D&D 3.5E: The Best Version of D&D?

I know 3.5E has some huge exploits and issues, but wow, is this DMG good. Whoever did the 4E and 5E DMG lobotomized the game, stripped out anything cool about this book, and tossed away an astonishing amount of information.

This book has it all, treasures, random dungeons, random NPCs, weather, terrain, encounter tables, loads of traps, encounter building, pacing, creating adventures, how to run the game, random doors, dungeon feature tables, urban encounters, hirelings (yes!), leadership, campaigns, world building, planes...

Tons of variant rules are in here! Alternate ability score creation, monsters as races, creating new races, creating new classes, prestige classes, cohorts, familiars, mounts, animal companions, epic characters up to 30th level, artifacts, creating magic items, and one of the best magic item sections in any D&D edition...

A full glossary, sample dungeon tiles, sidebar lists, table lists, and an index.

Some of these things have yet to make a return to D&D 5E. Some of these sections took decades to return to the game, and they aren't even as detailed and well designed as what we have here. Some are still not a part of the game.

Nothing, no game, not even Pathfinder 1e, has come close to the level of detail and sheer usefulness as this book delivers in half the size of the Pathfinder 1e core rulebook, at 322 pages. The only fault? There isn't that much art, but who cares? The book is dense, but that makes it easier to use, I do not want to be flipping through a coffee table art book when I am looking for a chart I want.

Pathfinder 1e's GMG was good, but this is amazing. The Pathfinder book is far more useful for world-hopping, which, again, pegs Pathfinder as a story-based game. Most of the GM tools in Pathfinder are more useful for generating areas and NPCs for story-gaming. There is a lot of information on creating plots, stories, arcs, and large epic tales. I am betting they are relying on you still having your 3.5E DMG for all the dungeon-based stuff, but the dungeon-based information in the 3.5E DMG is like nothing I have ever seen. The D&D 3.5E DMG is a dungeon-crawling powerhouse resource, epic in scope, and it helps you craft incredible adventure sites and environments.

The Pathfinder 1e GMG feels weak in comparison, and it is a step down from the 3.5E DMG. Ultimately, it is a support book for playing adventure paths, filling in the "everything not in the adventure" around the sites laid out in the adventures you buy.

D&D 3.5E focuses in on the dungeon environment with a magnifying glass, and anything in that dungeon could kill you. Even a door, or a strange statue on a wall. The DMG surrounds the DM with a complete toolbox of dungeon devices, designs, and dastardly denizens. The book alone is a masterclass in stocking and building a dungeon. It makes sense, since D&D 3.5E's focus is squarely on "surviving those halls" and the entire game is almost a "dungeon survival tabletop game."

D&D 5E? Forget it, that game is so lost in story-land it might as well be rules-light FATE. 3.5E is a tactical wargame, better character builder, dungeon boardgame, and the stories are left up to the DM and players. You are not "forced" by game mechanics to come up with "inspiration sources" - you roleplay it all. There is no mechanical benefit for roleplaying, but the DM may smile upon high drama, heroism, and sacrifice.

Let people roleplay. We don't need rules for it.

Remember the era, this was the 2000s - Sum 41, Tony Hawk, the PS2 & 3, X-Box, extreme sports, snowboarding, BMX racing, The Offspring, skateboarding, and the entire era was filled with rebellion and attitude. D&D was still for nerds and outcasts. Geek culture was tied to the hip with D&D. There was no OSR, as it was just being born. The Matrix was still cool. The pioneers of gaming were still around, and future legends like Monte Cook were playing the game and writing the next books.

We knew how to tell a story and roleplay.

Like getting on a skateboard, you just did it.

3.5E was the best version of D&D Wizards ever put out. Yes, it had problems, but 5E does, too. I criticize West Coast designs like this, but this is the only West Coast design I like. 3.5E as a story game, like Pathfinder 1e? Forget it, play 5E, that is a better story game. But as a dungeon game? With dungeon-focused skills? And a focus entirely on dungeon crawling? That isn't overpowered, CR+1, handing out feats like candy, Pathfinder 1e?

3.5E was peak D&D.

This DMG was decades ahead of its time and it still has never been touched. If you think 5.5E is the ultimate D&D, I invite you to step back two editions to the 2000s, and get lost in the halls of a truly terrifying, almost Elden Ring level of difficulty, labyrinth where every step could be your last.