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Yes but in the heat of the moment doesn't that put players in an awkward situation where their spell casting can either conveniently ignore any possible environmental or situational restrictions, or not?

I think your objections are easily overcome if the game just has in place default roles/choices that create a perfectly competent character that does what it ought to do. However if players who have been playing for 20 years want to try out unique character concepts there should be no...

Thanks for the response. It's just the sort of question that needs to be asked and answered. So why try to make a cleric who is just as good at some aspects of 'roguing' as the rogue? Perhaps because the player loves the combat/adventuring role of the rogue but wants to roleplay as a cleric...

Yes I see, it's basically what D&D has always been. But I think there's another way to go about it. Let's break it down a level; fighters get things done via physical prowess. Rogues get things done via amazing skills. Clerics get things done via divine powers. Mages get things done via...

Hey! I see no reason to call my hypothetical system's manners or upbringing into question! Oh wait... :p I think it would be slightly less 'classy' :p in that your class alone doesn't automatically define your (optimum) role in every given situation. But your class still determines not only...

One interpretation of the idea of niche protection is that all classes need to have that 1 thing they are the best at. Arcane casters should be the biggest DPS machines (in 3.x) or the best 'controllers' in 4e. Fighters should be the toughest. Rogues should be the best fast talkers and...

Good points about the ability scores. Presumably Rogues will have better DEX on average, but equally presumably a sneaky-god worshiping cleric specializes in sneaky prayers/divine powers that make up the difference and then some--but are a limited resource. Hence the mechanical difference in...

Naturally 'spotlight time' needs to be somewhat balanced overall, but doesn't a rogue also have a bunch of other standard abilities besides sneaking around? Ultimately, I think that all classes should be as 'specialisable' or 'generalisable' as a player wants, and most of them should be able to...

I didn't like his answer to #3. I don't think classes should necessarily have that much 'niche protection'. I think that if you are a cleric of the God of sneakiness you should be just as good at sneaking around as a sneaky rogue. So what's the difference? Mechanically: Simple: you use your...

Don't think of it as a long-term injury. Think of it as a temporary death. What happens when your character dies at the table? You don't just go home, you roll up another. The only difference in this case is that you can go back to the original PC after he recovers if the new one dies or is...

What bothers me about the pure crunch format is that it emphasizes to the players that they are playing a game. They interact with the rules on a purely cut and dry mechanical basis, and to me this hinders immersion. I'd rather the players interact with the game world more directly, and the...

There were a couple classes like that in 3.x, like the Runescar Barbarian. And didn't the Red Wizards of Thay have some sort of power tied to their tattoos?

I could go either way... I have 2 players who only ever lost 1 PC each to me in a year of regular gaming. I have 2 other players who lost nearly 20 each; same group. So is it that I'm a killer DM with two amazingly lucky/skilled players? Or am I just an average DM with 2 amazingly...

I'm with RangerWickett--done right, in battle healing adds an interesting tactical dynamic to battles. However, it has to be balanced and it has to be an option, not a requirement. A party with an in-battle-healer should have the advantage of a bit of swing-mitigation. An in-battle-healer is...

I always felt like the rules under-rated the effect of size. I mean the difference in human terms between 155 lbs and 170 lbs is enough to have weight classes for combat sports in order to ensure equity between combatants. What's the difference between 155 lbs and 500 lbs going to look like...

I'd start from 3.x Every edition has their good and bad points, but I feel 3.x was the best written and designed overall. The problems with 3.x are the most fixable, in another way of putting it.

I've only read the first page of replies so far, but has anyone mentioned that the key difference between using a 'skill' and an 'ability' in D&D is that skills are something that is meant to be learned and improved upon with every level up, while abilities are much more hard-coded into the...

Fair enough, it's really a pretty arbitrary distinction since you could easily have just 2 classes-martial and magical, with customization from there. The reason I drew a distinction between divine and arcane magic is I feel deep down the magic systems themselves should be fundamentally...

I like your idea but I think it partly misses my personal biggest issue with the vancian caster: At low levels he doesn't have enough magic to be that magically useful. Being able to at-will magic missiles does help somewhat though so that's a good step. But at high levels he has way way too...

Yes agreed with the second paragraph. Also you have to be careful of stacking modifiers from different classes/class items.