The 3.5 core rulebooks. The 3.0 core rulebooks. Unearthed Arcana. The Rules Compendium. Errata. Three public alpha tests, a beta test, and an official Pathfinder rulebook. Countless published and web-based third party material. House rules. The third edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game has so many variations of its rules, it can be hard to keep track. Introducing the 3.5 Ruleset Checklist, a tool to organize the options available to your group.

Download 3.5 Rules Checklist.pdf

How It Works

 

The 3.5 Ruleset Checklist assumes you are going to use the 3.5 core rules and the Pathfinder RPG as your two main sources, but there is space left to fill in additional sources of your choosing.

 

Here is an example of a gaming group filling out the 3.5 Ruleset Checklist together. Jonathan, Skip, and Monte look over Table 3: Races and Classes. The first item on the list is Dwarf. They all agree to use the 3.5 core rules version of the dwarf. So, they put an X or a check or a sketch of a dwarf in the box below 3.5 core rules. In the space below dwarf, they write 3.5 Player’s Handbook page 14, which is where they can find information on the 3.5 core rules dwarf. Next is the elf. Again they all agree, they all want the Pathfinder version of the elf. So they mark off the box below Pathfinder on the elf line and write Pathfinder RPG rulebook and the appropriate page in the source space.

 

The smooth sailing ends there. Jonathan likes the 3.5 halfling. Skip and Monte like the Pathfinder halfling. They could just say majority rules and leave Jonathan to pout in the corner, but Monte has a more social solution. They will use both. The 3.5 halfling will be the predominantly urban version of the race called townsies and the Pathfinder halfling will be the glade-dwelling version of the race called hobbits. So they check off both 3.5 core rules and Pathfinder. To clarify, Monte writes a shorthand note in the comments section. 3.5 = urban townsies, PF = forest hobbits. Conversely, he could write “See additional page” in the comments box. He would then attach a note sheet where he outlines his idea in full. He then shorthands both sources in the sourceline and moves on.

 

Things get dicier when they get to the classes section. Neither Skip nor Monte likes either 3.5 or Pathfinder version of the bard, but they both want the class in their game. Jonathan mentions an awesome variant of the class he found online. The three agree. So at the top of the page, after 3.5 core rules and Pathfinder, they add a new source, “internet”, which they check off in the bard line. Below the bard, they write the URL of the site they found their preferred bard on.

 

Once the table is complete, the three men are ready to roleplaying, confident they have created the 3.5 blend that best suits them all. They also had the foresight to write in pencil, just in case they change their minds or a new option comes out they want to explore.