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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5135475" data-attributes="member: 40177">A few ideas for an amazingly awesome thread- 1)&nbsp; Eliminate all the &quot;fiddly bits&quot; that relate to character &quot;builds&quot;.&nbsp; Most of these are built towards the encounter, and a sort of specialization -&nbsp; specialization is great for encounter-based play, but not so great for dungeon-based play (because everyone wants to adapt to new encounters).&nbsp; Feats are a very good example of character specialization - and the more of them there are, the more specialized PCs will inevitably get.&nbsp; I would either reduce the feat list, or tailor your dungeon to encourage generalization (ie - bring back skeletons that take less damage from piercing weapons and have statues take more damage from blunt weapons, so a fighter that only ever uses his sword is a bad character choice).&nbsp; 2)&nbsp; Get rid of treasure packets - and magic items.&nbsp; Hear me out.&nbsp; The magic item economy in 4e is tailored to the idea of a sort of magic item arms race.&nbsp; If you drop them, instead tailoring in those benefits into the PC (as suggested in the DMG 2, but I would add some daily powers and extra critical damage), then the magic items you do reward can instead offer neat abilities such as in 2e.&nbsp; Hell, you could probably get away with the 1e/2e magic item descriptions as written, for the most part.&nbsp; Treasure packets are no longer necessary for the arms race, and they help because the players no longer think &quot;it's alright - if we miss some treasure, we'll just pick it up somewhere else&quot;.&nbsp; 3)&nbsp; Expand on rituals.&nbsp; I'd make 'em cheaper, and quicker to use.&nbsp; Have the PCs actually use them in game, so they have more stuff to do in a non-combat scene.&nbsp; 4)&nbsp; An idea I was playing with were tokens, similar to action points, that would allow roll modifications and players to modify their powers - so the wizard's &quot;burning hands&quot; spell could set fire to a house, or something.&nbsp; Whenever a character spends a token, he gives it to the GM, who can use it against the PCs (but whenever a token is spent, both the GM and the player have to agree the situation is fair).&nbsp; A GM who spends a token against a player gives it back to the player.&nbsp; These tokens don't do much in combat (maybe adding +1d6 to a d20 roll or damage roll), but are built to modify powers/feats/skills in new and creative ways (&quot;I have mounted combat for this scene!&quot;), and to allow players to take control of the plot a bit more.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5135475, member: 40177"] A few ideas for an amazingly awesome thread- 1) Eliminate all the "fiddly bits" that relate to character "builds". Most of these are built towards the encounter, and a sort of specialization - specialization is great for encounter-based play, but not so great for dungeon-based play (because everyone wants to adapt to new encounters). Feats are a very good example of character specialization - and the more of them there are, the more specialized PCs will inevitably get. I would either reduce the feat list, or tailor your dungeon to encourage generalization (ie - bring back skeletons that take less damage from piercing weapons and have statues take more damage from blunt weapons, so a fighter that only ever uses his sword is a bad character choice). 2) Get rid of treasure packets - and magic items. Hear me out. The magic item economy in 4e is tailored to the idea of a sort of magic item arms race. If you drop them, instead tailoring in those benefits into the PC (as suggested in the DMG 2, but I would add some daily powers and extra critical damage), then the magic items you do reward can instead offer neat abilities such as in 2e. Hell, you could probably get away with the 1e/2e magic item descriptions as written, for the most part. Treasure packets are no longer necessary for the arms race, and they help because the players no longer think "it's alright - if we miss some treasure, we'll just pick it up somewhere else". 3) Expand on rituals. I'd make 'em cheaper, and quicker to use. Have the PCs actually use them in game, so they have more stuff to do in a non-combat scene. 4) An idea I was playing with were tokens, similar to action points, that would allow roll modifications and players to modify their powers - so the wizard's "burning hands" spell could set fire to a house, or something. Whenever a character spends a token, he gives it to the GM, who can use it against the PCs (but whenever a token is spent, both the GM and the player have to agree the situation is fair). A GM who spends a token against a player gives it back to the player. These tokens don't do much in combat (maybe adding +1d6 to a d20 roll or damage roll), but are built to modify powers/feats/skills in new and creative ways ("I have mounted combat for this scene!"), and to allow players to take control of the plot a bit more. [/QUOTE]

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