What D&Disms have you never liked?

[Mercule]

Another thing: In AD&D, Elves (and Half-Orcs) could not be resurrected.

Yes. I spent a lot of time in my 1e/2e campaign figuring out what the implications were for elves being the only (major) races that had that limitation. Orcs, of course, were just too bestial. But elves, especially as I favored the eladrin-esque arcane archetype, had to have some other reason. Plus, they couldn't ever have psionics. If you looked past the raw mechanical side of that, there was a lot of rich potential for role-playing.

In-game reason: elves and dwarves just don't have the same heroic potential as human beings. For whatever reasons, humans are just more gifted.

This seems to be a trope beyond just D&D. It's rampant. Humans are simply more special than everyone else. Personally, I like it.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

This seems to be a trope beyond just D&D. It's rampant. Humans are simply more special than everyone else. Personally, I like it.

Irks me to no end.

 

[Mercule]

Irks me to no end.

I am not unsympathetic to that vexation. I certainly wouldn't want to see human racial superiority played as a major point of every campaign. I also don't much care for it in futurist sci-fi.

But, in a mythic setting, I do approve of a very underplayed, subtle conceit.

 

[Hussar]

I thought that elves couldn't be raised, but Ressurection worked on everyone. I know the Rod of Res worked that way.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

I certainly wouldn't want to see human racial superiority played as a major point of every campaign.

It's the fact that it's harped on: the racial descriptions of humans always have to point out how diverse they are in a bit too obvious a way. It's so smug it hurts.

 

[Garthanos]

It's not just youth fantasy, just the speed of progression. When you can walk into a dungeon and come out two levels later, it's leveling speed, man. .

Well they are connected is of course the assertion.

that said..

Fate is probably the only game I have seen where you can play the Gandalf and Frodo in the same party and the Halfling feels more important and the Deva.

 

[Celtavian]

Query: Dagger meets plate; what happens?

Not implying it can't work. Just curious as to your preferred approach.

I'd probably have the dagger fail against plate. And toss in a few feats to make a dagger wielder more effective against plate for those few that want to build a cinematic effective knife fighter.

And I'd probably toss in an optional hit location system for trying to drive a dagger through an eye slot or weak spot against armor.

I wouldn't make it too complicated.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I'd probably have the dagger fail against plate. And toss in a few feats to make a dagger wielder more effective against plate for those few that want to build a cinematic effective knife fighter.

And I'd probably toss in an optional hit location system for trying to drive a dagger through an eye slot or weak spot against armor.

I wouldn't make it too complicated.

Aaaaah, that kind of solution. I see.





Nah, sounds doable. I'm not sure how I'd go about it, personally, but yeah, that seems perfectly reasonable.

 

[Mikaze]

Let go of the cookies (elven bonuses), and maybe you can get your hand out of the cookie jar (elven penalties). If you're determined to cleave to a halfling identity, though, then I'm afraid it's not really a "game balance" issue anywhere near so much as simply a prejudice against Bilbo the Barbarian.

Never said anything about the mechanical reasons for it. My hatred for it stems solely from the resulting effects and implications on the fluff.

There was simply no satisfactory way to explain it that worked for my campaign setting.

 

[Dausuul]

My least favorite D&Disms:

• Vancian magic tops the list. Freakin' hate it, always have, even though I like to play spellcasters. When 3E introduced spontaneous casting, I jumped on it.
• +X items run a close second to Vancian magic. Stylistically, they're bland and boring. Mechanically, they introduce a whole host of problems, including the infamous "Christmas tree effect" and treasure hyperinflation as PCs gain levels.
• The standard races. Every damn D&D setting has to have the same old Tolkien retreads jammed into it without rhyme or reason. And now they have to have tieflings and dragonborn too. (Though WotC's decision to de-hobbitize halflings in 3E still makes me happy today.)
• Resurrection for cash. Quite aside from destroying drama and tension around the gaming table, the implications for the game world are staggering.
• Crazy power curve. I'd prefer the PCs to start stronger and advance slower. 4E is an improvement, but still too steep for my taste.