Favorite Change in any D&D edition

[Ycore Rixle]

Pretty much what everyone has said.

Unified mechanics, saves, (noncombat) skills instead of NWP, relaxing rules vs. demi-humans, multiclassing, initiative, and... skill challenges. Or, at least, what they could be/should be (I love the idea but not the 4e implementation). Also bringing demons, devils, assassins, etc. back in with 3e.

I know that's not a single favorite, but I don't think I can lift any one of those significantly above the rest.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I have to pick only one change, in any D&D edition?

The OGL it is then.

 

[Haltherrion]

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

THAC0 was a pain to explain to new players but it never seemed that much bother once you knew the game. It was nice to dispense with for sure but it seemed all the "random" tables (irregular tables, that is) were more of a real nuisance. Almost impossible to remember so you had to look them up- XP progressions by class, thief skills, exceptional 18 strength, saving throw charts, etc.

 

[Shemeska]

I'll have some 1e DMGs hurled at me for this one but...

Renaming some of the 1e fiends and 1e planes in 2e (and onwards). Happy Hunting Grounds becoming the Beastlands for instance. Ice devils becoming gelugons, horned devils becoming cornugons, etc. For the fiend names, they often meant the exact same thing, but they had a better feeling on the tongue and gave a more exotic feeling to the creatures, which dovetailed with the effort to add more richness, complexity, depth of history, and mystery to the planes in 2e.

 

[Mark CMG]

Favorite Change in any D&D edition(?)

Electrum! (Ba-dump-bump)

 

[Orius]

I'll definitely agree on the saves. As a DM it made it a lot easier to figure out what saving throw should be used. Before that, some saves weren't too hard to figure out, but when it comes to traps, I was always confused as to what would be an appropriate save -- and my inner evil DM often took control and chose the save he felt the most PCs would fail.

Also agree with Shemeska on the fiend names. I think the 2e names for the various devils sound a lot better and less bland than "horned devil", "ice devil", "bearded devil" and so on.

I also like the addition of feats. Gave the fighters something interesting to do, and I think it's a useful mechanic for adding new powers to the game.

 

[blargney the second]

I like the change that OD&D introduced. The world went from not having D&D to having it.

 

[Wik]

The adding of percentage points to thief skills were a nice touch, and actually made the class enjoyable at low levels (and allowed multiple thieves in one party!). That was a change I loved enough that it got ported over into BECMI games.

Honestly, though, my favourite change would be 4e's healing surges/martial healing mechanic. In a sense, it allowed for GMs to really break free of the D&Disms that crop up in every campaign - it was suddenly possible (without a lot of house-ruling and fiddling) to make an adventuring party without a cleric.

 

[ourchair]

The death of THAC0 and negative AC in 3E.

Indeed.

I didn't play much D&D, but I read enough and played enough adaptations to know that this is the most confusing and befuddling defense system ever.

 

[Jhaelen]

#1: Skills!

#2: Monster using the same mechanics as pcs

#3: getting rid of #2!