If there was one thing about 3rdE that you could change, what would it be?
- Thread starter Theuderic
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DM with a vengence
First Post
I'd make a simpler action system. It's not that I don't understand it, it's just that the whole mess of Standard, Move Equivalent, Partial, and Full Round are really confusing to the average player.
Shard O'Glase
First Post
I'd throw a lot more thing sinto the skills mechanic. Combat, spells etc. I'd make certain feats the way you gained access to special skills, sort of like the force skills work in star wars.
I take force sensitive, i get access to 3 or 4 skills, and access to more advanced force feats, I take control I can now take the control skills. But in D&D it would be I take divine magic primer and I gain access to knowlege religion, spell craft, scrying, and knowlede religion, it also gives access to the feats spellcasting(cures) Which gives you access to the skills cure HP, cure disease, cure poison, remove cure etc.
As you put more ranks into eack skill you would learn more spells and spels would be mroe effective,(higher DC to resist, penetrate SR better etc.) You classes would give access to these feats at a certain rate , and you could take diversify with your standard feats. This would apply to fighting skills as well, the fighter might start with the feat, beat people to death up close, kill at a distance. These would give access to fairly broad skills like slashing weapons, blunt weapons etc. The more ranks the higher ACs you hit, and also special tricks would be learned. Improved disarm wouldn't be a feat anymore it would now be a trick you could pick up after you have 5 ranks in slashing weapons. There would be more advanced fighting feats that let give access to special skills that take you fighting to a supernatural level(also allowing you to combine tricks you learned unde blunt with slashing weapons) reducing the need for tons of items on all characters.
I take force sensitive, i get access to 3 or 4 skills, and access to more advanced force feats, I take control I can now take the control skills. But in D&D it would be I take divine magic primer and I gain access to knowlege religion, spell craft, scrying, and knowlede religion, it also gives access to the feats spellcasting(cures) Which gives you access to the skills cure HP, cure disease, cure poison, remove cure etc.
As you put more ranks into eack skill you would learn more spells and spels would be mroe effective,(higher DC to resist, penetrate SR better etc.) You classes would give access to these feats at a certain rate , and you could take diversify with your standard feats. This would apply to fighting skills as well, the fighter might start with the feat, beat people to death up close, kill at a distance. These would give access to fairly broad skills like slashing weapons, blunt weapons etc. The more ranks the higher ACs you hit, and also special tricks would be learned. Improved disarm wouldn't be a feat anymore it would now be a trick you could pick up after you have 5 ranks in slashing weapons. There would be more advanced fighting feats that let give access to special skills that take you fighting to a supernatural level(also allowing you to combine tricks you learned unde blunt with slashing weapons) reducing the need for tons of items on all characters.
Shard O'Glase
First Post
One more thing I haven't played mutants and masterminds yet, but thier damage save sounds like a cool idea. If that works as well as I hope switch away from HP to that.
1) Make the skill system more balanced. As it stands, some skills are very much superior to others. How many of your characters don't have skill in listen or spot? Also take out the crossclass skills. I think if a fighter had a teacher train him decipher script, he should be able to pick it up as easily as a rogue. However, the rogue has more time for such things, reflected in his more skill points.
2) Make the game rely less on magic items. At higher levels, its not so much who the player is its what he wears. I'd like to see more ways to increase a person's innate ablilites, similar to what the monk gets, then just more magic upon magic.
3) Some of the classes don't seem to measure up to others. For instance, I never see people go a lot of levels of ranger because there's just other things that are superior. And on the same token, stop making so many prestige classes and work on the overall game.
2) Make the game rely less on magic items. At higher levels, its not so much who the player is its what he wears. I'd like to see more ways to increase a person's innate ablilites, similar to what the monk gets, then just more magic upon magic.
3) Some of the classes don't seem to measure up to others. For instance, I never see people go a lot of levels of ranger because there's just other things that are superior. And on the same token, stop making so many prestige classes and work on the overall game.
Make the rules components modular, such that they can be ripped out without game balance or interdependency repercussions if they don't suit your play style. For example, AoO may be the best addition to the game yet for one group, and a gameslowing distraction for another. Very difficult to do though...
I'd also like to see the next edition explicitly designed to support fudging as the default way to play. Too much of 3E smacks of a need for significant preparation to select this and that and the other unless you ignore or contrive stats, such that we even have a need for computer-based NPC generators.
I'd also like to see the next edition explicitly designed to support fudging as the default way to play. Too much of 3E smacks of a need for significant preparation to select this and that and the other unless you ignore or contrive stats, such that we even have a need for computer-based NPC generators.
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I guess the only thing I'd change would be drop the number of PC classes from 11 to 4: the cleric, the fighter, the rogue, and the wizard. Then maybe give them all bonus feats. After that, I'd prolly make all the Class Features into feats, and let the characters choose what path they wanted to follow. Certain class features would have prerequisites of course.
