Things that have bugged you since 1E

[Rasmus]

I think, what bothers me most is that D&D is first and foremost designed with game balance in mind, not flavor and/or realism.

IMHO another main problem is that the designers have never had the guts, or the permission, to remove all the outdated or ludicrous design flaws (HP, AC, magic system, Alignment, class etc.), because they believe they are the heart of D&D. Bollocks says I!

I play D&D for the vast amount of monsters (beholders!!), campaign material, great product support, the huge community and its inherent mythology.

A few things though, which haven't been mentioned, which I find really anoying are:

Spells which in effect are extremely powerful and creating vast problems in connection to creating a believeable fantasy world, are simple matters. Fx. Invisibility or fly. The power to do either is incredible, but they are easy in D&D, and create serious problems when it comes to tactical/defensive strategies, fortress constrution etc.
Teleporting is also trivial at a relatively low level. IMO it is a world devastating ability, along with the relatively easy access to ressurrection.

It all adds to a great many ??? when you look at the logic of a world.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Moral of the story? If your elves are regal city-dwelling folk, make them tall if you like. If they are stealthy woodland creatures, please, keep them small.

Well, I think I'll make 'em as tall as I want, but your suggestion is noted.

Tolkien described his elves as tall, but I doubt that he meant for any but the greatest of them, particularly the Noldor, to be seven feet or more tall. My own impression of it is that the Wood Elves, the least powerful and noble of Tolkien's elves, were tall, but not inhumanly so. Maybe 5'10" to 6'2" or so. Again, just my own opinion.

 

[d4]

A character is just as likely to be hit while carrying a sword as you are when unarmed. There doesn't seem to be a decent system for using weapon parrying as defense, and makes every character dependent on his suit of magic armor (or mithril chain).

that's what the (Combat) Expertise feat is for. you can use a portion of your offensive attacking ability to bolster your defense.

 

[FungiMuncher]

wizard (aka mages) and specialist wizards . . .

(snip...)

i just want specialists to be 'special'. not just 'generalists +1 spell/lvl'

Preach it, Brother! For me, this is the SINGLE most annoying thing about D&D.

Oh! So EVERYONE is completely happy with the way there is no appreciable difference in spell casting ability or anything else at all (!) between regular wizards and specialists!

then i must be wrong if everyone else likes it . . .


(goes home to pout...)

I'm just a little slow on the up-take...



FM

 

[Amrynn Moonshadow]

seriously . . . why *ever* bother playing a general wizard when you can basically be the same as one (at least pre3.5, i haven't checked the new one that much) *and* have one extra spell / level?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

IMHO another main problem is that the designers have never had the guts, or the permission, to remove all the outdated or ludicrous design flaws (HP, AC, magic system, Alignment, class etc.), because they believe they are the heart of D&D. Bollocks says I!

They are one of the things that make D&D different. The magic system is one of the quirky things that I love. Oh sure generic mana point systems are...well generic and can be found all over other games. IMO BD&D, AD&D, & 3.xe are not generic systems. They are designed to model the D&D type of world. Vancian magic, classes, alignments, etc. If they went to a spell point system in 4.0e, with no classes or levels, I'd consider that as much D&D as I would Fantasy Hero or GURPS Fantasy.