We talk a lot about balance in TTRPG mechanics, but what really influenced how I felt when I first played D&D 3.5 was the other players! As a newbie in a group with a few min-maxers, my monk felt a bit useless in combat.

I like 5e bc it's hard to make a "bad" character.

— Justice Ramin Arman (@justicearman) August 5, 2021

Oh man, finding what the monk was “supposed” to do in 3e was rough. The best I ever came up with was a hyper mobile heal/buff platform using copious amounts of Use Magic Device.

Everything else was just “Fighter but way harder and worse.” :/ So real. I remember sitting with my DM and seeing the literally hundreds of feats and just feeling so overwhelmed!

— Justice Ramin Arman (@justicearman) August 5, 2021