What do you think D&D is missing?

[imbiginjapan]

I wouldn't say that D&D has too many rules... but I would say the volume of rules is far too concentrated on combat mechanics at the expense of everything else. While a good, creative group can translate those rules into drama, I feel like the frequent need to pause to look up rules and adjudicate combat situations tends to suck the energy out of combat in the long run. It also hurts that, given the interwoven complexity of the rules, forgetting or mishandling a particular power can have a domino effect that throws a bunch of other things out of whack.

I'd like to see a more dramatic, streamlined approach to combat where the use of feats foster fast paced and dramatic situations, rather than a need to look up page xx to determine how the feat can be used in such-and-such a special case. I realize a lot of groups may eschew the particulars, but the rules as written don't encourage that as you are likely throwing off te sacred 'Game Balance'. And frankly, my gaming time is too limited to sit there while everyone flips through their books trying to determine what a certain bonus is and if it stacks with some other bonus, etc.

So, I'd love to see some of the effort expended on creating a mass of combat-related feats, special case dice penalties and area effect diagrams instead channeled towards creating a resolution system that encourages faster paced play and rewards creative thought.

Phew.

 

[Raven Crowking]

IMHO, D&D is missing a number of things, to wit:

(1) Official support for lower-magic settings.

(2) Official support for non-minis based gameplay.

(3) Weapon size rules from the Arcana Unearthed.

(4) Tradeoffs. It isn't desirable, IMHO, that every character should be able to do everything. Some choices should preclude other choices. That is what makes choices meaningful.

(5) More mundane classes. Why does everyone have to be a spellcaster?

(6) Spellcasters with less power in general, but who can pay penalties to get more power. I.e., some system where you can spend hit points or Con or something to power spells without losing your spell slots/memorized spells.....and where, potentially, you can make someone else pay the price.

(7) Exponential XP progression.

(8) DM aids for designing NPCs and monsters (especially new monsters). For example, a disc coming with the MM that has monster stat blocks in text or Word format, ready to plug into your adventure, would be a real boon. If it had the same, with templates applied (or a program to generate the same with templates applied) that would be even better. If it was open source so that 3rd party monster books could include add-ons, that would rock mightily.

(9) Better examples of the great rules that are already in place. For example, prestige classes. Great idea, meh follow through. The BoVD has great rules for addictive substances, but none of the examples give PCs (or NPCs) a reason to try them and they all seem rather lame to me.

(10) If they're going to seperate monsters into types (great idea) then really do it, and make types distinct. Let fey have Court and Host as in The Complete Guide to the Fey. Let aberrations cause potential Sanity loss ala Call of Cthulhu. Make undead really unnatural. Let Outsiders be Hidden as in Testament.

(11) Speaking of Testament, include those mass combat rules (or ones similar).

(12) Faster combat system. Include weapon group skills.

(13) Dungeonpunk is dead. Let it stay dead.

(14) Speaking of artwork, put some more illustrations of PCs in tight spots in the PHB, and put some more illustrations of PCs triumphing in the DMG. Tight spots should be part of what players come to the table expecting. I would hate to play under a DM who didn't expect PC triumphs!

(15) Half-elves and half-orcs as templates.

(16) Racial levels.

(17) A better model for high-level play. Less superhero, more establishing domains.

(18) No pokemounts.

(19) Advancement levels for animal companions, special mounts, and familiars.

(20) My name on the front cover.

 

[WarlockLord]

Direct Damage that is actually deadly. A wizard shouldn't be able to throw the fires of hell at an opponent, only to see the opponent unaffected by the blast (except for the meaningless loss of hit points, wheeee!).

Better drow. We should be able to play cool monsters on par with human PCs.

Less dragon c***. One fire-breathing dragon wanna-be class is enough.

Less familiars, etc. Combat takes too long with more guys, or...

A better combat system able to handle the legions of undead summoned by the party's dread necromancer, the cohorts, and the insect plague.

Less book-flipping

 

[GreatLemur]

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.

Wow. That's a hell of a thought. That'd be a whole new kind of game product. I wonder what other kinds of scenes could be done that way, and just what kind of format would be best to present the information. Might have to think about this a little.

