’t been seen since the earliest days of D&D. Products ranged from Top of the line hardbacks to cottage industry PDFs, and sure the quality wasn’t always the best, but there was a fire in the belly, a willingness to share and participate that got me back to the gaming table after six years of no play at all. All kinds of options were possible, from a were-halfling assassin/shaman with delusions of deityhood, to a six shooting demonic enforcer with a possessed smoke wagon and an addiction to buttermilk. Seriously. Buttermilk. Sure the rules got sprawly, but that’s a good DMs job- to hone his house rules down, and 3.x made it easy and fast.
Now about the rules for Psionics… oops!
ow.
My favorite thing from 3.5 was the treatment of Dragonlance. I love DL, and the openness of 3e allowed Margaret Weis Productions to create 3e-compatible Dragonlance source material, which was done professionally and with loving care.
I’ll admit that multi-classing in 3.5 was far easier than in 4e (Though I’ve yet to see the newer hybrid rules). combat also seemed to take far less time than 4e. But that may change as we become more and more acustomed to the system.
.-= GeekBob´s last blog ..The Fellowship of Fallcrest – Session 2 =-.
Best thing about 3.5 was the plethora of magic items.
The best thing about 3.x is the flexibility to create precisely the character that you wish to play. The ability to multi-class and the broad spectrum of feats made it possible to never play the same character twice. In one game you could be a ranger/rogue like Robin Hood, in another a Barbarian like Conan, you could mix and match classes to get something truly unique. From the perspective of a DM 3.x is incredibly flexible and readily accepts home-brew material.
I’ve always enjoyed that 3.x allowed and encourages a plethora of races and classes, making the major limitation your imagination rather than the ruleset!
.-= Robyn Nixon´s last blog ..Warmachine Retribution October 7th Reinforcements arrived =-.
The thing I truly enjoy about the 3.x system is the flexibility of character design and the pathways that come about with the various choice possibilities through character growth.
I have also grown fond that the rules are compatable (mostly, and with some less violent jury-rigging) with many other d20 products out there. The one campaign that comes to mind is when I was running ‘City of the Spider Queen’ with modified 3.x characters who had access to some talents and powers from the Star Wars d20 game.
It made it uniquely different and enjoyable. From what I hear about Pathfinder, much the same can happen. I’m looking forward to seeing how I can manipulate the system to my own needs.
.-= Gary Weller´s last blog ..Destiny’s Wings =-.
My favorite thing about 3.5 is the ease to which it supported my house rules.
Praise Lolth….
My favorite thing about 3.x was the flexibility of the whole system in regards to characters. Since the early days of GURPS and the HERO system (been a gamer for a very long time) I haven’t been that fond of class and level system but 3.x was flexible enough to let you play around and try different combinations and what have you.
I play Pathfinder and 4e and I enjoy both system more because of the role-players I play with than because of the systems themselves.
–Mav
Favorite thing about 3.5e? Hmnnn, lots and lots and lots of crunchy bits… And, how many game worlds did it have, talk about massive variety, that entire system was just begging for a ‘do anything anyone ever wanted to try’ setting. And, it did!
My favorite thing was the sheer power and breadth of the spellcasting system, which gave the players an incredible amount of narrative control. Just about anything you could want to do, there’s a spell for it.
My favourite thing about 3.5 is that I can still play a monk
My favorite thing about 3.x isn’t a mechanics thing, even though the mechanics are quite enjoyable, but more of its impact upon the industry. Prior to 3.x with its d20 license and OGL the opportunity to break into the industry or for there to be a new publisher was a lot more narrow in scope, however post 3.x it either became simpler to break into the industry, or it seemed simpler. 3.x brought us Green Ronin, Malhavoc Press, Goodman Games, and others. Also, with print on demand services occurring at roughly the same time, the coincidence of the small RPG press bursting onto the scene with the POD service being there was quite fortunate.
All in all, I think the 3.x movement made the gaming industry stronger and more varied, thus allowing for a more diverse industry that the game has today. If we stick to just the OGL (formerly d20) movement, we’ve Pathfinder, True20, Fantasy Craft, Iron Heroes, and others still in existence and, as Paizo says in much of the ad copy for Pathfinder, 3.5 Thrives.