Does D&D fill every niche?

[redwing]

Do you feel that D&D d20 fills every niche in a fantasy setting as far as characters/magical abilities go? Do you feel you are able to mimic your favorite characters from movies, books, video games, anime, etc. through class progressions and feats? Is there any role or magical abilities that you feel are not included in D&D due to rule constraints or the simple fact that it just hasn't been created yet. Do you feel the 3rd party companies have 'picked up the slack' and filled in any roles that seem to be missing. Have you implemented any homebrew classes or feats to fill any niches that you feel were left out? Personally I have tried to incorporate homebrew classes pertaining to Final Fantasy that I felt could not be achieved through normal class/feat selection for my campaign. I know this may sound confusing becuase there are several questions, and i may even possibly be restating the same question over and over.

 

[Jdvn1]

I don't htink it fills every niche, but it fills a lot of them. If not D&D, then d20.

To fill every niche would be the perfect system, some sort of socratic ideal of roleplaying.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

To fill every niche would be the perfect system, some sort of socratic ideal of roleplaying.

... Which I hear is slated for a Christmas 2026 release....

 

[Evilhalfling]

Well I had to modify dragons -
most fantasy dragons have dangerous eyes - either hypnotism or fear
and DnD dragons have never had it.
addtionally in order to make DnD mimic traditonal fantasy you have to cut the magic and possible spellcasting way back. Grim and Gritty rules seem to do a better job at mimicing the feeling of novels.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well I had to modify dragons -
most fantasy dragons have dangerous eyes - either hypnotism or fear
and DnD dragons have never had it.

Not to derail your overall point, but don't you think the dragon's frightful presence ability fulfills this requirement well enough? All you have to do is describe it as looking into their eyes, rather than looking at them in general, and you're golden.

 

[Umbran]

Do you feel that D&D d20 fills every niche in a fantasy setting as far as characters/magical abilities go?

No. But I would not expect it to. Nor would I even want it to. No one system does everything well.

 

[Zappo]

I don't think D&D does everything, and I think that's good. I think a good game needs to have some sort of focus, and if you put even just all WotC stuff together you've already lost it.

I don't even think that D20 can do everything, though I can't think of anything I couldn't do with D20 right now.

 

[nopantsyet]

It does enough for me, but no--it doesn't do everything I can conceive. But at the moment, I don't have the time to run a fantasy campaign, a steampunk campaign, and a hard sci-fi campaign. So as I said, it does enough for me.

 

[maddman75]

No, especially not RAW. I can't think of any books, movies, or other fiction who have the number and variety of magical toys of D&D characters. Another is the cleric - few fictional stories feature healers like the D&D cleric.

As far as characters themselves, warriors with a bit of magic are pretty hard to do effectively. Another troupe that doesn't get dealt with is the idea of sidekicks and squires, much weaker characters who travel with great warriors.

The thing is D&D is a toolbox. To me anyway. Nothing saying you have to use every class, every feat, every creature.

Could any system do everything? Well, just Unisystem, as it really is the One True System. Really. I mean its right there in the name.

 

[Emiricol]

Do you feel that D&D d20 fills every niche in a fantasy setting as far as characters/magical abilities go? Do you feel you are able to mimic your favorite characters from movies, books, video games, anime, etc. through class progressions and feats? Is there any role or magical abilities that you feel are not included in D&D due to rule constraints or the simple fact that it just hasn't been created yet. Do you feel the 3rd party companies have 'picked up the slack' and filled in any roles that seem to be missing. Have you implemented any homebrew classes or feats to fill any niches that you feel were left out? Personally I have tried to incorporate homebrew classes pertaining to Final Fantasy that I felt could not be achieved through normal class/feat selection for my campaign. I know this may sound confusing becuase there are several questions, and i may even possibly be restating the same question over and over.

I think it does some things really, really well. And others well enough. As a one-mechanic system for all styles, I like it as much as any other.

However, I love games like The Riddle of Steel as well - it has an entirely different flavor. A flavor that is better suited to a small range of gaming than D20 (such as sword & sorcery, as I define it, which is like Lankhmar, Hyboria, Elric etc). I don't like that type of gaming for all my games, or even most. But sometimes, D20 just doesn't do what I want it to.

And that's not a bad thing - I don't think any system can be perfect for all types of game.