-Some sort of wound penalty system (like the new Star Wars) where taking damage actually affects you before you die.

Yeah. As much as people warn of how big a funkiller the "death spiral" would be, I really think this is worth a try. I'll be very interested to see how Saga Edition combat is received.

-More unified mechanics. Turn Undead needs to be just as easy to do as rolling to hit with a longsword, same with Grappling. Many skills can be bunched together as well, having the side-benefit of low skill point characters being able to do more things.

Very true. The Turn Undead mechanics are flat-out ridiculous, arguably even worse than the notorious grappling rules. Another example would be things like arcane spell failure and concealment chances. I can't for the life of me understand why, in the d20 system, I'm rolling percentile dice.

(5) More mundane classes. Why does everyone have to be a spellcaster?

Oh, man, you ain't kidding. Spellcasting is an even more overused class feature than pets (although perhaps not quite as irritating).

(14) Speaking of artwork, put some more illustrations of PCs in tight spots in the PHB, and put some more illustrations of PCs triumphing in the DMG. Tight spots should be part of what players come to the table expecting. I would hate to play under a DM who didn't expect PC triumphs!

That is a very interesting point. I've never considered the propaganda-for-a-better-game potential of RPG art, before.

Less dragon c***.

Are you complaining about dragon vagina, or did you actually just self-censor the word "crap"?

 

[jdrakeh]

I seems that, unless a DM goes seriously out of their way to amp up a challenge, the default is to let the players win.

I hear this quite a bit from fans of older D&D editions. The fact is that it's a complaint without much merit. Mathematically, a CR-balanced encounter doesn't default to "the PCs automatically win" -- it defaults to "the PCs have a chance to win" (which, of course, also means that they have a chance to bite it).

I realize that giving the PCs a reasonable chance to succeed flies in the face of those DMs who try to model every encounter after the original Tomb of Horrors (and other tournament modules) but to equate being fair with giving the players a free pass isn't an honest assessment of the situation.

 

[Grimstaff]

1. Simple, comprehensive rules for Morale (think B/X style, with a number assigned to each monster)

2. Alternative experience progressions (standard exp, slower at low levels, slower at high levels, etc.)

3. Alternative experience award systems (the current combat-heavy system, plus a treasure heavy, plus a role-play heavy, etc) with specific guidelines.

4. Condensed/Consolidated skill system ("stealth" instead of move silent/hide in shadows/sleight of hand/, "perception" instead of listen/search/spot, for example)

 

[JustinA]

I would love to see mechanics like Feng Shui where the players can cooperatively create the scene. If you need a window to jump through, then one will be where you need it to be. That level of involvement from the players would be very cool.

That isn't actually a mechanic, that's a convention.

My list is:

- Chase mechanics
- A better system for flying combat
- Mounted combat rules that cover more than the basics
- Rules for vehicles (chariots, ships, etc.)
- Mass combat
- Social interaction mechanics that actually work (Diplomacy I'm looking at you)
- More skill uses (coupled with a better layout of the skills section to make reference skills easier)

(hype)Keep an eye on Dream Machine Productions. Our first product is a city supplement, but over the next six months you're going to see many of these areas being addressed in a comprehensive fashion.(/hype)

Justin Alexander
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Olaf the Stout]

A parry/defence system.

Chase rules.

Plus there are quite a few other areas that I think need to be improved upon the rules we currently use. Grappling and other special actions head that list. But that wasn't what the OP asked for so I'll leave it at that.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

1. Simple, comprehensive rules for Morale (think B/X style, with a number assigned to each monster)

Morale "rules" were dropped from 3rd Edition for good reason - it is a DM call, just as it is a players call when his/her PC breaks morale. Too many variables that the DM overrides or ignores anyway.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Morale "rules" were dropped from 3rd Edition for good reason - it is a DM call, just as it is a players call when his/her PC breaks morale. Too many variables that the DM overrides or ignores anyway.

Which makes things like Diplomacy and Intimidate especially odd, right?

Why is morale a DM call, but whether or not an NPC is intimidated or likes you not a DM call?