D&D 5E (2014) What rules would you like to see come back in 5E?

[Raith5]

Utility powers from 4th ed are out right? If so then utility abilities for every class.

I also really like the allegiance system in 3rd ed as a supplement to alignment (I think it was an optional rule from one of the later books) .

 

[Elf Witch]

Cleric domains/spheres. So there will be some spells that sit in a universal domain/sphere that all Clerics get, but the othere domains/spheres that Clerics do/don't get access to are determined by the god that they worship.

I want a Cleric of Pelor and a Cleric of Kord to have more differences than the holy symbol they carry and the domain spells they can cast. They should feel and play differently.

This is something I have wanted back for a very long time. I would also like to see flaws reintroduced.

 

[Hussar]

Morale rules. They don't have to be core. They can be an optional module, I don't mind. But, darn, can't we have morale rules please?

 

[Mistwell]

Morale rules.
Spell interruption.
Spells named for famous wizards.
Crazy evocative magic items.
Some form of XP for treasure.

 

[GSHamster]

Name levels (keeps/followers/etc.) at level 9-12 or so. From 2nd Ed.

 

[billd91]

Morale rules
Armor piercing weapons (not necessarily the full weapon vs armor type table)
Followers for high level characters (without spending a feat on it)
Uncapped damage from damage-based spells
Saving throws that improve faster than the save DC - even for weaker saves
Utility and buff spells that have non-crappy, combat-based durations

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Weapon speed never made sense as a weapon with a longer reach is at a much greater advantage in quickness of attack than a smaller lighter weapon in most situations.

In 1E, upon engaging in melee, the longer weapon strikes first, and weapon speed only comes into play when initiative is tied, or when opposed by spellcasting.

 

[Li Shenron]

I would really like to see 1E/2E initiative rules come back, complete with rerolled initiative each round, segment casting, time, and weapon speed.

This would certainly make for a nice interesting module.

If only re-rolled initiative is wanted, it can also be a simple, immediate house rule.

Templates.

I second this. They should be quite easy to design, the key point is the evaluation of how much they are worth (i.e. how to "pay" for a template, and how much XP/level increase it's worth when applied to a monster).

Real vancian spell casting

I really want this too... I almost can't believe that nearly nobody cares, that the current spellcasting rules aren't as vancian as they used to be. This to me is one of the defining mechanics of D&D, meaning that it's a huge part of the shared experience of playing D&D (for about 34 years) rather than another rules system, but sadly WotC did not include it in the list of defining mechanical elements, so as a consequence, keeping it in 5e was not a priority. I thought this would even prevent many older-editions grognard to recognize 5e as D&D, but seeing that almost nobody brings this up, then apparently I must be wrong.

Anyway, house ruling it back (as an option, of course) shouldn't be too hard either. I started a thread about it a couple of months ago: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?340467-True-Vancian-spellcasters

Cursed/Questionably Beneficial magic items.

Definitely! With magic items not following any strict rules, I don't see why the designers couldn't just freely design items with cursed properties. Or , a possibly interesting idea would be to have a table of "negative properties" (just like we have tables for quirks, origins etc.), so that you can turn every item in the book into a cursed item if you want, while another DM is not forced to roll on that table.

Cleric domains/spheres. So there will be some spells that sit in a universal domain/sphere that all Clerics get, but the othere domains/spheres that Clerics do/don't get access to are determined by the god that they worship.

I also like a lot to differentiate between clerics of different faiths, and instead strengthen identity of clerics of the same faith.

I don't really get why WotC designers generally prefers the other way around, i.e. to allow more differentiation between clerics of the same faith, and then have lots of overlapping among different faiths...

Anyway, in theory we already have the framework for domains. What matters, is what spells are actually put under those domains. Currently it seems to me they'll most of the times put common spells, for the benefit of having them always prepared, but if they put spells that aren't on the common cleric list, then it would really increase differentiation.

Morale rules. They don't have to be core. They can be an optional module, I don't mind. But, darn, can't we have morale rules please?

Definitely this one too!

 

[GX.Sigma]

A (simple, comprehensible) combat system based on old-school combat. A round represents a whole minute, so there's no need to track everyone's exact position. Everyone in melee chooses enemy targets at random, so there's no stacking damage. Everyone shooting into melee chooses targets at random (friendly or enemy), so all that silliness is removed. Spells go last and can be interrupted, so there's a reason for spellcasters to stay out of combat. Everyone acts simultaneously. This would pretty much solve all my problems with combat.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Cleric domains/spheres. So there will be some spells that sit in a universal domain/sphere that all Clerics get, but the othere domains/spheres that Clerics do/don't get access to are determined by the god that they worship.

I want a Cleric of Pelor and a Cleric of Kord to have more differences than the holy symbol they carry and the domain spells they can cast. They should feel and play differently.

Most definitely. When I built my primary campaign world back in 2E spheres made constructing specialist priests so much easier. I liked them enough that I got rid of generic clerics, leaving only the specialists.