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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 5051738" data-attributes="member: 29398">Some really interesting ideas in this thread...Personally, I can live without 10 and 11 above, and I've become used to minis.  The rest of these are just fine, and a good starting point.  Oh, and 10 and 5 above directly contradict each other; you'll need to pick one.Again I mostly agree, except for 8 and 9.  These, along with other elements of bad-things-that-happen-to-characters, are essential.Don't 3 and 7 here get in the way of speeding up combat?  Also, take a long look at 10: this is where you need to ask yourself how long you want a campaign in this system to last and-or to what level the game will playably go.  I'm not a fan of the rest of these (except maybe #4, tweaked), but it's your system, so let's keep 'em in and proceed.I'd keep some ExP for combat as well; you could have a combination of all three of combat-based, mission-based, and treasure-based.Now, a few thoughts and ideas:To replace Vancian spellcasting, take a very long look at how 3e Sorcerers work.  Simple, elegant, no need for pre-memorization - yes, they use Vancian-style slots, but that's it.I'd suggest making a list of what PC races you want to have in your system, then working out what abilities each one has built-in.  Then, ban the rest.As for classes, again make a list of what classes you want to have in the game.  If you're using original 2e, it only had 4 classes; others came in later.  You mention Bard above, so I'm assuming you want more than just 4.  I'll offer this list as a starting point of archetypes you probably want to give thought to:- Fighter or Warrior (foot soldier)- Ranger or Scout (woodsy tracker type, can include archer)- Knight or Cavalier (heavy metal)- War Cleric or Paladin (divine warrior)- Cleric or Priest (diviner, healer, can fight)- Druid or Nature Cleric (healer, naturist)- Magic User  (generalist wizard type)- Magic Specialist (illusionist and necromancer go here)- Thief or Rogue (sneaky type)- Assassin and-or 1e-style Bard (sneaks who can fight)- 3e-style Bard (magic via music)- Monk and-or Brawler (weaponless combat type with/without skill)- [cultural classes e.g. oriental classes, setting-specific classes, etc.)Then, for multiclassing, determine which of these can logically multiclass with which other(s) and open it up.  Paladin/War Cleric, for example, strikes me as a class that should not be allowed to multi-class; it's too single-minded.  To keep things sane, you could always place an arbitrary limit on how many classes one can have (in my game, that limit is 2).Take a long look at alignment and the cosmology.  You mention you like the way 4e has done it, and that's fine; but were it up to me I'd expand it somewhat to factor in the various earth-cultural deities etc. that the game will inevitably be asked by its players/DMs to support.  As for alignment, there's a good case to be made for keeping it and an equally good one for scrapping it.  Your call, but do one or the other.  4e couldn't make up its mind and so got stuck somewhere between.Work out how level-bumping is going to function.  Will training be required, or will characters just get their new abilities etc. on the fly?Decide at the macro level just how much bad stuff the PCs will have to endure.  You mention you don't like level drain.  What about death?  Item loss?  Skill or ability loss (as opposed to outright level loss)?  Then, design to this decision.  For my part, if the threat of real badness happening isn't present, the game loses its thrill - its edge, if you like.Hope this helps...Lanefan</blockquote>

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