NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 1325523" data-attributes="member: 8158">I'd like to see a D20 Fantasy at some point. Ideally, D&D 4.0 would come out first, having all of the familiar core classes. At some point afterwards (perhaps a year) D20F is published which "pulls back the curtain" so to speak, showing how you can construct and re-construct those core classes on your own using combinations of the six D20F basic classes (strong hero, fast hero, etc.) and advanced classes. For instance, the rage ability of the Barbarian would wind up under the Strong Hero talent tree, Damage Reduction would fall under the Tough Hero tree (as it does now), and its Fast Movement and Uncanny Dodge abilities would fall under the Fast Hero talent tree (as it does now). At some point it becomes a Barbarian advanced class, that merges and embelishes upon all three features. But to provide a wish list with more realistic expectations, I'd like to see a lot of smaller fixes:1) Allow for more heroic uses of skills. Roll the monk's slow fall ability into the Tumble skill so that other nimble classes can benefit. Take the Jump skill back to the drawing board, dropping the notion that its supposed to provide a realistic simulation of the limits on how far an olympic athlete or pro basketball player can high jump; think Crouching Tiger instead (with a lot of ranks anyway). 2) I don't think the armor class system needs as much of an overhaul as others. I understand that at higher levels combat would become a grind if the number of hits routinely exceeded misses in a fight. But the core books should feature suits of heavy armor that go beyond the +8 that full plate provides, such as the heavy full plate from the Underdark book. One simple fix is for adamantine armor to add to AC rather than (or perhaps in addition to) bestowing damage reduction. Once heavy armor has gotten a boost, then some options for designing lightly-armored quick heroes can be improved as well. The Dodge feat, for instance, could grant a significant bonus to AC.3) Reign in sneak attack a bit. It makes other offensive class features look flacid in comparison (e.g. paladin's smite, ranger favored enemy damage bonus, fighter weapon specialization, monk stunning fist), and the damage gets out of hand once the rogue acquires multiple attacks per round. For instance, make the sneak attack damage only usable with one attack per round (similar to the Order of the Bow Initiate's class ability in The Complete Warrior), or make it a more a sane amount of damage per attack, such as +1 point of damage point per rogue level. 4) Add in hero points. Create some combat maneuvers that require the expenditure of hero points, some of which are only available now as feats. Realize that most classes have too few feats to use one up for a feat that, for instance, allows an archer to pin a target's sleeve to a tree (provided the target's got a sleeve, and provided he's standing right next to a tree). Allow action points to recover hit points, in order to reduce utter dependency on having healer classes in the party.5) Revamp the ability to turn undead. It's an ability that makes fights against undead awkward and often quite boring. One possibility is for it to work sort of like 3e's blade barrier. If an undead stays within the radius of a cleric while he's turning, the undead takes 1d8/level damage.6) Monte said it best: no class should have d4 hit dice. Actually, scratch that. No core class should have d4 hit dice. Give Wizards and Sorcerer d6 hit dice, then they actually have something to trade off when designing PrC's that has a measly d4 HD but offers some other nifty arcane-casting abilities. 7) Familiars should not suck so darn badly. Looking at how druid/ranger animal companions can be regained the day after being killed with no penalties whatsoever, it seems stupid and needless to have wizards losing XP when their pets die, and having to wait a year before they can acquire another.8) Don't have monk unarmed damage increase past 1d6. Instead, let them add their Wisdom modifier to damage, both from unarmed strikes and monk weapons. This way, some monks will focus on unarmed, and some will focus on weapons. This creates options. It also is a boon for a sub-12th-level monk who has a lukewarm Strength score (and it is usually the sub-12th-level monk that folks complain about). Bestow Quivering Palm, Diamond Soul, Tongue of the Sun and Moon, and Abundant Step at earlier levels, so they become more attractive draws for players. Consider giving the monk some cool offensive abilities, such allowing his attacks to not only stun, but to induce a variety of status effects (sleep, blindness, feeblemind, etc.).</blockquote>

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