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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4846619" data-attributes="member: 58197">Let's see.I would use 4E as the basic template, but be a lot stricter about making the "fluff" and "crunch" (I hate those terms, but whatever) line up. Every power should have a clear "fluff hook" so a player can grasp, without thinking about the mechanics, what it's doing. If unique fluff cannot be devised that lines up neatly with the crunch, the crunch must change.(Oddly, this would probably have the least impact on martial classes - aside from a couple of outliers like Come and Get It, most martial powers are quite clean and clear. The arcane classes would take a bit of work. The primal and especially divine classes would get a massive overhaul.)I would also beef up the stunt system and work it into the core of the game. Right now, stunts are confined to the legendary Page 42 of the DMG. They should be in the Player's Handbook. The system should be open-ended but with clear guidelines. Furthermore, PCs get X number of stunt points per day, to encourage them to think about and attempt stunts. Try a stunt, spend a stunt point. You can try a stunt without spending stunt points, but you get a -5 penalty on the d20 roll when you do.To limit the impact on player headspace, remove daily powers and replace them with the aforementioned stunt system. Give out a small number of "stunt powers" that can be used in place of free-form stunts. All stunt powers with non-combat utility must have a penalty for failure, so you can't just suck up the -5 and try them repeatedly until they work. (Another solution would be a rule that you can't use the no-stunt-point option with stunt powers, but that's the sort of "gotcha" rule I'd prefer to avoid.)Divvy up powers by tier instead of level: Heroic powers, Paragon powers, and Epic powers. Each time you get a new power, you can choose any power appropriate to your tier. This would reduce the need for a zillion copies of the same power with slightly higher numbers. (See below for how damage will scale with level.)Scrap +X items... or at least get rid of the system that applies the +X to every single attack and damage roll and every defense; if we must have +X, confine it to giving bonus dice on crits, or increasing the likelihood of a crit. Instead of magic item daily powers, have magic item stunt powers, which you activate by spending your own stunt points. This allows us to junk the current system for magic item dailies, which is ridiculously convoluted.Change the way ability scores influence things like attack rolls and skill modifiers. Instead of having the modifier apply to every roll, limit it to use with stunts and possibly skills. For basic attacks and defenses, your bonus should be strictly a function of level and class/proficiency. It's easier for players to understand and it simplifies the design math something fierce.On a similar note, have damage scale directly as a function of level. You get a "level bonus" to all your damage rolls. (For AoE attacks, you get half of your level bonus or so.)Build up the skill challenge system. Revamp it to be better balanced and more robust.Tweak some of the terminology to be more intuitive. For instance, replace "healing surge" with "heroic surge."(More in a bit...)</blockquote>

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