I would change
so many things!
Like many people, I am frustrated by the "X uses/day" thing... Why can my PC only assume cat-form twice/day? Is it tiring? Why are there no exhaustion modifiers applied, afterwards (which can be rested away in less than eight hours)? How does it hurt the game to allow Druids to become any animal form, at will, as a Standard Action?... I'm not seeing it...
Why do games "sweat the small stuff"? (The thread on how hard it is to climb DOWN an unknotted, free-hanging rope is a good example!) I hate it when a GM (or Game System) says: "You're a Hero (but you still only have a 20% chance to hit your handkerchief when you sneeze, otherwise, you snot all over yourself)!" Going through an adventure, covered in snot, and failing four times for every success isn't heroic, to me!
Heroes should be able to climb (up or down) a rope, with ease. They should also be perfectly capable of swinging from one... Making them roll for it (falling when they fail) is anti-heroic. No one (except, perhaps, sadistic GMs) enjoys it when their PC dies due to a failed Climb check... and I doubt that it makes for a more interesting story, either.
IMHO, PCs are heroes, and should be treated like them. They can
always hit their handkerchiefs, when they sneeze, unless striken by a
Sneeze Cantrip,
Command, or more powerful magics (such as Power Word: Sneeze!). They can always climb a rope, unless distracted by combat (at DC:15, this currently isn't possible, taking 10, for any PC who doesn't have Climb as a Class skill). They can always walk across a slippery, icy surface, unless unaware, or combat theatens.
Another good illustration of this (Sweating The Small Stuff) is many Feats. Improved Unarmed Strike used to be possessed by EVERY PC. Now it costs one of seven Feats (fewer, if your campaign lasts less than 20 levels; more, if you're playing a Fighter). Same for Spirited Charge, Ride-By Attack, Shot On The Run, and Mounted Combat! (In 2e, IIRC, this was a Ride maneuver)!
Druids used to be able to identify plants, and pure water, 100% accurately... Now they have Nature Sense, granting +2/+2 on Knowledge (Nature) and Survival... and they must attempt to know what species a plant is by making a Knowledge (Nature) check where the DC is equal to 10+ the hit dice of the plant... Huh? How many HD does a berry bush have? Me no know! How many an average tree has is handled by the DMG, but I don't recall... Anyway, it is a LOT! So, in short, the Druid will likely NOT be able to identify most common, ordinary trees! Now finding fresh water is only DC:10, so they can probably handle that (high WIS, +2 for Nature Sense, plus Survival as a Class skill). Still, I think it is SIMPLER to just say that Druids can always recognize ordinary, non-magical plants. <Shrug>
Each PC should have something that they are best at, and doing that should be "no sweat". WotC has made Bards the best Diviners? Well, okay... Rangers get Track, and CAN take Survival, to use it, but are they the best trackers? Hardly! a Cleric of the Travel Domain (who gets Survival as a Domain skill), or even a Barbarian can be better. Nothing makes the Ranger the best. In 2e, at least, all other classes got a -6 modifier. Is the Bard best at Perform? Not really, although the Bardic Music surely helps! Is the Fighter best at fighting? Definitely! Is the Monk best at fighting unarmed & unarmored? Yes, probably, but that can be improved!
For most of the other classes, what they are "supposed" to be best at is... rather a bit uncertain. That needs defining for ALL classes! That's another change I'd make.
Ending The End of End-Arounds: It used to be, for example, that anyone casting
Traceless Passage would burn a (pine branch, was it?), making sweeping motions with it, then sprinkling the ashes over the tracks that he wanted to conceal... They were then covered, but a wary & perceptive player could note the ashes, make an assumption, and cast
Detect Magic. If it was within so long a time of the casting, the area would radiate magic, and the trackless prey could be pursued thataway! This "End-Around" was ended, in 3e. Now there is no way to track a Druid, even for a Ranger. Not good, IMHO. This is similar (it seems to me) to DR 15/-. I wouldn't generally allow it.
So, once sweating the small stuff was taken care of (the PCs are treated like heroes, again), each class had their role, each class was the best at SOMETHING, then what?
Well, to prevent the possible stupidities of Wizards without Spellcraft (who can't decipher scrolls without
Read Magic), etc., I would allow every PC Class to gain one Rank/Class Level in EVERY Class skill. Craft, Perform, and Profession, pick one. Knowledge, you get all the ones listed for your class. Hence, no more Rangers/Druids without Animal Handling. Note that this is IN ADDITION TO the skill points that they ordinarily get. These "regular skill points" can be used to max out a few skills/level, (and once maxed, they will STAY maxed), or spent on Cross-Class skills (like Knowledge (Local), for most classes).
This will make all characters (not just PCs) smarter, or at least more knowledgeable, more skillful, and better at what they do, more flexible, and help in not sweating the small stuff. EVERY Wizard will have at least one Rank in Spellcraft, and ALL the Knowledge skills! ALL Rangers, Druids, and Fighters will have at least one Rank in Animal Handling. If the Fighter or Ranger wants a Rank of Spellcraft, they will be able to spend two skill points to get it Cross-Classed. Their NPC opponents can do the same.
Next, Feats. All Class Levels which are empty of new special abilities should be filled with a pick from an individualized list for each Class. Druids, therefore, will get few. Monks will get none. Fighters will get nine more. Rangers will get none at low levels, more later on. Etc. New "Ranger-Only", "Druid-Only", "Barbarian-Only", "Cleric/Paladin-Only" Feats will need to be added, for this. As an example, the Monk's "Eagle Claw" Feat can be added, and chosen by (say) Barbarians, Druids, Monks, and Rangers, possibly Fighters. Pre-requisites would be a 13+ STR and Improved Unarmed Strike. The feat would allow 1D6 slashing damage barehanded (or the Monk's normal unarmed damage, if higher). Barbarians would get barbaric feats, Druids get woodsy feats, Bards, Paladins, and Rangers get a mix, Sorcerers & Wizards get arcane Feats, Fighters combat feats, Clerics get divine feats (which should relate to their deity and/or domains), Rogues get Roguish/sneaky feats, and Monks just get a list of new feats to spend their seven upon...
After that, I'd set some other "1e to 3.5e Translation Errors" aright... Cloaks & Boots of Elvenkind, for instance... In 1e (and LotR, which obviously inspired them), these gave you the
Camouflage ability, when moving slowly, and allowed, at the worst, a 95% chance of remaining unseen/unheard. I would treat this as a constant-use first-level spell (much like
Truestrike) which treats a roll of 1-10 on D20 as a 19, and rolls of 11-20 as a 20 on the
Hide or
Move Silently checks. (I would also throw in two uses/day of
Protection from the Elements, so that the wearers would always be comfortable, even when coming down out of the high mountains into the jungles (but that's just me)!
What else would I change? I'd have to think about that...
