I am curious to see what will come in the next edition. If Wizards is as keen as taking player input as they say there are, I'd like to have my voice heard. I started playing D&D with the 3.0 rules. At the time me and my friends had fun doing adventures and it was a regular event. The system works really well at the lower levels and with a relatively minimum amount of rules materials (that is, keeping it to the core rules). As time wore on I read more about some of the supplemental material introduced. We converted over the 3.5, and we transitioned onwards to mid-level adventures. This is where the game started to wear on me. Battles with hit point racing would take longer and longer. Some battles were over instantly because the monster(s) failed its save. I kept strict to core-material only because I've read enough about 100 AC characters and super-kobold psions. But even then planning adventures for mid level characters became difficult. 4E has it's own problems and I'm sure Wizards is well aware of them, thus the new edition.
My recommendations: Keep the power scale low. Make heroic characters about player understanding of tactics, planning, as well as just having the daring to take on that dragon where no one else will, rather than about big numbers. A great example of a rule system I have fallen in love with is Savage Worlds. Key features of this system is that traits (stats and skills, including fighting) dange from d4 to d12, so the power scale difference in new characters and high level characters is fairly low. Also, using dice means there's a finite chance of failure even among heroic characters. This doesn't mean they're incompetent, but rather some times they have to improvise and try a different solution. It helps to keep the game interesting instead of bypassing a bunch of details with, "I take 10". This also keeps power inflation from jumping to insane levels where the GM has to start inventing new threats to keep the players challenged. Eberron for example seems to be a more appealing world because most of the world is below 10th level. This helps keep the players the star of the show instead of leaving them to wonder why Elminster can't just teleport in, disentegrate the beholder, teleport out, and otherwise do everything the adventurers could do with a lot less effort.
Put the emphasis on flavor, not rules. We don't need 20 different classes that are all about dealing physical damage. Using feats and skills alone, it should be possible to build a knight, a swashbuckler, a raging barbarian, an archer, and a pugilist all out of the same "fighter" class. This helps make the system appealing as players don't have to languish about not having the books or material to do what they want, and lets them play the character exactly as they like, by using a bit of imagination to fill in the details instead of etching every bit of flavor into the rules.
Focus on content. Eberron for example is a very interesting world and there's a lot of potential here. There's some books for it already, but I'm still often asking myself questions about characters and locations. And more important, where the future may lead. It's one thing for the adventurers to have a hand in the world, but I want them to feel like they're in a world and that events will transpire while they're off adventuring. Material that shows me where the big movers are likely to head without interference helps save me time and provide a deeper experience. In line with content, how about producing some meta-plot heavy material? A setting with particular start and a particular end. This doesn't have to be all of the content, just some stuff to keep players occupied other than selling constant rules books.
Experienced gamer. D&D 3.x, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Dark Heresy, GURPS, various WW games, and more.
NO ATTACK ROLLS!!! It would speed thing up ALOT, and HP is already nicely abstracted....
AC/Fort/Ref/Will will all be resists... Fireball would just do 5d6 damage... Stoneskin would add resist 4 for a turn... 1-weapon MBA would do 1d8+Str... 2-weapon MBA would do 1d12+Str... Shields would give (stackable) resist 1/2... Heavy armor would absorb X damage per battle... Dex/Int would let you avoid any damage below your mod.. Effects are applied if you take a certain amount of damage (i.e. if you take 10+ damage from dazing strike you are dazed, 20+ and you are stunned).
(obviosuly these number's need some adjustment).
Otherwise, i like where 4e was going with the multiple levels of complexity and stuff.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
I completely agree there are too many classes and races at the moment. They should be more unique and have playstyles that feel different to other classes. 4e homogenised the classes quite a lot. For example perhaps the wizard would be one of only a couple of classes that could immobilise, or fighters the only ones that can slide targets around. As it stands, pretty much any class can pick abilities that another class can do.
All character choices should be decent, balanced choices. There shouldn't be any bad options because the numbers are too low. Perhaps have separate combat and non-combat catagories for choices so that players don't have to sacrafice RP abilities for combat powers.
Extended rests and daily powers are pointless and just headaches in managing them. They don't fit well with gameplay and have to be shoe-horned in. A spell point augmentation system would be much nicer.
Magic items should be a rare treasured reward and not required to be upgraded every 5 levels.
