[NABAIS] Commonly shared gripes about D&D

[Ilen]

Skill lists!

I think less of the skills need to be cross class period, I can understand some of the restrictions but I wouldn't even shed a tear of cross class was dropped all together. It's bad enough that my fighter has a crappy amount of skill points, to rub it in I have to take say a knowledge skill as cross class, simply adding insult to injury.

It’s just wrong, heaven forbid I want a fighter who has Knowledge (Martial Honor) (far fetched huh? ), or maybe I want him to be able to cook? Nope, cross class again. I know maybe he is really good at gambling? Nope.

It’s not just limited to Fighters. Personally I think they should have done what it appears they did in reverse when creating the skill lists. Instead of looking and saying, “What should they have?” they should have said, “What shouldn’t they possibly have?”

[/Rant]

 

[Bonedagger]

I find it hard to explain how it is just as easy to learn a new language (Read & write) as it is to improve your average (For you) jumping distance with 1 foot if you're a Bard.

Maybe I'm the only one who finds this fact irritating.

 

[rounser]

Bonedagger: Perhaps thinking of an olympics long-jumper will help. Perhaps they practice for a length of time equivalent to that needed in order to learn a new language to get another foot of length over their best...

 

[Limper]

How is the Sorcerer nesessary?

Templates! Another neat idea.... who rates these things anyway?

Prestige Classes! How long did it take to represent BASIC, TRADITIONAL archetypes?

AC got gimped!

Goblin Adventures! Do we need any more? Ever?

Errata!!!!!!

Iconic Characters!

What is up with those leather pants on the sorcerer? HOW do you walk in those?

I will gripe about more! Thank you for this topic.... its very thereputic.

 

[LostSoul]

An overly complicated minatures-based combat system without any alternative system.

Why this doesn't matter: it is still a good system, and fun to play!

Classes grouping abilities together.

Why this doesn't matter: classes aren't that restrictive, and you can tweak them to fit your needs if they don't fulfill your anal retentive desires.

Lack of skill points for "background" skills.

Why this doesn't matter: who needs background in D&D? Really, you've got skill points to spend on background skills, you're just making a choice.

The magic system.

Why this doesn't matter: lots of people dig it, it's been playtested and it works.

 

[Limper]

<Limper approaches LostSoul with a rolled up newspaper>

"Bad LostSoul.... bad, bad, bad.... the thread starter said no arguing just griping."


Shhheeesh.

 

[JESawyer]

* Linear scaling produces wide gaps in potential minimums and maximums for skill ranks, saving throws, and similar statistics at high levels. As a CRPG designer, it makes it difficult for me to engineer encounters with "reasonable" DCs for a virtually unlimited array of characters at N level. At high levels, the die roll becomes less and less significant; the bonus dominates the outcome. Some people view this as a good thing, but it often scares me. I dislike designing encounters where a specialist will be find any task trivial and any non-specialist may find the same task impossible. It's great for a PnP DM who doesn't use modules and knows every detail about his or her PCs, but...

Why it doesn't matter: I normally don't play or run in high-level campaigns.

* Armor class still represents not getting hit rather than absorbing damage. I have always liked a trade-off between wearing armor to absorb damage and NOT wearing armor to avoid being hit. I know 3E kinda-sorta makes a trade off through the use of armor types forcing a max dex bonus to AC restriction, but it still seems rather archaic and unnecessary.

Why it doesn't matter: At least it's familiar.

* Charisma is still a junk stat for many characters, and many characters can "get away" with min-maxing on one or two stats. Though most people probably wouldn't agree, I would rather see wisdom fly away, replace it with perception, and put willpower-related stuff on charisma with general wisdom carried by intelligence. If d20 were actually d100, I would rather have two stats be the basis for a skill -- or occasionally the same stat twice. That might make "junk stats" less exploitable.

Why it doesn't matter: I roleplay and don't min-max much. What other people do is their business.

* It's not so much a problem with D&D as magic systems in general. Typically, you have spells that become noticeably more powerful as you rise in level vs. spells that cause an absolute state to come into existence. E.g. Magic Missile grants additional missiles as you rise in level. Hypnotism doesn't scale at all; either it works or it doen't, and your level doesn't play into the equation. It would be nice if spells either all increased in usefulness or none of them increased in usefulness. A tall order, I guess.

Why it doesn't matter: It's not like there's a clear and obvious solution to the problem.

* I think Prestige Classes cause a lot of balance problems, and I don't think I need to explain why. Just the same ol' arguments -- additional "plug" bonuses at 1st level in multiple classes + ignoring multiclassing XP penalties + general combination exploits = a lot of potential trouble. Also, I've never had a very good feeling for what, EXACTLY, a prestige class is -- organizational or occupational.

Why it doesn't matter: Do I use prestige classes in my game? Rarely, and I've never had one of my characters strive for a prestige class.

* Class front loading -- BLAH, BLAH, SAME THING YOU'VE HEARD A THOUSAND TIMES.

* Ranger class -- BLAH X10

 

[Frosty]

I can add some:

Toad
Skill Focus
Ranger
Toughness
Teleport

 

[Bonedagger]

Bonedagger: Perhaps thinking of an olympics long-jumper will help. Perhaps they practice for a length of time equivalent to that needed in order to learn a new language to get another foot of length over their best...

Well. It might not be the best example in the extremes.

It's just that with 16 Int a Bard can start with 28 skillpoints... And it's one skillpoint per language!... Languages got the shaft

Edit: Yes.. I know it's fantasy. And that languages are not that important in the balance. It just bothers me.

Ups.. No arguing

 

[Shimrod]

The number of classes bug me the most. Why create a flexible multiclassing and customizing system (feats) and still make all those unnescessary classes.
Barbarian = Fighter (add some feats)
Bard = Rogue/Wizard
Cleric = Ok
Druid = Cleric with nature-deity
Fighter = Ok
Monk = Fighter (add some feats)
Paladin = Fighter/Cleric
Ranger = Fighter/Cleric (nature-diety)
Rogue = Ok
Sorcerer = Wizard (add some feats)
Wizard = Ok
Psionisist and Psion = Don´t get me started on that crap


So just get rid of front-loading, add some good feats (no more special abilities, just feats and prereqs) and we should have all we need with just Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard.

Also I really resent there is no conversion for the metric system. A lot of peeps in the world do not relate to feet and pounds. For some reason I don´t understand Star Wars was done in metrics, so I used that conversion, but Not everyone has both books.