Hello, and welcome to the Project Phoenix wiki. Project Phoenix is a revision of the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rules, designed to fix the broken rules, add new material and incorporate existing content from other OGC sources, like the ELH, Psionics Handbook, and the divine rules, as well as my own custom content, and generally make play more interesting and balanced overall.
Project Phoenix is a self-contained, Open Source ruleset. You can pull everything off this site and have a complete, workable system, or you can cherry-pick rules and use them in your 3.5 or even 3E game with little or no work. Open Source means that not only is it Open Game Content, but the underlying mechanics of the system are exposed so that it can be more easily modified by those who have the inclination to do so. I'm writing a series of Design Diary entries, along with a Discussions section explaining all the work I have been (and am) doing, which covers the justifications and decisions I've made.
I'm open to comments, criticisms, and playtest reports - I want to keep this project evolving and growing, and it can't do so without people using it.
Project Phoenix is intended to combine and streamline all the rules - core and epic - into a coherent whole. 3.5 has a feel of "design by committee", where some rules appear multiple times (sometimes in the same book), and sometimes contradict each other. With one person doing all the rules, it ensures a more unified view of the ruleset. Also, a lot of similar systems have been combined - the social skills use the same rules; animal companions, familiars, and paladin mounts use the same rules; magic items can be made using the Craft skill (and use the Craft system); etc. All of the epic rules have been seamlessly incorporated into the core; there are still be "epic levels" (now called "legendary"), but the transition between pre-20th level and post-20th is be less noticeable - a gradual change instead of, "Oh hey, I'm epic now!".
Why "Project Phoenix"? It was the first thing that popped into my head when I started thinking about names, and I liked it, so it stuck. Besides, having a name makes it more official (or at least makes it seem like I know what I'm doing). Calling it "D&D 3.75" gives people preconceptions - they expect it to look and feel like D&D; calling it by a completely different name allows me to avoid the preconceptions and expectations and make the changes necessary for it to be a workable ruleset.
And yes, I'm well aware that "Project Phoenix" was the name of a CIA-run anti-insurgency campaign during the Vietnam War. My choice of names was an unfortunate coincidence.
Is it compatible with 3.5? Of course. The changes are more pervasive and deeper than, say, Pathfinder, but not nearly as much as 4E - it's still recognizably 3.5. All the classes are still there, most of the PrCs are still there, the spells, the monsters (except the PI material), magic items… it's just that the way some things work got changed.
What's changed? You can find a summary of the changes here. Note:This is outdated. Once I finished all the current revisions, I'll update the changelog.
Will it get published? Getting paid for all my work would be nice, but it's a big pain trying to find artists, editors, and a publisher, not to mention getting people to buy three complete books worth of stuff. I much prefer to just write stuff and share it with anyone who wants to use it. Maybe if it takes off I'll see about getting it published, but for right now, I'm content to make it available to anyone who wants it. I'm a big supporter of the Open Game Movement, so all of Project Phoenix is now and will forever be OGC and available for free.
What about that phoenix pic? I found the phoenix on a public domain clipart site.
What are you working on now? Since Project Phoenix is more or less "complete" (inasmuch as any game system can be referred to as such), I'm just working on new stuff for the most part.
What if I want to leave you a message or comments? You can check the Contact page for my e-mail, or drop me a line on the forums. No registration is necessary - I deliberately set it up so you can just go in and post a message.
Is there a compilation of all the files available? Yes there is. You can find a compilation in HTML format here.
Declaration of Open Game Content: Unless otherwise noted, all material on this site is Open Game Content.
What's New?
29 Jan: Updated the changelog. I revised it after I finished the HTML docs, but kept forgetting to post the updates.
25 Jan: I know I said I'd have it done this past weekend; I actually did finish it last night, but I had to make a couple last-minute changes. The HTML compilation is now available here. Download and enjoy. I'm currently working on revisions for the cleric and druid (the ones in the compilation are identical to the ones on the site - they're basically placeholders). As soon as I get those done, I'll update it again, then I'll move on to the monsters and legendary rules.
23 Jan: I made some changes to the "animal buff" magic items as well as the spells; basically, they grant a bonus to checks and saves modified by the ability, not the ability itself. The items also grant a set amount of bonus spells.
I've uploaded the revised spells doc, which also includes changes to forcecage and wall of force (they now have 10 hp/caster level) and the clerical domains (all of them have abilities that are usable 1 + Cha bonus times per day or, in a couple cases, 3/day).
Also, I revised the Ready rules.
20 Jan: I'm done with all the basic stuff for the HTML compilation - everything except the legendary section (which I'll add later, after I get it all updated) and the magic/monsters (which will be Word files). I have to go over everything, make sure all the links work, and get the table of contents put together, so I should have it ready by this weekend.
19 Jan: All the PrCs are done and updated. Most of the changes I made were minor stuff - cleaning up grammar and mechanics, fixing outdated references, and (in two cases) adding parentage. Of note:
- The new Arcane Trickster is up - I added a couple new abilities and rearranged the existing ones for a better progression. I'm still not totally happy with it, but it's better than it was.
- The Spiritblade is also up.
- The Elementalist, Horizon Walker, and Hunter of the Planes are gone - they'll be cannibalized for legendary classes (or, in the druid's case, non-legendary).
- I've combined all the PrCs on the classes page into one table, because it made more sense. The discussion link is down at the bottom now (I'll be updating the discussion section as soon as I finish everything).
17 Jan: I made some tweaks to the circles of power rules - just clarifications and adding in missing bits.
I'm still working through the PrCs, but I've decided to just update them all at the same time - I cut several more, and it'll be easier to update the Classes page once, rather tha multiple times.
