Streamlining 3e

[RFisher]

The first problem that I'm tackling is Stacking.

My intention--if I ever manage to stick with one of my d20-derived homebrews--is to just eliminate a lot of the bonuses. Fewer buff spells. Fewer buff items. Fewer special cases.

People, people. Nathan is indulging his gearhead gene. It's very impolite to suggest to a gearhead that he use someone else's stuff. You wouldn't tell a DIY enthusiast that you can just buy it from IKEA, would you?

While this may not be true of Nathan, this is such an insightful comment I just had to quote it. That often describes me. (Although, I suppose I still want to know about existing "solutions" I can learn from.)

Mr Fisher is missing an important point: you normally only get iterative attacks if you use the Full Attack option. This is not always a good idea.

() That is against multiple attacks in classic D&D. & I say that the iterative attacks of 3e are an exception to my arguments against multiple attacks.

 

[GlassJaw]

My intention--if I ever manage to stick with one of my d20-derived homebrews--is to just eliminate a lot of the bonuses. Fewer buff spells. Fewer buff items. Fewer special cases.

This does wonders for speeding up combat. One of the reasons why I'm a big fan of low-magic settings.

I've been running a small Conan campaign and it's flat-out awesome. It's cool when the session finishes and everyone says "wow, this system is really cool". Combat feels intense and cinematic because it's fast. Just not having to worry about buffs and crazy mods is huge.

To repeat what others have, I would also advise checking out some existing systems. Spending a little money to save yourself a ton of time is worth it to me. Plus, some of the systems are probably going to be better than what you do yourself.

There's always my favorite ruleset, Grim Tales.