What would you like to see brought back from older editions?

[Lanefan]

To agree with some previous posts:

- Strongholds-temples-guildhouses-etc. as per class
- Illusionists as their own class
- Druids/Nature Clerics as their own class
- Level titles (hard to do for 30 levels worth per class now, so maybe a title every 3 levels?)
- Secondary skills and-or previous professions - some acknowledgement that you had a life before you started adventuring
- Training
- Bouncing lightning bolts and expanding fireballs...in fact a general awareness that magic is DANGEROUS!

And a few things not mentioned yet:

- Resurrection survival % rolls
- Potions, scrolls, and wands that do things an ordinary spell cannot
- Loss of a Con. point instead of a level on revival
- Random hit points at 1st level
- Smaller numbers overall - lower h.p., lower +'s to hit/damage, smaller level range*, etc.
- Random results from Monster Summoning spells - you can't choose what shows up
- Strength-boost items set to a fixed value e.g. Girdle of Giant Strength gives you Str 30 no matter what your Strength was before
- Magic item creation being a very arcane, difficult, and time-consuming task i.e. something PCs wouldn't generally do
- Str-Int-Wis-Dex-Con-Cha in that order

* - yes I know it's too late for this one, but maybe for 5e?

There's a few philosophical things that it'd be nice to bring back but it's probably too late for that; the most immediate of which is the idea that the players have player information and the DM has DM information and never the twain shall meet.

Lanefan

 

[Fifth Element]

I too would like 4E to be more like 1E, since I can't play 1E anymore.

 

[FungiMuncher]

Most of what I'd want has been mentioned:

* Strongholds for PCs
* Kara-Tur for Oriental Campaigns
* Background skills (perhaps "siloed" skills - everyone gets background, RP and combat skills)
* Customized Artifact Powers
* Quirky Spells (expanding fireballs and bouncing lightning bolts included, only more prevalent) - would seem to be an ideal opportunity to make those per day spells really unique and flavorful, the best part about Vancian magic
* Elimination of 2nd ed specialist wizards, and the return of Illusionists (and including other, similarly constructed "1st edition specialists")


I'd also like to see something like Weapons of Legacy down the line, but with less severe mechanical penalties.

Finally, Necromancer Games has done a 3.5 version of a character sheet with the classic shield: http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/NG_3.5_CSv101a.pdf. Perhaps they'll do one for 4ed, too.

 

[MerricB]

Exactly. I think XP for gold is one of the best mechanics of D&D. The game is about "tomb robbing", about mounting an 'archaeological' expedition from when archaeology meant "land piracy on behalf of Western civilization". When you're in the dungeon, you're not trying to "clear the level"; you're trying to get the Blue Pearl.

Indeed. I like XP for gold.

However, the game is no longer *all* about tomb robbing. That's the flaw in including the mechanic. There are a lot of games that don't really go near the dungeon - especially the megadungeons of the early game.

For an adventure like the Red Hand of Doom, it's all about protecting civilisation from the barbarian horde. You're not there extorting the townsfolk for their possessions, which is what the XP for gold line would encourage.

Cheers!

 

[Henrix]

Finally, Necromancer Games has done a 3.5 version of a character sheet with the classic shield: http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/NG_3.5_CSv101a.pdf. Perhaps they'll do one for 4ed, too.

Well, Mad Irishman did it for them. And seeing his track record of making character sheets odds are good he'll do one for 4E as well!

 

[Nifft]

Well, Mad Irishman did it for them. And seeing his track record of making character sheets odds are good he'll do one for 4E as well!

Everyone in my group loves Mad Irishman.

Cheers, -- N

 

[heirodule]

• Ability limitations based on sex

I approve.

I keep thinking Conan is a Str 20, and then I have trouble imagining the Str 20 Female PC.

Maybe D&D needs BRPs SIZ stat, and make damage a derived stat from SIZ. A 5' tall female STR 20 is not as powerful as a 6'4" Str 20.

 

[Gloombunny]

I approve.

I keep thinking Conan is a Str 20, and then I have trouble imagining the Str 20 Female PC.

She's a huge, burly woman, just like Conan is a huge, burly man.

Why is this a problem? PCs are supposed to be exceptional.

 

[Reynard]

She's a huge, burly woman, just like Conan is a huge, burly man.

No she's not. She's a six and a half foot tall redhead with giant, er... muscles and the radiance and fury of a thousand suns. Of course she has a 20 strength.

(Reminds me of an old Yamara comic strip in DragonMirth -- the dwarf is beinga mysoginist jerk to the female fighter, talking about how a woman doesn't need an 18 intelligence or wisdom, just a nice round 18... and she picks him up and syas "Strength"? Hee...


..I guess you had to be there.)

Why is this a problem? PCs are supposed to be exceptional.

QFT. In fact, that the PC in question might be the only woman within 1000 miles with a 20 strengt is a feature, not a bug.

 

[Gloombunny]

Six and a half feet tall with giant muscles sounds pretty huge and burly to me.