What would be your WILD ideas for D&D?

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

As a friendly counterpoint to the "Essential classes of D&D by Tradition" Poll-Thread I'm interested to hear what people would do if they were allowed to break D&D tradition when creating a new D&D (whether or not any of you would actually end up calling it D&D out of respect for (or fear of) those people who like the tradition).

What classes would you choose or make?
What kind of races would you have?
What kind of magic?

EDIT: I suppose I should add my own ideas so long as I'm asking:

I would use whatever "we are the diverse ones" human stats that were lying around and make them the stats for all races, which would then instead be defined by choices within that framework as well as additional feats and short, generic paragon classes. Then I would eliminate all traditional races including humans. Instead you would have a motley assortment of individuals who have varying degrees of similarity and difference because they are either a bunch of different races interbred until the distinction got blurred, or are just one race with variation.

I would eliminate spellcasting as-is and instead just have a very few at-will abilities: a blast, a remote mover, a sense-enhancer/remote sense, telepathy, illusion, and a matter-changer.

For classes I'd go with just three: fighter and caster, with "thief/skill-monkey" being a consequence of character build, plus a class devoted exclusively to using shapeshifting.

 

[Crothian]

Magic would be like the old Mage game. It just seemed to have guidelines and the players had a lot of room to just make things happen.

My classes qwould be very specific so that each character bascially had their own tailor made class. THere would be no need for multi classing or prestige classes because instead you just build it right into the class you want for your character.

Races I feel are far more campaign world dependant. I would almost require racial levels and racial feats to really allow each race to be different mechanically.

The classes and races would be stronger then we have now so the magical items would be more limited to help keep things in check.

 

[Mark Hope]

It would be Torg. With the magic system from Mage: the Ascension, because the Torg magic system contravenes certain parts of the Geneva Convention regarding mental torture. In fact, why am I not running this right now?

 

[CleverNickName]

Honestly?

Instead of creating a whole library of different classes to play, I would prefer to stick to the "basic four" and let all of the individual feats, prestige classes, equipment, and so forth do the customizing.

Same goes for races. I'd prefer to stick to the basic stereotypes, creating slight variations and/or adding templates on an as-needed basis.

Magic? So far, my favorite way to use magic in the game is with the "magic points" variant in Unearthed Arcana. It's not perfect, but it sure is fun.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

As a friendly counterpoint to the "Essential classes of D&D by Tradition" Poll-Thread I'm interested to hear what people would do if they were allowed to break D&D tradition (whether or not any of you would actually end up calling it D&D out of respect for (or fear of) those people who like the tradition).

What classes would you choose or make?
What kind of races would you have?
What kind of magic?

I'm tempted to say that the questions just don't make sense. Firstly, I don't care what edition of D&D you're playing, as DM you ARE allowed to break tradition and add, delete, or alter classes, races, and even the system used for magic. In some cases this privilege, which sensibly need not be stated, actually IS spelled out specifically. Secondly, the more classes, races, and spiffy new variant rules that I see people heap upon the game (officially, or unofficially), the more I just want to keep to ONLY the classic, traditional classes, races, and rules. This is generally because I don't see players doing anything more interesting with all the options and changes. I'd far rather see players being encouraged to dream up all kinds of new races, classes, abilities THEMSELVES rather than taking pride in gathering a dozen different options from obscure "official" materials and putting them together in the way most likely to make a DM want to nerf half of it.

But that's probably just me.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Well in the inspirational thread it was stated that in creating the new D&D you couldn't deviate from tradition. I'm trying to collect those ideas that wouldn't get said on that thread for that reason.

 

[Allegro]

I’d like to remove all social skills so all characters can interact with NPCs without fears of being asked to make a diplomacy roll. I think social skills make as much sense as a riddle skill, where a character can roll a d20 to answer the sphinx's riddle. The enchantment school of magic can simulate being a really really good talker.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

* innovative paint-by-number race generation
* classless point-buy, with support for monkeys, ninjas, pirates and robots
* simplified magic/psionics based on caliber.
* full-body contact Twister-style combat resolution system

 

[Oryan77]

I think social skills make as much sense as a riddle skill, where a character can roll a d20 to answer the sphinx's riddle.

I agree. The scary thing is a lot of people do use a riddle skill check (Int check). I think that's fine, I use social skill checks & Int/Wis checks, but they are used only to speed up a situation, make a decision that I don't care about as DM, or to keep the game moving if the player is stuck & having a hard time portraying his character. But in no way is that skill check made before the player or myself attempts to roleplay it out first.

They have their use, it's just how you use them that matters if you care about it like we apparently do

 

[M.L. Martin]

Split the game into various compatible but distinct lines:

'Basic' D&D for quick and easy play and for the OD&D/1E-style OSR folks. Setting: Greyhawk

'Advanced' D&D with the bells & whistles, for those who want a well-rounded but more rules-intensive experience. Setting: Forgotten Realms

Player's Options: Combat & Tactics D&D: A modular system that adds grid-based combat and emphasizes martial encounters ranging from gritty realism to large-scale battles. Settings: Dark Sun, Birthright

Player's Options: Skills & Magic D&D: A modular system that adds new character-building options and magic systems for the kind of game where you can play just about anything. Settings: Eberron, Mystara

Player's Options: Dramatic Adventure D&D: A modular system designed for story-focused play, streamlining some spots while allowing character definition and greater player input to the unfolding story. Settings: Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape