IWD2 vs. 3ED?

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So I am singing praisal hymns for IWD2 system, but how faithful it actually is to the P&P? Percentage would be nice

 

Wow...

Its more like a 2.5 edition....

MAny things does not work as it should have (hide/move silently for eks).

 

I would say it's more like a "3ED light". The important differences from 2ED (like the multiclassing and the AC BAB) are like they should be in 3ED P&P.

 

Yes they got nearly everything "obvious" or "in your face" right. And left many of the background mechanics. Also BAB and AC is fairly easy convertions, just turn the numbers around, the way BAB works is exactly the same as how Thac0 works, just that they start on the same spot and goes the other way. Same with AC.

 

It's close enough, but some rules were left out, like the AoO and many feats/skills.

Still, I like this better than the AD&D rules.

 

The only things I miss are the role playing aspects of character development. Here, you have ultra specialized characters, especially in skills and feats. In P&P, most players would invest some skill points in knowledges, history, etc, not to mention climbing, swimming, mounted feats, etc. But I was always impressed with what the developers did add to the game.

 

General Ghoul: Many and most of them are very self-explanatory but yes i do miss many of them for nothing else but rolepalying reasons.

However they could have removed all those "get +2 in skill 1 and +2 in skill 2", we have skill focus for a reason.

 

Well it is like 3E, but not quite.

I like 2E rules better as they are simple and lovely. Oh, and MC casters suck hard in 3E. :angry:

 

I have yet to understand how anyone can claim 2E to be "simple" in comparision to 3E ?

I have DM'ed both, and going from 2E to 3E was an incredible change, all of a sudden my players begun understanding the ruleset!

 

Err please, let us not go for this all again!

2E vs 3E eh? Neverending infighting.

Personally speaking, I find 2E simpler. No complex feat, skill points per level calculations, no difficulty class calculations, (DC) plain and simple.

'I cast a fireball. Umm it is DC is, let me check...err, 10+3, plus:my int was 19 so +4, oh wait I had given one point to it in my last level up, so +5, I also have spell focus, or was it greater spell focus, ahh OK it was GREATER, I leveled up recently you know, so +4, and total is, I think, though one can never be sure, is:10+3+5+4=22 reflex save!'

'Great, I roll a reflex save. Umm I got a 11. Now, my base save is, +4 from thief, err no no rogue levels, +2 from fighter levels, and +1 from mage, so I have +7, eh? Well my dex is 14 so +2. This is 11+4+2+1+2=20, damn! Oh wait, wait, don't roll the damage yet, I have lightning reflexes feat, or so I think, let me check...(shuffles through character paper) yes here it is! So it adds, another, was it +2 bonus? It must be. So my save is successful!'

'Fine, you only take half damage then. (starts rolling the dice)'

'Umm no, I also had Evasion, so I took no damage at all. Yes, my super-duper character suddenly jumps, or flies, or teleports from the area of blast to take zero damage! And he was carrying lots of stuff! No sweat!'

'DAMN your feats!'

 

I'm not a PnP player and am not committed to either rulesset. I understand some of the points that you're making, Silverstar, about the complexity, or at least the excessive details, involved in 3e. And there's definitely something to be said for having simpler rules that take less time to use while playing.

That said, there are also some good things about 3e that I like.

One, I like the use of Max DEX bonus in armor. I like the idea that a very agile character wearing supple leather armor can have as high an AC as a plate wearing fighter who is about as agile as a tree stump.

Two, I like the fact that there's no racial discrimination in the 3e rules. Any person of any race can be select any class. You may not like that, but I love it.

Three.... I like the inversion of AC and replacing the term Thac0 with AB. It's easier to understand without having to take a couple minutes to think about it. It's more intuitive.


Personally, I wouldn't mind a merging of the 2e and 3e rules that tried to regain some of the simplicity of the 2e rules, while taking the best parts of 3e.

 

Add everything together, roll more. That sounds simple to me...