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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 8179661" data-attributes="member: 58416">If there is 6th Edition, I hope it keeps the general idea of "bounded accuracy" and actually follows through with it.As part of following through with it, I could see racial bonuses (and penalties) becoming non-numerical effects. Similarly, I would like to see magic items redesigned to create more wondrous effects rather than more numeric bonuses.Thinking about it more, I'm not entirely opposed to +N bonuses, but I would prefer that they be approached in a very different way. A completely arbitrary and made up example from my head would be the Moon Mace, a silver-coated mace (which ignores the damage reduction of lycanthropes) and also grants effects based upon the phase of the moon: no bonus during a New Moon; +1d4 force damage during Crescent phases and Gibbous phases; +1 to attacks and +1d4 force damage during Quarter phases; +1 to attacks and +1d4 force damage and +1d4 radiant damage during a Full Moon.That particular item is more fiddly than most people might like, but the concept is that bonuses can be more interesting than a flat +N. Instead, it might be a variable bonus during specific conditions or perhaps the item is able to function in a unique way (such as the sword which can be used to cast featherfall, that I mentioned previously). I think shifting in this direction would then allow a straight +N item (which always grants the bonus) to truly be something special.4th Edition started out that way with both feats and items. In the early books, you might get a bonus to something under specific circumstances (i.e. +1 attack and damage while using fire spells). I thought that was cool and gave reasons for picking different items and having characters care about the actual properties of what an item did. Unfortunately, later books (in 4th) started handing out feats and items which simply just gave the bonuses all the time, without* any drawbacks or specified circumstances. I believe this was the wrong way to evolve the game because it meant sliding back into what I see as the same flawed way of handling magic items which came before, and 5th (unfortunately) seems to have stuck with that latter idea, rather than trying to use bounded accuracy (and an alleged move away from needing big numbers) as way to do something which made magic unique and meaningful.*This is an over-simplification, but that is the pattern I remember. It's part of why some later feats and items became so common that they were viewed by many as being almost required. For me, what was so maddening about that part of the game going in that direction is that other parts of the game (such as monster design) finally became good/better in later books. So, while parts of the game were moving in a good direction to work as designed, other parts started moving away from the general ballpark of design space for which the improvements were built around.</blockquote>

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