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Wizards.com D&D 3.5 archive

Posted in RPG on — last updated

During the run of Dungeons & Dragons third edition (2000-2007), Wizards of the Coast’s D&D website posted thousands of free articles including new spells, monster stats, maps, advice articles, news and errata. This article attempts to provide a searchable list of that content.

  1. Full article list, by category
    1. Feature articles
      1. D&D Podcast
      2. Character Class
      3. D&D Alumni
      4. D&D Fiction
      5. D&D Fight Club
      6. Design & Development
      7. Elite Opponents
      8. The Mind’s Eye
      9. Prestige Class
      10. Product Spotlight
      11. Rules of the Game
      12. Save My Game
      13. Steal This Hook!
      14. Tactics and Tips
      15. Use This Book Tonight
      16. Vicious Venues
    2. Limited series
      1. Villain Builder
      2. Adventure Builder
      3. Dice Games
    3. Other
      1. Consolidated Lists
      2. D&D Glossary
      3. Official D&D Game Rule FAQ
      4. Official D&D Updates
      5. Tools
    4. Retired series
      1. Bardic Knowledge
      2. Battle Sheets
      3. Behind the Screen
      4. But What Do They Do?
      5. Celebrity Game Table
      6. Cliffhangers
      7. Epic Insights
      8. Far Corners of the World
      9. Fey Feature
      10. Gamestoppers
      11. Monster Mayhem
      12. NPC Closeup Archive
      13. PC Portraits Online
      14. Random Encounters
      15. Revision Spotlight
      16. Savage Progressions
      17. Spellbook
    5. Downloads
      1. Original Adventures
      2. Map-A-Week
      3. Desktop wallpapers archive
      4. Web enhancement archive
      5. Themes/Skins archive
      6. Screensaver archive
      7. D&D 3.5 accessory update booklets
      8. Map gallery archive
      9. Art gallery archive
      10. D&D character sheets
    6. Other archives
      1. Diablo II
      2. Other Worlds
      3. Previous edition downloads
      4. Old Electronic Patches & FAQs
    7. Eberron archives
      1. Dragonshards
      2. Eberron Expanded
      3. Mark of Heroes
      4. Sharn Inquisitive
      5. Steal This Hook
      6. Xen’drik Expeditions
      7. Eberron Under the Glass
      8. Gearing Up for Eberron
    8. Forgotten Realms archives
      1. The Border Kingdoms
      2. Class Chronicles
      3. Realmslore
      4. Return to Undermountain
      5. Waterdeep News
      6. Adventure Locales
      7. Elminster Speaks
      8. Circle of Velarr
      9. Magic Books of Faerun
      10. Mintiper’s Chapbook
      11. Perilous Gateways
      12. Rand’s Travelogue
      13. Realms by Night
      14. Realms Personalities
      15. Wyrms of the North
    9. Living Greyhawk
      1. Adventure Updates
      2. Campaign News
      3. Diplomacy Check
      4. Dispel Confusion
      5. Game Tips
      6. Greyhawk Ruins
      7. Intro to Writing
      8. Mysterious Places
      9. Power Groups
      10. Other
      11. Downloads
    10. D&D Miniatures
      1. Commander’s Notebook
      2. Match Recaps
      3. Recurring Villainy
      4. The Art of Warbands
      5. Scenarios
    11. News
      1. 2004 News
      2. 2005 News
      3. 2006 News
      4. 2007 News
  2. Indices by year
    1. Eberron
      1. 2003 Eberron Archives
      2. 2004 Eberron Archives
      3. 2005 Eberron Archives
      4. 2006 Eberron Archives
    2. Forgotten Realms
      1. 2000 Realms Archives
      2. 2001 Realms Archives
      3. 2002 Realms Archives
      4. 2003 Realms Archives
      5. 2004 Realms Archives
      6. 2005 Realms Archives
      7. 2006 Realms Archives
    3. Living Greyhawk
      1. 2003 Living Greyhawk Archives
      2. 2004 Living Greyhawk Archives
      3. 2005 Living Greyhawk Archives
      4. 2006 Living Greyhawk Archives
      5. 2007 Living Greyhawk Archives
      6. 2008 Living Greyhawk Archives
    4. D&D Miniatures
      1. 2003 D&D Miniatures Archives
      2. 2004 D&D Miniatures Archives
      3. 2005 D&D Miniatures Archives
      4. 2006 D&D Miniatures Archives
      5. 2007 D&D Miniatures Archives
      6. 2008 D&D Miniatures Archives
      7. 2009 D&D Miniatures Archives
  3. List of original indices
    1. Feature articles
    2. Limited series
    3. Other
    4. Retired series
    5. Downloads
    6. Other archives
    7. Eberron archives
      1. Retired series
      2. By year
    8. Forgotten Realms archives
      1. Retired series
      2. By year
    9. Living Greyhawk archives
      1. Complete archives
    10. D&D Miniatures archives
      1. By year
    11. Entire D&D Archive
      1. By year
  4. Notes

