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Which is all fine and dandy. But let's face it... it's a niche demographic that no other edition could win over since the 1970ies. At best, they'll be like "yeah, fifth is nice", and then they'll go back to their vintage books or retro-clones. The players that 5E needs to win over are the 4E...

If you keep adding everything that people throw in here as some option, you end up with an unplayable mess that won't fit in 400 pages. Whoever is in charge of 5th edition needs to make some strong decisions, make cuts and stick to them, fan backlash be damned. That said, you need to set some...

I agree for a different reason. You did get bonus damage for a critical, but it was tied to your weapon. While I get the basic idea ("your weapon glows with holy fire, and explodes as you split the demon in two!"), it was clunky at the game table. "I crit!" ... "wait, what was my enchantment...

No thanks. DM Reason: Players can't level up without my supervision. The game shouldn't tempt people to cheat. Even if people don't cheat, good hp values create unnecessary suspicion. Player Reason 1: I want complete control over my PC's stats. Player Reason 2: If the main tank rolls poorly on...

If WotC was serious about D&D's continued success, they don't just have to reunite the fanbase, they have to reunite their industry relations. The absolute best thing would be to work with the Pathfinder team to create a compatible, joint new edition of both games. I'm pretty sure Paizo wants...

Neither. I don't think that Rocket Tag or Plot Immunity represent some kind of ends on a line and all RPGs have to fall somewhere in between. They're just random points in a space with at least three dimensions. First of all, I don't like high-lethality games. I played in a group where the GM...

The thief class abilities were the skill system. That's the point I was trying to make. As soon as you have a Rogue and Move Silently, and other subsystems like the d6 roll to detect secret doors, you might as well unite those subsystems into a simple skill system for all characters. It's easier...

You say that so easily, but are there groups that play with no skills? How? How do you handle success / failure of anything a PC attempts that is not an attack or a spell? Even in very bare-bones dungeoneering, you need at least some form of Perception. How do you make a rogue class without at...

I didn't get this one, please clarify. Which game element are you talking about? It made me think of a spell like this: Deadly Insult An insult so deep it bypasses the mind and tears the target apart inside. Bard 6 Enchantment Component: V Save: Fort The target dies.

Skills are probably the least controversial issue. I'd like to see a bit of a middle ground between 3E and 4E. 3E worked well in play, but character creation was way too convoluted, especially if you tried to make a rules-legal high level character. Too many fiddly bits, like class /...

Please define "OD&D core". Is this to be understood as a very broad "the stuff that was always in the game, elves, dwarves, fighting men going into a dungeon"? More like "take 3E (or another edition) and strip it down to the parts that were in OD&D" (or at least feel old school)? Or do you mean...

Depends on your definition of "big" and "core". 4th edition made some very elemental changes: * The "power" format, fixed class power progression * end of linear fighters, quadratic wizards * same BAB for everyone * Fort, Ref, Will like AC, not die rolls; spells have attack rolls * fixed spell...

Sorry for my last post in this thread. I got too emotional and should have toned it down before sending. Thanks to everyone who replied in a civil manner.

Huh, what? The borked game rules force the player to carry a normal sword, a silver dagger, an adamantium hammer, an cold iron rapier to do his job properly, and pull every trick in the book to boycott him? Why? The guy who's "pulling stunts with the rules" is you, because there is absolutely...

If that happens, I'll skip this edition. Reason 1: Class / Race limitations are a setting item, not a rules item. D&D has a very long tradition of DMs creating their own worlds. If a DM wants to rule that hobbits have no magic talent whatsoever in their world, fine with me. Written in a...

I'll ignore any announcements of what they'll do and only look at actual rules suggestions they put out. If the last edition updates taught me anything, it will turn out different than wild mass guessing suggests anyway, so I don't want to waste my time on it.

You're right, of course. Often, characters are archetype for something, even though they are technically something completely different. What is called XY in one game or work of fiction may be YZ in another. Conan might be the prime example. His title is "the Barbarian", but when players want...

No thanks. As DM I accidently ran a 4E fight where the Paladin ended up completely useless because he got hit by some effect that made the monsters invisible to him, repeatedly. It sucked, and the player was pretty upset about it. You can do that once in a while, but it shouldn't happen too...

Warlock doesn't have the swordplay connotation. But yes, the Hexblade is a true gish, and my favorite flavor-wise. Almost played one, but the char ended up as a Swashbuckler/Artificer instead (and pretty broken ... ah, the good old days of 3E charopping)

... at which point I'd invoke "my house, my game table, I DM next week" Apart from the fact that bags of holding etc. make encumbrance rules dead weight. If the DM has to pull one crud rule to enforce another crud rule and maximize PC screw-over, he's on the wrong side of the screen. (I know...