D&D 3E/3.5 Rebuilding 3e (3.75 if you will) - My Rendition, a work in progress


log in or register to remove this ad

Spells

1. Polymorph lets you assume one form. You gain the abilities of the new form and lose the abilities of the old form. There needs to be a better way to decide which forms are allowed.
2. Glitterdust blinds your enemies for one round. The glitter effect lasts normally.
 
Last edited:

Prestige Classes

1. Just like with 2nd edition kits, prestige classes should only be allowed with the DM's approval. There are no prerequisites, but the DM should determine what is necessary to become a member of a prestige class.

placeholder
 

Monsters

1. Monster types reduced to a more manageable number. We could probably get along fine with simple types such as natural, magical, and supernatural. Natural creatures have no innate magic and finite lifespans. Magical creatures have innate magic but finite lifespans. Supernatural creatures have innate magic and infinite lifespans. The creature types can be differentiated using subtypes when necessary. Humans, elves, and bears, for instance, would be natural creatures. Dragons, mind flayers, and lycanthropes would be magical creatures. The undead, demons, and elementals would be supernatural creatures.
[sblock=For those desiring a more thorough examination of this idea...]
Natural Type: A natural creature has no innate magic to it, though it may still be spectacular in other regards. Creatures of this type have no spell-like or supernatural abilities, save for those granted by any character class they may have.
Features: A natural creature has the following features.
-d8 Hit Dice, or by character class.
-Base attack bonus equal to 1/2 total Hit Dice (as wizard), or by character class.
-One good saving throw (varies), or by character class.
-Skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die, or by character class.
Traits: A natural creature possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in the creature's entry).
-Proficient with all simple weapons, or by character class.
-Proficient with whatever type of armor it is described as wearing, or by character class. If a natural creature does not have a class and wears armor, it is proficient with that type of armor and all lighter types. Natural creatures not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Natural creatures are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any type of armor.
-Natural creatures breathe, eat, and sleep.

Magical Type: Magical creatures are often similar to natural creatures, but they possess some innate spell-like and/or supernatural abilities and possibly spellcasting.
Features: A magical creature has the following features.
-d10 Hit Dice.
-Base attack bonus equal to 3/4 total Hit Dice (as cleric).
-Two good saving throws (varies).
-Skill points equal to (4 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die, or by character class.
Traits: A magical creature possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in the creature's entry).
-Proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
-Proficient with whatever type of armor it is described as wearing. If a magical creature does not have a class and wears armor, it is proficient with that type of armor and all lighter types. Magical creatures not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Magical creatures are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any type of armor.
-Magical creatures breathe, eat, and sleep, unless otherwise indicated.

Supernatural Type: Supernatural creatures possess innate magical abilities like magical creatures, however, unlike magical creatures, they live indefinitely unless slain or destroyed.
Features: A supernatural creature has the following features.
-d12 Hit Dice.
-Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter).
-Good Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves.
-Skill points equal to (6 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die, or by character class.
Traits: A supernatural possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in the creature's entry).
-Proficient with all simple weapons and martial weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
-Proficient with whatever type of armor it is described as wearing. If a supernatural creature does not have a class and wears armor, it is proficient with that type of armor and all lighter types. Supernatural creatures not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Supernatural creatures are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any type of armor.
-Supernatural creatures rarely need to eat or sleep, but some need to breathe.

Example creatures from the Monster Manual
Natural: animals, centaur, dwarf, ettin, hill giant, griffon, oozes, orc, roc, vermin
Magical: aboleth, aranea, dragons, hydra, storm giant, golems, sprites, unicorn
Supernatural: angels, demons, devils, elementals, ghouls, mephits, shadows, zombies[/sblock]
 
Last edited:

Some thoughts on the Spiked Chain;

I'm willing to suspend disbelief so far as to play in a game world with multi-tonned flying lizards that can breath cones of cold, but the Spiked Chain has always bugged me. :)

I'd cut it down to the non-Spiked Chain, aka the Chain.

The 'typical' Chain would have a weight on one end, that does 1d6 Bludgeoning damage, and a hook on the other, which does 1d4 Piercing and gives a +2 to Trip and Disarm attempts. It's pretty awesome, and a Chain of Medium size can be used as a Double Weapon at normal range, or a single weapon with 10 ft. Reach (it's just not long enough to be used as a Double Weapon *and* a Reach Weapon in the same round). In any event, it only threatens a 5 ft. area around the user, even if it is currently being used as a Reach weapon.

[Optional: Unlike a Reach polearm or longspear, the Chain would require at least 5 ft. of clearance around the user to be used as a Reach weapon.]

[Optional: Learning to use the Chain as a Double Weapon requires another feat, on top of the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat.]

A Small sized characters Chain weapon does 1d4 B or 1d3 P and can't be used as a Reach Weapon in any event, it's just not big enough.

Either end of a Chain could be replaced with a weighted blade of some sort, and a blade replacing the weighted end would do 1d4 Slashing damage (as it lacks the same sort of support that a hand-held blade has when it is striking a target, and thus lacks the same force that a blunt weight is able to carry into the target). A blade replacing the smaller hooked end would do 1d4 Slashing as well, but lack the +2 bonus to Trip or Disarm.

