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This removes the advantage of superior reach - how would you account for that?

Put me in the camp that wonders why anyone has a problem with AoO's. Particularly after having played 1E with its total lack of consideration for the value of size, reach, and defensive positioning. Remove AoO's - fine, but something else has to go back in to account for those things.

My players just don't seem to be able to resist the urge to move their pets right next to brutal melee machines. So far they've lost a wolf, a bear, and a crocodile to an Ogre, a Hound Archon, and a large Earth Elemental. They've also lost an owl familiar, who fell to an assassin's crossbow bolt...

The one thing I think I would like to overhaul in DnD are what I consider to be the many "bland" magical spells and (especially) items. From a cinematic point of view - what's really the difference between masterwork armor and +1 magic armor? What about wearing and not wearing Guantlets of Ogre...

This is a symptom of bad adventure design, and not really a fault of the players. Look at it this way - a rational person confronted with dangerous situations who is afforded all the time they want will proceed cautiously and slowly before exposing themselves to further risk. If given the option...

Time pressure is a key element of adventure design for DnD, or else you do wind up with characters resting after every encounter. Random encounters work fine, better though if they make some kind of sense for the setting. They tend to work less well as PC's go up in level because of the various...

{ Shrug } Either way it's still an abstraction. Both DR and AC are just different mechanics which express average damage taken per round. Note that as is AC represents how tough it is to hit someone and do damage. For determining simply how hard it is to make contact with someone we have touch...

My players' motivations are usually pretty consistent - they are driven entirely by greed and cowardice. So it's usually not very hard for me to predict what they're going to do. The few big suprises they've pulled on me actually happened because I expected them to behave more nobly. Fortunately...

Another good option is to raise EL via environment factors such as traps, defensive positioning, and natural terrain. A large group is likely to have a very diverse skill set, so I think it's nice to reward this by throwing in some encounters which become easier to overcome with smart...

Should probably give the God-Eater flight and a dig speed, otherwise it's too easy to avoid. (Its Jump score only gives it a vertical reach of about 150').

noble savage orcs reform the system from within goblin spies grandmotherly hags sensitive, misunderstood simple-minded trolls/ogres/giants etc (think Lenny, not Shrek)

This is why I think it's important as a DM to develop situations for which you can already see multiple solutions. This way even if the PC's come up with something you didn't think of, you're already in the mindset that TMTOWTDI.

I agree with what others have said - this is a problem of adventure and encounter design, not a rules problem. If a trap is in an obvious place, and there is no time pressure, then I don't think there should be any challenge in finding it for a group which includes a good trap finder. I could...

Well yes, but Rich's rules give pretty good guidelines for this and handles much more extreme cases well. It also accounts for the targets' level and wisdom, thus making sure that mid level bards are no longer incapable of failing diplomacy checks. OK, I'm going to quit pimping for Rich now, ;)...

I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from on this. From the designer diaries: You are either fighting someone, or you are not - right? I mean, this is something I feel pretty certain of at any given moment in the real world. Whether I'm in danger is uncertain at times, but once a...

Once again, I cannot recommend highly enough Rich's diplomacy rules. He modifies the base DC by two factors - relationship and risk/reward judgement. With the diplomat example if the PC has pulled off all of the lies then the diplomat would view them as an ally, good for a -5 adjustment to the...

Heh... actually inspired by a big, drooling labrador retriever I used to have.

With enough planning I think I can see ways to split this up into more rolls, so long as you change Diplomacy from a means to affect attitudes to a means to resolve proposed deals. For your latter example, I might require separate checks for the forgery, disguise, and individual lies for...

Here's how I use 3.5e's social skills for involved social situations (with one big change to core rules - I use Rich Burlew's Diplomacy rules). NPC lord: I need you to do quest X for me. PC vassal: Can you spare me some soldiers? Mine are all busy performing and important duty (a lie - they're...

The Evil domain from the PH is also useful since it raises the CL of all undead-raising spells (they all have the Evil descriptor) and provides Desecrate and Create Undead as domain spells. Desecrate is a must for any serious undead-army raiser.