Does anyone else think D&D 4th edition should be more like 2nd edition

[Zappo]

So, warlord, the answer to the thread title is: "Nope!". Any other questions?

 

[Psion]

Use 3e mechanics and add planescape support, and you can sign me up!

 

[Darklone]

Answering seriously: 3rd edition killed 80 % of our houserules and 3.5 killed 80% or the rest. No, I don't want to see changes similar to 2nd edition.

 

[JimAde]

I can't believe I read this whole thread.

Anyway, since I invested the time, I'll chime in with my "not in a million years." I am glad somebody else remembers that THAC0 actually was better than looking up tables, though. I thought it was just me.

 

[Glyfair]

I would not prefer to see things go back. 2e is pretty much what ran me off from D&D in the first place.

I'm mostly in this boat, too. I was involved in a lot of other RPGs towards the end of AD&D 1st edition's run. However, I still played in the occasional campaign of D&D. When 2E was announced, I looked forward to them bringing the game forward and addressing some of the nagging issues in the game. Instead, we got 2E which was a bunch of half-measures.

Though there are many examples, one that was discussed among my gaming circles was that instead of eliminating non-human class limits, they merely increased them (which was already happening in AD&D). I never saw how you balanced a races abilities by making them stop progressing in level at a certain point & I certainly never bought the "game world" concept, either.

 

[Napftor]

I can't believe I read this whole thread.

Anyway, since I invested the time, I'll chime in with my "not in a million years." I am glad somebody else remembers that THAC0 actually was better than looking up tables, though. I thought it was just me.

Ditto on all of that.

 

[Staffan]

Personally I hate 3rd edition and 3.5 WoTC completely changed all the rules they screwed up monster HD added monster classes(and Savage Species was just crap),gave all the classes the same xp bonus and made it a low tech version of the Star Wars RPG I like that game but I want my Jedi and Dwarven fighters seperated.

I give it a 7. Sparks some discussion, but it lacks finesse.

 

[Buttercup]

Also the great hing about 2nd ed. was that it was easy to change. If you didn't like it you could change it and Gygax himself has said todays D&D is completely different from his and too rule intensive and I agree with him.

I think you probably are trolling, but I'm going to answer you anyway, with a serious response.

I think previous editions were confusing mish-mashes of whacked out rules that didn't always fit together. 3E was built from the ground up to be coherent. A high roll is *always* better than a low one, multiclassing allows players to have the flexibility to create the characters they want, saves are actually understandable by folks who haven't spent years studying them, and overall the game is balanced. I don't understand how eliminating the arbitrary nature of 2E could be bad. Besides, anything that eliminated negative armor class and THAC0 gets my vote.

And re Gygax and his dislike of 3E, who cares? Time has passed him by. I mean, I'm glad he invented the game and all, but why does his opinion have an effect on me and my players?

 

[Maliki]

I'm glad that others have understood Thaco, I've seen Thaco bashed in every discussion of 2nd Ed. and never understood why, it wasn't that hard to understand and replaced a DM screen full of charts to see if you hit or not. 3.0/3.5 is simpler still and I like it as well os many other changes they made, but Thaco was a step forward.

 

[Buttercup]

Like why are elves so magical and tied to nature, but they can't be as high-level wizards or druids as humans, or why must all Clerics have their combat ethics defined by the medieval catholic church and eschew all edged weapons, why are or any one of countless other "Because Gygax/TSR Said So" arbitrary rules, the contradictory/confusing Saving Throws and THAC0/AC rules of earlier. Not to mention the disasters of 1e/2e's multiclassing/dual-classing rules, 2e psionics, and the horribly bare-bones way of statting monsters.

Exactly.

I can only wonder how incredible Spelljammer, Dark Sun, and Planescape (as 3 of the most innovative 2e settings) would have been if they'd been originally written in d20/3e, and had it's flexibility to work with from the beginning.

Yeah, it's sad.

Frankly, I don't have any real plans to buy 4e when it comes out, I'm happy with my own home-brew blend of 3.0, 3.5, AU, UA & d20M, and if I have to, I can even distribute it via the OGL and keep 3.x alive long after WotC discontinued it.

Yup. 3.x is the only edition of D&D I'll ever need, or buy. The sooner WotC releases 4th edition, the sooner I'll stop buying their books. But that's ok. It will just mean that I can send my disposable income on something else.