Zombies that need to stay dead. DEAD.

[Hassassin]

Indeed.

Honestly, I think both 3e and 4e (and PF, of course) put way too much importance on getting the 'right' stats. The power difference between a PC who is kinda-okay and one who is optimised is huge. Make the stats less important, and this becomes less of an issue, and things get a whole lot more flexible as a result.

Funny, I would intuitively go the other way around: make every character care about all abilities. That 18 Int for you wizard will cost you something else.

The best "fix" is probably something in between.

 

[mkill]

Sorry for my last post in this thread. I got too emotional and should have toned it down before sending. Thanks to everyone who replied in a civil manner.

 

[ferratus]

So if a guy is a murderer or a thief, nothing. But if he as a cleric with Evil spells, necromantic wizard, undead, demon, whatnot - a "big E evil" a paladin could detect and smite him. Made paladins feel a little more like holy warriors.

Detect alignment spells mean I can never create a Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. Unless of course I use alignment cloaking spells/items, but why create an ability you are just going to circumvent it in every campaign that has a paladin in it?

Definately a zombie that needs to stay dead. Everything else about alignments can come back, but detect alignment spells must be kept in the ground.

 

[Izumi]

I just want to see OD&D Core, with the ability to add any crazy thing from any edition I desire, including all the weird, but cool, things every previous poster mentioned they both liked, suggested, and zombified. It's a big tent, and all our games are epic.

 

[billd91]

Funny, I would intuitively go the other way around: make every character care about all abilities. That 18 Int for you wizard will cost you something else.

The best "fix" is probably something in between.

I think it's possible to both make the stats less important overall and increase the importance of other stats relative to the primary stat of the class.

But one thing I'm not sure I'd want is for bonuses to creep back up to the highest levels of a stat like in the 1e/2e days in which you needed a 16 Strength to get a bonus. I really like bringing the bonuses down like 3e did so that you start getting them with even moderately decent scores. People may be saying there's a huge difference between optimized and merely decent, but there was an even bigger difference in 1e/2e between a character with a 14 in a stat and an 18 than there is in 3e/PF/4e.

 

[Ainamacar]

Detect alignment spells mean I can never create a Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. Unless of course I use alignment cloaking spells/items, but why create an ability you are just going to circumvent it in every campaign that has a paladin in it?

Definately a zombie that needs to stay dead. Everything else about alignments can come back, but detect alignment spells must be kept in the ground.

A small change significantly reduces the Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine problem. Make Detect Evil only detect evil acts/thoughts/intentions that are currently occurring. The bad guy needs to be careful, the paladin still has a chance, and finally the public don't walk around holding big "this is my alignment" signs. Most awesomely: because people can act against their alignment the spell could actually be a source of doubt, rather than certainty, for the paladin. How refreshing would that be in light of some of the classic abuses of the spell?

 

[ferratus]

A small change significantly reduces the Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine problem. Make Detect Evil only detect evil acts/thoughts/intentions that are currently occurring. The bad guy needs to be careful, the paladin still has a chance, and finally the public don't walk around holding big "this is my alignment" signs. Most awesomely: because people can act against their alignment the spell could actually be a source of doubt, rather than certainty, for the paladin. How refreshing would that be in light of some of the classic abuses of the spell?

Does that mean my assassin can never sneak attack a paladin? 'Cause that's a problem too.

 

[mkill]

I just want to see OD&D Core, with the ability to add any crazy thing from any edition I desire, including all the weird, but cool, things every previous poster mentioned they both liked, suggested, and zombified. It's a big tent, and all our games are epic.

Please define "OD&D core". Is this to be understood as a very broad "the stuff that was always in the game, elves, dwarves, fighting men going into a dungeon"? More like "take 3E (or another edition) and strip it down to the parts that were in OD&D" (or at least feel old school)?

Or do you mean that literally someone should literally take OD&D, the rules as they were in 1974, and then add everything from any later edition as option? I'm sure it was a great innovation back then, but it's too, let's say, unpolished, to be the base for a modern RPG. Even the most die-hard of retroclones brush up the rules in some parts, like switching to ascending AC.

And I don't see how you can easily recreate 4E with this. 4E's core mechanics are markedly different from OD&D, just consider the standard 1/2 levels BAB progression and 1st level hit points. (Bad analogy) It would be like trying to run Windows XP on top of DOS.

 

[Hassassin]

Does that mean my assassin can never sneak attack a paladin? 'Cause that's a problem too.

Why?

 

[Dausuul]

Why?

Presumably because he likes sneak attacking paladins.