Okay now before I start let me just say that I figure all the "one edition to unite them all" line is just marketing fluff and they are actually trying to improve the game rather then just scratch a bunch of nastalgia itches.
I also have 0 respect for sacred cows and I dont think a huge percentage care that much about them either, and new players dont even know what they are much less care about them. So they arent part of my consideration.
HP
Inspired by the HP debates what i would like to see is starting HP equals size + con modifier. Giants should be able to take the sort of punishment that would squash any man flat. That just seems logical no matter how you look at HP.
So medium size should get 12, large 24, huge 36, giant 48, and so on and so on. And small should get 6, tiny 3, and fine 1.
Going up in level should add a very small number of HP. 1 for casters, 2 for stealthy types, 3 for semi combatants and 4 for warriors.
When you get to 0hp you can act at a penalty -2, -4, whatever, doesnt really matter because if you choose to act with the sort of serious injury you have when you have 0hp you take an additional pt of damage.
When you hit negative HP equal to your size +Con modifier your dead.
Healing magic/
Heals a number of HP set by the recipient, not the caster. Cure light might heal 1pt per target level while cure serious heals 4pts per target level for instance.
That way the fact that 1 HP means something different to a 1st level fighter and a 10th level fighter is modeled better.
HP per level optional module
I give 1-4. Those numbers could be doubled or tripled to reduce lethality. Curative magic should be increased at the same rate. More heroic campaign? double HP and healing. Supers campaign? 3X them.
ATTACKING
Attack rolls should be opposed. Roll them both at the same time and it doesnt slow down the game one bit and gives more of a feel of a duel. I've done this for years and it increases the drama in every fight.
On that line allow players to either parry or dodge based on whats best for them for average attacks. Parry being an opposed att roll and dodge being a reflex type of save.
Let the reflex save bonus for quick classes go up at the same rate as ATT bonus for martial classes, BUT limit dodges to 1 per round while parries are unlimited.
Make some attacks only dodge-able. Titans greatsword, fireball, flying boulder? Dodge only.
STR adds to damage only. Not to hit rolls.
Optional Fluidity of combat rule
Dodge rolls can require room to actually get out of the way so that a character must be able to move 5ft in any direction into an unoccupied square. If thats not an option then the character must parry or suffer full damage.
DAMAGE/CRITS
Get rid of critical hits as they are. Every 2 pts an attacker beats the defender by ads 1 pt of damage to the attack.
Armor/
Should be DR. Shields should add to parry rolls. Base armor DR is the same as the Armor bonuses in 3e. 1-9, add magical bonuses. Shields can add 1-4 plus magical bonus.
OPTIONAL RULES MODULES
Crits/
I give 1pt of bonus damage per 2 pts over the defenders parry or dodge roll. For more lethality you could go 1/1 or for less 1/3 or 1/4. However swingy and potentially dangerous you want a good hit to be.
You can keep the "nat 20 is special" idea by allowing a natural 20 to count as a 20 AND give a reroll to add to that 20. Although i have had mixed results with that.
DR/
Armors DR could be increased or you could add a characters base CON modifier to DR to show inherent toughness.
Size/
To make large monsters scarier you could add a size mod to damage. Maybe +2 or even +4 per size difference between attackers. Do not reduce damage for smaller attackers however. A child stabbing you in the gut is just as bad as a grown up doing it.
From play observations.
I have used something pretty similar for a long time and its worked pretty well. Big things are scary, quick guys are hard to hit as long as they are 1 on 1 and can move, a high level fighter is hard to touch by rookies and mowes them down like grass.
One of my favorite aspects though is its effect on coup de grace type attacks. A helpless target is helpless, no roll so assume a 0 on the opposed roll. I had a rogue/assassin for a while that loved to sneak up on people and use the effect to cut a throat because he could regularly deal 20-30 damage with a dagger even at low level against unsuspecting enemies.
It makes every 1 one 1 fight feel like a duel. Which has led to pretty cool feeling fights. And it makes taking on multiple opponents truly dangerous with a really heroic feel after winning. Who remembers in Last Samurai when Tom Cruise slow motion killed the guys jumping him in the alley and being left with that "holy
I'm alive" look even though he was a total badass compared to them individually? I like that feel to a fight.
Its grittier base and you have to rewrite spell damages, but since they are making a whole new edition that will probably force them to redo a bunch of spells anyway thats not a big deal.
But what i really like best about it is that you can completely model it to make it as gritty or heroic as you want for an individual campaign. Without
changing any of the base mechanics, just switching out a few integers.
Now granted its somewhat swingier. Although Armor as DR mitigates that a lot. So you probably dont want to run this if your going with the typical 4-6 nearly equal strength to the party encounters a day unless you dont mind more dead characters then normal.
However since thats kind of silly anyway you can use this to encourage players to use strategy to minimize fair fights with bad guys and make the ones that happen that much more dramatic and dangerous. Sort of like real life or death fights.
