D&D General One innovation per edition

[Mannahnin]

And the total circulation of The Strategic Review in these parts at the time was, at my best guess, exactly zero.

Which means for us, the Ranger is a 1e invention.

By that argument the Ranger is a 2E invention if a given area didn't get circulation of 1E. Say the various European countries which didn't get D&D until BECMI was released there.

The Ranger was first published for OD&D.

 

[DammitVictor]

Sticking with 1e as the base ruleset...

I know I'm a "race-as-class" guy, but I'm not going that direction.

Classic:

• B/X: ???
• BECMI: Weapon Mastery.

Advanced:

• 2E: Specialist Mages (of Effect and Thaumaturgy) and Specialty Priests. Replace the generic Mage and Priest classes. Runner Up: Kits.
• Player's Option: Give the players a little wiggle room with customized races/classes.

d20:

• 3.0: Feats. Divide them into WP Feats and NWP Feats. Give Warriors more WP feats and Rogues more NWP Feats.
• 3.5: Ability score modifiers.
• Unearthed Arcana: Incantations. They're like Rituals from 4E and 5E, except with flavor.
• PF1: Psychic magic and the psychic magic classes, as an alternative to psionics.
• Pathfinder Unchained: Grouped Skills and Skill Unlocks. Rogue subclasses get bonus unlocks and unlocks are limited to class skills.
• Bonus: DSP psionics, 3.5 and PF1.
• Conan d20: Ability score increases. (Replacing the Christmas Tree.)

Modern:

• 4E: Bloodied condition.
• 5.14: Pretty much the whole spellcasting system, prepared/spontaneous/hybrid, augmented spells. At-will cantrips.
• 5.24: Backgrounds w/Feats.
• A5E: Racial Gifts and Paragon Gifts. Runner Up: Fighting Syles.

 

[Mannahnin]

Sticking with 1e as the base ruleset...

I know I'm a "race-as-class" guy, but I'm not going that direction.

Classic:

• B/X: ???

Not crediting it for the invention of race-as-class??

• 5.14: At-will cantrips.
• 5.24: Backgrounds w/Feats.

These are from 4E. 4E Backgrounds weren't didn't exactly give feats, but a wide variety of benefits, some of which were equivalent to feats.

 

[Moving Pictures]

3e: Ascending AC. While I have real issues with the implementation of the d20 system, mostly because it totally same-ified all mechanics in the game and rendered ability scores (as opposed to ability modifiers) largely irrelevant

One of the first things I did when I re-wrote my homebrew was to go with ascending AC. It never, ever made sense.

5e: I'm gonna go with the Dis/Advantage mechanic. There's a lot to love about 5e, but ditching endless charts of modifiers for a simple alternative is my desert island feature.

I'd agree. In fact, the "advantage" feature for surprise situations is probably the one mechanic I've pillaged from 5e.

 

[kigmatzomat]

As a forever DM here's my takes

BECMI - yay, rules for my toys!
AD&D 1e- rules for social interactions (honorable mention: splitting races & classes)
2e -organized rules(yay!) that edited out stuff like Appendix C "Random harlot"
3e - Rules that are universal (same for PCs, NPCs and monsters!) and patterned (good, moderate, poor) in intuitive ways (advancing BAB over descending ThAC0)
4e - Roles and mooks (honorable mention: rituals)
5e - Dis/Advantage (honorable mention: the caster debuff & and undoing the CRPG-ificaction of 4e)

 

[leozg]

Most innovative edition: 4e

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'm currently running an AD&D campaign but sneaking in some houserules inspired by later editions.
This got me thinking: If you had to pick just one rule innovation from each edition of D&D to add as a house rule to your current campaign (of any edition), then what would it be? What evolutions have stood the test of time?

For me:
1e - base rules for campaign
2e - incentives for single-class PCs (specialty priests, specialist wizards, weapon specialization for fighters...)
3e - feats, so that players have some leeway to customize their base class
4e - a warlord base class
5e - class/subclass structure

That looks like two options from 4e and none from 5e to me... And the "incentives for single class PCs" haven't really stood the test of time.

As I'm writing these, I realize that they are all on the player side. Frankly, I can't think of any major innovations in the rules that really transformed the game for me as a DM. Advantage/disadvantage is useful but doesn't quite meet the "gotta have it" threshold. 3e-style magic item creation is a mixed blessing and more for the players than the DM.

1e and 4e are the only ones with good innovations on the DM side.

1e:

• XP for GP gives you motivated PCs
• Procedurally generated dungeons that work (Dungeons are really good for cutting down what the GM needs to prepare)

4e:

• Complete monster statblocks so you don't need to look things up elsewhere and could just scan through the statblock once to use it
• A CR system that worked; designing an encounter could be as easy as going shopping at the table
• Monster roles (plus mooks and solos) to enable good tactical challenges fast; you could make a good tactical encounter at the table
• Skill challenges to enable new GMs to handle Insane PC Plans (something that is now more commonly done with clocks and the guidance for sucked)

 

[JohnSnow]

Cool concept for a thread, and while I'm going to try to obey the rules of "One innovation per edition," I'm going to try to sketch out what my idealized version of "D&D" would look like by pulling at most my two or three favorite things from each edition. Starting at the present and working my way backwards:

Shadowdark/DCC: Roll to cast.
D&D 5e: Advantage/Disadvantage, Heroic Inspiration (*see note)
One D&D: During the OG 5e Playtest, the game used "proficiency dice" instead of flat bonuses, which my group really dug. It's one of my favorite variant rules.
D&D 4e: Weapon Groups, Healing surges.
D&D 3e: d20 System (BAB >> THAC0 >> Tables), Skills, and Feats
AD&D 2e: Setting and feel, maybe kits.
AD&D 1e: Separating Class and Species
B/X D&D: The first version of Dungeons & Dragons I played.

*Note: I love swashbuckling games, where the players have a bit more narrative control, so "Action Points" (which were introduced in d20 Modern, and first joined D&D with Eberron) are a thing I can't do without.

My taste for the size of bonuses and hit points in my games is informed by B/X and AD&D. It's one of the things I like about Shadowdark.

The innovation I'd really like to see added to D&D is a formal "degrees of success" system. And I'd love to see the proficiencies all get turned into "Skills." It's an easier name.