Core concept or rule that just bugs you beyond your ability to put up with it?

[painandgreed]

My big hate is for level drain and the various things that require XP or gold to be spent on them such as magic item creation. I see levels as an amount of person expereince and knowledge and short of brain damage, I don't really see how that could be taken away. ("Hrrm. After my last level up, i learned German but then got atacked by the wight and have forgotten how to speak German and therefore all the conversations I've had in it since learning.") Typically, I substistute various ability drains instead. Then there's the entire spending XP to create magic items. What a flawed kludge that had no basis in the rule system. Somebody already mentioned leveling up and getting the ability to create magic items but being unable to make them unless first going off and killing some orcs. I can at least understand the GP costs for such things as getting new spells and making magic items, but surely there are ways around such costs or there was no magic in the days before civilization reached a point that it could handle a currency economy. For these I just substitute power components to provide both the XP and the GP value (since I figure that's what you spend the money on anyway) and thus PCs can go out and adventure by collecting all the stuff the need. If they're rich, they can still just pay for it normally.

 

[Testament]

3. Medieval world meets the 21st century. How come all the D&D worlds seem like modern day but with magic and monsters. I want worlds that are medieval in feel.

Maybe I'm stupid, but I've never understood this one.

 

[Aethelstan]

Alhazred, I've run several alignmnent-free campaigns. D&D runs just fine without alignment but you do have to make a few alterations

-For classes like Paladin and Cleric, replace alignment requirements with codes of ethics or conduct based on the cause or deity they follow.

-Make clerical domains based on deities virtues (or vices) rather than alignment.

-Spells like Protection from Good and Detect Evil can be changed to Protection from Foes and Detect Hostile Intent. Spells like Holy Smite would still effect inherently evil beings like demons or undead but not a thieving drunk who beats his kids (i.e. evil under the standard rules).

-Instead of forcing players to roleplay within the confines of the standard alignments (for fear of the dreaded "alignment shift") just let them think and act however they want. The only limit on their behaviors should be the conseqences for their PC.

-If particular magical items, places, beings, etc, react with specific alignments, just remove or ban them from your campaign. No one will miss it.

-In general, as DM, work under the asumption that alignment never existed and just delete or alter anything than makes an issue of it.

 

[VirtualWizard]

There are several things I could mention, but I'll limit myself to one: Armor Class. Everything goes up with level Attack, hit points, and skills; however for the most point your AC only advances by how much money you've spent on items. How come characters don't gain a bonus to AC based on their class and level?

 

[Amal Shukup]

I was just talking with somebody about my "pet peeve rule" early today. I can let just about everything in D&D go on the basis of "it's magic" or "it's just a game" but the one that I cannot abide is the Spellbook rules.

Yup. They suck

Found them unplayable, really. I replaced 'em entirely. Highpoints:

Wizard Spellbooks are basically cookbooks. Nothing inherently special about 'em. I took some/most of the Spellbook costs and associated them research. Four ways to learn a new Spell:

1. The generic two/level from 'ongoing research and contemplation'

2. Decipher/Learn/Copy from an acquired source (requires: copy of Spell, time, research expenses, Spellcraft check)

3. Develop a new Spell from scratch (requires: more time, more expenses, more difficult check)

4. Decipher/Learn and Memorize a new Spell from an acquired source (Hail Mary). Useful for those locked in a tower situations. (requires: copy of Spell, a free 'slot', an hour, no cost, rather difficult check w/'mishap' rules similar to those used for scrolls)​

Why not Hail Mary's all the time? Because the Wizard must increase Spellcraft Ranks by at least one before trying to learn a given Spell again. Failing to learn a given Spell three times means a Spell can NEVER be learned.

Seems to work out okay IMC...

A'Mal

 

[Slobber Monster]

There are several things I could mention, but I'll limit myself to one: Armor Class. Everything goes up with level Attack, hit points, and skills; however for the most point your AC only advances by how much money you've spent on items. How come characters don't gain a bonus to AC based on their class and level?

Generally improved defensive capability of this sort is modeled by HP's in D&D. The character still gets hit and nicked, but twists at just the last moment to avoid a lethal bow. Those who improve in any exceptional capacity at completely avoiding blows do so via stat increases, feats, and class abilities.

 

[Amal Shukup]

There are several things I could mention, but I'll limit myself to one: Armor Class. Everything goes up with level Attack, hit points, and skills; however for the most point your AC only advances by how much money you've spent on items. How come characters don't gain a bonus to AC based on their class and level?

Pretty nifty Class Defense Bonus rules in Unearthed Arcana. The bonus applies to touch AC - which is great for giving combattants an edge vs the deadly 'no-save' Rays. It doesn't stack with Armor bonuses though, which tends to devalue Armor - tempting one to use the Armor 'Damage Conversion' rules too...

