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After running a couple campaigns in a row (3.5 and 4e) with parties composed of a strange mish-mash of races, I grew tired of all the race weirdness. My current campaign (and homebrew setting, Under a False Sky) is entirely human. STILL, I think the core rules should support at least 2 or 3...

At-will minor attacks does help make the wizard less quadratic, in that it removes the "start super-weak, gradually improve, then outstrip everyone else" dynamic at low level. If you are going to make the class linear like other classes, then it has to start on similar footing. To me, similar...

Also, not every choice for a character has to have an accompanying game-mechanic. In a campaign I ran, players wanted tieflings, but did not want the +1 LA. So, we used the human racial features, and just made their characters tieflings. We can use creativity to give characters backgrounds...

I will miss the minor action because it was a clean way to adjudicate all those little actions. Still, it seems the designers are looking for ways to streamline and speed combat, and I can support that.

For me, it's not playstyle at all. Simply, I don't want a low-level character to be primarily an also-ran who does not usually get to use signature class features.

Hit points are a mechanic that allow PCs to survive what would otherwise be fatal incidents. That is the same design space, so to speak, as Fate points. Players take risks with their PCs in relation to, among other things, their hit points.

I don't accept that the wizard class can't be for all players. There should be more than one way to play it. Also, we have to accept that younger folks get most of their fantasy adventurer tropes from TV/Film/Games, not a set of novels. Wizards for all.

On the other hand, not everyone who wants to play a wizard (a lot of rpg players) wants that sort of complex risk-reward character and gameplay. I hope that D&DN doesn't limit wizards to such a small subset of players. Yes, a lot of those type of players are here on EN World. But we're not...

Still, hit points take their function, Shidaku, even if they are not used in the same way. Different mechanics to accomplish the same goal. Instead of driving to work, a friend picks you up in a hovercraft. Eels optional.

Yes! In D&D saving throws and hit points are the "fate points" used in other systems.

I don't think all the themes and backgrounds have to be mechanically balanced, especially not balanced with an eye to combat. Sure, they all should provide in-game benefits, but some can be better than others. Many players don't care, and some specifically want a sub-optimal theme/background...

Of course, but non-mechanized, flavorful game elements don't really need rules, do they?

One way to manage themes so as to make them something more than a set of feats is to group feats that have minor synergies, perhaps mechanically built in.

I love the idea that specialty mages grow out of character development: you start by studying as a wizard, and you . . . become a necromancy or illusionist, or whatever. Also, I like the description of how different DMs might handle these things in a campaign--turning the "dials", if you will.

I'm not excited about codifying the fighter as "the big guy". That is one type of fighter, an iconic one, even. Other types of fighters are equally iconic, though: daring swashbuckler, clever tactician, grizzled old veteran, dedicated swordsman, etc. I think the sorts of things in the OP are...

Druids in AD&D could summon elementals (very tough elementals) without need to concentrate on controlling them. That was one of the nastiest things they could do.

The difficulty, though, it that many things some people think prevent D&D from being the best game it can be are the same things that others want to hold on to. Likewise, some of the changes that many think will improve the game are things that others say don't feel like D&D.

I found this to be true in any game I DMed in 3e that hit about level 13+. My players weren't using a pile of supplements or splatbooks, either. If a cleric was in the party, that character typically made cure wands or scrolls, and then focused spells on combat buffs, especially self-buffs. The...

Blunt has too many other connotations.

Metallic and chromatic dragons are a given, belonging to all editions. That list was for creatures above and beyond the "standard list".