Basic Four

[Garthanos]

Wield a dagger, you can stab pretty fast!

Ofcourse real dagger use against an armed opponent with a longer weapon (just about every one has such reach advantage unless you can maintain a clenched position ie grab attack to supplement it) you have given the enemy an opportunity to make an extra attack every time you attack... Weapon speed rules were nonsense.

 

[Garthanos]

You can think of XP for gold as basically what 4e has now.

Yup and if I want rescuing the pauper to not have explicit treasure I can just use Karma Points.

 

[Garthanos]

Do players have different motivations from their characters, do you think?

It seems to me that the XP for Treasure scheme was an attempt to align the player's goals with that of their characters--the characters originally being considered to be Howardian sword-and-sorcery treasure hunters rather than Tolkienian epic heroes.

Greed was to be encouraged not heroism ... slaying monsters which are dangerous for humanity is a pointless venture but remember greed is good.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Ofcourse real dagger use against an armed opponent with a longer weapon (just about every one has such reach advantage unless you can maintain a clenched position ie grab attack to supplement it) you have given the enemy an opportunity to make an extra attack every time you attack... Weapon speed rules were nonsense.

I don't think it is that simple. But yes, reach is, within reason, a big deal. Larger weapons are, however, rapidly pretty unwieldy in anything but rather open conditions. This is basically how the Roman Legions worked it. They'd just cram their opponents together using their shields and then just pigstick them with short swords while they were effectively unarmed.

 

[Garthanos]

I don't think it is that simple. But yes, reach is, within reason, a big deal. Larger weapons are, however, rapidly pretty unwieldy in anything but rather open conditions.

It certainly isnt super simple but I was largelly pointing out the most likely slowest weapon to find an opening under most conditions was attributed highest frequency of attack --- Some weapons have multi-reach functionality ie a spear can be used elegantly at short sword range or longer than an arming blade ... a two handed weapon is very often lighter proportionately than a one handed one and with better leverage and better reach ummm they are often bloody fast too, the inaccuracies of that old system made my head spin because it really ignored significantly how things are actually used.

This is basically how the Roman Legions worked it. They'd just cram their opponents together using their shields

Could be a flavored form of team work driven grab attack that prevents the reach advantage but even using my off the cuff mechanic is a better starting point than yea old weapon speed.

and then just pigstick them with short swords while they were effectively unarmed.

Indeed and he way I read the comments of certain roman leaders that Salmon leaping over the top of soldiers who were somewhat blinded by their own shield wall might land you in a position of behind the lines and free to back stab multiple someones - they were impressed with some brash Celtic warriors because of this.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Dwarves and Halflings get extra bonuses to Fort, Ref, and Will, to reflect the better saving throws of Basic.

Level limits...not sure I like those, but without them, supposedly, no one would play a human. In basic, the level limits for elves, dwarves, and halflings were 10, 12, and 8(!) respectively, which supposedly balanced the demihumans' extra abilities. Perhaps the Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling paragon paths would be more restricted in terms of power options, sort of like an essentials class...

Well yeah, reintroducing any kind of bennie that demis get while leaving humans out in the cold will naturally make demis much more attractive, thus necessitating some sort of demi handicap or human bennie. That's why every edition of WotC D&D has given humans some level 1 bennies.

Can't say I'm a fan of level limits anymore, as it requires the comparison of apples to oranges -- how much level restriction is worth how many demi bennies? Add in the temporal imbalance -- racial bennies start at level 1, while level restrictions don't take effect until many campaigns have been ended or abandoned -- and the whole proposition becomes one big headache. Better to stick with the WotC strategy.

No, just no. ;p
Maybe randomize stat placement? ...use an array, but roll which score goes where...

I was gonna say! Points of Light has this option as a default, and 1 out of 1 gamer spouse and fan of random stats loves it.

Do players have different motivations from their characters, do you think?

It seems to me that the XP for Treasure scheme was an attempt to align the player's goals with that of their characters--the characters originally being considered to be Howardian sword-and-sorcery treasure hunters rather than Tolkienian epic heroes.

This is how I understand it as well. XP is the game's way of incentivizing whatever the game is primarily about, so XP for gold makes sense in a mercenary sort of gold-and-glory campaign.

 

[Tony Vargas]

t. Win an encounter, you get a set amount of gold, and a set amount of XP. .

XP, sure. Treasure, not so much, parcels are vague and not linked to overcoming challenges as neatly.

. But was saving the one pointless and the other a prize?

Yes. If you're calling back to the treasure-hunting game D&D was.

 

[Garthanos]

Yes. If you're calling back to the treasure-hunting game D&D was.

I like to point out the kind of personality which was effectively being encouraged not what many of us wanted to play or visualize ourselves being

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Indeed and he way I read the comments of certain roman leaders that Salmon leaping over the top of soldiers who were somewhat blinded by their own shield wall might land you in a position of behind the lines and free to back stab multiple someones - they were impressed with some brash Celtic warriors because of this.

Alesia was still a slaughter...

 

[Garthanos]

Alesia was still a slaughter...

Lack of coordination of effort is sometimes pointed at on a broad scale -- but siege enginery ie tech seems to have been involved in many cases.