Either end of the Chain could also be swapped out for the same attachment at the other end, making the weighted Chain have two ends that inflict 1d6 B or the more specialized 'Master's Chain*' have two ends that inflict 1d4 P and have +2 to Disarm / Trip attempts.

*Named after a warrior who removed the heavier weight, claiming that he'd rather 'master the battlefield' by keeping his enemies off-balance and stripped of their weapons than bludgeon them to submission with the 'graceless' heavier damaging weighted ends.

The Chain, regardless of attachments, would remain an Exotic Weapon, since it would still be an amazingly versatile choice.
 

Some sugestions

* Multiclass Characters
Yeah, some class features must be taken at a slower rate.

* Skills
Next version of D&D will use the SaGa system with a much less number of skills.

* Monk
I think it must be more like a Fighter variant.

* Bard
They should have a Shugenja like spellcasting, Shugenjas(complete Divine) can choose Elements, each element gives them some spells (the equivalent of the spells known table).

* Vancian Magic
All the Vancian Magic must become feats/skills.Easier to manage.

* Fighter
Minions are easy by rewriting Leadership feat, also by turning some of his Bonus Feats slots into Fighter-Only-powers and giving him at least 5 of those Fighter only powers can make him a better warrior.One more tought take stuff from other fighter like classes and give it to the Fighter.

* Magic Item Creation
Eberron makes it even easier, but one idea from there can make it even harder to make , give some Craft Points at each level of adventure, to make an item you need to pay it with those Craft Points.So DM can control how faster Pcs can make a Power Glove of Doom

* The Christmas Tree Effect
Rewriting all the spells seems to be a very hard job.I would just rewrite the spellcasting entries of the classes by adding something like "normal effect of spells are... ,to get the full duration/damage of the spells as listed in the manual you need to do this ..." by adding conditions you can control better the use of metamagic, spellcasting time,bonus feats,etc.And also it gives you much less work at rewriting spells.

* Spiked Chain
I would just add a % of failing with the spiked chain at 10 ft.Something like "treat the attack to an enemy at 10ft, like an arcane spell (thus you must calculate your armor as spellcasting failure) " or even more damaging: "to attack an enemy at 10 ft, roll your attack roll, and if it pass, roll 1d6, a 1 or a 6 are misses, any other result means a hit.In case you get a critical hit on your attack roll, you don't need to throw the d6"


*Polymorph
Must be reworked by taking off some of the things given and turning those as feats, so PCs that really want to use some of that abilities have to spend some feats.
 
Last edited:

Set, I really like your idea for the spiked chain. I think adapting it a little bit for simplicity would make an excellent fix. Here's a summary.
a) The chain can be used as either a double weapon or a reach weapon, but not both. The character must indicate which at the beginning of his turn. Either way, the chain only threatens within 5 ft.
b) The "default" chain has a bludgeoning (flail) end and a piercing (hook) end, both of which deal 1d6 damage. The bludgeoning end grants +2 to disarm, and the piercing end grants +2 to trip.
c) Variant chains exist, such as those with a 1d6 slashing (barbed) end that has a 19-20 threat range.

Angel Black, I've thought about using Leadership as a basis for the fighter's minions. I am thinking perhaps all fighters get followers (and only followers), as per Leadership, but only using their fighter level for their Leadership score.
 

airwalkrr said:
Set, I really like your idea for the spiked chain. I think adapting it a little bit for simplicity would make an excellent fix. Here's a summary.
a) The chain can be used as either a double weapon or a reach weapon, but not both. The character must indicate which at the beginning of his turn. Either way, the chain only threatens within 5 ft.
b) The "default" chain has a bludgeoning (flail) end and a piercing (hook) end, both of which deal 1d6 damage. The bludgeoning end grants +2 to disarm, and the piercing end grants +2 to trip.
c) Variant chains exist, such as those with a 1d6 slashing (barbed) end that has a 19-20 threat range.

Makes sense, I way overcomplicate things. :)

For skills, I like the M&M condensing;

Listen + Spot = Notice
Hide + Move Silently = Stealth
Balance + Tumble = Acrobatics
Open Lock + Disable Device = Disable Device
 
Last edited:

A thought:

You said that power attacking benefits two-handed fighting too much. From my experience, that's because most weapons that involve power over finesse simply work considerably better when wielded with two hands, thus the Str bonus. Power attacking with a rapier? Simply doesn't work. I know it won't matter much, but it should be mentioned.

Good luck with this.
 

Oh, and another thought:

The way I handle death is that people who hit zero go into shock. At this point, those who hit you aren't hitting a person, they're hitting a (mostly) inanimate object. First aid is better at fixing this than low-level magic, making it useful. Characters bleed out; those that don't can suffer brain damage. My system isn't good enough yet for me to pass it along, but I thought I'd share. And yes, I put in defibrilate as a spell.
 

Remove ads

Top