What scale of changes and changes themselves would you find acceptable?

[Tonguez]

Fundamental

It needs to stay D20 + mods vs DC but everything else is up for grabs

IMHO 4e should be the ultimate generic tool kit that allows DMs and Players to creatively develop the world and game they want to play using all kinds of options

Personally I'd love to see the whole game become a 'Feats and Skills' set up where 'Class Archetypes' are developed based on Feat Choices (which can be modified on the fly) and where Saves, Combat, Magic and Movement all work like skills. Oh also need to add Talent Trees (Class, Racial and 'Special' (eg Bloodline)) which allow unlimited custimisation of characters. Prestige Classes become a 'Packagre of Talents'

 

[Shades of Green]

IMHO 4E must bring some significant changes to the system to justify its own existance - if it will be a mere revision of 3E (as 3.5 is), I don't see much point in spending my money on it (I didn't buy 3.5E for that reason). I think that the whole point of a new edition is to wipe the slate clean - and improve the system, as AD&D 1E was to D&D, AD&D 2E was to AD&D 1E, and 3E was to AD&D 2E.

 

[diaglo]

complete change. change everything back to OD&D(1974)

 

[Thanee]

IMHO 4E must bring some significant changes to the system to justify its own existance - if it will be a mere revision of 3E (as 3.5 is), I don't see much point in spending my money on it (I didn't buy 3.5E for that reason). I think that the whole point of a new edition is to wipe the slate clean - and improve the system, as AD&D 1E was to D&D, AD&D 2E was to AD&D 1E, and 3E was to AD&D 2E.

Yep, a change should incorporate more than mere errata and clarification.

It should be an improvement.

(That, of course, rules out what diaglo said above...)

Bye
Thanee

 

[Vrecknidj]

What really interests me is how split the votes are among all the choices. None of the choices, and no set of choices, really dominates.

I could honestly care less. They'll do whatever they do, and I'll buy it, and I'll complain about what I don't like, and we'll all introduce house rules because most of us already have, etc.

Dave

 

[3catcircus]

With all the talk of doing away with classes, changing the magic system, and changing the ability scores used, I might as well just play any other game instead - HARP, for example.

Don't get me wrong - I love HARP, Harnmaster, and the dozens of other RPGs sitting on my shelf, but if you are going to remove what makes D&D - you might as well not even bother releasing a new version.

What scares me the most about 4e is that it will be released by a Hasbro-controlled WotC that seems hell-bent on "simplifying" things to make it easy for new players to pick up and play - what will all of the collectible miniatures lead to? Feats and abilities you have to buy CCG for in order to obtain?

Part of what made (A)D&D so much fun for me when I was a kid was that it *is* hard to learn for a new player - why bother learning the rules unless there is a bit of a challenge? Then again, I also love hard-core flight simulations - there is something to the idea that being difficult to master can be fun.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Personally 3e has enough variants and options to make your own 4th edition. I think enough people have enough ambition to do what WOTC will try and sell us with 4e, and we all know what we want more than they do. Personally 3.5 is fine and when a 4e comes i will only buy Forgotten Realms or books that can be used with little to no conversion.

 

[Dykstrav]

To me, D&D means a few basic fundamentals which identify it as D&D: race as a template, classes largely defining abilities, class abilities functioning on ability scores, et cetera. Without these fundamentals, it's not D&D, so I hope there's no huge changes there. I wouldn't want to play a D&D without classes and levels no matter how much other people keep talking about wanting to move to a system without classes and levels.

I'm willing to accept changes that speed up play (which almost always means simplifying it). For example, I'm willing to entertain the idea that damage could be folded into an attack roll and weapons provide a fixed bonus to damage. But certain other things that slow down play should be streamlined, even if they are more "realistic," such as armor functioning as damage reduction. I really am a strong proponent that any given action should be reduced to two rolls max.

 

[was]

small changes

 

[drothgery]

Small to large; Huge isn't necessary at this time (maybe for 5e, but not for 4e), and anything past that changes it to something that's not D&D. As for anything less than Small -- that should be branded as 3.6e or 3.75e or something like that (which I wouldn't have much trouble with WotC doing), not 4e.