'Tis a slippery slope...

A'Mal

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Heavy over-reliance on magic items, especially when it comes to boosting AC scores.

It also shafts non-spellcasting NPCs, since they get less magic items than PCs.

There are several things I could mention, but I'll limit myself to one: Armor Class. Everything goes up with level Attack, hit points, and skills; however for the most point your AC only advances by how much money you've spent on items. How come characters don't gain a bonus to AC based on their class and level?

Someone is with me! Break the tyranny of glass ninjas!

The best use of class bonuses to Defense I've ever seen is in D20 Modern. Characters who wear heavy armor should still be able to parry and use their shield more effectively without being geniuses.

Image spells which break suspension of disbelief.

Spells that only affect humanoids. I ... hate ... such ... spells! I don't use them as a DM because I see them as cheating (here's a 5th-level spell you can use on 3rd-level PCs, but they can't use it back). I also hate Hit Dice-based spells.

Half-dragons.

Paladin CoC. When players routinely police the paladin, there is a problem. It's just that this class turns otherwise decent DMs into monsters who feel they have to follow the (unplayable lawful stupid) CoC to the letter, and if the DM doesn't go Frankenstein, the players do, or at least turn the paladin into a running joke. Paladins suck the joy out of gaming for the other players. Even lawful good clerics are more playable than paladins, and the cleric gets a heck of a lot more power from their deity.

Magic bloat - why do the ranger and assassin have spells again? Why does the Inquisitor PrC in Eberron have spells again?

Inflexible core classes. Why don't fighters have Tumble as a class skill? If they play the heavy fighter they can't use it anyway. But no, light fighters will always get screwed in the rules. Monks are the worst example of a core inflexible class, IMO, but the samurai takes the cake for sheer stinkiness. IMO this is directly responsible for the massive amount of PrC bloat, which, among other things, steals ideas that could have been used for much more flexible feats.

Turn undead - not the concept, just the annoying Hit Dice-based mechanic.

Unarmed combat. The monk stole that ability, but isn't any good at it, and because of that, no other class will ever be good at it. That, and the confusing rules, and the ridiculously overpriced amulet of natural armor which takes the same slot as the periapt of Wisdom...

If you play a D20 Modern campaign without FX, none of these are problems.

 

[Trainz]

Magic item inflation at epic levels.

Back in 1st Ed, you could play 40 or so level characters, but didn't need +20 items to "stay in the game". The magic items in the DMG were quite sufficient, it just meant you probably had all the +5 versions of them. And you Kicked Major Arse. You could walk up to Tiamat and make her quiver with fear, only wearing full plate +5, shield +5, and vorpal sword +5. She was scared man. Of course, at very high levels, you probably had an artefact or two in the party, but they meant something.

Motherload of bonuses/penalties.

I'm starting to loathe very much the exercise in accounting that combat entails. I'm currently running a 9th level campaign, and in the last fight the following spells were cast: recitation, prayer, haste, and the enemy was raging. Add to this that half the party was using Combat Expertise and Power Attack, and every die roll was preceded by a "waitaminute" by the player. This is not what I have in mind when I'm thinking about having fun gaming.

I'm all for bonuses, but when most of them are permanent, like stat boosting items, or magic items. They are all computed and added on the character sheet, all totaled. I don't care if a spell or two temporarily gives bonuses, but when half of them does, it's insane.

Spell damage caps.

Back in 1st Ed, I saw wizards throw 40 dice fireballs, 20 dice magic missiles. It didn't screw up anything. Now they nerfed this (since 2nd ed), but forced casters to invest in metamagic feats and magic items to recover those 40 dice spells. 10 times the complexity, for the same net result. That's not an evolution, that's a step back.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

Mainly, ranged attacks not benefitting from flank. I honestly do not understand how someone focusing their attention on the guy in front of them hacking away with a sword can afford to pay the slightest ounce of attention to the gal aiming her +3 keen mighty composite longbow at his back from 40 yards away.

The whole specialist wizard BS.

The random treasure system.. I mean, seriously, how many Big Bad Evil Guys are going to stockpile random BS pieces of art, not to mention crap like Myrlund's Spoon, +1 weapons, rings of swimming, etc.

High level wizards having to carry around a type-2 BoH just to have all their spellbooks... yeah, there's Boccob's and all that, but IMHO it just seems like they way overdid it with how many pages spells take up... damn give me like 1 ginormous 1000 page tome and be done with it.

Uncanny Dodge seems incredibly powerful for the level classes recieve it at.
Speaking of Uncanny Dodge, of all classes, why the hell doesn't the monk get it????