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As DM, I want the rules to support me in telling a compelling story. I don't want to spend my time bending and breaking the plot to accomodate for PC abilities that were unintentionally designed to powerful. Design the rules in a way that anticipates or avoids such problems, or give the DM tools...

Reading this, I want a big fat splatbook exclusively with themes. Freed Slave Farmer Scribe Noble Dragonblood Celestial Blood Beggar Smith Nomad Wizard hunter Inquisitor Undead Hunter Raised from the Dead Heretic (for divine classes) Hedge Wizard (less formal magic, more worldly) Village Witch...

The KISS principle is important. That's why I want this ability to be nothing more than a Wisdom ability score check that only the Paladin gets to roll. The rules text would be nothing more than a rule of thumb for the DM to set the difficulty. (Undead army - easily detect from a mile away...

"Detect Plot" is good if it is the opposite of "run around aimlessly and miss what the DM prepared". "Detect Plot" is bad if it means "solve all secrets in 5 minutes the DM wanted to reveal piece by piece over a 2 year campaign". This is why it's a passive ability: If the DM wants to keep a...

Me too. I need all four, otherwise I feel something is missing. I think the D&D divide is not between Storryteller / Powergamer or any of these categories. The divide rather goes straight through each individual group. For example, some Butt-Kickers like a simple OD&D-style rules-light game...

While I agree that detecting evil is an iconic and flavorful ability for Paladins, the way it worked was destructive. It's just way too precise and way too broad. It destroys classic plots like "find the murderer" and "demonic infestation in the church". Rather than the very broad "evil"...

Fully agree on all points. In fact, I'd play a 3E that implemented all these. True, but I always wanted to save at the start of the turn, not at the end. At the start of the turn, you want to roll because you want to get rid of the attack and act. At the end of the turn, you're mentally done...

I've never been a fan of the Cleric. Conceptually, I'd rather have something like the 4E Paladin as a Holy Warrior of any deity, and the AD&D Priest as the divine spellcaster in robes, with powers strongly defined by his deity and faith. Both classes would have some healing, but it's not their...

I'm firmly on the "Combat as Sport" (CAS) side, with a penchant for flashy heroics. So yes, I like 4E (and the Feng Shui RPG). But now that I think about it, I've met a few "Combat as War" (CAW) players too. It definitely does explain a certain group of players who never warmed up to 4E. I'm...

If anything, D&D needs the opposite. There has to be a nice big dial that the DM can turn, labeled "encounters before rest". There are very different story styles, and each DM needs to be able to set the dial the way he needs. For example, classic dungeoneering pretty much doesn't allow a...

Ok, here's something a bit more crazy: First of all, assume that stat modifiers are stat-10. That's right, a 10 is +0, a 14 is +4, and an 18 is +8. This spreads ability modifiers twice as wide as standard d20. An 18 is the equivalent of a 26. Now, with that kind of big spread, you want to make...

That said, if 5E wants to win the edition war it has to be the edition that all the hot geeky girls play. In fact, they should playtest exclusively with hot geeky girls to make absolutely sure that this is the only edition they ever want to play. All this retro-appeal is just going to attract...

When I started gaming in the mid-90ies, AD&D 2nd was "current D&D". To the teenage me, it felt awkwardly anachronistic in many places. Most RPGs were much cleaner, more refined at the time. AD&D had great stuff (Planescape!) and horrible crap (Elves of Evermeet!). The core rules were a mess of...

... d6 death saves. DM says you're gonna die, roll a d6 Roll a D6 - YouTube

The current situation is WotC's own making. Due to a royally botched Intelligence check, they forced 3PPs to choose between supporting 3E/OGL and 4E. At which point they all went "oh, you're leaving the 3E fanbase to us? Kthxbye"

I think race as class makes sense in RPG systems that are closely tied to a game world which is strongly human-dominated, with the non-human races living in small communities with a very strong unified culture. You would, say, have an elven forest, and almost all elves live a tribal lifestyle...

Strange. I've played since the mid-90ies, across all kind of groups, systems and editions, and this never came up. You consider it an essential element of D&D, I've never seen it. And I've never considered it missing. It's kind of funny because you talked about houserules and optional systems...

I was thinking something much more simple. You don't put "Cure X Wounds" on the spell list. Instead, 1st-level Clerics get their spell slots, and one use of "Cure Light Wounds" per day. As they go up in levels, they get more spell slots, and more Cures. If you want more healing, spend feats on...

I'm very much in favor of the concept. However, no details are known yet (and everything posted here so far is probably wrong), so I'll wait for more tangible info.

Multiattacks are very hard to balance properly. The game is better off without them. It's true that it's a bit frustrating to miss and be done for the turn, but there are other ways to help with that. Some ideas: * "Scratch": If you miss, but rolled a five on d20 or better, you hit, but the...