Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
When does D&D stop being D&D?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ComradeGnull" data-source="post: 5969265" data-attributes="member: 6685694"><p>Race, class, level. Level-based advancement (..e, you get better at everything when you get better at anything). Six ability scores with humans typically in the 3-18 range (adding a high end for monsters and gods is fine with me). The nine alignments. Rolling a d20 as a core resolution mechanic. Hit points.</p><p></p><p>Save vs. rod/breath weapon/whatever always seemed cobbled together to me- you would read a description of some random effect in an adventure and then be told 'save vs. wand for half damage'- from some acid falling out of the walls or something. Why save vs. wand? Because that one had the numerical progression that best matched the chance of saving that the designer wanted for that effect...</p><p></p><p>Skills a la 3/4e & Pathfinder are uniformly better than the NWP system. I was just the other day looking through a big collection of 2e books (the edition I grew up playing), and every time I hit a Non-weapon Proficiency section, I just found myself thinking "wow, this is rubbish". Even the rules in the core book are goofy in terms of what requires two slots, which proficiencies have inexplicable penalties applied to them, proficiencies that cover way too much or too little content... etc.</p><p></p><p>Healing surges, to me, were an alternative healing mechanic introduced and made core in 4e. I have no problem with them being an option, but I also have no problem with them going away entirely.</p><p></p><p>Percentile dice... their application was always nichey. You can still use them for any 'Random xxx' table in the world, but honestly D&D feels more D&D-like without them. I always wondered why Thief skills had percentile rolls, but no other ability check did. It felt bolted on from another system.</p><p></p><p>Why do people want to change things? Because everyone's view of what is D&D is slightly different, and everyone thinks that changing a few things would make it their own personal Platonic ideal of what D&D is. Everyone has something where they think 'this doesn't fit with what D&D is'. These attempts at changing the core of the game are just attempts at making D&D more perfectly D&D-like, for varying personal values of what is D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ComradeGnull, post: 5969265, member: 6685694"] Race, class, level. Level-based advancement (..e, you get better at everything when you get better at anything). Six ability scores with humans typically in the 3-18 range (adding a high end for monsters and gods is fine with me). The nine alignments. Rolling a d20 as a core resolution mechanic. Hit points. Save vs. rod/breath weapon/whatever always seemed cobbled together to me- you would read a description of some random effect in an adventure and then be told 'save vs. wand for half damage'- from some acid falling out of the walls or something. Why save vs. wand? Because that one had the numerical progression that best matched the chance of saving that the designer wanted for that effect... Skills a la 3/4e & Pathfinder are uniformly better than the NWP system. I was just the other day looking through a big collection of 2e books (the edition I grew up playing), and every time I hit a Non-weapon Proficiency section, I just found myself thinking "wow, this is rubbish". Even the rules in the core book are goofy in terms of what requires two slots, which proficiencies have inexplicable penalties applied to them, proficiencies that cover way too much or too little content... etc. Healing surges, to me, were an alternative healing mechanic introduced and made core in 4e. I have no problem with them being an option, but I also have no problem with them going away entirely. Percentile dice... their application was always nichey. You can still use them for any 'Random xxx' table in the world, but honestly D&D feels more D&D-like without them. I always wondered why Thief skills had percentile rolls, but no other ability check did. It felt bolted on from another system. Why do people want to change things? Because everyone's view of what is D&D is slightly different, and everyone thinks that changing a few things would make it their own personal Platonic ideal of what D&D is. Everyone has something where they think 'this doesn't fit with what D&D is'. These attempts at changing the core of the game are just attempts at making D&D more perfectly D&D-like, for varying personal values of what is D&D. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
When does D&D stop being D&D?
Top