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Bardiches are best for swatting bards. :-)

It's clear that a lot of thought went into that table. A dagger or club might be advantageous against completely unarmored opponents because you can change the trajectory of your swing almost as quickly as your opponent can dodge; but if your target even has light armor they can soak the blow on...

Aye, it's a tough nut to crack! I think 50 years of D&D have spoken: weapon vs armor might have a place in wargames, but not in PC-to-monster combat. Agreed, @James Gasik , special maneuvers are more interesting, but as you say that runs counter to the logic "the best status condition is death"

A few years ago I consolidated the weapon vs armor tables into a smaller table with weapon categories (all axes similar) and only 4 armor types: none, light, medium, and heavy. I also thought the tactical choices of certain weapons could be made interesting that way. But I ended up not using...

I know there are other fora where I can post this, but since we've got a conversation going here is another question: Has anyone ever used the Thief-Acrobat? I just reread it, and the acrobatics skills just don't seem to justify the class unless the DM really makes an effort to build 3D dungeon...

Ah yes, the dying breath of 3e double weapons. :-)

I'm not saying it's a big cost, but at least it is SOME cost. Healing Word is a common bonus action. Strange that Paladins don't have it, but it is sometimes a hassle for the ranger in my game who has to choose between Healing Word and commanding her dinosaur companion. Compelled Duel and...

Maybe if charging up your attack with a smite had some other cost, such as a bonus action.

@ilgatto Hear hear! Character design is fun, but for me as well the emergent personality of the character is more interesting and rewarding than the precise build. Now I'm not a minimalist, and when I theorycraft AD&D I am often trying to add a little more customizability to the build, so that...

It's a perpective thing -- it takes trying several options to understand what is really valuable and important, in our own personal calculus. I know a lot of people, including older gamers who have tried many systems, who settled on Pathfinder. And I understand why! But in my circle these are...

I feel the same way, the typical 8-18 range for ability scores is too wide for the d20-roll-under, for my taste. d20+bonus > fixed DC works better in that regard. I was thrilled with the customization options when 3e came out, but now as a DM I ask myself "Do I really want to make PCs pay a...

That's a good point that I haven't started thinking about yet. There is definitely room for levels of success/failure and some of the trained skills already have these conditions defined (disguise, pick pockets). Depending on the skill, some of these gradations can be set up as incentives. If...

@Celebrim Thanks for your feedback and suggestions! I can respond to some of your ideas: As I see it, in AD&D there are three types of skills. (Of course, this analysis is my own inference and interpolation; the design principles are never stated in the books.) 1. There are some "highly...

I don't have the time to make anything nicely formatted, but if you're interested here's an excerpt of my thoughts on an "AD&D skill system" that doesn't rely on d20 ability checks (like 2nd edition NWPs which were a mess)

It's not really a genre, but one game design element that I haven't seen much since Palladium and Rifts is support for combat on many different scales, like person / animal vs giant robot / kaiju. I would be interested in a game that proposed good mechanics for crossing between different...

I'm still a big fan of 1e even though I'm usually playing 5e, for many reasons: The books feel like they're describing a world with quirks, not a generic rule system this is supposed to model any fantasy story. Why is illusionist the only MU "specialty"? No one knows because almost no one...

I mostly agree with this suggestion. I think druids ought to be full casters--I see them as a better representation of many iconic magicians (e.g. Merlin) than the Wizard. But in this case the class design should focus on their spell list, not on wild shape. A druid is kind of a full caster...

I think we have enough ideas on here for a poll... 1. Spells that can backfire if misused: FB, LB, fly, haste... 2. 1e style multiclassing (it would have worked even in 3rd edition--it just needs a bit of math to make sure the XP tables would put a MC character 1-2 levels behind single-classed...

I'd love a 5e style game with 8 or more mundane classes, only 4 spellcaster classes (arcane, divine, nature, psychic), zero "half-caster" classes, and 1e-style multiclassing.

I voted for alignment because I think that PCs and monsters being explicitly aligned with cosmic forces is an iconic part of D&D. I'm ok with some humans being objectively and verifiably evil.