History TabletopGame / DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition

''Dungeons & Dragons (3rd Edition)'' (2000 - 2003) made major simplifications to the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' by using the UsefulNotes/D20System (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills, and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", whereas only specific classes had access to them before.

* CombatMedic: 3.5 Edition had a prestige explicitly for this and called this.

** Also, in rules supplements like the '''Arms And Equipment Guide''' you'll find a variety of little bits-and-pieces items, like a stick of chalk, a hacksaw blade, extremely long pieces of string, a piece of ebony wood, and a bag of marbles. Each of these were individual items that had shown up in a variety of different other modules by one lone, clever writer, and since they're mundane items they are remarkably cheap (some not even breaking a single gold piece). It only takes a player willing to comb through the book and dedicate maybe a hundred gold of his budget (which, again, represents thousands and thousands of gold) to always have the right tool for an obscure job.

** Gnome Tunnel Acrobatics from Dungeonscape is another tactical feat with a maneuver of this type, "Combat Puppeteer". It allows confusing opponents by moving swiftly between them, leading the attack of opportunity of one of them to hit their ally.

** The Prismatic Sphere spell is normally stationary. If it can be made mobile (perhaps by modifying it so it can be cast on a movable item/creature) it can be touched to an opponent, inflicting a variety of massive types of damage on the victim.
** The ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' 3.5E supplement ''Lost Empires of Faerun'' contains the spell Crushing Sphere, which envelops the target and crushes it over several rounds.

* ExperiencePenalty: In the 3rd edition, multiclassing incurred an XP penalty unless one of the character's classes was their race's "favored class". Humans got to choose their favored class.

* IdealizedSex: According to the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5 module "Book of Vile Darkness", only evil people can have a sadomasochistic sexuality. Also, all sadomasochists have evil superpowers — sexual masochism and sadism ''are'' evil superpowers in this setting, and sexual masochism is defined as being the same thing as the trope CombatSadomasochist.

* ImmuneToMindControl: In 3rd Edition, the spell Mind Blank did this as well as provide some immunities to divination.
* InstantDeathRadius: A big problem in the 3rd Edition games is certain monsters being absolutely painful to approach via long melee reach and the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which will usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength, such as ''any monster that's larger than you''.

** 3rd Edition in particular stands out by virtue of having numerous subsystems (such as [[PsychicPowers Psionics]], Invocations, [[DealWithTheDevil Binding]], [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Blade Magic]], and [[GuideDangIt Incarnum]]).
** To give some perspective, the rules for [[GrapplingWithGrapplingRules grappling]] run a whole two pages in the 3rd edition [[UpdatedRerelease Rules Compendium]]. The rules for magic items weigh in at 5, and the rules for movement are covered by ''ten whole pages''. And then you have Polymorphing rules, which have been changed so frequently that you need to check the errata instead of the most recently printed book just to make sure you are up to date.

* MadeOfIndestructium: 3rd Edition [[MacGuffin Major Artifacts]]. At this point they say if you destroy one, you also attract the attention of whatever created it. They are probably not happy you destroyed their MagnumOpus. And are many [[BossBattle levels higher than you]] if not a [[OhCrap god]]. If you're lucky, they may be dead, but something powerful enough to create a major artifact tends to not just die...
* MagicOrPsychic: In 3rd edition most magic-using classes function by VancianMagic while Psionics are limited by {{Mana}}.
* MagikarpPower: Wizards in 3.x, due to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. Same with most casters, especially the ''infamous'' [=CoDzilla=] combination of 'Cleric or Druid.'

* MoveInTheFrozenTime: In the 3rd edition, the Epic Level Handbook includes a feat called "Spell Stowaway" which allows a character to pick one spell and share in its effects each time it's cast within 300ft (as long as it would have a clear path to travel to you). One of the examples (used by the Phane monster) is choosing time stop so that you join the caster in their accelerated timeframe.

* {{Mundangerous}}: In 3rd edition, being on any surface (marbles most prominently) that requires something to balance without 5 ranks in the "balance" skill (which is otherwise not gotten as it's a rare class skill and most times you need to balance you can just fly), will result in being "flatfooted", a fairly big disadvantage, and it effects any land based foe without the balance ranks.

* {{Psychometry}}: In D&D 3.5, Seers have access to a power called ''object reading'' that lets them touch an object and learn information about its previous owners. There's also a magic item called "gloves of object reading" that grants a similar ability.

** Undead that fail their saving throw after being struck with a magic weapon with the Disruption property or killed by the Sunbeam or Sunray spells are reduced to dust.
* SacredFlames: The 3E divine spell ''Flame Strike'' calls down a bolt of fire from the heavens that does half fire damage and half divine damage. The divine half is not subject to damage resistance to fire-based attacks.
* ShapeshiftingHealsWounds: 3.5 Edition: {{Downplayed|Trope}} with the ''Polymorph'' and ''Shapechange'' spells, which restore HitPoints equal to a full night's rest when the target transforms. However, ''Shapechange'' lets them transform once per turn, so they can quickly heal completely.

