Rechan said:
Seriously, what problems do you have at your game table?
Good question:
1) I'm frequently bothered by the 'step problem', wherein two combatants are supposedly locked in continious mortal combat but because of the fact that the game is turned based and the base steps (5' and 30') are longer than the range of weapons, one participant can step out of combat and do something unmolested while the other fiddles around waiting for his turn. This is the problem AoO's are supposed to solve, but in practice when using minatures (which I sometimes find fun and interesting), most of the time a creative player can find a way to step out of the melee and take 5 with no consequences. Readied actions in theory can counter this, but readied actions are problimatic except in narrow situations. I don't have a solution here and one is needed.
2) Many of the base classes in the game aren't generic enough - barbarian, druid, paladin, etc. - to capture all the possible variaty in the game. Multiclassing isn't a perfect option, and PrC's suck. I've cludged together some more generic base classes - fanatic, champion, shaman, explorer, etc. - from my own ideas and various sources, but I'd like to at least see some a professional takes on that, some alternate ideas, players handbooks that would actually be more useful to me/my players, etc.
3) Non-spellcasters start to suck once the big game changing spells start coming online. I've made some effort to correct that, but I'd like to see some different takes on it.
4) The base diplomacy rules are terrible. There are much better house rules out there, but even they aren't perfect. Let's at least take a swing at fixing them without adding tons and tons of new and likely arbitrary rolling that gets in the way of roleplay. Keep it simple so my players stay in character.
5) The base hide/spot rules are terrible, confusing, and highly abusable. Virtually anything would be better. I have some ideas for a really elegant system, but I've never had time to put it together.
6) The base mundane crafting rules are terrible. A few authors have made stabs and better systems, but I've not seen anything that is really well done. It's a minor point (even in gritty campaigns, not alot of crafting goes on), but its one of those things I'd like for completeness.
7) The base profession rules are terrible and very very vague. Basically, they cover all the gaps in the current skill system and yet vaguely overlap with just about every other skill in the game. Some professions almost seem like they need to be elevated up to skill descriptions. A few authors have made attempts at fixing some of the glaring problems, but there has never been a comprehensive layout. The result of this is I often want to call for profession skill checks (lawyer, boating, sailor, etc.) for skills not covered by other skills, but typically my players, seeing no obvious benefit in the rules from the profession skills, don't feel like its a good investment. So I have something of a fairness issue. What's the sense in designing challenges for skills no one could in fairness anticipated needing given how easy the rules make it to overlook.
8) The whole expected wealth level issue makes it really hard at times to design adventures the way I want to. It's created a sense of player entitlement, like PC's should always be on welfare. Players are uncomfortable not having thier 'expected wealth level', even if I balance the challenges so that at level 10 I only expect them to face CR 9 or something. Treasure can't really be hidden, because PC's _have_ to find it (or at least think that they do). Equipment can't be destroyed, because effectively this maims the character. I don't remember having this problem in 1st edition at all, probably because compared to monsters PC's were just so powerful that they didn't need the stuff as much. I hear talk from WotC of addressing this issue, but so far I'm not particularly impressed with the rumors coming out. I'm also worried because at an economic level, it makes no sense for WotC to deemphasis the loot in D&D. 'Loot' is too important to selling thier product (much the same way the PrC's have become).
I'm sure there are lots of other points I could come up with, but those are the sorts of things I expected to see addressed.
