Things that have bugged you since 1E

[diaglo]

D&D is a living game in the sense that it evolves and, hopefully, improves....What small things about D&D have bugged you for a long time and never seem to get fixed?

that it has to happen so fast. i feel like the industry rushes things out or changes.

i want D&D to age like a Redwood or change like a mountain. over great amounts of time.


young whippersnappers.

 

[Sanackranib]

Orcs being as big as humans yet half orcs being the same height as half elves

 

[Sanackranib]

the Halbard not being considered a reach weapon

 

[jasper]

750+ Years old people who don't sleep but before 3E did not advance pass a certain level.
Now 750 + years old elves who don't sleep but "trance" which is mostly like sleep but if you a spell caster you now need 4 hrs trance and 4 hrs bed rest.
a lucern hammer which was not a hammer or blunt weapon.
NPC classes or now prestige classes who power is over and above normal or a munckins dream.
too many elf variety.
katanas being more powerful than a bastard sword.

 

[Desdichado]

The first set of examples listed is all a single species, Canis lupus (subspecies domesticus in the case of all of the domestic dog breeds).

Well, that depends on who you talk to. Lots of folks still use Canis familiaris and Canis lupus. But that's more of a nit-pick, your point is still mostly valid.

The second set of examples are all different species: Felis catus for the domestic cat, Acynonx jubatus for the cheetah, & Panthera leo (in some classifications Felis leo) for the lion; I don't know the specific epithet for sabertooths.

Depends on which sabertooth specifically you're talking about, but the most commonly referred to species is Smilodon fatalis. That's clearly a very different scenario than the canine set; none of those animals are anywhere as closely related as various breeds of dogs, or even dogs vs wolves. Which is, of course, also your point.

So... the first set would be very much like all of the different elves -- one species, wildly differing looks & 'stats'. The second set would be closer to humans vs. elves vs. halflings, etc. -- all 'humanoid' (would elves say 'feyoid'?), but different species. As for the necessity of the different races, that's entirely up to the DM really. I do think it would've made more sense for something other than elves to be the multi-race species, though; I know they've been around forever, but evolution has to work pretty danged slow on a species where a single generation can be hundreds of years long (I know, magical influences on evolution, etc.).

I don't know how much evolution and genetics really makes much sense in this kind of discussion anyway. When you can have half-dragons and half-fiends, and half-elementals for Pete's sake, any rational, scientific logic quickly breaks down.

 

[PowerWordDumb]

It's been said before, but I hate subraces too.

Give me one clean & clear description of each race, and then allow me to customize by applying templates, so that I could make a "Tough" human, or a "wild" elf just as easily as a "wild" human or "tough" elf.

Build things like subterranean abilities into a *gasp* "subterranean" template, etc etc etc. Apply level adjustments if necessary for particularly powerful templates, though it would be nice if the templates imposed balance within themselves without resorting to LA iron-fistedness.

 

[Breakstone]

Munchkins.

They've never supplied rules for playing as them!


...

Okay, I'm joking.

Let's see, what has bugged me...

Ah, yes. The cleric's role being defined as the "group healer."

I know, quite basically, that's what they are. But it still bugs me, because it makes the class less desirable.

 

[Scarbonac]

Me three! I thougt I was the only one

Maybe we can start a new club

BASE

Bothered About Shrimpy Elves

I am very interested in your fascinating organization, and would like to read some of your literature. Are there dues? Do we rent out the local Knights Of Columbus or Oddfellows hall for the meetings? Do we discuss methods of retrofitting our current elves with additional height?


Do we get funny hats? I insist on funny hats!

Originally posted byTsyr

A poodle, a chihuahua, a german shepard, a pit bull, a bull dog, a beagle, and a wolf

...walk into a bar...



Yeah, I see also elves as adapted to their environments, either through a mechanism inherent in their ''elfyness'' or granted by divine favor back in the dim misty depths of time; it's either the ''sub-breeds of a specific species'' thing as with dogs, or the group of closely-related species as with cats.


I love how Elfquest depicts this concept, with all of the different tribes of elves throughout Abode. People who try to claim that it's impossible because ''Evolution blahblahblah blahblah blahblah doesn't work like that'' get right up my nose. Who cares? It's a frelling game, Spanky!


Even worse are the ones who whinge on about how elves are the only ones like that; Good God, there are 4-5 dwarven subraces, three halflings, 2-3 gnomes and three human subraces (Human, half-elf and half-orc...maybe half-ogre, too ). What more do you want?


This of course excludes FR; the FR elves are just the standard subraces with aesthetic changes.


You could make a case for the goblinoids all being subraces of the same species or a cluster of related species like elves (goblin, hobgoblin, orc, orog, bugbear-huh? What? Yeah, regardless of what the 3e propagandists want us to believe, orcs have always been goblinoids, occupying the niche between the goblin and hobgoblin. They didn't suddenly change into something else- but I digress...), so that when someone wants to play a ''different'' orc or half-orc, point 'em there.


Everyone has subraces; fact of life in Vanilla DnD.

Don't like it? Change it in your campaign, then; that doesn't make your campaign in any way superior to mine, Tsyr's, Doc Moriarity's, BiggusGeekus's, Kai Lord's, PowerWordDumb's or Savage Wombat's (to pull names out of the air).


Deal with it.


PowerWordDumb: I'm not really certain how the template concept is all that different from the subraces idea. (It sounds interesting, though.



Clerics; clerics as a class have always bugged me (IRL I'm an agnostic-who-was-an-athiest-who-was-a-good-little-churchgoer);why not have a non-religious healer (Battle-Medic? Angel-Of-Mercy? Herbalist? Chiurgeon?) and leave a possibly-touchy subject like religion in the background?


(Easier said than done; my attempts at such a class were all dismal failures, except for a Psionicsist with Cell Adjustment -- what happened to Cell Adjustment, anyway...?)

 

[Elemental]

wizard (aka mages) and specialist wizards . . .

(snip)

It's stranger when you consider that all of those wizards could also become a cleric, bard, or even a barbarian with time and experience, but can Absolutely Never learn a spell of an opposed school.

 

[Sixchan]

What I don't like about elves is how they seemed to change over the years. Looking back, it seems to me that the original elves were based on the Wood Elves in the Hobbit. Y'know, music loving, friendly, party going free lovers, stuff like that. Now they're like the detestable High Elves of LotR. Aloof, snooty, elfier-than-thou.

Also bothers me is those damned people who moan about Tall Elves. They're more fey-like and cuter when they're shorter.

The elves in 1E were SO much better.