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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1892991" data-attributes="member: 3146">Well that just about covers every aspect of D&D.However, if you want to keep playing D&D, there are a few things you can do to get closer to that goal:1. There's not much you can do about this because, as the rules work, fighter beats rogue in a fight, rogue, fighter or monk beat wizard in a fight, rogue sneaks by fighter if he gets the chance (but doesn't beat him in a fight), and cleric picks whether he wants to be fighter or wizard on any given day. However, switching to a workable version of the wounds/vitality system from Arcana Unearthed that makes (for a workable system, I suggest making the fort save to avoid being stunned easier, adding character level to wound points, and reducing the number of wounds dealt by a critical (to avoid routine instantakills, I suggest wounds damage=weapon dice+enhancement bonus only--not strength or other bonusses and the weapon deals vitality damage in addition to the wounds as normal). That would marginally encourage spreading damage out rather than concentrating it and would thereby remove a disincentive to duels.2. Not too much change needed there but you are pigeonholing high level arcane casters to a few concepts--waves of exhaustion, acid fog, meteor swarm, and presumably summon monster are fine, but Disintegrate, Polar Ray, Finger of Death, Bigby's Grasping Hand, Bigby's Crushing Hand, Wierd, Wail of the Banshee, the Power Words, Dominate Monster, Mass Hold Monster, etc. are out.3. You can push the game this way with a few changes:A. Go back to 3.0 power attack. 1/1 at all times, not 2/1. 2/1 power attack is a big factor in the deadliness of fights between the warrior classes.B. NPC construction. Focus on AC and defenses rather than maxing damage. This means, PCs will face more fighters than barbarians, and more foes with tower shields and combat expertise than greatswords and great cleave.C. NPC construction. Give NPCs defensive feats. Iron Will, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Close Quarters Fighting, Prone Attack, etc. Give them feats that slow down combat like Improved Disarm and Improved Sunder.D. For NPC wizards, have them spend spells on defense or debuffs. Combat lasts longer if the NPC hits the fighter with a quickened ray of enfeeblement. It also lasts longer if the NPC casts a quickened mirror image or a quickened invisibility spell.E. Effects like darkness and fog are also your friend for extending combats. Sometimes these can be introduced by simply paying close attention to the lighting conditions in a room. Candles create shadowy illumination throughout the whole throne room (20% miss chance for non-darkvision, non-low-lightvision characters). Keep the radius of torchlight in mind during the battle too. (And keep in mind that clever enemies might extinguish the torch (Gust of Wind, sunder or disarm or dispel magic for a magic torch) in order to escape or prolong the conflict.F. Re-introduce long-term defensive buffs. Bear's endurance and Owl's Wisdom at 1 hour/level. Magic Vestment at +1/3 levels. False Life at touch range. These will make the stripping of defenses more important. You could also do things like extend the duration of spell turning  or remove the material component from Protection From Spells. Make Mind Blank SOP for all high level characters with access to magic. And then don't allow Reciprocal Gyre into the game. All of those will tend to beef up characters' defenses and thus allow combats to last longer.4. Remove the Wizard class and allow only sorcerers and bards as arcane casters. The spells known limitation will create a competition between combat and non-combat magic. At high levels, sorcerers can be good at both, but not as good as a sorcerer more exclusively focussed on one or the other.5. Alternatively, you could replace arcane magic entirely with Psionics from the XPsiHB. It's not spells per day, it's almost balanced, and the powers known limitation forces the same kind of combat/non-combat focus choice on psionicists and wilders as it does on sorcerers. Obviously, this can't be accomplished with the core D&D magic system.Those won't completely achieve your list, but they will help you get closer to it while still playing D&D.</blockquote>

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