D&D 4E Things You'd Like to See in 4e that haven't been mentioned yet

[Hussar]

As the title suggests. There's a few things I'd like to see that I haven't seen talked about yet. First off, I'd love to see a set of rules for skirmish (sorry, bad word) sized battles. Heroes of Battle talks about large scale fights and I agree that that should be handled in a more cinematic way. But, between large scale fights and party vs monster fights, there's a big gap that isn't really covered.

Take a naval style campaign for instance. If the PC's have a ship, they might have 20 crew/marines. The enemy ship has 25 baddies. Now, HoB doesn't really work at that scale - it's too small to do it cinematically. But, trying to run that fight in 3.x rules is a chore. It's really, really boring - takes far too long.

What I'd like to see is a, I'm groping for a word here, "Unit" sized scale, where you can more or less template a small group of up to 10-15 characters and have them fight together. The Mob template is a little too big for what I'm thinking of. 48 medium sized creatures (IIRC) is too many to group into one unit. But, something like the Mob template, but for slightly smaller scale.

A second thing I'd love, love, love to see is a proper vehicle combat rules system. Whether you're talking about ships, or caravans, or whatever, I'd love to see a scale of combat that isn't 5 feet for dealing with this sort of thing. 5 foot scale doesn't work for ship to ship because combat likely starts about 600 feet away. No one has a gaming table big enough to do it. I don't want something too detailed either. It has to be fast and fairly simple.

That's my two big wish items. How about you?

 

[Nifft]

I want both of those things, and:

Better rules for flying. It's going to happen A LOT at high level (assuming magic stays about the same), and it's frustrating.

Rules for chases. Goes along with vehicular combat I think.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Lackhand]

In addition to flying, falling with style. How do you throw an orc at his buddies? This has happened in every edition of the game for me, so far, and not yet been adjudicable from just the core books. How do you jump from a cliff and land on a foe, or land next to him but cut him in half on the way down? Inquiring minds want to know, and the DMG could really use something like this.

A benefit to swarming up the leg of the Gargantuan beastie you're set on besting (so, some sort of climb/balance/ride rules that justify that!). Rules for "hanging on" which can be based off of the rules for grappling, but aren't entirely the same (Can you put the dragon in a headlock? No, but you're sure clinging to its wing real good, hur hur!).

Rules for picking up an object from between the feet of your foe. Or plucking the knife your pal just slung at the zombie from its flesh so you can stab it again.

Put back rules for friendly fire, please -- especially if you can make them easy to implement. They're marginally less fun for the players, but I promise to use them for bad guys (especially goblins! Stupid little freaks.) both 1) too and 2) more.


What you guys said.

 

[Hussar]

Oooh, Lackhand, I like those. Yes please. I want my giant to be able to pick up a PC and Hail Mary him downfield. Cool.

 

[psionotic]

Some way to handle grappling that allows movement of one's foe would be really nice.... I always get requests for that.

 

[breschau]

The basics of naval adventuring. Nothing in-depth or too specific. I like core rules that set me in the right direction rather than delineate every possible action and combo.

I'd like more info on mounted combat. This one you can give me all the details and as much specifics as you'd like. I find it hard to believe that there isn't much more info on horses and riding than we have at present. I don't know about you, but if I had to travel day after day, I'd sure see my way into getting a horse. If nothing else, just give us the Ride skill from Saga and switch the spacer talent tree to a mounted talent tree.

Please.

Nice thread.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'd like to see more adventure-/world-building advice for DMs. Sure, most of us who have been doing it for a while know what we're doing, but novices don't. I'd like to see suggestions and tips for how to construct not only a dungeon adventure, but wilderness, urban, mystery, intrigue, and political ones, too.

In terms of rules, I'll second the mounted combat, flying, and "climbing and clinging to the big guys" rules, since both of those come up a lot in my campaigns. (In fact, I don't think my wife have ever been in a fight with a dragon where she didn't try to climb it at least once.)

I'd like the rules to take normal fatigue into account. Not enough to disrupt most games, but enough so that there are actual consequences to going all-out for 20 hours straight.

Edit: Ooh, chase rules. Forgot about those. Yes, please.

 

[Lanefan]

A second thing I'd love, love, love to see is a proper vehicle combat rules system. Whether you're talking about ships, or caravans, or whatever, I'd love to see a scale of combat that isn't 5 feet for dealing with this sort of thing. 5 foot scale doesn't work for ship to ship because combat likely starts about 600 feet away. No one has a gaming table big enough to do it. I don't want something too detailed either. It has to be fast and fairly simple.

I dreamed up a house-rule system for ship-vs.-ship combat quite some time ago...if you like (and are prepared to wait; it's not stored electronically anywhere) I can shoot what I've got over to you.

I'm not sure there can be a system that would work for all of say, ships and caravans and dirigibles; if for no other reason than the huge differences in: movement capabilities, vulnerabilities of the transport platform, and on-board armaments and defenses. I'd be happy if they could just do ship-vs.-ship (as that probably comes up most often by far) and let us use that as a base for all the others.

As for what I'd like to see otherwise:

- return of resurrection survival % rolls, to make death slightly more daunting (some suggestions in a table for why resurrections fail would also be nice)
- a useful set of rules for interplanar travel other than via gate or planeshift - is it possible to physically walk from one plane to another and if so, how?
- some random encounter generation tables by approximate desired level (or CR) and location
- a more granular system for determining where you go when you're lost (in darkness, at sea, anywhere that you have a 360-degree option of where you might go) with weight given to where you are trying to go and to factors that might influence your travel (tide, wind)
- more granularity overall where required - don't be afraid to use % rolls; they're not that hard to do, and they allow for lots more options
- chase rules (others have hit this one already; I never think of it until it actually comes up in a game, then I start swearing I'll dream something up before next time but never remember to get on and do it)
- a functional "death's door" system for reviving a character who has just passed the brink of death - restarting the stopped heart, as it were
- core-rule level-advancement variants for fast (1-30 in <2 years) and slow (1-30 in 5+ years if ever) campaigns
- wild magic, intentional by spell and-or non-intentional by mistake or item destruction

Most other things I can think of have either a) been declared for 4e already (e.g. fixed ExP for monsters), or b) have been talked to death elsewhere, or c) just aren't likely to happen in the current atmosphere (e.g. initiatives re-rolled each round, removal of combat casting, etc.)

Lanefan

 

[Stalker0]

Some mass combat rules would be nice. I've found great success with using the DMGII's mob template as a basis, and with a little refinement you could create a mass system that doesn't drag too much.

 

[Rechan]

My big'un: Specialty wizards. How is the specialty wizard going to be handled? Like the Dread Necromancer/Beguiler/Etc? Or some other effect? Please no +1 spell per x for the given school crap; I want the specialty to actually effect the way the class works.

Familiars/animal companions/cohorts.

The Druid and Monk. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM?

Chase rules. After last session, I got utterly frustrated with chasing.

Running/constructing Event based adventures and Investigation/Political/Intrigue based adventures.