Things you left out, but wish you didn't

[Zombie Toast]

I have the opposite problem. I often write up interesting and relevant bits of info for adventures or settings then completely forget to include them when it's time actually play. Entire plot points disappear from my campaign simply because I completely forgot about the hooks I had planned.

One particularly bad example was a PC of committed a serious affront to a halfling NPC (in eberron). This led to a contract being put on the character from house Boromar (a halfling crime family). Rather than simply attempting to kill the PC though they would torment them in a variety of subtle ways: Stolen objects would be left in the PC's possessions or home and the guards tipped off. Halfling establishments charge exhorbitant prices or slip mild poisons or toxins into their food and drink. Spell component pouch filled with spider eggs so that one day when they go to cast a spell...spiders!

I had tons of stuff like this planned out to slip into the downtime between adventures and even during the adventures themselves...I never once remembered to include them. I was simply too distracted by other events in the game and in the heat of the moment it slipped my mind. Eventually the PCs just became too powerful for these minor tricks to be relevant anymore and so this whole plot thread vanished without anyone even knowing it was planned.

 

[korjik]

Not quite directly in theme but:

I had a paladin in my 3e/3.5e game, played by my younger brother no less, that for 8 freakin years and 18 freaking levels I was trying to have a good crisis of faith.

Not a month after that campaign ended, I came up with a whole new idea for the entire campaign that would have had the crisis of faith come up is a brilliant manner. One that would have been an excellent role playing opportunity. One that would have had the whole campaign hold together instead of the mishmash I ended up with.

I was a little annoyed with that.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Slightly esoteric, but I had it happen recently when working on a setting based on the French and Indian War.

The French are replaced with elves, the Indians with orcs, the English and Scots are humans, and the Hessian mercenaries are replaced by dwarfs.

It did not occur to me that I had a chance to give half elves a different culture - from a region between the two warring states the half breeds creating a separate culture in the region known as Arcadia.

As time passes the name changes, and the people move south, going from Arcadian to Arcajean and finally Cajun....

It would not have mattered in the course of the game, but, dang....

The Auld Grump

 

[Wycen]

One thing that came up in a game I ran and a game I played in: buying down ability scores.

I created a laundry list of rules for character creation some years ago for a high level 3.5 campaign. What I didn't consider was that anyone would lower a stat to squeeze out an extra point or 2. Ultimately probably didn't affect the balance or outcome, especially since I have no problem fudging monster stats on the fly. But when I was a player later I did see a problem brought on by this.

We were playing the Savage Tide AP and the fighter had optimized for 2 weapon, high DEX/STR fighting. He'd lowered his CHA/INT which was ok until you get to the village on the Isle of Dread and have to fight off a pirate fleet. There is a system for influencing the defense and upgrading of the village and with an INT and CHA with negative modifiers the players ideas did not translate into effective communication with the village dwellers. So he basically got frustrated and the campaign ended there.

Maybe randomly generated stats are ok in such circumstances, but both games used point buy systems. So, ask yourself are you ok with a character running around with a stat lower than 8.

 

[Blackbrrd]

[MENTION=13732]Wycen[/MENTION] I had the same issue you mentioned here, having characters with no social skills. In my last campaign I got my players to get at least one social skill to use in non-combat encounters. It worked out really well.