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I'd say "It depends." Many systems have magic items that let non-casters do magic things, and often effectively require the non-caster types to have them. A system with formal martial and caster classes can allow cross-training with a greater or lesser premium charged. A "classless" system...

Niches and niche protection can be an issue even between two characters of the same class. In my Brotherhood of Rangers game (3.5e with gestalt characters), the party has two fighter-ranger gestalt characters. One was a greatsword-wielding melee guy, while the other tried to be both a good...

My experience has been that most players have yet to encounter that long run where winning every encounter gets boring - despite years of gaming. It's a common preference; lots of players have a low threshold for how challenging they like their game, and find dealing with low resources to be...

It seems to me that the 5 minute adventure day came from players doing their darnedest to optimize fun into the game - for them. It's less fun for DMs, but more fun for most players - the exceptions being the players of fighter types who get left behind in the "more able to do more fun stuff...

Fighters are the exception that are allowed 12 levels. Other than that: Exactly so. PCs in this game are all expected to have two classes, at least after they reach sixth level.

"What is this 'prestige class' thing you speak of?" Seriously, I blanket-ban prestige classes, so your suggestion would 'work' by not being allowed. As I noted above: More generally, I want the core PC classes to be the prestige classes, rather than being 'beginner' classes that get left...

Here's a commentary/rant I wrote back in 2006 The Things I Love and Hate about Third Edition D&D (AKA the Good, the Bad and the Ugly) This rant has been building pressure in my head for some time, but only now has it burst out in actual written words. It's divided into three sections, the...

One thing about 3.0 & 3.5 that was elegant in theory but I find a pain in the heat of play is the frequent use of temporary ability score increases and decreases. Elegant because a broad cascade of effects can be produced by a simple +4 to DEX or -2 to CON. And a pain in the heat of play for the...

Practically the first thing I did. Hmm. In my "Brotherhood of Rangers" game, where I wanted to keep house rules to a minimum (other than using the gestalt rules), I decided to go with the flow of cure light wound wands, making them a well-known thing that was done in-universe. For other...

No, not gestalt. Multiclass. Six class levels of rogue plus six class levels of wizard for a multiclass character of 12th level. Not a 6th level rogue/wizard gestalt. And no 12th level rogues or 12th level wizards because class levels are limited to 6th.

I don't call it E12 because classes are limited to 6th level (with the exception of fighters). So the 12th level characters would be things like 6/6 paladin/ranger, 6/6 barbarian/fighter, 6/6 rogue/wizard, 6/6 sorcerer/cleric, etc. E8 was already an E6 variant out there when I went looking...

I was happy to see the then-new skill systems in 3.0 and 3.5. "At last!" I applauded, "D&D has a skill system that's at least half-way decent!" Now the implementation was over-fussy. I didn't like the large gap between class and cross-class skills, and I really didn't like the way multiclass...

It depends on where one considers the sweet spot to be. E6 is too low-level for my tastes. I'm considering running a "2E6" or "E6 x 2" game, with character levels up to 12, most classes limited to 6th, and spells thus limited to 3rd. Multiclassing is expected, and rules that hamper...

Part of the 'fun' of Old School D&D was playing the ability score lottery. Which is why 3.5e pushed point buy so hard; the Rebellion Against the Old School didn't find that lottery to be fun. Now I'm good with point-buy systems in general, but I took an immediate dislike to the 3.5e version. So...

I'd say it depends. If the random table roll produces a result having a big enough effect on the game world such that the characters ought to have picked up warning signs before they started out, then it denies player agency to have that result take the players by surprise due to being rolled...

TFT fans are rare enough here that we seldom encounter each other. I was about to (belatedly) nail you for your claim when I saw that you had already corrected yourself.

Two of my big do-not-wants are: 1. Critical hit and fumble rules. 2. PCs other than the old-school human, dwarf, elf, halfling, gnome, half-orc, and half-elf.

One campaign idea I've been toying with for some time now is a "Dawn of Creation," aka "There were beings of might in those days - and you are them" game where the PCs are the Eldest Deities at their start and the World Tree is just a sapling. Standard (old school or 3.5) races and classes...

There are a few different ways magic items can be for sale. All the usual and many of the unusual magic items may be freely available "off the shelf." Magic items might be available by commission; you can "special order" an item and have it made for you, personally. You can pray and make...

As someone who has been a TFT GM for a looooong time, I'll practice thread necromancy and throw in my two cents. TFT at heart is a grim and gritty, anyone can die, low fantasy sort of system. In some ways it's more like RuneQuest than D&D, and it appeals to the sort of player (and particularly...