Minor point, but currency is messed up in 4e. What's the point in copper and silver, when players get gold from level 1?
NO ATTACK ROLLS!!! It would speed thing up ALOT, and HP is already nicely abstracted....
AC/Fort/Ref/Will will all be resists... Fireball would just do 5d6 damage... Stoneskin would add resist 4 for a turn... 1-weapon MBA would do 1d8+Str... 2-weapon MBA would do 1d12+Str... Shields would give (stackable) resist 1/2... Heavy armor would absorb X damage per battle... Dex/Int would let you avoid any damage below your mod.. Effects are applied if you take a certain amount of damage (i.e. if you take 10+ damage from dazing strike you are dazed, 20+ and you are stunned).
(obviosuly these number's need some adjustment).
Otherwise, i like where 4e was going with the multiple levels of complexity and stuff.
i would suggest the other way around no damage rolls damage from powers and weapons becomes static so a longsword would do 5 damage also all damage bonuses would be static.
so longsword attack 5 damage longsword 4 damage from ability score 2 damage from feats, 2 damage from magic total 13 damage you roll a to hit roll and each point you roll above the targets fefence gets added to damage
so the above atack against a ac 20 creature. if your attack roll with modefyers is 28
1. No OGL 2. No 3E-style multiclassing 3. No god wizards and meathead fighters 4. Clerics are more than healbots, and not the only good healer in the game.
i would suggest the other way around no damage rolls damage from powers and weapons becomes static so a longsword would do 5 damage also all damage bonuses would be static.
so longsword attack 5 damage longsword 4 damage from ability score 2 damage from feats, 2 damage from magic total 13 damage you roll a to hit roll and each point you roll above the targets fefence gets added to damage
so the above atack against a ac 20 creature. if your attack roll with modefyers is 28
you do 13+8 =21 damage
Yup. d20 is core to D&D. You can't not use it.
This static damage system would work for a basic system.
i would suggest the other way around no damage rolls damage from powers and weapons becomes static so a longsword would do 5 damage also all damage bonuses would be static.
so longsword attack 5 damage longsword 4 damage from ability score 2 damage from feats, 2 damage from magic total 13 damage you roll a to hit roll and each point you roll above the targets fefence gets added to damage
so the above atack against a ac 20 creature. if your attack roll with modefyers is 28
you do 13+8 =21 damage
Yup. d20 is core to D&D. You can't not use it.
This static damage system would work for a basic system.
You can still use it, for skills and such. Just not for "to-hit" stuff.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
"Magic items should be a rare treasured reward and not required to be upgraded every 5 levels."
No. There should be a choice, at least, between having low magic and high magic play. And magic items should be balanced so that high magic play isn't rediculous.
Many of us want our cool magic items, and want them to be impactful, but not overwhelming in importance. We are no less a part of the game/community than you. I speak as both a player and a DM.
More sex and gender equality and racial equality shouldn't even be an argument--it should simply be an assumption for any RPG that wants to stay relevant in the 21st century.
"Magic items should be a rare treasured reward and not required to be upgraded every 5 levels."
No. There should be a choice, at least, between having low magic and high magic play. And magic items should be balanced so that high magic play isn't rediculous.
Many of us want our cool magic items, and want them to be impactful, but not overwhelming in importance. We are no less a part of the game/community than you. I speak as both a player and a DM.
I like high magic campaigns, but needing a new item just to upgrade a number on it for the math fixes doesnt speak of high magic to me. Let magic items be things that add options, add power, and add flavour, but put the math fixes in the system to begin with (of course, a low magic campaign will still need some rebalancing vs a high magic campaign). Let me feel like the magic item merchant is finally letting me into the back room where he keeps the items too powerful for those he doesn not trust (and who don't have the gold to pay for them), rather than sucking his teeth and saying "well, that flaming sword you had might have been good enough for those kobolds you were hunting, but it's gonna be pretty useless against them orcs, you need this slightly sharper, but otherwise indistingushable sword instead!"
"I am the seeker, I am the stalker, I am the walrus"
Many of us want our cool magic items, and want them to be impactful, but not overwhelming in importance. We are no less a part of the game/community than you. I speak as both a player and a DM.
I gave my personal opinion, I did not state other's aren't valid, and I'm sure if any designers at WotC read this (which I doubt) they will take everyone's opinion on board (I would hope!)
