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Rule-lite or Rule-heavy describe THE perfect ideal ruleset
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<blockquote data-quote="A'koss" data-source="post: 2399563" data-attributes="member: 840"><p>Though naturally I haven't seen it yet, the <em>theory</em> behind <strong>Iron Heroes</strong> includes a lot of what I consider to be in an ideal ruleset.</p><p> </p><p>1. Greatly reduced dependence on magic/magic items. While magic exists, you don't <em>require</em> it to be effective at what you do. One of the things I've always found a little odd with D&D is that is <em>not</em> the ideal ruleset to model a lot of the fantasy and mythological settings that inspired it.</p><p> </p><p>2. Adventuring parties not dependent on any specific character class. Although you can run D&D games without the "Standard Four" (fighter-type/cleric-type/rogue-type/wizard-type) it can be difficult in most games. The ruleset should better support a broader range of adventuring styles (all-stealth/all-warrior/all-wizard/etc.)</p><p> </p><p>3. More exciting combat options. This is more for the fighting classes than the wizard classes but the latter could use some more interesting options as well. Iron Heroes with it's stunt system, skill challenges, combat challenges, combat zones, classes which continue to gain abilities right through to 20th level, expanded feat use... All of which I think is important to keep combat fresh as you get into the higher levels. You want to have that tantalizing carrot to dangle in front of players to keep them interested. For spellcasters, I'd like to see spellcasting changed so that most combat spells should require some sort of an attack roll. There's a lot I'd do to change the magic system in the game, including revamping SR so that is not an all-or-nothing deal, re-work Save or Die/Nerf spells and spellcaster's overall power (scale it down at higher levels, but increase it's frequency to compensate).</p><p> </p><p>4. Whittle down the skill list. I think the list could stand some compression.</p><p> </p><p>5. Balance the game against the encounter, not encounters/day. This is another real plus in Iron Heroes' column. While x/day abilities work within the framework D&D provides, I think it would be better if the game did not assume a certain number of encounters per day. Gear the game so that is balanced against an encounter and let <em>me</em> decide how many encounters PCs should have per day (eg. lots of weak to middling enounters or maybe just one strong one). </p><p> </p><p>6. Take a hard, hard look at high level game balance and viability. I love the idea of HL play, but in 3e the game really starts to break down balance-wise and you really have to run a tight ship to keep it together. The growing disparities between the classes (AC/HPs/Saves/etc) and their opponents often means that a challenge for one character can spell nearly instant doom for another. I really think the game needs to change it's HL philosophy from "Easy to die, easy to come back." to "Hard to die, hard to come back." This also gets back to the point I made ealier about reducing the dependency of magic in the game. HL NPC can take a long, long time to stat out simply because of their equipment.</p><p> </p><p>A'koss.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="A'koss, post: 2399563, member: 840"] Though naturally I haven't seen it yet, the [i]theory[/i] behind [b]Iron Heroes[/b] includes a lot of what I consider to be in an ideal ruleset. 1. Greatly reduced dependence on magic/magic items. While magic exists, you don't [i]require[/i] it to be effective at what you do. One of the things I've always found a little odd with D&D is that is [i]not[/i] the ideal ruleset to model a lot of the fantasy and mythological settings that inspired it. 2. Adventuring parties not dependent on any specific character class. Although you can run D&D games without the "Standard Four" (fighter-type/cleric-type/rogue-type/wizard-type) it can be difficult in most games. The ruleset should better support a broader range of adventuring styles (all-stealth/all-warrior/all-wizard/etc.) 3. More exciting combat options. This is more for the fighting classes than the wizard classes but the latter could use some more interesting options as well. Iron Heroes with it's stunt system, skill challenges, combat challenges, combat zones, classes which continue to gain abilities right through to 20th level, expanded feat use... All of which I think is important to keep combat fresh as you get into the higher levels. You want to have that tantalizing carrot to dangle in front of players to keep them interested. For spellcasters, I'd like to see spellcasting changed so that most combat spells should require some sort of an attack roll. There's a lot I'd do to change the magic system in the game, including revamping SR so that is not an all-or-nothing deal, re-work Save or Die/Nerf spells and spellcaster's overall power (scale it down at higher levels, but increase it's frequency to compensate). 4. Whittle down the skill list. I think the list could stand some compression. 5. Balance the game against the encounter, not encounters/day. This is another real plus in Iron Heroes' column. While x/day abilities work within the framework D&D provides, I think it would be better if the game did not assume a certain number of encounters per day. Gear the game so that is balanced against an encounter and let [i]me[/i] decide how many encounters PCs should have per day (eg. lots of weak to middling enounters or maybe just one strong one). 6. Take a hard, hard look at high level game balance and viability. I love the idea of HL play, but in 3e the game really starts to break down balance-wise and you really have to run a tight ship to keep it together. The growing disparities between the classes (AC/HPs/Saves/etc) and their opponents often means that a challenge for one character can spell nearly instant doom for another. I really think the game needs to change it's HL philosophy from "Easy to die, easy to come back." to "Hard to die, hard to come back." This also gets back to the point I made ealier about reducing the dependency of magic in the game. HL NPC can take a long, long time to stat out simply because of their equipment. A'koss. [/QUOTE]
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