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I don't like the idea of unlimited long duration spells. In 3e days there were many long-duration buffing spells that were so good as to be almost mandatory, and this made the game excessively complex, increased the gap between a buffed and unbuffed party dangerously, and led to the tedium of...

In previous editions of D&D the swashbucker/light-fighter/ninja concept has been expressable mechanically in a number of ways, which boil down into three variants - fighter class versions, rogue class versions and their own class. When more than one of these existed in the same edition...

I don't want combination feats, as existing examples from previous editions of combination feats vary hugely in quality, and suffer from randomly associating different elements to produce Frankensteinian combinations. Forcing people to take a triple feat just to get one component, and being...

"Combat as sport" is friendly to encounter-based games, and much easier to balance. "Combat as war" is about victory by any means necessary, and is not encounter-friendly as the whole point is to allow the players to shortcut, mangle, spindle and mutilate encounters, or simply avoid them, which...

I want to vote against ludicrous 1e type drawbacks to spells like a small chance of death, or aging and a system shock roll with again a small chance of death. In practice these drawbacks are often ignored or applied inconsistently and hence unfairly, or the spells with too high a potential...

Vancian spellcasting doesn't per se specify the absolute power level of the spells being learned. My fear is that "Vancian Spellcasting" is being used as a label to appeal for getting back pre-4e spellcasters in all their broken glory, without actually saying so. The furore over Quadratic...

I think the other element to consider here is transparency, which is what I think 4e favoured over simulation and opaqueness. Some people have said they don't like transparency, which is weird to me as I vastly prefer it. Basically separating effect from flavour for abilities makes it more...

The setting has a lot to say about how often this issue arises. A setting with huge chasms, towering cliffs, floating islands or flying ships has many more opportunities for a sudden plunge to an almost certain doom. However, part of such settings is making such falls potentially survivable, by...

Some players like to regularly change PCs, while others like myself like to play PCs for a long time. High death rates, or excessive restrictions from returning PCs from the dead reward the former play style and effectively punish the latter play style. Games with high death rates and lack of...

I prefer a larger number of focused classes to a smaller number of general classes. I thought a lot of PrCs in 3rd ed were very badly written, with descriptions and mechanics that often matched badly, sometimes not at all. On the other hand core spellcasters could break the laws of physics...

Also, death being final suits some players and not others. Some players like continuity and keeping the same PC for an extended period, and their PC dying is something they really really don't want. Conversely, they may enjoy or be willing to put up with long term or short term adverse...

The OPs first two points are what I have trust in working to create a system I would like. I want spellcasters who can constantly and reliably cast magic, not ration it out like misers, or juggle with unreliable casting methods (whether from failure chances, skill checks, disruption chances...

If the designers are serious about flattening the math of the game, they should take away +X items, despite the outcries this will produce. With flatter math, any bonus is exaggerated in effect, and will be too good to turn down for most players if available. And the temptation to provide larger...

The problem with this is I have seen many D&D games over the years where the referee made no effort to indicate what classes would work better in his or her campaign, and which wouldn't, which led to lots of players being disappointed when their character concept proved to be weak or useless in...

I'm not a fan either of the eggshell armed with a hammer style "balance" of 1e and 2e wizards or potential uberpower of 3e spellcasters. I know spellcasters gravitate towards the most broken spells, because I've done it myself, and many other players do so as well. As more content is produced...

I find epic level play something that needs to be customised to the needs and tastes of each individual involved, players and referee alike. Some players like playing SimEmpire in D&D, others want to continue to be wandering adventurers despite their great personal power. Some players enjoy...

While the poll result is clear, I think there is another side that isn't reflected in the results. While magic items make work for referees, players like getting them. It's fun finding new magic items, and can be seen as a reward for playing. Few players object to getting magic items, and many...

There are some consequences to winning or losing a fight that also end the campaign, and I'm not talking about the ultimate BBEG encounter here. If too many PCs die, the campaign may lose interest in continuing the campaign. If too many PCs get crippled or level-drained or all their magic items...

One issue I can see with a Save or Die threshold system is that, depending on how healing and the threshold system work, it could make in-combat healing the best defence against such attacks, making healers more needed. It tends to encourage two combat styles - a defensive low-death-rate 4e...

For me rogue/thief is the most disliked due to their player's tendency to be troublemaking, thieving instigators who just like stirring things up, robbing everything not nailed down, and pressing every button in sight. Much of their activities are solo affairs, and many of their abilities are...