Less fighting, more talking..

[Raven Swords]

I was wondering if anyone had come up with some firm ideas/rules for tying the game mechanics more strongly to the role-playing side of the game?

Something like the social combat rules in exalted, although skill challenges do a good job in some ways (ok after some house rules) there is nothing in the class descriptions to support it (it should have been in the PHB!).

Anyway, I was vaguely thinking about 2nd ed style kits which add non-combat abilities only (I don't want to reduce combat powers as it screws with the balance of the game) and detail backgrounds / organisations etc.

 

[Ferdil]

This way, it's much better. Before, there was a lot of stats that were only flavour and background. I see many friends of mine that played 3.5 that think the background and roleplaying as some kind of stat. Now the stats are stats and the background is the background. As well the rules are the rules and the roleplaying is the roleplaying. IMO the roleplaying shouldn't be in the rules in any way because that's what YOU create and it's not the book that does the RP for you. This way, you're not limited in any way to roleplaying. If you want, you can also not roleplay (even if it would be a quite plain experience), or roleplay so much that you're able to suspend disbelief for hours. The rules are there to manage things that have randomness. D&D is just an evolution of the games children do: «i'm a troll, you're the paladin», or «i'm batman, you're hulk». Just now you can see who wins with the rules, instead of saying «I hit you» «But I dodge you» «but i'm faster than you» «no i'm faster» «no I am» etcetera. If there is no chance to fail or to determine something related to something that can fail the rules should not even exist. There's still your imagination, isn't it?

 

[Raven Swords]

Thank you for that constructive comment Ferdil