Greg K said:
2) Races: remove the non-biological functions
3) add cultural/environmental skill packages. The player chooses a package (or DM assigns packages to cultures if homebrewing a setting) that are added to race and provide a few skill ranks, a feat, and proficiency in a weapon (or second feat), common to all members of the culture.
Total agreement here. Not every elf is going to be all longsword, rapier and bow. Some are gonna go with spears. Some are gonna go with Aerenal Scimitars. Some are gonna go with elven 'katana.' Some are gonna scorn armed combat entirely and be Monks who fight only with the weapons nature gave them.
5) Classes
- remove most class features like armor and starting weapons as automatic standard class features and give each class additional bonus feats for 1st level characters. Armor and weapons would be among the bonus feat choices for certain classes at first level.
Yup. And if that Fighter doesn't want heavy or medium armor proficiency or shield proficiency, he can pick up something that makes him more effective without all of that heavy stuff, as befits his swashbucklery concept.
- every class gets minimum of 4 + int bonus skill points per level (x4 at first level)
Definitely. 2 skill pts. per level, often combined with Half Orcs who lose half of that due to their crappy Intelligence, is just a royal pain in the butt. *Animals* have higher ranks in skills than most Fighters!
As for your thoughts on classes, I'm partial to less core classes, but all of those core classes being *widely* variable. The 'Fighter' class would be able to pick up the Feats necessary to be a Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Monk, Swashbuckler, Samurai, etc.
And all PrCs would be scrapped in favor of Feats. If Gonzo the Ubermage wants Spell Power, he can just pick it up as a Feat at the appropriate level, he doesn't need X levels of Archmage, or to become a Red Wizard of Thay.
Cleric:
- lower hit die to d6
- leather armor only
- more skill points
- divine grace as per paladin
- turn rebuke as paladin (unless received as a domain ability)
- bonus divine feats or abilities based on domains every 5 levels
- spontaneous divine casting
- smaller spell lists based on deity's domains + spells for the following: augury/communing, blessing the faithful, cursing/punishing heretics and enemies (e.g., bestow curse, mark of justice) and planar ally (specific creatures associated with the deity),
- lower spell power at higher levels with non-spellcasters
- class variants: cloistered cleric (UA), martial cleric (better hit die and armor)
I'd ditch Cleric spells entirely and replace them with bonus feats that allow him to use his channeling powers in different ways (to heal, to smite, to buff, to summon servants of his god, etc). Add to that a bunch more uses of 'turn/rebuke' per day, and it's a shiny new class that doesn't 'cast spells' so much as 'channel their faith.'
The Cleric could even come in two flavors, the 'cloistered' cleric who has lots of 'channeling' attempts per day, but light armor and simple weapons, and the 'battle cleric,' who has less channeling attempts per day, heavy armor, more hit points and a favored weapon.
6) Weapon Groups from UA
7) Action Points
8) Skills
- Expanded Uses for skills collected from Complete Adventurer and Races of the Wild
9) Feats
a) Make core the following
- weapon style feats
- divine feats (excluding divine metamagic)
Yes to all. A better system for skills in particular. Skill Tricks might simply be folded into higher ranked uses of skills that have prerequisites (if you have 5 ranks of X and 2 ranks of Y, you can do this. Doesn't matter if you have a +25 to the check because of some spell or racial ability, you gotta actually pay to play).
Skills should be more than an afterthought, IMO, but a valid tool, making a 'skill-monkey' character such as a Rogue a valid concept without having to give them yet another role as 'damage dealer / sneak attacker' to make up for the paucity of the skill system.
10) Combat
- class based defense bonus
- armor as dr
- Book of Iron Might style rules for combat maneuvers
- hit points: Either
a) Remove them and replace with True20 Toughness Save ; or
b) keep hit points with the following
- 10+ con bonus hit points at first level and less hit points gained at each level (class based defense would reduce getting hit and dr from armor would reduce damage taken
- penalties when at 50% and 25% of hit points remaining hit points
- death and dying rules (UA): no more negative hit points. At O hit points start making saves to avoid falling unconcious, dying stabilize and death.
Either system sounds interesting, but I haven't played around with them enough to know how changing these things affect the game. (I do use the Toughness Save mechanic a lot in Mutants & Masterminds, and it can get kinda all-or-nothing at times, which is cool for superhero play, but I'm not sure would play so well in a fantasy style game. Perhaps 2d10 instead of 1d20 would 'curve' the line a bit?)
- Arcane casting: I dislikethe current system. My choices:
a) Elements of Magic rME (for arcane) and Green Ronin's Psychic Handbook (or Psionics)
b) Spell points with vitalizing (UA) for arcane
Psychic's Handbook style 'psionics' appeals to me a lot more than WotC Psionics, that's for sure. I think this would be an impossible sell, 'though. Psionics are pretty darn popular as is, for a niche product.
I do really have to get my hands on Elements of Magic, Revised. I've heard a lot of good stuff about it.
12) Magic Item creation
- new rules get rid of experience point expenditure
Hell yes. The character already has to blow a precious feat and a crapload of money on the process, the exp thing is just injury on top of insult.
Based on your list, I suggest that you might also want to do something about Metamagic Feats. They seem like the sort of thing that don't go as well with the view of the game you are promoting.