D&D 4E Wishlist: Things You'd Hope To See In 4E

[F4NBOY]

Less emphasis on 40 & 25 man raids, less rep grinding.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[Brewhammer]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Hehe!

 

[Kahuna Burger]

A system where weapon and fighting style choice is a flavor and character establishing decision, less so than an optimisation one. 2 weapon, 2 handed, sword and board, finesse, archer.... make them all viable choices for all classes.

 

[Lanefan]

My list would include in addition to the above:

1) Better craft resolution rules.
2) Better spot/hide resolution.
3) Better diplomacy resolution rules.
4) An Evasion/Pursuit resolution subsystem along the lines of the 'Hot Pursuit' rules, but tweaked a little to clear up some of the wacky results of that system in a few cases.
5) Additional universal combat manuevers: circle, parry, aggressive attack, clinch, throw (from a grapple), distract, etc. to allow characters to do things which they intuitively should be able to do.
6) Better handling of the 'step' problem (characters in the middle of melee combat can step/move away from an attacker to leave that combat becoming 'unthreatened' even if thier opponent is conceptually still vigorously attacking them).
7) Longer better designed lists of core feats.
8) 'Military Discipline' and 'Tactics' as new class exclusive skills for fighter types, that open up the oppurtunity for certain small advantages in combat situations.

Pretty much agreed up to here (though I don't think we need *more* core feats...), however...

9) Explicit divine intervention rules.

I couldn't agree less on this one. Divine intervention has always been where the DM can take a direct hand somehow. Some DMs overuse it, and that's a shame, but I'd really hate to see hard and fast rules put on it.

10) Rules for sacrifices and ritual magic.
11) Rules for sacred sites and groves.

And temples in general. What makes a temple or grove sacred. What ceremonies and costs are involved. What special defenses does a grove/temple have, or can it have. And so on.

12) Better environment/terrain rules in general.
13) Fewer immunities and absolutes. (.......)
14) Better thought out game breaking spells (polymorph, any teleport, speak wt. the dead, detect evil, know alignment, raise dead, etc.)

I'm not so concerned about these but we probably disagree somewhat on what constitutes "game breaking" (commune ranks above any of those on my list).

One other thing I'd like to see for 4e:

- Illusionist and Necromancer become their own distinct core classes with separate spell lists (and do away with most other references to magic "schools" (abjuration, conjuration, etc.) for regular wizards).

Lanefan

 

[Kunimatyu]

Vastly depowered mages(blasting good, save-and-lose bad). Very few spells so powerful they require another magic user to counter their effects.

No monster/PC rules parity -- monsters need easy-to-process statblocks, PCs need complex options.

More warlock-esque at-will abilities for magic users.

Fold druids into nature clerics. Lose animal companions but allow for powerful summons at the cost of the caster's actions.

No buff spells/abilities -- keep math in play simple.

Improved grappling/manuever rules.

A less fine-grained skill system.

More dynamic rules for traps and hazards.

Social 'combat' rules, not just skill checks versus a flat DC.

Alignment gone as a key game mechanic component('protection from', holy swords, etc), but spells that offer protection against supernatural creatures/forces still exist.