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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 4529948" data-attributes="member: 63">1. Polish the flavor, specifically some of the artwork and flavor text throughout the rulebooks. Given how much white space there is in the PHB with all those powers and magic items, I'd love it if they could spend a few hours to write up more narratively compelling material, adding little flourishes to the non-mechanical aspects of the game.I have my personal preferences with regard to art, and while I lament the rarity of some of my favorite 3e artists (Lockwood in particular), I can understand trying different things out. But WotC has a huge stable of Magic: the Gathering artists. I wish they'd use more of them for D&D. (And I also wish they'd replace all those flat, monochromatic bars for powers and items with something that has at least a little texture, a la the frame artwork on Magic cards.)I suppose on the same note, hit points are not linked flavor-wise to actual injuries at all anymore. I had my players laugh when they realized one PC been bitten five times by a cobra, but by grunting and flexing his muscles for a bit, he managed to squeeze the poison out of his system. These aren't big issues when it comes to playing the "game" of D&D, but they are huge when it comes to the "story" of D&D. 2. Broaden multiclass options. It's nifty as it is now, but I wish the rules gave more leeway as to which specific powers or knacks you get access to. Likewise, paragon paths often are useless for multiclassers; if you take the Warlock multiclass feat, you could take a warlock paragon path, but since all those key off your pact boon, and the feat doesn't let you get that boon, you're out of luck. Similarly, some awkwardness is frustrating: like a warlock/wizard having to carry a rod and a wand at once; or all rogue powers requiring a limited set of weapons (what if you just took a penalty if you used an odd weapon?).Basically, I prefer options, not restrictions, and multiclassing right now is too restrictive. 3. Battles do tend to slog a bit. Maybe that's just because the players aren't using canny enough tactics, teaming up and such. Maybe they haven't min-maxed enough. Maybe things go better at higher levels when you have more encounter powers. I'd need to play more to get a clear sense of what needs improvement, but it looks like a lot of people have similar problems. I don't mind the lack of powers for out of combat scenarios, though I wouldn't mind if they explicitly included some options to let you cast a ritual earlier and store it for quick casting later. But in 3e, I never needed 'utility powers' to get the players thinking and roleplaying.Never let it be said, though, that a roleplaying system should ignore character personality. Right now the PHB has hundreds of pages for how to make your character an efficient killer of things that need killing. I think it could certainly benefit from a chapter on designing a personality. New World of Darkness does it in two fascinatingly simple brush strokes. Your character has a virtue, and a vice. When you indulge in the vice, you get a point of willpower (sort of like a mini action point). When you sacrifice expediency for the sake of upholding your virtue, you get a lot of points of willpower. You can then use the willpower in or out of combat.This tiny mechanic really helps promote developing a character with motives, and maybe even a little bit of internal conflict. It's completely easy to ignore if all you want is to roll dice and make monster minis vanish from a grid, but if you want to roleplay, it helps.</blockquote>

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