D&D 4E 4E's "Proud Nails"

[FireLance]

Remember the "Proud Nails" Design and Development article that came out towards the end of 3e?

In woodworking, a "proud nail" is a nail "that isn't quite far enough into the wood. It's sticking out just a little bit - just enough to tick you off".

Applying the concept to D&D rules, proud nails are "rules that are just a little bit off ... They won't mess up your game on a week-by-week basis, but you sure notice them when they rear their ugly heads".

I was reminded of the article in another thread, when discussing how the same monster could have different game statistics when encountered at different levels (e.g. the same ogre could be a solo for a level 1 party, an elite for a level 4 party, a standard monster for a level 8 party and a minion for a level 12 party). That's one "proud nail" for me.

Remember, though - a "proud nail" isn't something that bugs you every time you sit down and play, or a fundamental disagreement that you have with the game rules. It should be something that only bugs you occasionally.

With that definition firmly in mind, what are some of the "proud nails" you've encountered in 4e which you hope 5e will fix?

 

[mkill]

For me, it's mostly minor stuff that just feels wrong. For example, that shields and bracers are one magic item category. WTF? Makes no sense whatsoever. Why doesn't 4E have a shield / off-hand slot?

I also found "neck slot items give fort/ref/will" somewhat contrived. Why not have belts of fortitude and boots of dodging?

Neither is so horrible to make the game unplayable, of course, but they do throw me off.

Oh, and feat prerequisites. Don't even get me started on that particular mess.

 

[GreyICE]

Magic Item math - Dark Sun finally made it optional, but it just needs to go. They did a great job making all these interesting items, then added the math items back in. Bah.

1/2 to level - it wasn't necessary to add in the first place. Just inflated numbers.

Utility powers - you should have gotten more. I almost want to houserule in 2 utilities per utility level. Cool options are fun.

Multiclassing power feats - grrrrrrrrrr

Power sources underdeveloped - annoying

Common/uncommon/rare - the system that went nowhere

Psionic spambots - power point costs needed to scale. Or SOMETHING.

 

[Droogie]

Milestones. Hate them. Gave up keeping track and just let everyone use an action point every encounter. Less fiddly, and didn't break anything.

 

[Psikus]

Skill Math. They finally went and made a clear, predictable progression for most numbers in the game ("increase by 1 per level")... only to leave skills behind? At least since the skill DC update that came with the Essentials books, the system more or less works, but I'd much rather have it be consistent with how attacks and defenses work in the game.

Ditto for initiative math. It's all over the place, both for PCs and monsters.

It still bothers me that all roles have clear definitions and mechanics except for the controller. There are some great controller classes, but also some that are among the worst designs of this editions, and even one (the Bladesinger) which is mislabeled and should have been advertised as a striker.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Number inflation (hp, skill checks, etc)

Sameness of mechanics. The classes are all constructed the same and don't feel distinct enough from each other over time.

Lack of flexibility in magic. Powers are narrowly and over-specific; it's missing the massive flexibility that the "creative" use of something like a Tenser's floating disk can have.

Then there's some of the flavor changes from classic D&D, but enough said ...

 

[delericho]

The jumping rules.

I always detested the 1-1-1-1 diagonals. (But, please, I don't want to rehash this particular argument.)

And feats try to cover far too much ground.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Another vote for milestones. Before they got rid of them, the limits on how many items could be activated, which grew with milestones made.

 

[the Jester]

Diagonal squares always count as 1.

 

[Mattachine]

Monster hit points: too high.

Monster damage: too low.

Healing Surges: too many.