Full article list, by category

Feature articles

D&D Podcast

Original index: D&D Podcast

Character Class

Original index: Character Class

Newbie-friendly articles on how to play a character of each class.

D&D Alumni

Original index: D&D Alumni

D&D history articles.

D&D Fiction

Original index: D&D Fiction

D&D Fight Club

Original index: D&D Fight Club

Sixty sets of NPC stats at various levels.

Design & Development

Original index: Design & Development

Elite Opponents

Original index: Elite Opponents

High level versions of existing creatures. A likely reason for this series is to help players get more use out of miniatures, since D&D 3.5 encouraged the use of minis.

The Mind’s Eye

Original index: The Mind’s Eye

Psionics.

Prestige Class

Original index: Prestige Class

Advice on creating characters of a given prestige class.

Product Spotlight

Original index: Product Spotlight

Rules of the Game

Original index: Rules of the Game

Rules clarifications articles for D&D 3.5.

Save My Game

Original index: Save My Game

Advice for Dungeon Masters.

Steal This Hook!

Original index: Steal This Hook!

Adventure hooks for DMs.

Tactics and Tips

Original index: Tactics and Tips

Use This Book Tonight

Original index: Use This Book Tonight

Vicious Venues

Original index: Vicious Venues

Locations for DMs to run adventures.

Limited series

Short article series.

Villain Builder

Original index: Villain Builder

Adventure Builder

Original index: Adventure Builder

Dice Games

Original index: Dice Games

Other

Consolidated Lists

Original index: Consolidated Lists

D&D Glossary

Original index: D&D Glossary

Official D&D Game Rule FAQ

Original index: Official D&D Game Rule FAQ

The rules FAQ for D&D 3.5. Official rulings and clarifications on D&D rules. Also includes an AD&D 2e to D&D 3e conversion guide.

Official D&D Updates

Original index: Official D&D Updates

The official D&D errata.

Tools

Original index: Tools

Retired series

Article series that were cancelled. Since the entire D&D 3.5 site has been cancelled, the distinction is not very relevant now.

Bardic Knowledge

Original index: Bardic Knowledge

Articles on bards.

Battle Sheets

Original index: Battle Sheets

Conversion notes to use Chainmail miniatures in D&D.

Behind the Screen

Original index: Behind the Screen

Advice for Dungeon Masters.

But What Do They Do?

Original index: But What Do They Do?

Articles on Wizards of the Coast staff.

Celebrity Game Table

Original index: Celebrity Game Table

Cliffhangers

Original index: Cliffhangers

Epic Insights

Original index: Epic Insights

Support material for the Epic Level Handbook.

Far Corners of the World

Original index: Far Corners of the World

Terrain-based articles. It ended around the time they released the second of five terrain-based splatbooks.

Fey Feature

Original index: Fey Feature

Faerie articles.

Gamestoppers

Original index: Gamestoppers

Monster Mayhem

Original index: Monster Mayhem

Cool monster stats and lore.

NPC Closeup Archive

Original index: NPC Closeup Archive

PC Portraits Online

Original index: PC Portraits Online

Character art for your character.

Random Encounters

Original index: Random Encounters

Revision Spotlight

Original index: Revision Spotlight

An explanation of the changes between D&D 3.0 and 3.5. Monte Cook once said that D&D 3.5 made too many small and confusing changes, and the length of this FAQ supports this.

