Favorite Change in any D&D edition

[Ahzad]

Talking with some buddies about gaming and how long we've been gaming. The changes we've seen, the ones we like and the ones we didn't. It got me to wondering what some of the other changes the community liked. I thought about a poll but thought that might be to long so just tell me.

What is your favorite changes out of any edition? Just pick one thing not a list or top 3-5, just one thing you thought was the best change or addition to the game of D&D.

Ours was the Saving Throw change in 3e to Fort, Reflex, and Will from the old 1e/2e method. We thought that was the most brilliant thing that they could've done for the game.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Ours was the Saving Throw change in 3e to Fort, Reflex, and Will from the old 1e/2e method. We thought that was the most brilliant thing that they could've done for the game.

Even before reading your post, and all I had to go on was the thread title as I clicked it... my very thought was this exact same thing.

To go from random groups of magical effects that all had the same save numbers (i.e. Petrification / Polymorph; Rod, Staff, Wand; Breath Weapon etc.) to one based entirely on the type of attack and what part of the body would be used to fend the attack off... was the most obvious and "why didn't we think of this before?" change I think they've made.

A close second would of course be the "every DC number goes up / d20+modifier" rolling philosophy... but I still find the elegance of the 3E saving throws to be my favorite.

 

[the Jester]

Higher AC is better.

 

[Sammael]

The death of THAC0 and negative AC in 3E.

 

[kitsune9]

My likes are from 2e to 3.0.

I liked the open ended ability score modifiers with a uniform progression. I didn't like the idea of everything being capped at 25.

At first I didn't like the simplified saving throws, but I warmed up to them once I got into play.

Pretty much mechanics constructed where higher is better.

Critical threats and critical hits.

 

[Kvantum]

Higher numbers are always better.

 

[scruffygrognard]

"Higher numbers are better" for me too. That and the stripping away of level limits for demihumans were the first things that came to mind.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Best changes for me over the years:

1. Unified mechanics (higher is better, d20 + modifiers for virtually everything, etc)

2. Modularity of mechanics -- feats, skills, etc

3. Relaxing arbitrary restrictions, whether class, level, alignment, etc.

4. Focus on providing more meaningful choices for players and DMs

I think those trends have been solid. There are other negative trends that came with them IMO, but that's a discussion for another thread.

 

[FreeXenon]

Pretty much everything that people have said here...

 

[avin]

The death of THAC0 and negative AC in 3E.

That's it.