Sacred Cows You Hope Die?

[Li Shenron]

I don't know if so many players simply want to play "Dungeons & Dragons" no matter what rules, but it sometimes surprises me..seems the roleplaying community goes for "brand name popularity" even more than I thought.

It might be worse... maybe some just have a favourite rule system and want D&D to switch to it so that the most popular RPG is conquered, and then everybody is effectively playing their other game. Like "D&D sucks, let's turn it into Runequest, but let's still call it D&D so that everyone buys it but is playing Runequest in disguise".

 

[pawsplay]

For the love of pete, can we finally stop saying AC and start saying Defense?

 

[Aus_Snow]

Not having a go but... if you want a classless game with completely different combat, health and magic systems, 'not perfect' doesn't quite seem to cover it!

Perhaps I should've put things a little less broadly in the first place.

I meant that I prefer that all those things change radically, to the extent that they no longer exist in their traditional forms. Not just disappear, period. [--- F'rex, I would've strongly preferred 3 base classes only, with talent trees, feats and skills to allow any character you like. But I wasn't seriously expecting it of 4e. ---]

I hope that clears that one up.

I play and (very rarely) run other games, so I'm reasonably familiar with different approaches to game design and such. However, d20 draws me back to it, time and again. It's fundamentally good, IMO. I just have a liking for particular implementations and variants.

 

[MightyTev]

Random rolling of attributes. I've always hated this one, almost as much as random hitpoints. *snip*

I absolutely HATE random rolling of attributes. I always find it interesting how often people roll 18s under this system.

 

[Wormwood]

* Rolling for player resources (attributes, hit points)
* Memorizing Spells
* Arcane/Divine schism
* Spell effects that do not scale
* Character death
* Hit Dice for monsters
* Alignment as game mechanic
* Save or Die
* Rolling more than 6 dice. Ever.
* Numbers standing for numbers (attribute scores which are meaningless in actual play)

Sacred Cows introduced in 3e that I want to die:

* Iterative attacks
* Confirming crits
* Comprehensive monster stat blocks
* Mechanical PrC requirements
* Feat chains
* The 'sweet spot' (the whole freakin' game should be in the 'sweet spot')
* LA/ECL
* pre-PHB2 Wild Shape and Polymorph
* Stat+ magic items as standard, boring equipment
* Cohorts and animal companions (let's all sit around while this jerk takes *two* turns)

 

[Andor]

d4 Hitpoints for wizards.

Especially if they are doing the Saga 3X HP at first level you'd have to be a fool to take your first level in Wizard if they stick with the d4. That 1st level dip into Fighter would pay for itself in spades.

 

[Baby Samurai]

Armor Class - Defense ratings per class based on level. The warrior guy wearing a loincloth should always be a valid character.

I think AC will scale with level in 4th edition, like BAB (finally).

 

[Baby Samurai]

I absolutely HATE random rolling of attributes. I always find it interesting how often people roll 18s under this system.

Yeah, exactly, every time people "roll" for ability scores, they seem to conveniently have nothing under a 14.

"Hey, check it out; I rolled these!"


…Yeah, sure ya did…

 

[Thurbane]

We rolled up a new party last session...

Using 4d6 six times, and getting to reroll any one dice, I got 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 18 - the 18 being my one reroll. My flatmate wasn't so lucky, his highest score is a 15. I was the only one of four who managed to get an 18.

 

[Baby Samurai]

We rolled up a new party last session...

Using 4d6 six times, and getting to reroll any one dice, I got 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 18 - the 18 being my one reroll. My flatmate wasn't so lucky, his highest score is a 15. I was the only one of four who managed to get an 18.

Right on, you have just illustrated why random ability score generation sucks massive amounts of donkey – one lucky guy has an 18, and the other chump's best score is a 15…lame.