Five things that would change the game forever

[Turanil]

1) Alignment is eliminated once and for all
2) Ability scores are no longer numbers but simply bonuses
3) All spells, songs, and psionics are simply arcane magic (i.e. god's do not grant spells, magic is just magic)
4) Skills fall into one of 12 categories instead of the oppressive number that's out there now
5) Every prestige class can also be a core class

I suggest that you pick up True 20 (available on RPGnow for 12 $). It's pretty much what you describes...

 

[Goblyn]

Here's five things I think would change the game forever:

1. Playing naked
2. Rules lawyers are shot on interruption
3. 1 player and n GMs
4. Everyone speaks only pig-latin
5. No more Star Wars references.

 

[wingsandsword]

It stopped being D&D when they got rid of size-based weapon damage, proficiencies, and THAC0.

Was it D&D before those things existed? None of those were there in the beginning, and the last two weren't even in the 1st Edition AD&D core.

 

[mythusmage]

1. Any borrowings from board games and video games tossed.
2. All designers and writers to have some experience in real life.
3. Challenge replaces balance.
4. The setting hangs together.
5. Accomplishment over victory.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

mythusmage hit the mark exactly. The paradigm of the game, how it's designed and played, encompasses way more than just rules.

There's a lot of games out there that use completely different systems, but because they address those five issues the same way as D&D, they're not that different in the experience they provide at the game table.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd only make 2 changes:

1) Bring Psionics into the core. This would require playtest balance versus other game mechanics, like Arcane and Divine Magic.

2) Point-based character building. Make all of the feats and special abilities available to all characters, as long as they pay the point cost. (Note, this does NOT require doing away with Classes or Levels.)

 

[Particle_Man]

Was it D&D before those things existed? None of those were there in the beginning, and the last two weren't even in the 1st Edition AD&D core.

Weapon Proficiencies existed in 1st ed AD&D core. You mean non-weapon proficiencies did not, I suppose.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

1) Alignment is eliminated once and for all

I like alignment. Although I don't think it's necessarily universal, IME people who bitch about the alignment system don't understand it or how to use it.

2) Ability scores are no longer numbers but simply bonuses

Aside from removing a level of granularity with regard to ability damage and drain (a concept that D&D desperately needed (and needs to use more)), this will simply never happen because everybody likes to talk about thier character's "18 in whatever stat."

3) All spells, songs, and psionics are simply arcane magic (i.e. god's do not grant spells, magic is just magic)

I could live with this change, but I'm so used to the way D&D does it, it's second nature and doesn't bother me in the slightest.

4) Skills fall into one of 12 categories instead of the oppressive number that's out there now

Screw that. They've got skills almost right. Group sensory skills under a blanket "Perception (whatever)" skill, and there's not much else to do.

5) Every prestige class can also be a core class

Gah! No! God, please, no. If anything (and I don't necessarily think anything needs to be dome), it'd be better to make classes like the paladin and ranger prestige classes.

 

[S'mon]

If these are things you'd rather go without, it's not D&D you want to play. Simple as that.

Skills are very obviously not a 'core part' of D&D, the game went 2 decades or more without them! Class & Levels are pretty much central to D&D. Alignment much less so, many D&D settings have not used Alignment or used it differently from the 3e version which is derived from AD&D.

 

[Dave Turner]

Skills are very obviously not a 'core part' of D&D, the game went 2 decades or more without them! Class & Levels are pretty much central to D&D. Alignment much less so, many D&D settings have not used Alignment or used it differently from the 3e version which is derived from AD&D.

Absolutely right. Make the most common skills used in adventuring (Spot, Listen, Move Silently, Hide, Search, Disable Device, and one or two others) into secondary character traits and ditch the rest. D&D is not about crafting, bluffing, diplomacy, or wilderness survival. It is about kicking in doors and taking the stuff of others.