Are there any pre-made campaigns that are fairly simple and able to be played by a group of three people for D&D 3.5? My friends and I have a hard time getting a campaign that we can play, as it gets difficult quickly when we only have 2-3 characters. My price range would be fairly cheap; from free to $10 at most. I would prefer a shorter campaign that would last a few 2-3 hour long sessions.
[RPG] Good campaigns for a small group?
campaigndnd-3.5egame-recommendation
Related Solutions
OK, so the artificer is the most complicated class in the game and you probably don’t want to play it. The wizard is definitely complicated, and with the right tack can do the things you’re interested in, but it’s possibly overpowered plus doesn’t really seem to have the imagery you want out of the box.
Enter the Beguiler
The beguiler from Player’s Handbook II is not as complicated as the wizard. Rather than maintaining an ever-expanding spellbook and preparing spells every morning, the beguiler just knows every spell on his spell list, and can use them in any combination he likes provided he’s still got spell slots left for the day. And ultimately, the beguiler’s not nearly as powerful.
On the other hand, the beguiler is far more obviously stealth-oriented. They have Hide and Move Silently as class skills, they can wear light armor, and they get bonuses for surprising people with their spells. Their spell list is quite good, with lots of different options, including an incredibly flexible array of illusions.1 Their 6+Int skills mean they are quite likely to have solid mundane skills for sneaking about and slipping into places they shouldn’t be.
I recommend considering the Master of Poisons and Poison Spell feats (both from Drow of the Underdark) to excel with poisons. I recommend against actually playing a drow, though, master poisoners though they are, because the LA +2 is very, very bad.
Also, the mindbender prestige class from Complete Arcane, though generally quite poor, is an amazing choice for a beguiler to take for a single level at 6th (i.e. 5th-level beguiler/1st-level mindbender). The entry is easy, and mindbender improves your spellcasting while giving you telepathy out to 100 ft., which qualifies you for the excellent Mindsight feat (Lords of Madness). Now you know exactly where every thinking mind in 100 ft. is, and that’s awesome. Continue taking beguiler levels thereafter (i.e. 5th-level beguiler/1st-level mindbender/beguiler +x)
- Just how flexible and useful illusions are does depend a fair bit on the DM, so you should ask about that before making a character focused on them, but in my experience most DMs are willing to let them go pretty far.
Double Jeopardy
OK, so maybe the beguiler sounds pretty cool and all, but you actually liked the way that wizard was sounding. No problem: the ultimate magus prestige class from Complete Mage is an excellent option, and nothing works so well for it as the beguiler does. Start out as a 1st-level beguiler for the sweet, sweet 4×(6+Int) skill points, and then multiclass into wizard for three levels in order to qualify for ultimate magus. Ultimate magus will improve both beguiler and wizard spellcasting. Make sure to take Practiced Spellcaster (beguiler) before you start; Practiced Spellcaster is also from Complete Mage. Being an illumian and taking the Power Sigil (Krau) feat, both from Races of Destiny, is also highly recommended.
In this approach, being a specialist wizard banning Enchantment and Illusion is a good idea because beguiler is very strong in both of those schools, so you won’t miss those spells as much. Conjuration or Transmutation are probably your best bets for specialty, though really anything can work. Practiced Spellcaster (beguiler) is a must and Power Sigil (Krau) is highly recommended, but aside from that you can still take Master of Poisons and Poison Spell. If you are a human subrace—and illumians are—, also consider Able Learner to allow you to more easily maintain your ranks in Hide and Move Silently.
Dimension Door, Greater (Spell Compendium p. 64)
Less fancy than the options listed in the other answers and requires a 5th level spell slot (or scroll) each time, but once the standard action has been used to cast (assuming no Quicken Spell / Sudden Quicken feat use) then for the next level / 2 rounds it is a move action to move the caster and other touched creature/s and object/s up to 25' + 5' / 2 levels once per round. The movement does not trigger attacks of opportunity.
Our party had a lot of trouble fighting a vampire wizard who used this spell on repeated occasions.
Best Answer
When I started playing d20/3e D&D, I ran my friends through The Crucible of Freya, and I remember it being a lot of fun. Frog God Games offers a version for 3.5e in PDF for $2.99 USD. Here's a good capsule review.
When Crucible was released, there was a free prequel adventure called "The Wizard's Amulet" that I ran first, and it really hooked my friends (that's why I bought Crucible of Freya). I couldn't find a conversion to 3.5e for sale anywhere, but a google search turned up many places where the original 3e version can be downloaded.
One caveat: there was a third adventure in the series called Tomb of Abysthor that really fell flat. On paper, it looks fantastic--especially if one of your players wants to RP a character turning into a paladin, but the actual adventure was a slog-and-a-half.