How do you like your new?

[Blue]

I'm in a long runnign campaign, and run a long running campaign. Anything that I can't drop into an existing campaign is nigh-useless. Yes, I can allow players to go back and tinker, but that often messes with continuity. Had a player redesign a character, and it came up that he couldn't handle animal anymore, when before he drove the wagon and taught another character to do the same - that's not a big change, but makes no sense in-world.

New skills seem the worst for that. Base classes the next so since PCs - the stars of the show - won't have them even if they made sense, but others might. I'm glad prestige classes are moving away from the 3+ feats you need to plan for for 9 levels and more towards balanced where you give up something to get something, which also means they can eb gotten after start of campaign. New uses for skills are fine, they fit right in. Spells could just be something the PCs haven't seen, though with spontaneous casters it can be odd. Feats are okay.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[Stormborn]

In my Current Campaign we have a Ninja, and Urban Druid, and a Litorian Duskblade - all of which are new for us. Races and Base Classes are the easiest to introduce I think cause they get used enocugh that the players become familair with them quickly. In the process we have added some new spells. In the Duskblade's case the fact that there are so few means its not a problem. The Urban Druid, however, has really used his pistol and various Cure spells more so than anything else, so his new spells haven't really come up. In addition to the pistol I recently let the Ninja find a masterwork Ghost Spike (from Dragon - basically a double short sword). All of which is easy to intigrate and I have no problems with. I alwasy go with the opinion that anythign can be worked into a setting, especially at the begining. The Duskblade is the only one he knows of, although some of the secrets were taught to him by elves. The Ninja came from a distant continent. The Urban Druid is the only one of his kind. Even the Paladin is one of the last memebers of her order and faith. All that allows us to introduce new things that NPCs might not have, becuase the PCs are unique. Which I think it great for a heroic game.

New abilites, new systems, new skills - these are all a little harder. I have told my players that they can now take the Martial Study feat from Book of 9 Swords as a way to introduce manuevers into the game - i think it would be particularlly appropriate for the Ninja and possibly the Paladin. If they choose to, and if they like it, I might allow some of the PrC from that book as well. I want to be able to ease into that kind of thing, not just for me but mainly for the players.

New skils and new uses for old skills are hard to handle, IMO, because we have already "learned" how they work. I have tried in the past to allow various dynamic skill uses to create manuevers and the like, but no one ever took me up on it, and except for a few encounters I always forgot to use it with NPCs.

 

[sckeener]

variant classes. I want more options to swap around existing abilities and I want someone else to do the math to figure out if it is balanced.

and I want it from known authors who I feel I can trust.

 

[howandwhy99]

Where are new magic items, weapons, armor, and equipment? New vehicles are nice too. All these offer new rules in the form I believe you are asking.

Real new rules I am almost always interested in. Like legacy weapons or guild rules. Good chase rules could be published by a few folks I think. And lately I've been looking at all sorts of mass combat rules.

Variant rules are fun too. I tend to use only very few (or just core) base classes, but variant classes on those are always a plus. I'd much rather someone attempted to write a better ruleset than simply "one more option".

 

[Mycanid]

No more crunch was my vote. There is too much already IMO.

 

[Post Life Entity]

I am a fan of more base classes.
I'd also like to see skills take on a larger role within the game.
Feats are basically spells for fighters and new spells are always okay, so long as they do something new and just don't rehash old ground... I don't need an acid-based fireball.

 

[delericho]

I don't have any real opinion about any of the ways to introduce new things to the game - to me what is being added is more important than the mechanism by which it's introduced.

That said, at this point I just have enough crunch for this edition. I'm not really in the market for anything, except adventures. If something is really cool, I'll buy, but if not... wake me when 4e hits.

If we were considering 4e, then my opinions would be slightly different. I'm really hoping for a good look to be taken at the organisation of base and prestige classes, the use of talent trees (as in d20 Modern) to be made standard, and therefore the end of alternate class features, substitute levels, and a lot of the existing PrCs (all of which would be rolled into said talent trees). However, for the current edition, we have all the various mechanisms, and trying any sort of consolidation without a new edition would be futile IMO.

 

[Sanackranib]

humm interesting I see that more people picked "feats" . . . as I did