Although the individual articles for this category are still online, the original index link has compiled all articles into one long article for convenience.

Savage Progressions

Original index: Savage Progressions

A cool series of rules for acquiring a template one level at a time.

Spellbook

Original index: Spellbook

New spells. Many other article series also contain spells.

Downloads

Original Adventures

Original index: Original Adventures

A total of 66 free short adventures from 1st to 20th level. No longer available on the Wizards of the Coast website.

Map-A-Week

Original index: Map-A-Week complete compiled archive

A massive collection of D&D location maps.

Desktop wallpapers archive

Original index: Desktop wallpapers archive

Desktop wallpapers featuring D&D art. They tend to max out at 1280x1028.

Web enhancement archive

Original index: Web enhancement archive

Free additional content that was cut from a published book for lack of space. Web enhancements often don’t require the original book.

Themes/Skins archive

Original index: Themes/Skins archive

I have no idea if these will even work on a modern PC.

Screensaver archive

Original index: Screensaver archive

I have no idea if these will even work on a modern PC. I don’t recommend trying.

D&D 3.5 accessory update booklets

Original index: D&D 3.5 accessory update booklets

D&D 3.5 updates for earlier D&D 3.0 books.

Original index: Art & Map gallery archive

Original index: Art & Map gallery archive

D&D character sheets

Original index: D&D character sheets

This is where you download character sheets. Includes custom character sheets for different classes.

Other archives

Diablo II

Original index: Diablo II

Other Worlds

Original index: Other Worlds

A list of links to the official fansites of D&D campaign settings:

Previous edition downloads

Original index: Previous Edition Downloads (Wayback Machine)

A big selection of AD&D books and free downloads. No longer available at the WotC site.

Old Electronic Patches & FAQs

Original index: Old Electronic Patches & FAQs

Eberron archives

Dragonshards

Original index: Dragonshards

Keith Baker’s Eberron lore series. He also writes Eberron content on his site at keith-baker.com.

Eberron Expanded

Original index: Eberron Expanded

Eberron expansions for D&D 3.5 books. One of Eberron’s core concepts was that everything that appears in standard D&D also has a place somewhere in Eberron.

Mark of Heroes

Original index: Mark of Heroes

An Eberron organized play campaign.

Sharn Inquisitive

Original index: Sharn Inquisitive

News stories that take place in the world of Eberron.

Steal This Hook

Original index: Steal This Hook

Adventure hooks intended for the Eberron setting. These can no doubt be adapted to other settings.

Xen’drik Expeditions

Original index: Xen’drik Expeditions

An Eberron organized play campaign.

Eberron Under the Glass

Original index: Eberron Under the Glass

Background lore on Eberron.

Gearing Up for Eberron

Original index: Gearing Up for Eberron

Background lore on Eberron.

Forgotten Realms archives

A truly massive amount of lore on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Some even earlier material is listed on Candlekeep’s Parchment Archive (2000).

The Border Kingdoms

Original index: The Border Kingdoms

Class Chronicles

Original index: Class Chronicles

Realmslore

Original index: Realmslore

Return to Undermountain

Original index: Return to Undermountain

Waterdeep News

Original index: Waterdeep News

Adventure Locales

Original index: Adventure Locales

Elminster Speaks

Original index: Elminster Speaks

Circle of Velarr

Original index: Circle of Velarr

Magic Books of Faerun

Original index: Magic Books of Faerun

Mintiper’s Chapbook

Original index: Mintiper’s Chapbook

Perilous Gateways

Original index: Perilous Gateways

Rand’s Travelogue

Original index: Rand’s Travelogue

Realms by Night

Original index: Realms by Night

Realms Personalities

Original index: Realms Personalities

Wyrms of the North

Original index: Wyrms of the North

Living Greyhawk

The organized play campaign in the Greyhawk setting. Provides information on the Greyhawk setting.

Adventure Updates

Original index: Adventure Updates

Living Greyhawk adventure news.

Campaign News

Original index: Campaign News

Living Greyhawk news.

