Dormammu said:
If you hate so many D&D staples, why not just play a different FRPG? I ask this as an honest question.
Probably the same reason I hate all these things but still like D&D, I like EVERYTHING else. I'm not normally one to complain about the way D&D does things since I like almost everything.
However, over the years things that add large amounts of frustration to the game as both a player and DM are mostly all or nothing effects or "bypass" effects.
Essentially these are things that are one roll that if failed(or succeeds depending on the situation) will make something either REALLY easy or impossibly hard. This includes: Save or Die, Save or Be Useless, Save or Lose a Magic Item, Save or Lose a Level.
To a lesser extent the "bypass" effects are annoying as well. These include: Anything without a save, negative levels(die in a number of hits no matter how many hitpoints you have), stat drain(die in a number of hits no matter how many hitpoints you have).
The reason these are annoying is because as you gain levels in D&D, you are supposed to get the feeling that you are more powerful, more heroic, and harder to kill. Monsters have to do more damage to kill you, they have to roll higher to hit you, be better at casting to effect you, etc. These things all ignore how powerful you are(or close to it) or remove all your power. Going backwards isn't fun.