what MUST D&D have (with giant poll!)

[TerraDave]

Some first numbers, for this I am just listing everything from most must to least must:

80%+
d20s 154 89.02%
Spells 154 89.02%
Dungeon adventuring 149 86.13%
Levels (for class/character) 148 85.55%
dragons 148 85.55%
human 147 84.97%
CLASSES 146 84.39%
RACES 146 84.39%
MONSTERS 146 84.39%
Magic Items 144 83.24%
Wilderness adventuring 139 80.35%

70-80%
orcs 138 79.77%
elf 137 79.19%
dwarf 137 79.19%
goblins (and kin) 137 79.19%
fighter 136 78.61%
wizard/magic-user 135 78.03%
d4s, d6s, d8s, d10s, d12s, d00s 133 76.88%
rogue/thief 133 76.88%
giants 132 76.30%
City adventuring 131 75.72%
cleric 130 75.14%
Six abilities 128 73.99%
trolls 128 73.99%
HP 127 73.41%
demons and devils 127 73.41%
eXPerience points 126 72.83%
evil humans 123 71.10%
Gems and Gold 122 70.52%
elementals (and kin) 122 70.52%

60-70%
kobolds 118 68.21%
beholders 117 67.63%
mind-flayers 112 64.74%
AC (damage avoidance) 111 64.16%
halfling 108 62.43%
griffons and minators (and so on) 106 61.27%

50-60%
Multi-Classing 103 59.54%
fey 100 57.80%
Saving Throws 98 56.65%
giant/dire insects and animals 96 55.49%
Critical Hits 94 54.34%
3-18 ability scores 89 51.45%
20 or more kinds of weapons 89 51.45%

40-50%
6 or more kinds of Armor 84 48.55%
drow 84 48.55%
chainmail 81 46.82%
polearms 75 43.35%
Alignment (3 or 9 point) 72 41.62%

30-40%
tarasque 67 38.73%
paladin 65 37.57%
druid 59 34.10%
halfelf 55 31.79%

20-30%
OTHER 50 28.90%
gnome 48 27.75%
dinosaurs 46 26.59%
spells per day 45 26.01%
halforc 38 21.97%
barbarian 37 21.39%
bard (pc or prc) 36 20.81%

10-20%
(magic items) that boost strength, etc. 33 19.08%
assassin (pc or prc) 31 17.92%
monk 28 16.18%
anti-paladin/blackguard 28 16.18%
(sep) sorcerer 26 15.03%
tiefling 23 13.29%

10% or less
half-ogre 17 9.83%
NONE OF THE ABOVE 3 1.73%


The basic "D20 D&D" elements are in the top, with level, classes races, monsters, and of course d20s. Its interesting how low Alingment, Paladins, Druids, and Barbarians come in. (the other low ones are not such a great surprise, except...)

HALF-OGRES. YOU NEED HALF OGRES.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

I think its interesting that more people want gnomes than want teiflings. Hey WotC, you may want to pay attention to that.

Not really. The audience they need to be concerned about is the one Wulf mentioned.... and they aren't on boards like this.

They don't have built-in preconceptions about what the game should be that conflict with ease of play and accessibility. They are therefore less judgmental.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

I chose other

More Roleplaying.

If I wanted to just kill monsters and take their stuff I'd play a CRPG

 

[TwoSix]

I am very sad that spells/day is getting so much hate. it actually says quite a lot, though most people don't stop to think about the implications.

Or most people have thought about the implications and still decided against it.

 

[Insight]

I'm kind of a maverick I guess. I think D&D could get rid of 90% of that overhead and still have a playable game. Point-buy, people. You could easily get rid of classes and races (among other things) and still have a balanced fun game. People are so reticent to think outside the box.

 

[Mokona]

I’m pleasantly surprised to see that half-elf, gnome, dinosaur, half-orc , bard, and “thing that boosts strength" are so unpopular in this poll.

It pleases me to see that “Levels (for class/character)”, Classes, and Hit Points are so popular.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

I'm interested to see that there are big gaps between Fighter/Cleric/Rogue/Wizard and the rest of the classes (*), and between Human/Elf/Dwarf/Halfling and the rest of the PC races. Also, the gaps are similar in both cases: the cleric is twice as popular as the paladin, the next strongest class, the halfling just under twice as popular as the half-elf.

It looks to me that for many people here, the basic elements of D&D are set by what was in the Basic set, and the new-fangled ideas of the 1st Ed PHB have yet to be really accepted.

Edit:

NB1: Great Poll!

NB2: But you left "Ranger" off the class list. I don't know if Ranger is considered more essential than Paladin.

NB3: It's also interesting to see that orcs and kobolds are almost exactly as popular as elves and dwarves.

NB4: I would have included two more options in the poll:
"Killing things and taking their stuff"
"Roleplaying"

 

[RigaMortus2]

One thing that I suppose falls under OTHER...

Errata SUPPORT!!!

I wonder... How long ago did they say they started working on 4E? Wasn't it like 2 years ago... And when was the last actual 3E errata update? Hmmmm....

 

[Talaeden_Denthiir]

- Defense and DR
- a sytstem that makes a PC function differently with 100 HP than 1 HP
- a system that allows characters with higher Con to Stabilize faster
- Better Multiclass Rules
- ability to create monsters faster, with less hassle, with class levels/added levels where appropiate
- stats for staples of fantasy literature such as Conan, Robin Hood, Lancelot, Elric, Drizzt, Etc. (see my post entitled "Iconic D&D")
- better XP System (seems like we're getting one)
- Highly Custimizable Characters
- Faster Pased Combat
- A game that Kicks Culo and is Fun!!!!!

 

[variant]

-Dice: All.

-Ability Scores: Yes, 6.

-Spells: Yes.

-Defense and DR: Reflex, Fortitude, Will Defense replaces saving throws and AC
Damage Reduction for all three.
Maybe a Defense for each ability stat.

-Hit Points: Should be renamed to something more abstract.

-Races: Only Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Elf, and Gnome.
Remove all half-races.
No Tiefling.
Gnome revamped with a niche of its own.
Multiple talent trees for each race.

-Classes: Sorcerer steals from Warlock.
Bard with non-arcane based magic.
Cleric should be cloistered.
Paladin replace Cleric as heavy armored battle-priest
Better multi-class rules.
Remove Monk and Barbarian.
Multiple talent trees for each class.
Better Multi-class Rules