Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 5969214" data-attributes="member: 5100">I'm probably going to regret participating in a "what is D&D" conversation, but here goes:Over the years, I've come to understand that everyone has sacred cows, but they don't have the same sacred cows. For example, I think 3-18 ability scores is part of the definition. The 3e level increases made me a bit wary, and the 4e stats drove me up a wall. The game should handle a variety of races, but should be human-centric (i.e. humans don't get stat modifiers). D&D is a class/level system and the idea of either getting rid of classes or just de-emphasizing them in favor of skills and feats being the focus would bother me.I'm also still smarting about rangers losing access to magic-user spells. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />The "loss" of THAC0 doesn't bother me because BAB is just a cleaner way of presenting the same information. Actually, I remember when THAC0 was added. I thought (and still think) the acronym sounds stupid, and was a bit irritated that the tables were taken out of the DMG (it's grown on me), so I get a chuckle out of the notion that THAC0 even could be a sacred cow.The change in saves from Breath Weapon, et al, to R/F/W was a bit odd, but it just seemed like a cleaned up version of what went before. Someone shoots a fireball at you, so you roll a d20 to see if you can avoid half -- it gets easier as you gain levels. Turning them into defenses actually worked pretty well, but didn't feel right, to me.Skills didn't really exist, originally, and it was regular fodder for house rules or Dragon articles. The NWP were an aborted attempt and I never really cared for them. While I think 3e and 4e both had some good ideas for skills, neither version ever really grabbed me as "right". With the exception of "roll a d20, higher is better", I don't really see a cow, there.I like percentile dice, but they were never used for any major mechanics I can think of. Okay, magic resistance, but the d20 just seems like a refinement. Random tables should be percentile, though.Healing surges are a 4e addition. I don't even see the concept as being a permanent addition. If it is, it's as pure as 1e psionics or 2e NWP.In answer to your specific questions: No, it can't be classless. It also can't be human-only (in the core books, settings should use what works for them). Nor can you remove humans as the anchor (the prior caveat does not apply).I don't think you can remove HP and AC. It might work, but I think it'd change it too much.D&D has its origins in wargaming. Dice are required for task resolution. A good GM may ignore them, occasionally, but the rules are based around dice.</blockquote>

Verification