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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gez" data-source="post: 414781" data-attributes="member: 1328">I would not change the AC system. I don't want armor=damage reduction; each time I saw one it was either overcomplicated (lots of crosschecking tables, "so you hit with a dagger... that's piercing, small... he got a chainmail... you attacked his left arm, so that's a beheading -- no, wrong line, you deal 75% of your rolled damage instead."), inane (like a guy in full plate being immune to everything, including point-blank shot from firearms), or both.I would not reduce the core classes to fighter, wizard, cleric and rogue. I'm rather the kind of guy who would have had the extra core classes from the PsiH and OA into the PHB. You need a balance between customization (fun for player developing their PCs) and standardization (less time-consuming for DMs creating NPCs). Having several "fixed classes" (like paladin) and several customisable ones (like fighter) allow precisely that.I would not remove vancian magic. You may not like it, but that's not any sillier than any other magic system. Instead, I think the sorcerer/wizard alternative is excellent, you get a vancian class and a non-vancian ones. That's also in part why I talked about integrating the OA classes like the Shugenja, so as to have non-vancian clerics or druids. But I would have given (nearly) twice as much spell knowns for sorcerers (and bards). As is, the sorcerer is either a (bland and boring IMHO) bipedal machine-gun or a weirdo useful for the party every 36th days of the month. (Actually, were I to drastically change the magic system, I would have adapted the Ars Magica one, which already allowed formal casting and improvised casting.) Last thing on the magic issues, cantrips got the shaft. I find it ridiculous a level 20 wizard is only capable of casting 4 in a day. I house-ruled that, like the psion and psy-warrior getting free talent manifestation equal to their level + something, other spellcasting classes (save the like of ranger and paladin) get a number of bonus 0-level spell equal to their caster level. But cantrips still get ignored in new material (spellpools in T&B or MaoF, automatic metamagic feats in ELH... Don't that strike you as funny that an epic wizard can cast a meteor swarm in a moment's thought, without speaking nor moving, but need a standard action, gesture, and incantation for inscribing his arcane mark to sign a letter ?). Cantrips got the shaft !I would not get rid of alignment. It's D&D. If you don't want alignment, play Rolemaster. Or Dragon Knight. However, a nice, comprehensive, easy-to-grasp explanation of the alignments, and what they really mean, possibly with a "beyond the curtain" to explain their reason of existence and how to remove them if they're not wanted would have been nice. Yes, I know they're a bit detailed in the PH. But badly. Despite their PH and MM alignment, for example, dwarves are too frequently depicted as CN (battleragers without consideration toward social conventions, tactics or even obedience) with evil tendancies (a certain love of carnage is, IMO, evil) and elves are too frequently depicted as LN (centralised empire, ancestral tradition unchanged since time so old the elves themselves didn't existed, strong community mindset) with evil tendancies (rampant racism is evil IMO). Part of the blame for this comes from 2e, however...Other than allowing the sorcerer to get flavor spells and utility spells, something else that I would want to change is the ranger. Replacing favored enemies with favored terrains, and giving him some actual archery feats rather than hardwired virtual ambi-twf. And I would change some things about druidic weapons and the pointless "spiritual oath". I want foresters with bows and spears, no dual-scimitars ! Finally, remove the useless multiclass restriction for mons and paladins; modify the expert, aristocrat and adept NPC classes, and remove the warrior and commoner ones. Power should be the province of levels rather than of class. (Instead of a 8th-level warrior, a 5th-level fighter, rather than a 1st-level commoner, an apprentice-level expert. I'm not saying a noncombatant class like expert should be balanced for adventure, note; just that it should get some boosts so that it could be skilled at its specialty without having also tons of HD and impressive BAB and saves.)</blockquote>

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