d&d 3rd vs 4th for beginners

[me48072]

i'm about to start a playing dnd again but i'm playing with people that have never played before and i was wondering if it would be easier to use 3rd edition rule set (then one i'm familiar with) or 4th. to me it seems that 4th is more complicated and more limiting (haven't had enough time to read far enough into the core books though. was hoping i could get some help with this

ps i'm going to be playing with people over scype they live about 4 hours away there all going to be together and i'm going to be on scype so that may make it harder to explain things.


thx for the help i typed this in a hurry sorry if its all over the place

 

[Tanis]

Man, haven't played a core DnD since 2nd, I think.

Mostly a Dragonlance and RIFTS fan myself.

I'd say, regardless, go with what's ever easier for you...it's a lot harder playing a game over the phone than IRL.

 

[joemu362]

As someone who's played both 3.5 and 4th edition, I'm gonna have to say that for folks just starting out, go with 4th. I've trained a few newbies on 4th edition and they seem to like it pretty well, while 3.5 just seems to be bloated with excess material and such. (That last bit is just my opinion though, take it as you will.) Long story short, I recommend you go with 4th edition. It strikes me as a much more streamlined system to have to convey to your players.

 

[migo]

D&D 3rd, and to a greater degree 3.5 suffer from requiring system mastery. There are a lot of noob traps, and the people who still play it have invested time in system mastery, so in essence only hardcore players play 3.x now.

4th is far more accessible, for one the character builder speeds up character gen a lot and keeps you from making screw ups, there aren't any noob traps, plus there's D&D Encounters on Wednesdays for people to just drop in and play, which is a friendly way of learning the system.

 

[Steppin Razor]

People that have never played before? 4th edition is probably your best bet. It'll be a bit of a pain for you to figure out if you're used to 3/3.5, but it's much more accessible for newer players. Not to mention that playing over Skype will make it a lot harder for you to help them with learning the game, so the more streamlined and accessible the system, the better.

 

[drisky]

4th is easier, but 3.5 is more similar to other pen and paper games so I think its a better starter. Unless the party really wants a combat focus, in which case go ahead with 4.

 

[Miumaru]

Do not ruin DnD for them by using 4th. 4th edition, like Ultimate Marvel though simpler, just creates a divide. Plus both ruin it. No Lawful evil? Way to shun all the cool bad guys.

 

[Amnestic]

ADnD 2nd.

/THAC0 is fun.
//4th is probably easiest to start with, though there are some changes between it and 3.5 I disagree with.

 

[LogicNProportion]

4th is best for beginners.

But when you grow a pair, go 3.5.

That's where the real fun is at.

 

[Wolvaroo]

4th is best for beginners.

But when you grow a pair, go 3.5.

That's where the real fun is at.

Then when you grow some hair on said pair and go AD&D. L2THAC0 and reap best edition rewards.

 

[infinity_turtles]

4th edition would be better for newbies. I've heard several DM's complain about planning encounters though, since minions change how those are balanced, so you(or whoever is DM) might want to put a bit more thought into that then you might be used to. And I just noticed the skype bit. Yeah, 4th is significantly better in that case. If you're not already, I recommend also checking openrpg [http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg] out to help run an internet based game.

*edit* If you're going to use openrpg, I recommend using the traipse [http://www.knowledgearcana.com/traipse-openrpg] version. The link to it from the link in the original post is broken though. Hence the edit.

 

[migo]

4th is best for beginners.

But when you grow a pair, go 3.5.

That's where the real fun is at.

There's no fun in 3.5. People who still play 3.5 are the type who assume unless you explicitly say you're making a perception check every 10' that you're blind and deaf.

 

[Rathy]

4th is probably easier to learn for new players, as other have said. Its is also far more combat focused from my experience compared to 3/3.5, if that is also a relevant factor.

As for the online part, that also favors and disfavors 4th as I see it. The character generator is a great tool for keeping characters updated in 4th ed, but you can do a similar thing with 3.5 with an online spreadsheet and the DM looking over the character for any major flaws in the creation. 4th I feel is a bit more demanding with the combat round setup, being so grid based, where 3 is a bit easier to improvise the combat setup on the run in my opinion.

 

[migo]

3rd isn't easy to improvise in at all, it's what introduced the rigid framework in the first place. If you disregard the rules you can do that in 3rd but that's no different from 4th.

 

[Megacobb]

I have played both for the first time this year and to me they were both equally confusing.

 

[infinity_turtles]

Yeah, 3rd has just as much emphasis on grids as 4th, it's just less obvious because of the mass of other rules. But then, dealing with the grid is what OpenRpg is for.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

make your own cross breeding of all the systems that you have ever played, it's what i did, and thus "3.mike" edition was born

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

4th is probably a bit easier to learn but 3.5 is much better. 3rd edition is kinda boring at low levels and gets better as you level up whereas 4th edition starts at cool but gets boring as you level up. My friends and I started playing 4th edition then we play tested the game at around level 20 to see how it was and it just sucks. Both the players and the enemies can't do a lot of damage and battles just take so very long.

The best pen and paper game I've played is Mutants and Masterminds. You can literally build any kind of character to you want, and you only use a D20 and that's it.

 

[ShadowofaAirmen]

Once DnD moved to 3rd and 4th i stoped playing to much change for me. Moved on to Rifts and Pladdium.. but i think 4th edition would be the way to go might as well learn the current one.
AD&D is what started it all for me man i loved it.