When comparing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons vs Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 / Pathfinder RPG, the Slant community recommends Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for most people. In the question“What are the best editions of Dungeons and Dragons?” Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is ranked 4th while Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 / Pathfinder RPG is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is:
Later editions were, to varying degrees, designed for market appeal; but the original AD&D is little more than one man sharing notes on his personal vision. It's tailored to his thematic tastes, and very often as much care is put into explaining the reasoning behind a rule as into defining the rule itself.
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Pros
Pro Gary Gygax's personal touch
Later editions were, to varying degrees, designed for market appeal; but the original AD&D is little more than one man sharing notes on his personal vision. It's tailored to his thematic tastes, and very often as much care is put into explaining the reasoning behind a rule as into defining the rule itself.
Pro Has a vibrant online creative community
The Old School Renaissance community has a significant online presence on Blogspot and Google+, and features some of the most creative minds in fantasy gaming, all offering their ideas to the gaming audience for free or for generally low prices on PDF storefronts. As they aren't bound by Wizards of the Coast's need to cater to a mass market, they aren't obligated to present only a single "flavor" of fantasy. People playing 1st Edition (or one of its many available retroclones) will have no lack of material and inspiration to draw from.
Pro Cover art and visual representation in the mind is great
Pro Enormous pool of source material
The D&D v3.x family was published under an Open Game License which encouraged third-party material. Two editions later, there is still a thriving market creating new 3.5-compatible resources.
Pro Actively supported via Pathfinder RPG
When Wizards of the Coast discontinued D&D v3.5 development in favor of 4th Edition, Paizo took advantage of the Open Gaming License to publish an updated revision of the 3.x rules under the title Pathfinder RPG, which is still their flagship product. Notably, Pathfinder RPG has consistently outsold 4th Edition.
Pro Modular system encourages creativity
The D&D v3.x family is designed around building characters, monsters, magic items, etc., from small simple pieces. For each piece, any of countless others can be substituted, allowing near-infinite customization and variety.
Pro Many easy to comprehend books and other resources
Pro Perfect balance of DM storytelling and deeply granular rules.
All of the deep-dive rulebooks provide the option for endless complexity - go as far as you want, and you'll never run out of opportunities. However, the basic mechanic of "roll a d20 and add your bonus" is simple enough that the DM can tell stories, create worlds, and build adventures with their party.
3.5e is the perfect edition.
Cons
Con I actually think this edition is pretty good
Con Rules are awesome and make much sense
Con Encourages character optimization outside of play
With so many options available to the player, and the almost unlimited ability to combine them, certain "character builds" are patently superior to others. Players who spend a lot of personal time poring over the rules can often create characters so powerful that players who don't optimize feel useless in games with those who do.
Con Casters are significantly more powerful than non-casters
Con Detailed simulation slows down gameplay
Due to countless situational modifiers, players and DM alike have to put a great deal of thought into decisions about position, order of actions, etc., to the point that six seconds (one combat round) of "in-game time" frequently takes half an hour or more of play time.