What do you think D&D is missing?

[jdrakeh]

GM-only rules for creating NPC's in 5 minutes (or 5 seconds).

Oh. God. Yes. Something like the mook rules of True20 fused with the Villain Classes of Iron Heroes. The fact that D&D requires me make full-blown NPCs (even the stock NPC class characters take a not insignificant portion of time to generate) instead of trimmed down NPCs that fill a specific role really bothers me. I miss the one line NPC stat blocks of AD&D and BD&D a lot.

 

[Aegir]

Oh. God. Yes. Something like the mook rules of True20 fused with the Villain Classes of Iron Heroes.

I *love* IH villain classes. IMO, the IH books are worth considering just for those, as they're close enough to D&D rules to be dropped in with little problem, and it takes a couple minutes to use them to make a good NPC.

 

[danzig138]

I'd like to see something like you describe - something to allow for variety in individual movement rates.

I wouldn't mind good solid mass combat rules, but I wouldn't really want them added to core books, since that's not really what D&D emulates (which is D&D).

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it as is. I woulnd't want any of the rules changes suggested that essentially make it not D&D anymore.

 

[Nifft]

Know what I want to pay for?

Scenes.

I'd like to buy an individual chase scene with the whole flow worked out in advance. This is pretty easy to do at low levels, but at high levels (with Divinations and [Teleport] spells and overland flight and...), it can be tricky, to say the least. So scenes by level, scenes devoted to the presence or absence of a specific spell, effect, or item, and that kind of thing. I'd like a searchable database of scenes, with new ones coming on-line all the time.

Chases are the best example I can think of, because they've got a clear flow-chart design, and because each DM can use such a flow-chart exactly once -- it's not the sort of thing I want to pour my time into, since most avenues won't be explored.

But I'd love to pay someone else to do it, and then to hear feedback from folks who run them.

Do it! Now!

Thanks, -- N

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I want internetworked character sheets with all current spells and conditions affecting your character figured into your stats real-time.

That way a 5 player vs. 1 dragon lvl 18 battle won't take 2 of our 4 hours to game each week.

High level play (at least combat) is just way too much going on at once to be fun.

DS

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I want internetworked character sheets with all current spells and conditions affecting your character figured into your stats real-time.

Personally, I would rather see things simplified in that regard. While I do like how 3rd edition has allowed the character stats to make a great deal more sense, there are just way too many possible modifiers that interlink.

Example:
To improve your attack roll, you can adjust any one of the following:

Magical Weapon Bonus
Favored Enemy Bonus
Morale Bonus
Luck Bonus
Strength Bonus
Weapon Focus
Dex Bonus (via Weapon Finesse)

Static bonuses are not such a big deal. Just calculate them once and move on. Where things get complicated are with the temporary effects. There are also two kinds of buffs. Those that affect a core stat (str, dex, con), and those that affect an end stat (AC, attack bonus). Buffs that modify a core stat are a bit more of a pain in the ass to track.

Want to bring a fight to a grinding halt? Let your players buff up with everything they have, then hit them with a Dispel Magic that manages to counter a small handfull of the effects.

I would like to see fewer temporary modifiers to stats. Buffing is effective, but it slows things down when you need to recalculate so many things.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Stunts, a la Mike Mearls's efforts in the Book of Iron Might and Iron Heroes.

 

[Shade]

I'd hate to see the system simplified. In fact, I want more complexity.

I think we still need a good system for taking/saving hostages. The whole, "I've got a crossbow to his head so you better drop the McGuffin" kind of scenarios. As it stands, most folks would say "let him take the shot, it only does 1d8 and double on a crit, plus no Str bonus"...not exactly a tense standoff.

I'd also like to see more skill uses incorporated into the game, like the excellent Power Fantasy article in Dragon #306.

The game could also use some better rules for really enormous creatures. Just calling 'em Colossal and being slightly bigger than Gargantuan doesn't really capture the feel of Galactus stomping a world or Godzilla on a rampage.

 

[WayneLigon]

The only thing I've ever seen in previous editions that I wish this one had was the weapon mastery rules from the D&D Cyclopedia. I like the idea of the higher level fighter simply doing more damage with his sword, because he knows more tricks to do with it than someone who is lower level.

I'd have it a bit more fine-grained than the Cyclopedia rules, but the essense is that about every four levels, your base damage would improve and you'd probably get some nice trick with a weapon as well. This would go a long, long way towards balancing things at the higher end, without the need for the most common magic items: stat boosters and damage-enhancements on weapons.

There's no need to blow all that cash for a +2 sword when at eighth level you're going to be doing 2d8+str+some other amount+have some other weapon tricks not available as feats.

 

[Particle_Man]

More "tactics" complexity, but less "fiddly adding +1 here and -1 there, for different durations at different times, and often with cascading effects on other numbers for +2 here and -2 there" mechanics in play. That said, character options seem to be popular. I second that high level play is getting too wacky. I would also say skill groups from Iron Heroes is a great idea that could be adopted.