Looking for help

[Fallen_SHadows]

Hey,people of the forums i was just wondering if there was anyone out there GM or players out there that would be willing to help me learn the ropes of D&D 3.5 as i am completely new to both FG and D&D, i have already purchased a full licence for the game i just need someone or some people who are willing to teach a complete beginner the ropes of how to play D&D thanks for any help that you can give also sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forums but in my head it seemed like a good place to ask

[Trenloe]

First step, I'd recommend reading the player side of the rules - you can get a condensed version at the ODL SRD for D&D 3.5 here: https://www.d20srd.org/

I'd recommend picking up a players handbook too.

[hangarflying]

There are a bunch of YouTube vidoes that might help.

https://www.youtube.com/user/DawnforgedCast This is a good channel that has a lot of good information. Most of it is slanted towards Pathfinder, which while not D&D 3.5, it is close enough that you'll be able to understand D&D 3.5.

[damned]

Reading - or starting to read the Players Handbook (D&D not FG) is definitely a good start. It introduces you to what its all about etc.
Then you would want to do both of watch some of those videos and get in on a D&D or Pathfinder game as a player. Even a PFS session would give you a really good idea of how it all works.

[Fallen_SHadows]

thanks for the advice all, I've started reading the players handbook and I'm watching a few things on youtube now

[JohnD]

Your experience is the most magical the less of the rule set and game mechanics you know in my opinion. Just start and enjoy yourself.

[Griogre]

There can be a lot of truth in what JohnD says. Most mechanical rules can be summarized as higher numbers are better and doing certain things to give you the best bonuses in combat while not hurting some other character is best. Less intuitive is sometimes the best fights are the ones you win without any combat at all though things like maneuver, trickery, intimidation or even diplomacy.

If you can find a 1st level game just starting out most groups don't mind a new player.

[dr_venture]

As you're new to D&D, I would suggest a fun way to come up to speed outside of the FG arena would be playing the old Baldur's Gate games - as I remember it, they use the D&D rules pretty much verbatim for the most part. I gotta think that after an afternoon of playing through one of those, the game materials in FG would look pretty familiar.

The older Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic games also used rules that were very similar to D&D 3.5 - the character classes and items and environments are all Star Warsy, but the game play and rules themselves are very D&D.

Be advised that the 3.5 rules for D&D are about as complicated as D&D ever got, which is a double-edged sword - I think it's a lot to learn unless you have a regular 3.5 or Pathfinder game you can participate in and learn the ropes that way. If you could participate in a couple face-to-face sessions at a local game shop or convention, that would really give you a kick start.

Just as a little background, D&D 3.X split the D&Ders into two camps the Wizards of the Coast has been trying to dually please ever since (I'm uncertain of the difference between D&D 3.0, 3.5, and D20, honestly - which is my ignorance, not a comment on the quality of the rules). 3.5 certainly has a strong following, and many people really love the comprehensive rules and the more complex game mechanics, while others wind up yearning for a simpler style of gaming that relies more on the GM to sort-of "fill in the blanks." Neither is "better" than the other, of course, they're just different styles of gaming. Your tastes will evolve as you play and find what appeals to you.

Just so you're aware of them, the two systems I'm aware of that fall into the simpler realm of gameplay (and have good rulesets for FG) are Castles and Crusades, which is essentially a simplified mix of the first two versions of AD&D (everything you need to play and Game Master in FG for $10), and Savage Worlds, which is probably more popular and also is known for it's quick play and streamlined gameplay, but I'm not familiar with it, so I can't say any more than that.

Good luck!

[Trenloe]

You may also want to check out Pathfinder - it is essentially D&D 3.75, is built to be backwards compatible with D&D 3.5e and all of their hardback rulebooks are available to access for free here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

You can also pick up a PDF of the core rulebook for $10 on the Paizo site, but this contains the same info as the "Core Rulebook" entry on the website referenced above - but with lots of nice artwork!

[Fallen_SHadows]

thanks for all the advice everyone has gave, i'm going to have a good look at pathfinder because i chose to try d&d 3.5 because i wanted to make a character that i could go into real depth with and figure out all his/her different aspects out which seems to be what the 3rd edition and it's derivatives seem to allow more so than 4e but i've already began fleshing out my character and just need to get my head round all the core mechanics of feats, attributes etc but again thanks for your help everyone hopefully we'll meet in a game someday when i've got much better with everything

[Fallen_SHadows]

ok i've sorta got this figured out now i just need info on how to fill out the actual character sheet on FG cause that has got me pretty much stumped i'm currently in the middle of trying to fill out a pathfinder character sheet again much thanks to everyone who has taken time to give me advice

[Trenloe]

This might help: https://www.fg-con.com/information/pathfinder-society-organized-play/preparing-your-pc-for-fantasy-grounds/

The thing to remember is that a lot of info will have to be filled in manually. You can drag/drop traits/abilities from a library module to the "abilities" tab and you can drag/drop items from a library module to the inventory tab - weapons will be auto created in the actions tab if you add them this way. However, beyond that it is up to you to manage your character and any statistics/bonuses. Dragging a feat from the library, for example, won't automatically apply that feat - the details on the "abilities" tab are for information only, it is up to you to apply the effects of the feat/ability as and when necessary.

[Fallen_SHadows]

thank you again everyone finally got my head round the character sheet, i used herolab to make the character and the imported him to FG and modified the parts that needed fixed and I'd say I'm now happy with the result though I definitely would like someone with more experience to give it a quick once over to make sure I've not messed up somewhere but that can wait cause currently I'm studying the main mechanics for combat & levelling up which is the main part of where I get confused. but all in I'd say I'm ready and raring to go, so once again thanks for all the advice

[Nylanfs]

Now that you have a char that is built correctly I would REALLY recommend building the same one by hand so you make sure you understand WHY the values are they way they are. You can build it by hand and then compare the results to the one made by HL and that will show areas that you might not have caught without HL.

[Fallen_SHadows]

yeah i ended up doing it by hand after i made the hero labs character because i was looking at the sheet and thinking i have no idea why any of these values are here and it definitely helped to start from scratch and just reference back and forth between the books and FG to make sure everything was ok, now i'm just looking to join a game and get started proper