I only DM 3.0/3.5 d20.
There is no 4th. There is no 5th. There is no D&D Next. There is no Pathfinder.
3.5 is not dead.
3.5 IS LIFE.
Noob Handbook - You Read It. Duh
Encyclopedia Vinculum Draconis/D20 pdfs - About 1.5 gigs of pdfs and 112 Handbooks written by yours truly on everything you'd want to know about how to play 3.5 d20
Sample Characters (3rd level):
Ox - Two Handed Weapon Fighter
Zigg'le'grr - Thief
Marcus - CoDzilla
Archibald Copperpot - Blaster
Jazmine Riverford - All Rounder
However, I always DM. I've done it for over two decades. I maybe have actually played the game a half dozen times as a player, and none of the campaigns have ever stuck. So, honestly, while I am under no illusions that if I participate, I will most likely wind up having to DM, for once I would like to actually PLAY the game. If so, here is my 5th-level starting character that I would like to play.
Incinerator Pyrus Phlogiston aka "Father Flow" (5th level)
Yes, he is an ungodly abomination of rules abuse, but I think he is an abuse of the rules in a SUPPORTING character, not someone designed to absolutely dominate combat. Yes, the way he is designed he can spontaneously cast any spell, either clerical or wizard, that happens to have an elemental descriptor if he's high enough level to cast it. He does have a full round casting time for any non-fire elemental spell, so that slows him down significantly. You will find most of those are of utilitarian use and that if the rest of the party are noobs, it is always a good idea to have that one character who can hold the rest of the party together.
Besides, everyone has fire resistance. It's the most common form of energy resistance.
DM me if this actually turns into a serious group and not just a lot of talk. Thurs or fri is best for me, if you wanna discord this. Technically I could do Weds, but my wife would have to join. She might want to join anyways. And just to warn you, she is the biggest min-maxing power gamer on the planet.
She made Monks terrifying.
Actually, read the
Noob Handbook (In the section: The Tier System). I go into detail about her in there.