Which D&D "cow" is least sacred?

[Gez]

The "tolkienesque" races, of course.

Gnomes, half-orcs and half-elves are not Tolkienesque. (Yes, Elrond and Elros were half-elves. This meant that they could choose whether to be a human or an elf. Elros choose human, Elrond choose elf.)

Also, D&D elves are not like Tolkien elves -- except maybe the Black Forest elves from The Hobbit. Their assigned alignment makes them closer to Shakespear elves -- and you know how much John Ronald Reuel hated William's depiction of elves.

Finally, the orcs are wildly different too. Only the halfling/hobbits were similar, but they are no longer. 3e street-urchin-like halflings are far removed from the plump, jolly and pastoral hobbits.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

A clarification of sorts: Yeah, I know the races don't bear much resemblance to Tolkien's races. I guess I meant more along the lines of "classical fantasy races". Plenty of d20 (AU) and non-d20 games (Talislanta) have gone the other route, and I wanted to know if D&D would be advanced by ditching them.

Why I like classes/levels/alignments: It might sound silly, but they make a handy way to describe your PC to someone outside of your group. If somebody asks you "What do you play as?" and you reply "A 12th level LG dwarven fighter" they can have a pretty fair idea of who you are. Whereas in a game like Vampire, for instance, saying that you are an 8th generation Malkavian with 5 dots of Dementation tells you almost nothing about the character, requiring a much more in-depth discussion. I enjoy being able to share my character concept in 10 words or less.

PS Darkness is going to add in Alignments and AC to the list of poll options. Didn't mean to snub them.

 

[Mordane76]

3.0 PHB pg 139 'Massive Damage'
3.5 PHB pg 145 'Massive damage'.

While D&D does have the concept of death from massive damage, the statistic in d20 Modern, IMO, is far more acceptable as a threshold than the static assignment of 50 (unless you want to start using the variants outlined in the DMG). I'm sorry if I made it sound like d20 Modern came up with the idea -- I know there have been different mechanics in 3.5E and 3.0E and 2E, I just like d20 Modern's version the best thus far.


There are also so many other non-d20 systems out there for handling damage that HP could easily be chucked for something else, and not lose the feel of D&D. White Wolf's wound levels and the Shadowrun Drain/Damage system (which I think would work exceptionally well for "will caster" archetypes) are two good examples.

 

[Nifelhein]

I voted for Vancian magic, because I never really liked it, always searched for something that would make a perfect fit and never found, aside from the make the DM crazy system of Mage.

I like the races, but they neevr were Tolkien's, at least not since 2nd edition, hey, we had infravision, like predator!! Come one, I am glad that is over now...

Anyway, I think Ranger is a lost concept, there are no rangers in any of the WotC settings, Midnight has the Wildlanders, an incarnation I think fits well.

Paladin is surely not a good option there any more. What I think the classes should be is more general concepts, 2nd edition ideas were perfect fits, get away with the division between arcane and divine magic, that does nothing to the game, we can say it is A or B well enough.

Make classes that fit the most general niches: spellcasters, warriors, sneaking types and add to it races that make as much a difference as classes, make ability scores make any difference.

This all would come with the greatest change I would like to see, and that needs nothing of those, I like all the way it is, except magic and discrepancies.

I want a system that makes no pit differences that make a rogue never fall for a trap, a wizard die at the time it flings and a warrior be a lot worried about it. Make the differences less brutal and we are gonna have a more balanced system for higher levels, beyond 20.

ELH has shown that, at least, making the differences stop there where they were. High enough, in my opinion, a little too high, in fact.

Also, I don't think skills should be like they are, class skills are a good mechanics for holding the ranks and the great difference in skill points does not improve my game, on the other hand.

Anyway, D&D3rd edition is a lot dedrived from Earthdawn, except that what they used was good there and has problems here. Give them time to fix it and they will learn that all the way ranks are a bad idea, Earthdawn has a max of 10, ability scores make a difference in that.

Anyway, I don't want to offend anyone, and all here is a way of viewing things, I accept divergence, in this things, at least!

And yes, AC and hit points need some change, too difference in hp make the trtap adn die thing I mentioned a reality even faster and ACs suck in low magic games, while monsters BABs make it a loooot deadly. Why make class defense to make up for soemthing you created, in the first place?

And also, make monsters follow th very same rules for characters, as their AC will not be that bigger. Hope none hates me for this post.

note: anyone has noticed the absence of roll eyes smile, it was not in my options...

 

[Nightfall]

The internet. Cause all it does is make a lot people angry at D&D when there's not always a good cause. (Plus then I can heckle Trick from some far off corner.)

 

[Orius]

Tolkien esque races have (arguably) already been excised in settings like Dark Sun. That'd be an easy one too, although there are plenty of folks that'd get right bent out of shape if they can't play their elves.

It wouldn't bother me, I usually despise D&D elves as they are typically portrayed. I put them in my world, because it would cause too much trouble with the elf-loving players if I didn't. When it comes to non-humans I prefer dwarves and gnomes.

 

[Orius]

3.0 PHB pg 139 'Massive Damage'
3.5 PHB pg 145 'Massive damage'.

So, this isn't a d20 Modern invention, it's a d20 system one. It was in Call of Cthulu d20 as well.

It goes back further than d20 or 3.0. Death by massive damage goes all the way back at least to the beginning of 2e. It's on the last page of the combat section in my 2e PHB.

 

[Nightfall]

Still say we excise the internet, no more problems!

 

[Orius]

I voted for none of them. I think each of the options presented, as well as AC and alignment, are part of the inherent flavor of D&D. If you take those elements out, it really isn't D&D any more.

 

[Nightfall]

I voted for none of them. I think each of the options presented, as well as AC and alignment, are part of the inherent flavor of D&D. If you take those elements out, it really isn't D&D any more.

Yep. But then people want limitations more than options it seems. No idea why. I mean do you got to McDonalds and say "Hey give me water!" when you really rather have a big mac meal?