D&D 5E Stuff from your favorite edition you DON'T want in Next

[Ratskinner]

Favorite edition is 2e....so really its almost too easy: THAC0, etc.

Otherwise, of the recent editions, I like them both for different reasons. However, there is one thing that I really wish they'd get rid of: the profusion of fiddly-bits. It seems the root of so many of the problems: slow combats, prolonged character creation, errors in published characters, party-monster balance, class-class balance, errata'd errata, encounter design, ridiculously long/arduous DM prep-time and then second-order effects when they tried to compensate for all of those!

Honestly, I dream that Next would go more in the direction of FATE or MHRP or any number of other modern games. Is it really so much a thing to ask that a character for a game(!) fit on one page, maybe two?

Realistically though, I hold out little hope for that.

 

[DonAdam]

I'm mostly a 4e guy (with 1e or 2e a close 2nd). For me it's:

1) Too many choices for decisions that are made frequently. This takes the form of option bloat for feats, powers, and the use of powers in combat. A large culprit here is the sheer number of powers that a single character has; since a character spends so much time working through the same checklist of powers high level fights are boringly similar. When I'm making a lot of choices I want to make each choice off a narrow (or easily narrowable) set of options.

2) Too few choices for infrequent decisions. I often feel like there's not a paragon path or build option that fits a character idea I have. If I'm going to make a handful of big decisions that affect my character's whole career (class, race, paragon path or specialty, etc.) I want just the right thing. A guilty culprit in 4e here is ability scores; secondary ability scores are just too important to making classes functional, which limits multiclass opportunities that would allow for more varied characters.

 

[tuxgeo]

Favorite edition 4E (so far). I wish they'd get rid of:

1. Each power's being its own slot. For example: If you choose "Entangle," you only get it once! (What if you want to prepare it twice?)

2. Some things' being knowable, but not knowable by the PCs. For example: Churches are situated on hallowed ground. There are rituals that consecrate and rituals that hallow ground for the purpose of building churches. There are priests who preform such rituals when they are called for -- but no PC can ever do such things. (Not even once! WHY is that?)
Likewise, there are spells used by priests to make crops grow better. The 3rd edition had a "Plant Growth" spell, but 4E clerics can't do that. Why? (Why are the PCs limited to combat stuff so much? What if they want to impress the local populace with their non-combat beneficence?) (It's a "social" thing.)

3. Donkeyhorse: why eschew real words in favor of new constructions?

4. "Combat roles." Yes, they're real; however, they shouldn't be quite so pervasive in effect. We need to be able to have "nothing but leaders" in a party if that's what the players want to play. Too much shoehorning, too much straightjacketing, not enough freedom.
Also, dump the "striker" role. Rethink the whole "roles" system to come up with a formulation of roles that doesn't have "outdoes everyone else on damage" as its sole reason to exist.

 

[Salamandyr]

Favorite edition: B/X. I don't want race as class. I also want to be able to multiclass as a human.

I don't want alignment languages.

 

[Ratinyourwalls]

Favourite Edition: 4th
Stuff I don't want from Fourth: Rituals, Magic Item Daily Powers, Psionics, most of the striker classes. Dinosaurs being named Behemoths/drakes. Mike Mearls.

 

[Michael Morris]

Favorite Edition: 3e/3.5e/d20
Thing I don't want - number inflation into the 40's by end game (4e also has this problem).

 

[Greg K]

Off the top of my head

1. Level Drain
2. XP Costs for item creation and certain spells
3. Imbalance between casters and non-casters
4. Races:
a. Non biological (i.e. cultural) aspects/abilities (e.g. combat bonuses, stonecunning, etc.) built into the races
b. Elf immunity to charm as absolute instead of a save bonus
c. Half elf immunity to charm as absolute instead of a save bonus

5. Cleric
a. Clerics of non-martial deities getting armor proficiency and shield proficiency
b. Clerics having access to all divine spells rather than deity domain spells
c. all clerics spontaneously casting heaing/inflict spells
d. all clerics having turn/rebuke undead regardless of deity's domains


6. Druid
a. Poison Immunity instead of a bonus to saving throws
b. Wild Shaping into plant creatures, elementals, etc.
c. lack of home terrain being a consideration for abilities

7. Fighter
a. Fighters with less skill training compared to other classes

8. Monk:
a. Purity of Body and Diamond Body granting immunity instead of bonus to saves
b. Timeless Body, Tongue of Sun and Moon, Empty Body, Perfect Self as set class abilities

9. Paladin
a. Aura of Courage granting immunity instead of a bonus to saves
b. spellcasting starting at 4th level instead of first level
c. lack of a core option to support non-spellcasting paladins

10. Ranger
a. spellcasting starting at 4th level instead of first level
b. lack of a core option to support non-spellcasting rangers

11. Multiclassing
a. Free Multi-classing: it should require training
b. Multi-classing granting the new classes armor proficiency, weapon proficiency, and good save bonus. It should require taking feats (including bonus feats)

12. Rage, Sneak Attack, Turn Undead as class abilities instead of being feats

13. Skills
a. Bluff, Tumble, Sense Bluff in combat not being opposed by BAB
b. Monster Knowledge tied to other skills instead of being their own skills
c. Too many trained only skills

14.Equipment: Spiked chains, urgosh's, elf thinblades, sunrods, tanglefoot bags, halfling riding dogs, etc.

15. Combat
a. Martial attacks not being able to blind, stun, save or die, knock prone, knock back, force movement, inflict ability damage, inflict movement penalties, disable beholder eyes, etc.
b. Inability to take a move action and Full attack
c. negative hit points
d. lack of drawbacks for hit point loss until 0
e. Unearthed Arcana death and dying save not as core rules

16. Saving Throws
a. different base progressions- especially, when there is no medium progression. Just use one progression with a bonus (or bonuses) from the character's initial class

17. Spells:
- auto hit magic missile
- knock being automatic
- protection from evil preventing all mind control from evil beings
- Spells effects reduced by target level/hit die
- Rope Trick, Law/Chaos spells
- Miracle, Wish

18. The magic item creation rules (Go with the revised Artificer's Handbooks slot creation system
19. Lack of core Hero Point mechanic
20. Lack of core UA Incantations
21. Most of the WOTC supplemental material

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If that's what you don't want to see from your FAVORITE edition reappearing in the next iteration, I'd hate to see what you don't want to see from the editions you hold in lesser esteem...

 

[Light Knight]

I don't want to see classes!!!

 

[delericho]

Iterative attacks. I don't have a problem with multiple attacks, but these should all be at the same attack bonus - whether this is full BAB or done like the Monk's flurry (an extra attack, but a penalty to all attacks), I don't really mind.

3.5e-style weapon sizes. It seems that every other edition got that one more right than 3.5e!

Magic item creation needs significantly rethought.

(Although, actually, I'd prefer 5e be built as its own thing, rather than being designed as either a near-clone of an older edition or as a reaction against that older edition. Give me 3.75e, and I'll probably not buy in even if it is a moderate improvement - after all, I consider PF an incremental improvement over 3.5e, and yet I don't play that. To persuade me to switch, 5e needs to be significantly better than 3.5e, and that almost certainly necessitates a very significant shake-up. IMO, 4e took the right approach... it was just that the result wasn't to my taste. But I digress...)