D&D 3E/3.5 What parts of 4E should I bring to 3.5?

[Achan hiArusa]

Strangely enough, my players don't use them. Whether its because its the fact that they are leaving victory to a single die roll, out the desire for honorable combat, or because of bad memories of me using them on them (Circle of Death in a CoCd20 game), they just don't. For some reason high damage spells like disintegrate are more fun for them than save or die spells. When they cheese I cheese back, which encourages better behavior. Its kinda like good parenting.

At any rate, what I've used is x5 max hit points, +2 to all saves, +5 insight to AC, an extra attack or two, a reactive attack when flanked, and a massive attack that is triggered when they are at less than 50% hit points. I also give them action points as per Modern d20 as if they were PCs, but I allow the dice to stack (both for them and the players, so its more like Star Wars Force points) and allow the result to be used as healing (so 1 to 3d6 + Con modifier) or the expenditure of one can give an extra attack or move action. So I can always spend an action point against those save or die spells (so +2 + 3d6 at the levels characters have access to them).

 

[Draz]

The first thing I would adopt from 4e is Rituals as a separate system from combat spells. Takes some work, but balances a lot of the most unbalanced things in the game, and opens up some new possible creative directions too.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Oh, you mean how Arcane Lock now takes 10 minutes instead of an action, so it can't be used as a quick escape for the players (or my NPCs for that matter). Yeah, I thought that was brilliant.

 

[slwoyach]

I second Ritual Magic. I wish I had come accross ritual magic a month before I did. If I had, Ritual magic would be the only magic available in my low-magic campaign as opposed to allowing only adepts.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Then look at the Incantation rules from Modern d20, just allow them for spells under 6th level (1 success per spell level, 0 level spells just require 1 success but at a lower DC).

 

[Greg K]

Oh, you mean how Arcane Lock now takes 10 minutes instead of an action, so it can't be used as a quick escape for the players (or my NPCs for that matter). Yeah, I thought that was brilliant.

I didn't. I like rituals for things like Raise Dead, Speak with Dead, Summning spells, Divination and Teleporation Circles. Ten minutes to cast Arcane Lock? No. I don't see anything brilliant about it.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I didn't. I like rituals for things like Raise Dead, Speak with Dead, Summning spells, Divination and Teleporation Circles. Ten minutes to cast Arcane Lock? No. I don't see anything brilliant about it.

I guess I had forgotten my [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] tags.

 

[jdsivyer]

Personally I would use the idea of bloodied, with maybe instead of like 4e make a -2 to -5 penalty to everything when bloodied and also need arcana checks at 10% to 25%. The only other thing I might do is 0 level spells can be cast at anytime, there is no spells per day for them.

I think that this is a pretty good idea

Bloodied in 4th ed doesn't do a lot. When a character is bloodied it ought to entail some sort of penalty, to indicate that they've taken a fair amount of punishment, etc. As for what the penalty could be, I'd suggest the -2 penalty. -5 is a tad harsh, although kind of realistic (for a fantasy game ).

As for the Arcana Check, I again lean towards the smaller 10% penalty. This is, of course, if you want a touch of realism in your D&D game.

The 0 level spells thing to be cast at any time? Not a bad idea, and it certainly has some merit, but it might have the other players who are not spellcasters whining a little bit about "what do I get?" I mean, I like the idea, but then you'd probably have to think of something for the fighter, etc., to compensate...perhaps. At low levels spellcasters are certainly not ultra powerful, so perhaps this is a bonus for them? I'd have to think more about this one

 

[timbannock]

Oh right, action points.

Yeah, I give enemy Elites and Solos action points (1 or 2 respectively) and they operate the same as for PCs, which in my house rules are:

1. heal you to 1/2 your max hp, OR
2. auto-succeed a single d20 roll, OR
3. give you an extra move, standard, swift OR immediate action.

Also, I haven't played to levels where a lot of save-or-die stuff comes up, so I'll admit I have not experienced that issue. I tend to nerf enemy powers that do such things (anything that makes a PC inactive usually has a much smaller, fixed duration, or I lessen the condition to something that hits them with penalties but doesn't invalidate action), so I'd probably weaken such effects for players, but honestly, I like giving my players the "awesome" factor, so what do I care if they auto-kill some baddies?

My BBEG would be immune to such tomfoolery, but most likely in a way that abides by the rules (i.e. Spell Resistance, Counterspell, Anti-magic, etc.).

 

[Achan hiArusa]

A solo with 0 divine ranks could also solve that since it doesn't give much besides immunity to death effects.