Favorite Change in any D&D edition

[Stormonu]

THAC0

Going from a two full pages of attack charts to four lines for level 1-20 was ingenious for it's time.

 

[Khairn]

I agree with everything everyone has already said, but at the top of my list would be the multi-classing rules from 3E. When I realized that my favorite "nordic skald" character concept could be made by alternating levels between Bard and Barbarian, I became one very happy gamer.

It may not have been an optimal build, but from a character perspective it was fun, easy and made sense.

 

[Haltherrion]

Honestly, I like 4E's move to more balanced classes. Basically a system that by construction makes sure any given class has about as much complexity and interesting-things-to-do-per-round as any other. I can certainly see why some might dislike that feature or various other 4E elements and I don't like everything for 4E but that was a big and useful change for me.

 

[Dark Mistress]

Non combat skill ranks.

 

[RangerWickett]

I wrote adventures for 3.5. My god were monster stats a chore. I could wing them in my home game, but I felt like I was cheating if I got stuff wrong in a product for sale.

4e monster design rules are miles easier. The monsters themselves were a bit fatty at the game's start, but now 2 years later they're lean, vicious, and fun to run.

 

[Lanefan]

Of "official" changes, my favourite at the moment is probably the addition of weapon specialization for Fighters in the 1e UA. Suddenly, Fighters become relevant beyond low level.

Another one: not so much a change as an addition, but the mechanics behind 3e Sorcerers were a revelation. All casters in all editions should work like this.

Lanefan

 

[Rune]

Out of all the excellent changes between editions 2 and 3, none has been as important for speeding up and simplifying combats as the cyclical initiative count (without weapon speeds factored in.) Yes, this even trumps getting rid of ThAC0.

 

[DragonLancer]

The death of THAC0 and negative AC in 3E.

I agree with Sammael. Even after many years of playing AD&D 2nd ed, THAC0 was still a nuisence to work out.

 

[Gort]

Out of all the excellent changes between editions 2 and 3, none has been as important for speeding up and simplifying combats as the cyclical initiative count (without weapon speeds factored in.) Yes, this even trumps getting rid of ThAC0.

Everyone houseruled initiative to the 3rd ed thing anyway. Same as the AC-against-different-weapon-types table everyone ignored.

 

[Rune]

Everyone houseruled initiative to the 3rd ed thing anyway. Same as the AC-against-different-weapon-types table everyone ignored.

A lot of people house-ruled AC to invert it and remove ThAC0.

And not everyone house-ruled initiative to cyclical. I thought the new cyclical initiative rules were a bad change when I first heard about them (how were they going to balance weapons, now?). But, the more I heard (thanks, Eric Noah's site!), the more I began to realize that the changes were going to be a good thing--also, the crit ranges and multipliers were a very good way to balance weapon types--but, while related, still not as good a change as the intitiative thing.