What NON-OBVIOUS stuff would you like to see in Revised?

[Particle_Man]

minor ones

The shield spikes and armour spikes should do less
damage if one is a small creature (say 1d4 not
1d6).

Maybe flesh out the "skill-swapping" idea a bit more in the DMG.

Don't make the jump skill rely on exact height.
Where it relies on height, make it rely on average
height (in the S catagory, 3' for a biped; in the M category, 6' for a biped). This is the last
vestige of sexism in D&D, since female characters
are on average shorter than male ones, and have a lower maximum height. (except for elves).

 

[Particle_Man]

oh yeah

And I wouldn't mind importing a +1 fort save bonus to half-elves and half-orcs (cross-breeds tend to
be healthier). (I got this idea from the half-hobgoblin in Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide).

 

[Infinite Monkey@Work]

On the subject of 5' steps and bows, I think that :

1) 5' step followed by AoO action (like firing a bow) should still cause and AoO

2) A combat action needs to be added (if it doesn't already exist) that allows an AoO to halt movement in some way, thus allowing front line fighters to stop front line enemies from reaching the archers easily

3) Guidelines for long range combat (over distances from ~50' to ~1000') need to be included in the core rules, making it easier to figure out what happens if you spot someone a long way away and want to start firing while they approach. Something as simple as increasing the grid size to 30' won't work, beacuse they what do you do with 20' movement or 40' movement or whatever.

 

[Anabstercorian]

2) A combat action needs to be added (if it doesn't already exist) that allows an AoO to halt movement in some way, thus allowing front line fighters to stop front line enemies from reaching the archers easily

Trip, maybe?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Trying to think of some non-obvious ones...


Provide rules and guidance for handling political games - building castles, getting involved in politics etc.

Provide more extensive examples of customisation of classes (even with the 4-6 examples in PHB and DMG too many people take the class descriptions as gospel, rather than the starting point which they are)

Use the Jump skill mechanic from d20Modern (no brainer decision)

Provide some more "build your campaign" ideas - include Ray Winnegars(sp?) original Dungeoncraft articles.

Disconnect D&D from Greyhawk (or at least include some very basic maps and comments about greyhawk. The current situation is neither fish nor fowl!)

Change spell names so that none of them are tied in to particular individuals.

Either restrict the clerics freedom to miss sleep and still prepare spells, or grant that same freedom to the wizard. At present it is yet another means for the cleric to trounce the wizard in functionality.

Something I'd like to see, but won't
Will ST bonus switched to Charisma (strength of will), Initiative bonus switched to Wisdom (perceptiveness and readiness).

More realistic options for alternative xp awards - drawing from the work in CoC and d20M.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Another one:

A new category of "natural" abilities for critters, including:

Swim
Fly
Burrow
Constrict
Improved Grab

+whatever else makes sense.

i.e. abilities that depend upon the critters physical form, and not magic or supernatural abilities (or even the extraordinary abilities like regeneration).

The full range of these natural abilities would then be available to polymorphed people.

Cheers

 

[Kichwas]

More things on my list, some of which has been seen elsewhere:

• Include in-depth guidelines on determining Story-based XP rather than the vague section there at present.
• Fix the economics of magic item creation. Right now, a smart player could make a single 'hoop' of continual light spell, that casts the spell on common rocks, and create a whole new industry by making a conveyer belt that drops rocks through the hoop... While you can't plug every hole, there should at least be reasons discussed why assembly line magic item usage doesn't destroy the genre.
• Change Skill Focus to "+3 to one skill, or +2 to two chosen as a unified theme (DM approval required on theme). Sample themes include: ...etc..."
• Drop Alchemy for Sorcerers, give them yet even more CHA based skills.
• Change spellcraft DCs so that you have a penalty of 2 on spells cast from another class. -OR- a bonus of 2 from your own class (either or system, not both).
• Have Spell Mastery and Spell Focus feats affect Spellcraft checks (if they don't already, not sure).
• Put Eschew Materials feat, from the FR source Material, into the core rules.
• Put a revised version of Spellcasting Prodigy into the core rules. I say this only because the feat is too powerful as written, and the core rules makes a good place to fix it. I don't have clear ideas on how to fix it however. As written, the feat works as if you had 1/2 Spell Focus on every college, and for high enough stats, one free bonus spell. It's become one of those -every caster ought to have this- feats.
• Switch Rangers to a bonus feats system, choosing from a list of -ranger feats-. Have these placed out across their levels. This one is a pipe dream because while it would fix them (See AEG's Mercenary Ranger-though that class may be -too good-, the idea is there), it would require too much of a change on existing Rangers.
• Scale Toughness. Perhaps make it +1 hit point per level. Or +1 every odd numbered level.

 

[Oni]

[*]Scale Toughness. Perhaps make it +1 hit point per level. Or +1 every odd numbered level.
[/list]

How about 2+1/2 character levels. so that it still gives that oh so important boost at first level.

 

[jdavis]

That's an odd position to hold, given that most historical "adventurers" would be "fighters" of some kind -- conquistadors, legionaries, mercenaries, etc.

Why wouldn't a fighter have listen or spot? A good city guard should have those skills, and a good fighter will be able to tell what is around him, yes they might not be as good a as rogue or a ranger but that would show by the fact that a fighter gets fewer skill points. I could see where a wizard or cleric might not but a fighter definatly should, and a monk has listen but not spot, they should have both. Fighters are not the guys in the army (that's the npc class warrior) they are dedicated to fighting in small groups or alone and being aware of your surroundings is part of that. I did like house rule about trading out skills, that would take care of this too.

I've never played a sorcerer but I agree that the class needs some work. I think that Paladins and monks should be able to multiclass as clerics but not anything else. I agree that the Druid spell list is messed up and the weapon restrictions are a little too strict.

 

[demiurge1138]

Let's see...
1) More polearm feats. Spears and halebards should be more "worth it".
2) Make the rogue special abilities like Oppurtunist and Slippery Mind high-level feats with lots of prerequisites- ala Whirlwind Attack.
3) Put art into the three appendicies of the Monster Manual.
4) Include ECls for more than just the expected kobolds, gnolls, etc. After all, the DMG claimed that unicorns could be characters (at high levels, with tweaks).
5) Create a game-world reason for shadowdancers to exist (other than to get all sorts of twink abilities).
6) Make more Necromancy spells. They need to be threatening again without purchasing all sorts of splatbooks and gambling on not-always-remotely-balanced 3rd-party books.
Just my musings.

Demiurge out.