I also have 0 respect for sacred cows and I dont think a huge percentage care that much about them either, and new players dont even know what they are much less care about them. So they arent part of my consideration.
HP
Inspired by the HP debates what i would like to see is starting HP equals size + con modifier. Giants should be able to take the sort of punishment that would squash any man flat. That just seems logical no matter how you look at HP.
So medium size should get 12, large 24, huge 36, giant 48, and so on and so on. And small should get 6, tiny 3, and fine 1.
Going up in level should add a very small number of HP. 1 for casters, 2 for stealthy types, 3 for semi combatants and 4 for warriors.
When you get to 0hp you can act at a penalty -2, -4, whatever, doesnt really matter because if you choose to act with the sort of serious injury you have when you have 0hp you take an additional pt of damage.
When you hit negative HP equal to your size +Con modifier your dead.
Healing magic/
Heals a number of HP set by the recipient, not the caster. Cure light might heal 1pt per target level while cure serious heals 4pts per target level for instance.
That way the fact that 1 HP means something different to a 1st level fighter and a 10th level fighter is modeled better.
HP per level optional module
I give 1-4. Those numbers could be doubled or tripled to reduce lethality. Curative magic should be increased at the same rate. More heroic campaign? double HP and healing. Supers campaign? 3X them.
ATTACKING
Attack rolls should be opposed. Roll them both at the same time and it doesnt slow down the game one bit and gives more of a feel of a duel. I've done this for years and it increases the drama in every fight.
On that line allow players to either parry or dodge based on whats best for them for average attacks. Parry being an opposed att roll and dodge being a reflex type of save.
Let the reflex save bonus for quick classes go up at the same rate as ATT bonus for martial classes, BUT limit dodges to 1 per round while parries are unlimited.
Make some attacks only dodge-able. Titans greatsword, fireball, flying boulder? Dodge only.
STR adds to damage only. Not to hit rolls.
Optional Fluidity of combat rule
Dodge rolls can require room to actually get out of the way so that a character must be able to move 5ft in any direction into an unoccupied square. If thats not an option then the character must parry or suffer full damage.
DAMAGE/CRITS
Get rid of critical hits as they are. Every 2 pts an attacker beats the defender by ads 1 pt of damage to the attack.
Armor/
Should be DR. Shields should add to parry rolls. Base armor DR is the same as the Armor bonuses in 3e. 1-9, add magical bonuses. Shields can add 1-4 plus magical bonus.
OPTIONAL RULES MODULES
Crits/
I give 1pt of bonus damage per 2 pts over the defenders parry or dodge roll. For more lethality you could go 1/1 or for less 1/3 or 1/4. However swingy and potentially dangerous you want a good hit to be.
You can keep the "nat 20 is special" idea by allowing a natural 20 to count as a 20 AND give a reroll to add to that 20. Although i have had mixed results with that.
DR/
Armors DR could be increased or you could add a characters base CON modifier to DR to show inherent toughness.
Size/
To make large monsters scarier you could add a size mod to damage. Maybe +2 or even +4 per size difference between attackers. Do not reduce damage for smaller attackers however. A child stabbing you in the gut is just as bad as a grown up doing it.
From play observations.
I have used something pretty similar for a long time and its worked pretty well. Big things are scary, quick guys are hard to hit as long as they are 1 on 1 and can move, a high level fighter is hard to touch by rookies and mowes them down like grass.
One of my favorite aspects though is its effect on coup de grace type attacks. A helpless target is helpless, no roll so assume a 0 on the opposed roll. I had a rogue/assassin for a while that loved to sneak up on people and use the effect to cut a throat because he could regularly deal 20-30 damage with a dagger even at low level against unsuspecting enemies.
It makes every 1 one 1 fight feel like a duel. Which has led to pretty cool feeling fights. And it makes taking on multiple opponents truly dangerous with a really heroic feel after winning. Who remembers in Last Samurai when Tom Cruise slow motion killed the guys jumping him in the alley and being left with that "holy
I'm alive" look even though he was a total badass compared to them individually? I like that feel to a fight. Its grittier base and you have to rewrite spell damages, but since they are making a whole new edition that will probably force them to redo a bunch of spells anyway thats not a big deal.
But what i really like best about it is that you can completely model it to make it as gritty or heroic as you want for an individual campaign. Without
changing any of the base mechanics, just switching out a few integers.
Now granted its somewhat swingier. Although Armor as DR mitigates that a lot. So you probably dont want to run this if your going with the typical 4-6 nearly equal strength to the party encounters a day unless you dont mind more dead characters then normal.
However since thats kind of silly anyway you can use this to encourage players to use strategy to minimize fair fights with bad guys and make the ones that happen that much more dramatic and dangerous. Sort of like real life or death fights.