** One 3.5 Prestige Class that fits this trope would be the Abjurant Champion; a MagicKnight class that grants a character bonuses to Abjuration spells (such as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shield]]). It mentions Mage Armour as being another such spell, seemingly disregarding the fact that Mage Armour is placed in ''conjuration''.
** Complete Psionics includes feats that make a character a descendant of the Mind Flayers. This ''completely'' ignores the process Mind Flayers reproduce by [[note]]they're sexless egg-layers. The only way illithid hybrids are created is "FaceFullOfAlienWingWong plug a larva into host other than Medium humanoid"[[/note]].

** The Ruby Knight Vindicator example character worships Saint Cuthbert, but the class requires Wee Jas worship (It suggests [=DM=]s should make versions for other deities the deity requirement, but it's officially just a suggestion).

* ZombifyTheLiving: The 3.5 Edition supplement ''Sandstorm'' has the Dead Throne, an ArtifactOfDoom that brought the desert warlord Ten-Ap back from the dead and gave him the ability to turn the living into mummies.

* GhostlyAnimals: "Ghost" is a template in 3.5 edition that normally couldn't be applied to animals since most lacked the charisma score necessary to become a ghost. There are a few exceptions, however, mostly [[DireBeast Dire Beasts]] and Legendary Animals. There was also a Ghost Brute template added in another book that was specifically there to create ghostly animals and other low-charisma creatures.
* GoldSilverCopperStandard: D&D is one of the early trope codifiers. Prices are usually listed in g.p., unless they're small prices, in which case they're listed in s.p. or c.p.. The exchange rates were as follows:

* HolyIsNotSafe: The Positive Energy Plane serves as the power source behind "positive" energy damage and abilities that TurnUndead, but any living being who tries to enter the plane without appropriate protection will find their bodies being overloaded with life energy and risk being vaporized if they spend too long there. Ironically, according to 3.5E Rules as Written, undead that travel to the plane simply gain (temporary) hit points, and are immune to all the downsides.

'''Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 edition) (2003 - 2007)''' was an effort to rebalance and fix up 3rd edition. It consisted of ''lots'' of little fixes and additional content while trying not to render obsolete what came before. However, the gradual shift from attempts to model the game world to an abstract "chess rules balance" approach becomes rather obvious. Individual settings are routinely treated much more invasively at this point, starting with "how to shoehorn this into X" advice on everything.

** Still the standard for wizards, who learns new spells by scribing them in a spell book, and prepare them by consulting it every morning. Sorcerers notably don't need one, their magic being "in their blood", but have a much reduced selection in exchange.
** The archivist class uses divine magic (the kind clerics and druids use) through a prayerbook in a manner similar to wizard instead of praying for them like other divine casters.

* BlackMagic: Several individual examples: Many 3rd Edition spells have a self-explanatory [Evil] descriptor.

''Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition)'' (2000 - 2003) made major simplifications to the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' by using the UsefulNotes/D20System (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills, and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", whereas only specific classes had access to them before.

* PoisonIsEvil: In 3.5, according to the Book of Exalted Deeds, using poison to deal damage is an evil act because it causes undue suffering. Using ''ravages'', however, is a-ok, because ravages only wrack and torture the bodies of evil creatures. ([[MoralDissonance Using poison against an evil creature is still evil even if it has the exact same effect]].)

* * MagikarpPower: Wizards in 3.x, due to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. Same with most casters, especially the ''infamous'' [=CoDzilla=] combination of 'Cleric or Druid.'

** 3rd Edition D&D eventually added a whole creature subtype for beings descended from dragons - the dragonblooded - with access to unique dragon-themed feats and {{Prestige Class}}es (including wings and {{Breath Weapon}}s). While Sorcerers are ''not'' automatically dragonblooded, they can trade away some of their normal abilities in order to count as such.

* SpellBook: The archivist uses divine magic (the kind clerics and druids use) this way instead of praying for them.
* SpellLevels: 3rd Edition brought about spell level 0, increasing the number of levels to 10. Clerics and druids had their "max" for spell levels increased from 7 to 9, to put them on the same power plateau as arcane spellcasters. As such - clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards have ten spell levels (0-9); bards have seven (0-6), and paladins and rangers have four (1-4).

''Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition) (2000 - 2003)'' made major simplifications to the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' by using the UsefulNotes/D20System (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills, and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", whereas only specific classes had access to them before.

'''Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition) (2000 - 2003)''' made major simplifications to the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' by using the UsefulNotes/D20System (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills, and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", whereas only specific classes had access to them before.

'''Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition) (2000 - 2003)''' edition made major simplifications to the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' by using the UsefulNotes/D20System (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills, and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", whereas only specific classes had access to them before.