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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 9837708" data-attributes="member: 19270">I'd identify CORE do not touch features first. IMO, it's the six primary ability scores ranging 3d6, the four core class types (fighter, divine, arcane, rogue), and hit points. Everything else I'm open for a redesign, though there's a question whether I'd be coming up with something new or simply hacking ideas off other games.Ability Scores, %. Original AD&D had Strength with a d100 % after it to indicate where on the spectrum of super-strong you fell. Hackmaster 5E expanded on this. Not sure what you could do with this, maybe tie it to skill use, but we're talking 6E. To honestly be a new edition, it can't simply be a refinement of 5E / 2024.Attacks / Combats. Could decouple attack rolls from a base score (e.g. melee = strength) and make it a combination of two ability scores. Even so, I'm still a big fan of some style of "bounded accuracy" to keep attacks and defenses in line (so that a horde of low level critters can still provide a threat).This now dips into the "I'm doing nothing" while waiting for the rest of the team and all the DM's monsters to go. I think it's a terrible flaw in the game. I like Hackmaster's (and I'm sure some other systems too) "opposed defense rolls." You do away with Armor Class causing misses. Rather, if a hit does get through your opposed defensive roll, your Armor may mitigate depending on the type of damage. Players are rolling a lot more dice now. Same with certain magical spells.If you want to go a little crazier, introduce a new mechanic: a minor player intervention when it's not their turn (not terribly dissimilar to Legendary boss actions). This might be the ability to reserve and use movement later, give up 10' of movement to give a bonus to your next arrow attack, sack a resting Hit Die to boost a roll, something simple but that keeps players focused when it's not their turn.Advancement / Get rid of HP bloat. I'd keep it at 20th level, that's pretty D&D iconic, but I'd terrifically slow down the increments per level gain. I'd consider having higher HP at 1st level (e.g. Fantasy Age, Hackmaster) and dramatically little boosts after. This is mean to serve what I believe is a popular demand: "I don't want my hero to get one-shotted" though some risk should exist such as the critical hit or even by adding "exploding dice."In all events, HP bloat is a terrible way to resolve higher levels. You want to keep it potentially lethal but give player characters more options and features to mitigate and avoid those lethal strikes. Same for monsters. An elite one might have some feature like "if able to see the attack source, avoid any one instance of damage requiring an attack roll," usable 1/round. But simply advancing the HP is boring.Classes. Keep the core, consider what makes each class special. Each class should do something that no one else can. Otherwise, just move to a "build a bear" system wherein you can use advancement points each level to add proficiency in Armor, lock picking, and 1st level spells if you want (not where I'd want D&D to go).Saving Throws / Spells. Redesign for opposed rolls and no save spells. Allow many spells to be boosted once perhaps by spending a resting Hit Die. Also, there's a lot of spells that quite frankly I don't think anyone ever will use. Redo the list, and make sure it's balanced (e.g. that if we're sticking with the 8 schools of magic, necromancy is represented just as well as evocation). Don't clone spells (here's a 1st level necro damage spell and a 1st level evocation spell that do the same thing). Really make each spell special.Quadrants of Play. Tier 1, 2, 3, and 4. On a battlefield with no features, by the law of averages, 4 tier 1 foes should be a hard battle for 4 1st to 2nd level characters and medium for 3rd-4th level characters. And so on. Monsters might be described as "Tier One plus" such as a spider with poison that has a greater potential to cause a death than a hunting dog. While no system will ever perfectly make matched combats using math, new DMs could use some guidance when first making their foray. Also, the quadrant matches advancement, and by mitigating extreme power gains between levels, quadrants stay manageable.Something New. Maybe an action between your turns, or a "doom" tracker (karma, the more the players hit during the session or accomplish a particular type of hit, the more this goes up until a monster can do something extra or awesome). The inverse could apply: the more the party fouls up during risky situations, the more this goes up until the players get a bonus. Whatever it might be, if you want 6E rather than 5.75, you need dynamically new stuff.</blockquote>

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