Best rules that game designers have made?

[Psion]

OK, I understand now. That is really cool. Problem with that is it wouldn't really work for D&D. This was made on the assumption that you are mostly purchasing whatever you need.

Not exactly. It assumes you are being supplied with the gear by agency or allies (few people own fighter jets, which is perfectly possible gear pick at high calibers.) You have personal gear too, but the bonus applies to mission gear.

But yeah, I didn't mean it to apply to stock D&D, though it could if you changed the assumptions significantly. The gear model in spycraft is very much not "loot them and take their stuff". It doesn't have you picking up cash off of bad guys and putting it in the bank in the game.

Of course, if you were willing to change that model... which would work well in a setting where you are supplied magic by a king or your noble house, etc., it could work well.

 

[FireLance]

OK, I understand now. That is really cool. Problem with that is it wouldn't really work for D&D. This was made on the assumption that you are mostly purchasing whatever you need. In D&D, your getting all of your cool gear from the DM and you normally can't go to the general store and buy a +5 vorpal flaming burst longsword. One thing I do like about it is it makes CR more viable as you have an idea of the amount of gear a party is going to have and it serves as a good guideline for DMs doling out items as well.

It's easy enough to translate into D&D, with the wealth by level tables, if the DM is willing to tell his players: you're level X, you should have Y gp worth of items, pick whatever gear you want up to that limit.

 

[MerricB]

Unified XP tables.
No facing and squares bases.
Melee weapon resizing in 3.5e
Turn undead variant in Complete Divine.
Advancing monsters.
Grappling rules in 3.5e.
Attacks of opportunity.
Damage Reduction in 3.5e

Cheers!

 

[Zelda Themelin]

Logical similarity
Unified XP tables
Advancing monsters, monster stats
Templates
3E Multiclassing (though exact details don't always work so well)
Keeping six base stats and character levels/HD
d20 + modifiers.
Higher is always better.
Lot of cool ideas

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

The stat scale. Seriously, I bought 3e on impulse as soon as I saw that a 12 gave a little bonus and a 9 a little penalty... Thought about gathering a group afterwards.

Oh yeah, Paladins.

They made the Paladin class just right for a Paladin lover.

Cleric domains and spontaneous healing. Major kudos for getting this right. A big round of applause is much deserved.

Let me think a bit more - there are plenty but I want to read other posts and fill in the major gaps.

 

[DarkKestral]

gotta go with the basic d20+modifiers, higher is always better, unified xp charts with simplified multiclassing, and feats. They make the game relatively easy to understand conceptually while offering some customizability for players. Without those, i don't think 3rd ed. would have been so successful.

 

[Aus_Snow]

All of the rules changes / additions / removals from earlier editions. Yes, all of them. They transformed D&D from. . . [what it was]. . . to something I, and several friends of mine, pounced on and fell in love with. Since then, other locals have become enamoured of it, too.

My house rules, many and varied though they are, are still just that: deviations here and there from a brilliant ruleset that deserves the popularity and adoration it receives.

I could go into the details, but everyone pretty much knows them - unified mechanic, universal XP charts with logical multiclassing, a great skill system (including 'take 10' and 'take 20'), feats, everything being playable / levelable / stattable / capable of advancing etc., real attention paid to *balance*. . . .

. . . too many things to name, really.

 

[Thanee]

Take 10 and Take 20
Clerics that don't need to prepare Cure spells
Spontaneous Casting
Substitution Levels
Augmentation (though the system as a whole fails, Augmentation is still a good idea)

Bye
Thanee

 

[blargney the second]

Great idea for a thread, JVisgaitis. It's like fresh air in here.

My favourite rules, in no particular order:
1) Templates + advancing monsters + class levels = any monster I want
2) XPH augments and psionic focus
3) ToB per-encounter mechanic and always-on classes like warlock
4) Flanking, no facing, and square bases
5) Unified XP and stacking multiclassing
6) Condensed saving throws

 

[Olaf the Stout]

d20 + modifiers.

Higher is always better.

AC goes up.

Any race can be any class generically (subject to DM-imposed setting restrictions).

I agree with all of these.

I would also add:

Skills and Feats (still not perfect but a big step forward from Weapon and Non-Weapon Profiencies

Take 10 and Take 20 (saves so much time)

Arcana Evolved's heightened and diminished spells (these should be added into 4E)

Unified XP chart

Spontaneous cure spells (Clerics aren't just a walking first aid kit anymore)

Metamagic

Monsters with class levels

Olaf the Stout