As far as I know - There were a bunch of tweaks and improvements; some game balance issues were addressed, class progression shuffled around and emphasis shifted from "buff before combat" to "mid-fight casting" (most of the stat buff spells - Bull's Strength, etc - were shifted from "hours" duration to turns or minutes). At the end of the day, though, it is fundamentally a revision rather than a new ruleset.
The single biggest change is that all the combat rules are now expressed in terms of miniatures on a board. I mean, 3.0 is all based around the five-foot-square, but 3.5 really tries to give you the impression that you need to buy miniatures to play the game (even though the fundamentals are unchanged).
That's just impressions and reactions rather than an in-depth analysis though ... I've never actually gone through and looked. WotC have, though.
Bard and Ranger were both badly written in 3.0 - there was no mechanical incentive to take more than 1 (or 2) levels then multiclas into something else. They got fixed.
Some spells got adjusted to make them less random or more balanced.
Some skills (like Intuit Direction and Use Rope) got removed as overly specific and some feats adjusted (like Ambidextrous and Two Weapon fighting got combined into one).
The weapon size rules got changed. No longer is a human's dagger a shortsword for a halfling. Instead all kinds of weapons can be made for any size of creature, and you get a non-proficiency penalty if you use weapons for the wrong size.
In short, there were a bunch of little changes - almost all improvements where long-term play had shown there were wrinkles in 3.0 Very little is fundamentally changed, and I'd recommend always going for 3.5 over 3.0. You don't even need to buy new books, since it's all online for free at: http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/home.html
Lots of minor fixes; There isn't really a reason to stay with 3.0.
Notable fixes were improving bards (can now wear chain shirts and cast without penalty) & druids (can now use any spell slot as a summon spell, among other things), which were both underpowered in 3.0
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 06:33 pm (UTC)The single biggest change is that all the combat rules are now expressed in terms of miniatures on a board. I mean, 3.0 is all based around the five-foot-square, but 3.5 really tries to give you the impression that you need to buy miniatures to play the game (even though the fundamentals are unchanged).
That's just impressions and reactions rather than an in-depth analysis though ... I've never actually gone through and looked. WotC have, though.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 07:43 pm (UTC)That's now.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:05 pm (UTC)Some spells got adjusted to make them less random or more balanced.
Some skills (like Intuit Direction and Use Rope) got removed as overly specific and some feats adjusted (like Ambidextrous and Two Weapon fighting got combined into one).
The weapon size rules got changed. No longer is a human's dagger a shortsword for a halfling. Instead all kinds of weapons can be made for any size of creature, and you get a non-proficiency penalty if you use weapons for the wrong size.
In short, there were a bunch of little changes - almost all improvements where long-term play had shown there were wrinkles in 3.0 Very little is fundamentally changed, and I'd recommend always going for 3.5 over 3.0. You don't even need to buy new books, since it's all online for free at:
http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/home.html
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 12:42 pm (UTC)Notable fixes were improving bards (can now wear chain shirts and cast without penalty) & druids (can now use any spell slot as a summon spell, among other things), which were both underpowered in 3.0
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 01:44 pm (UTC)