What don't you like about D&D?

[Andor]

The lack of a holodeck edition. I want my full VR/Hologame and I want it now!

 

[ShinHakkaider]

The complaining and negative threads.

WINNER.

 

[Desdichado]

Uh. This is all tongue in cheek, right? I mean, I've been accused of being dense before and will certainly be so again if you're just taking the piss here...but if you're not...

The tone is... a bit. But my complaints most certainly are not. I've actually done all the things I mentioned in my first post to address things I don't like about D&D.

Then, yeah, any other complaints about what "3.5" is or isn't aside, what you describe would not be D&D by any stripe. I don't care who owns the license, a game published like that wouldn't be D&D, all broad comments about a game of checkers aside.

Yes. Indeed. Hence the title of the thread. "What don't you like about D&D." Wouldn't make much sense otherwise.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

Levels.

hate 'em too. makes no sense. i've been thinking about picking up a PDF of Buy the Numbers.

AC progression.

i use a houserule that adds REF base save to AC. armor functions as DR.

Narrow core classes.

i'm almost tempted to use the generic classes from UA. the other route is, as you said, make all the base classes from the completes available. i'm of the opinion that, with some minor tweaking of class skills and special abilities, the base classes are very malleable.

Vancian "fire and forget" magic.

i'm using the spell point system from UA right now, and i don't allow wizards. the mechanics, that is. bookish sorcerers are entirely ok.

Elves and Gnomes.

i love the ebberon gnomes! elves... well, IMC, the elves are the bad guys, for the most part. the antagonists, anyway. they're very militaristic, expansionist, elitist, and downright racist.

 

[Psion]

FWIW, I could never do without levels, vancian casting, or elves and gnomes. That wouldn't be D&D... that would be "another fantasy game". Maybe even "D20 Fantasy".

But I agree that the core classes are too narrow. Especially some of the more specific ones. I prefer classes with more in the way of customization options to more narrow classes.

I also agree that AC progression is sensible, and regularly use the Second World or Advanced GMs Guide to add this in. (The UA ones suck, sorry).

 

[Henry]

What I don't like currently are the inflated numbers. We're playing in the low 20th levels right now in an Epic-level game, and the number juggling and die-rolling are almost headache inducing. Fun, when you see what you're doing to the hordes of 100's of minions, but you can get bogged down in calculators and geometry pretty quickly. (How fast can YOU total up 46d6, and figure out how 55 fighters in an enclosed room fare against a Greater Whirldwind? )

However, even the math into the low-teens tends to bog down a bit for me. I'm coming to a greater and greater conclusion that the D&D I prefer lies below 10th level.

 

[Desdichado]

Some guys in our groups go on and on about how fun epic level gaming is for them--but they always game with laptops and computerized dice rollers.

Somehow that seems to be taking out one of the funnest, most visceral elements of the game to me, so I end up having the same problems Henry is talking about at higher levels.

 

[DaveMage]

The only think I don't like is the time it takes to prepare for the game (both as a player and DM, but moreso as a DM).

Other than that, I love it!

 

[Crust]

The fact that girls often don't consider it a "worthy past time," or at least not much of an admirable quality, in the man of their dreams.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Combat Expertise darnit!

• AC progression. Basically, the fact that there is none. As you improve your characters, your To Hit rolls improve dramatically, as do those of your opponents. However, the only way to get your AC any better is to pick up magic, or pump up your DEX. Every WotC d20 game except D&D now seems to have a level/class based AC progression, and when I'm running, I houserule that back in.

Use Combat Expertise. If you don't like the 5 point cap, uncap it (I did). Heck, give Combat Expertise as a free feat to everyone including monsters. Now all combatants have a choice of how much of their BAB to put into offence and how much into defence.

Personally I find it absurd that the way to "fix" AC progression is to further up the power by adding defence bonuses. D&D has turned into an arms race. Stop. The. Insantity!