D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Things I wish they would have fixed

[brehobit]

I'm sure everyone has pet pieves about the rules. And I will say they fixed a lot of very broken things. (Although I think they may have broken some things too.)

But there are things that were around in 3.0 that against all good reason (IMO) are still here.

1. Burst weapons are a +2 bonus. Why? Surely something that adds 1d6 on all attacks is better than something at adds 1d10 on criticals. Sure you can get 3d10 for some items, but if you believe that a rapier (18-20) is just as good as a pick (x4) then you have to buy the notion that the rapier is doing an extra d10 damage less than 30% of the time the d6 gets off. The only thing good to say about burst weapons is you don't need to activate them. But really that isn't such a big deal.

2. Counter spells are still pretty worthless. I've never seen anyone even try to use one. A feat which allowed it as a free action would actually be pretty cool, but as a move action would be great too. It seems like a great idea wasted... (although I can't find anything in the 3.5 rules to indicate what type of action needs to be readied...)

3. I still hate that armor, dex, etc. all get merged into one big "AC" I'm guessing that come 4th edition armor will provide DR rather than a defense bonus. A change I will welcome.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Burst weapons do +1d6 normally and 1d10 instead on a critical.

Counterspells are fairly insignificant without Reactive Counterspell.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

2. Counter spells are still pretty worthless. I've never seen anyone even try to use one. A feat which allowed it as a free action would actually be pretty cool, but as a move action would be great too. It seems like a great idea wasted... (although I can't find anything in the 3.5 rules to indicate what type of action needs to be readied...)

I agree with you in spades. Unless you have an amazing scout report on your opponent, how often is it worth burning your action on the hope you will get to counter a spell?

 

[Tellerve]

Has anyone seen any splat books for a sonic add on to weapons? They have thundering but I wonder about a sonic with +1d6 and then a sonic burst with the 1d6 and 1d10 critical.

Also, what is reactice counterspell and where's it from?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Has anyone seen any splat books for a sonic add on to weapons? They have thundering but I wonder about a sonic with +1d6 and then a sonic burst with the 1d6 and 1d10 critical.

Screaming, +1d6 sonic damage. Magic of Faerun, and Arms and Equipment Guide.

I don't have MaoF, but I understand it specifically states that the damage is unaffected by a Silence spell, while A&EG specifically states that it is ineffective within a Silence spell.

Take your pick

-Hyp.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Burst weapons do +1d6 normally and 1d10 instead on a critical.

I recommend giving d10(s) as bonus damage dice on a critical, in addition to the normal d6. That makes a burst weapon only a little on the weak side. More importantly, it balances x2 weapons reasonably with x3 or x4 weapons.

By your interpretation, burst weapons are incredibly stupid on a sword.

The reason to not go with two energies is d6+d6 is less than d6 [+d10] when going up against energy resistances. At mid or higher levels, many critters are resistant to 2 or 3 elements. Intelligent classed opponents have access to Endure Elements, too.

 

[Fredrik Svanberg]

The reason to not go with two energies is d6+d6 is less than d6 [+d10] when going up against energy resistances. At mid or higher levels, many critters are resistant to 2 or 3 elements. Intelligent classed opponents have access to Endure Elements, too.

Also, you can only use one energy at the same time now. Flaming, Shock, Frost - they all say that they are active until another command word is given. Since Flaming, Shock and Frost are the only weapon abilities which require command words to activate (I think) this means you can only have one of these active at the same time. Oh, of course the burst versions of each energy also require activation for the +1d6 but the bonus to crits is always on.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Also, you can only use one energy at the same time now. Flaming, Shock, Frost - they all say that they are active until another command word is given. Since Flaming, Shock and Frost are the only weapon abilities which require command words to activate (I think) this means you can only have one of these active at the same time.

Not having the books yet, I'm not sure - but could that mean that "the property is active until another command word, like 'off', is given"?

As in, the flames don't go out until you tell them to go out (rather than the flames go out when you tell the electricity to turn on)?

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'll go back to brehobit's topic...

There are the things I wished they would have been improved by 3.5, but were not, or were not enough by far ("+" means they got IMHO only a minor improvement):

- Half-Orc lacks of strategic attractiveness
+ Bard Bardic Music could have more forms, not necessarily all learned automatically
+ Monk has a very rigid advancement by level
+ Wizard School Specialization could make more sense about banned schools
+ some class skill lists could be expanded (ex. Fighter, Sorcerer)
- Tumble needs improvement, and eventually needs further motivation at higher levels
- Knowledge skills need clarification about Take 10
- several armors don't have any reason to be used
- examples of common improvised weapons must be provided (ex. throwing rock, torch)
- counterspelling is rarely a viable choice
- Wands being always created with 50 charges is quite an unflavorful restriction

The following also, but I know these might have required too much effort for a revision:

- favored class rules don't make significant differences between races
- Cleric domain spell lists should provide more distinction to priests of different deities
- spellcasters multiclassing is widely regarded as useless

I left out things I don't know yet if they might have chenged.

Disclamer:
I am very aware that many of those above are my own concerns and 99% of the people may disagree or simply not consider worth of addressing, but that's fine . I wrote down everything I thought could have been improved when I first heard about 3.5, and every one on them was based on my (limited) experience as player and DM, and it comes from honest observation.
For ex. nobody cares about torches as weapons, but on my very first session on 3ed (I was DM), players were caught unarmed in combat, wanted to fight with the torches they were wielding, and I had no rule to support me: after 2 years of playing, I still remember my very first DMing problem

 

[Celtavian]

re

Counterspelling is effective. It is rare that you actually face an enemy wizard. Most of the time you are being bombarded with spell-like abilities from outsiders rather than spells from an enemy mage.

The last time we had trouble with an enemy mage was in RttToEE. He surprised us and nearly wiped us out. Once he was in the open, we destroyed him.

There isn't much use for counterspelling IMO, unless you design an adventure where it is necessary.