D&D Systems? (Totally newb to this fact right here)

[Thufir Hawat]

Mechanics are meant to be tweaked with house rules anyway!

True, but it's easier if you don't have to invent the wheel at every step !

[TheGlyphstone]

I've played 3.5 mostly, with a flavoring of 4E and one game of AD&D. Despite having cut my teeth on D&D through the AD&D ruleset by way of CRPGs like Baldur's Gate, the 2E game was both short-lived and miserable (though, the DM repeatedly mentioned his intent to show us how good 3.X was by comparison, so I dunno). The 4E module was fine as long as I kept in mind that it wasn't an update/replacement to 3.X, but so fundamentally different that it was effectively a different game with the same brand identity.

3.5 will always be my special friend, though, simply for the sheer number of options it presents. I can make nearly any character concept I can concieve of, with a near perfectly tailored suite of mechanical traits to fit that concept, and be completely distinct in both flavor and abilities. It suffers from some significant downsides because of this broad toolbox of options, namely the staggering dominance of a expertly-played druid, wizard or cleric compared to any other character who isn't also a wizard/cleric/druid, but nothing's perfect.

[Paradox]

3.5 will always be my special friend, though, simply for the sheer number of options it presents. I can make nearly any character concept I can concieve of, with a near perfectly tailored suite of mechanical traits to fit that concept, and be completely distinct in both flavor and abilities. It suffers from some significant downsides because of this broad toolbox of options, namely the staggering dominance of a expertly-played druid, wizard or cleric compared to any other character who isn't also a wizard/cleric/druid, but nothing's perfect.

Amen, brother. The sheer number of options in 3.5 is staggering. Anytime you want to do something, there's always another class, prestige class, feat, or optional skill that you can adopt to meet that need. That's one of the main reasons I love 3.5.

Granted, it makes it a little harder to keep track of everything, but once you become accustomed to it, it's well worth the time.

[Mnemaxa]

To add to this discussion, Pathfinder has finally come out of the closet, and it does correct some very basic mechanical flaws in 3.5 without being rebuilt into an entirely new system like 4e was (and yes, I accept all three versions as playable and perfectly fine, so please don't jump on my for saying so).

Here is the SRD for Pathfinder. 

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

The number of options in Pathfinder are much, much broader than in 3.5 while still retaining the basic systemic rules with several notable exceptions (feats are different even if they have the same name as 3.5 feats; the concentration mechanic is changed; the grappling mechanic along with disarms, sunders and the like are now a seperate mechanic called Combat Manuvers; and the core classes have been altered significantly, while many overpowered spells have been nerfed).

Mind you, I'm not simply touting it as better, but it does deserve mention here as it is part of the D&D system now.