Diplomacy Check

Original index: Diplomacy Check

More Living Greyhawk news.

Dispel Confusion

Original index: Dispel Confusion

Errata and FAQs for Living Greyhawk.

Game Tips

Original index: Game Tips

Advice and information.

Greyhawk Ruins

Original index: Greyhawk Ruins

Two duplicated entries.

Intro to Writing

Original index: Intro to Writing

Advice on writing adventures for Living Greyhawk, but applicable to adventure writing in general.

Mysterious Places

Original index: Mysterious Places

Interesting adventure locations.

Power Groups

Original index: Power Groups

Interesting groups, some having their own prestige class.

Other

Original index: Front Page

Downloads

Original index: Front Page

D&D Miniatures

Commander’s Notebook

Original index: Commander’s Notebook

Match Recaps

Original index: Match Recaps

Recurring Villainy

Original index: Recurring Villainy

The Art of Warbands

Original index: The Art of Warbands

Scenarios

Original index: Scenarios

News

Original index: News

2004 News

2005 News

2006 News

2007 News

Indices by year

Eberron

2003 Eberron Archives

Original index: 2003 Eberron Archives

2004 Eberron Archives

Original index: 2004 Eberron Archives

2005 Eberron Archives

Original index: 2005 Eberron Archives

2006 Eberron Archives

Original index: 2006 Eberron Archives

Forgotten Realms

2000 Realms Archives

Original index: 2000 Realms Archives

2001 Realms Archives

Original index: 2001 Realms Archives

2002 Realms Archives

Original index: 2002 Realms Archives

2003 Realms Archives

Original index: 2003 Realms Archives

2004 Realms Archives

Original index: 2004 Realms Archives

2005 Realms Archives

Original index: 2005 Realms Archives

2006 Realms Archives

Original index: 2006 Realms Archives

Living Greyhawk

2003 Living Greyhawk Archives

2004 Living Greyhawk Archives

2005 Living Greyhawk Archives

2006 Living Greyhawk Archives

2007 Living Greyhawk Archives

2008 Living Greyhawk Archives

D&D Miniatures

2003 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2003 D&D Miniatures Archives

2004 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2004 D&D Miniatures Archives

2005 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2005 D&D Miniatures Archives

2006 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2006 D&D Miniatures Archives

2007 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2007 D&D Miniatures Archives

2008 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2008 D&D Miniatures Archives

2009 D&D Miniatures Archives

Original index: 2009 D&D Miniatures Archives

List of original indices

For completeness, here are the original index pages at the WotC website.

Feature articles

Limited series

Other

Retired series

Downloads

Other archives

Eberron archives

Retired series

By year

Forgotten Realms archives

Retired series

By year

Living Greyhawk archives

Complete archives

D&D Miniatures archives

By year

Entire D&D Archive

By year

Notes

During the D&D 4th edition era, Wizards of the Coast stopped the practice of distributing massive amounts of free D&D material on their site, instead channelling that effort into the D&D Insider paid service. Gratefully, they allowed an archive of the 3rd edition D&D content to stay online.

After the launch of D&D 5th edition, the 3e archive was kept online but moved from www.wizards.com to archive.wizards.com. This had the result of breaking links around the web, since they didn’t set up redirects for the thousands of old URLs. HTTPS URLs would also attempt to redirect to the main site and fail.

As of 2017-06-29, the subdirectory /dnd/ was blocked by robots.txt on both www.wizards.com and archive.wizards.com. This had the result of blocking many articles from the Wayback Machine, generally older articles from before April 2003. Fortunately, when Wizards failed to maintain the old site in 2022, they also failed to maintain the robots.txt files, meaning that those pages are retained in the Wayback Machine.

A few pieces of the old site are no longer online. These are mainly the Original Adventures and the free AD&D book downloads. Many of these were released for sale when WotC discovered they could sell out-of-print titles in ebook format. Later they would pull all ebooks from retailers over piracy fears, frustrating some users who had already paid for books but not downloaded them. Fourth edition was a weird time for D&D.

Around 2022, Wizards of the Coast took archive.wizards.com offline. I’ve replaced the URLs here with archived versions from The Wayback Machine.