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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 4372357" data-attributes="member: 7635">My list of pet peeves. Its actually not that big...1.) Unrestricted (laissez-faire) multi-classing. It lead to cherry-picking and its evil twin: suckage builds. It was really easy to build a character who could no longer fill his "spot" in the group and spread himself thin. 2.) Prestige Classes. Such a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, they had to balance against the base classes, which were lacking in oumph. So you ended up with PrCs that, in order to introduce something "cool" often had to neuter the PrCs primary function (spellcasting levels every other level, skill-monkey classes with 4 skill points, warrior types with 3/4 bab and/or d8 hd). While in theory this made for a "trade off" between a PrCs power and a base classes versatility, it often meant "balanced" PrCs were left untaken and broken ones (RSoP anyone?) were no brainers. Hundreds of good ideas lay in the PrC dustbin, victims of "balancing" that made them weak or poor choices (looks at dragon disciple...)3.) Ability Score Modification mid-game. It seemed so easy: set ability scores on a simple slide-scale, and then allow the game to raise/lower your score and gain the benefits/penalties associated with it! Sadly, it meant a lot of math. Bob's Str was raised by 4 points, he got hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement for 6 str, and he's taken 2 points of Str damage. Whats my "to hit" again? It also meant the DM had to look up the stat-block everytime a foe was poisoned, bull strengthed, or any of the hundred-other stat-changing effects 3e had. Speaking of which...4.) HUGE stat blocks. Lots of things for a DM to remember to apply every round (DR, SR, Resistances, Immunities, Regeneration/Fast Healing, Ongoing spell effects, etc) that could make or break a combat. Far to many "vanity" effects that didn't help the monster out (do Demons really need "detect good?"). 5.) Summoning. Oh god. A high level caster who focuses on summoning often took 2-3 times as long as anyone else to complete their turn. He could easily have multiple monsters to activate, resolve, etc, and then take his own turn to boot! No joke, a high level wizard I saw took 15 minutes to resolve his turn EVERY ROUND due to summons, spellcasting, and magical item use. 6.) Long, High-level Combat in General: High level D&D falls into two categories: over in a round, or grab yourself a cold one, its gonna be a while. If the caster(s) can't down it in a round, your in for a long night of full-attack actions, summoning, animal companions/familiars/like, spell-looking-up, SR, DR, spell-like-abilities which are in the PHB, not MM, multiple buffs/debuffs, and other "When is it my turn?" action. Wake me when its my turn...7.) Whats that do again? So much book-looking up! How do I resolve a grapple? Whats the Save DC for Harm? What does a Pink Rhioband Ioun Stone do again? How do you resolve a Web spell? Whats the DC for Dispel Magic? The Vrock has Unholy Word, what does that do again? 8.) Total Eclipse of the Non-caster. Right around that name-level/double digit point in D&D, spellcasters take off like rockets and non-magical "melee" classes are left in the dust. CoDzilla replaces the need for fighters, wizards with scrolls and wands no longer need rogues. Non-casters rely much heavier on magical gear to keep pace, and still lose do to the versatility a cleric or mage has to tailor himself to a specific encounter. 9.) Over-reliance on "big-six" magical items. Magic swords are good. Magic Armor is cool. Requiring a PC to have +X items in order to survive? Bad. The flaw of accounting for magic items in the math is that you know NEED said items. Every PC buys, makes, earns or steals a magical weapon, magical armor/bracers/robe, a cloak of resistance, a ring of protection, an amulet of Natural Armor, Boots of Striding/Springing, and A stat-booster item. Typically, that meant that 4-6 item slots were filled with "necessities" that left little room for "cool stuff". Cloak of Resistance or Cloak of the Bat? Gauntlets of Ogre Power or Gauntlets of Missile Snaring? Those other items were usually bundled and sold to buy big six items because...10.) The Math doesn't scale. The difference between good and poor saves becomes so pronounced at high level, that targeting a "poor save" is always the best tactic. A high level rogue cannot possibly fail most reflex saves (barring a 1) and he cannot make the same DC will save (barring a 20). While it appears to be a valid tactical choice, it leads to a lot of charmed/dominated/held fighters, a lot of SoD on the wizard, a lot of poisoned rogues, and a lot of "just nuke him" clerics. Similarly, the ACs a fighter can hit without effort on his first attack the monk or rogue cannot hit on a good day (aka the flurry of misses). HP becomes ridiculous, and the game becomes very "exception" based, requiring "alternate" attacks like Save or Die to be remotely effective at "challenging" the other side (be it PCs or Monsters). So is the problem with D&D. So far I'm happy 4e has fixed these problems for me, and I'm sure that unless Pathfinder re-wrote 3.5e from the ground up (not likely, due to compatibility issues) I'm sure they will remain.</blockquote>

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