Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kae'Yoss" data-source="post: 3462916" data-attributes="member: 4134">Well, I can understand the rant. It happens, especially after a bad day and when the original tone isn't the most cordial (he did make the three concepts sound like Very Bad Things, made it sound like his humble opinion was fact, and made it clear that he didn't want any compromise.And why don't we just discuss those topics themselves?Alignment I don't see why it should go away. It's always a good way for new players to get a basic framework, just like so many other things in D&D. D&D didn't get this popular without reason: It makes it easy to create a character with a viable character concept, even if you've never played any RPG before!I might consider two things: 1. Expand Alignment to include allegiances, like in d20 Modern, maybe with a "strength rating". Say, you might have the good allegiance, the strong lawful allegiance, and total allegiance to Torm the True.2. Take it out as a mechanic - No more "this class must be good" or spells like "protection from good". That way, if you don't like the concept of alignments in your game, it's quite easy to get rid of it. You might hide some remnants of this in other mechanics, like the paladin's code, which might enforce a certain behaviour in accordance with your order's principles.But I think in D&D, where a lot of concepts and privatives are reified, which is also true in fantasy (and everyday human life), an alignment/allegiance system has its place. It's not like D&D were the only system with something like this: WoD has its Moral/Humanity/Whatever, L5R has honour, and so on.But it won't be the end of the world if they leave alignment in as is.Vancian MagicI'm not sure it should stay, but I am sure that we should not just replace it with Mana. Mana's so vanilla - so many games, especially computer games, use mana. Mana's boring.If we go and change it, do it properly! I might see something like Elements of Magic! If we have to leave behind the limitation that you must prepare beforehand what spell to use, we can as well do away with the limitation of using only the spells the books offer us. Give us options ("spell lists" EoM calls them) to build our own spells.Another thing I have thougt about in the last couple of days/weeks is a mix of EoM, current D&D magic, skill tricks and Bo9S manoeuvres, and give every class something like this. The Combat types could choose from combat manoeuvres like "Powerful Strike" or "Whirlwind", sneaksters would get stuff like ghost step and sneak attack (in the form of boosts and such), and spellcasters would get spell options, each of which would offer several choices (their effectiveness determined by your level): Say, "evoke energy area" would give you a burst, cone or line, with one of the usual energies, at 1d6/level. "Inhibit Mind" would enable you to dazzle, daze, stun, paralyse or anaesthetise one or several targets of certain types (each option costing a certain amount of points, and your total points being equal to your level).You could use a certain amount of your "fx" manoeuvres per combat.But I certainly won't quit D&D if they don't change much with magicClassesI agree that classes, at least in some form, should definetly stay. They're a defining part of D&D. You're right to say that there are other systems to play if you want no classes, and that not everything should be the same (or we'd have only one RPG in the end). Plus, classes are another of those things that make it easy for a newblood to come up with a character.It might be a nice idea to make more general classes, though, borrowing from d20 Modern:Make it 3 classes: Warrior, Expert, SpellcasterEach class gets its own BAB, Saves (though there could be more leeway here), Bonus Feats and Talents alternating per level (1,3,5.... Talents; 2,4,6.... Bonus Feat), and each would get some "FX manoeuvres" like I explained under magic above.Current class abilities and spells would be put into talents and FX, depending on whether it's something that you decide to use, like Smite (FX) or whether it's always active, and maybe limited in some other way, like favoured enemy (Talent).New books would introduce new talent trees and new FX paths, and maybe the d20M system of Basic Class, Advanced Class and Prestige Class could be used as well.But I won't quit D&D if 4e turns out to be like 3e, or quite similar to 3e, in regards to classes.</blockquote>

Verification