Recently, I had the chance to play Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition, a new iteration of Obsidian Entertainment’s 2006 CRPG that faithfully adapted the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e, which was the standard of the time. While I was not particularly impressed by the work Aspyr has done on this updated version of the classic, one element of the game stuck with me: how damn complex character building was in D&D 3.5e. And not in a good way.
I am aware that one of the reasons why many D&D players still miss 3.5e — an improved and expanded version of 3e — is the amount of customization available to characters. However, while creating some builds for my Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition playthrough, I was reminded of how soothing and compelling the simplicity of 5e, instituted in 2014, can be. I am not always a fan of 5e’s streamlined approach to rules. The system works for character classes, I think, but not necessarily for every other aspect of the game. Still, I can’t deny that having a glimpse back at 3.5e character building gave me PTSD.
Starting from the basics, there were a lot more classes available to players in 3.5, and the number of prestige classes, counting all the supplemental books, was a staggering 1,000 (according to this fandom page.) Speaking of prestige classes, they were nothing like 5e’s subclasses. A prestige class was something a character could not acquire before level 7, usually, and there were a lot of prerequisites. These included a minimum Base Attack Bonus (or BAB, another element 5e got rid of), a minimum rank in a certain number of skills, one or more feats, and some spellcasting levels in certain cases. For example, if a player wanted to build toward getting the Arcane Trickster prestige class, they had to be sure to be of non-lawful alignment, and to have the skills Decipher Script at 7 ranks, Disable Device at 7 ranks, Escape Artist at 7 ranks, and Knowledge (Arcana) at 4 ranks. And to have a Sneak Attack ability of at least 2d6. And to be able to cast Mage Hand and at least one arcane spell of 3rd level or higher. You’d better not change your mind halfway.
In 5e, subclasses are simply a part of a class progression, an obligatory choice at early levels that sets a character on a specific path. Of course, optimized builds still require careful planning, and “level dips” are a common practice to acquire powerful features. But this is the big difference: In D&D 5e, character building is essentially about what levels of which classes you pick (and sometimes which feats.) In 3.5e, it was about building an intricate jigsaw where all the pieces had to match perfectly. I understand why some players may find that appealing, but 5e’s approach is what pulled me back into the game after a long pause. (I am aware that I am skipping 4e in this comparison; that’s because I have no experience playing that edition.)
The change that I welcomed most was getting rid of skill ranks. In 5e, a character’s “rank” in each skill is determined by their Proficiency Bonus (which also replaces BAB) and the ability that the skill is associated with. In 3.5e, each class and prestige class got a specific number of skill points to distribute at each level. It meant spending a significant amount of time on a section of the character sheet players rarely even used. It was a clear example of the overdesign issue that plagued 3.5e. (In UX design language, this would be called a complexity overload anti-pattern.)
This issue could affect players in many ways: it could be an entry barrier to getting into the game, or it could make it harder to optimize builds, leading to unpleasant disparities between players at the table. It could also bother DMs, however. It was harder to predict (and thus contain) overpowered builds. Min-maxing is still a thing in 5e, but in 3.5e, I spent so much time as a DM trying to predict and limit that, often ineffectively. Besides, it was also harder to help players who were not happy with their character. As a Dungeon Master for 5e, there were occasions when one of my players became unhappy with their current character after playing it for a while. I was always able to help them “respec” by changing minimal things, such as swapping a talent or slightly customizing a class feature. In 3.5e, the easiest solution would have been to kill the character and roll a new one.
The beauty of Dungeons & Dragons is that it’s a canvas game. It gives players a surface to paint and many colors and tools to do that. There are a lot of people out there still playing 3.5e, just as there are many who are still using the first version of D&D rules, “as Gygax intended,” and they love it.
When it comes to me, however, I have to admit that, while 5e is not a perfect game, its streamlined approach to character building did a lot to rope me back into the game after 3.5e had worn me off. I’m just not a jigsaw guy.
