During my time running 3.5 games I can't think of a better, and more well used, selection of books than all the complete series. Having a treasure trove of options, most of which were well done, allowed myself and my players to create those very unique and memorable characters that will be etched into memories for a lifetime.
I was wondering if Paizo was planning to release a remake of this series in the future?
The complete book, unfortunately, are not open content so Paizo can not re-release these these books.
I would doubt it as its all owned by WoTC and not OGL.
Creative Director
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We've done 32 page books about most of the races so far, but at this time we're VERY unlikely to do one for every class. We're more likely to bundle things together; a product like the Advanced Player's Guide has a LOT of options for characters all under one roof. This not only has the advantage of putting everything in one place, but lets us make sure each class is treated fairly. Doing a seperate book for each class would probably result in a line that stretches out for several years (like what happened in previous similar lines), and power creep would get in there.
I'd much rather avoid that. And in so doing, free up our Companion line and Rulebook lines to tackle new frontiers.
Indeed. My last 3.5 campaigns were a mess, because I was pretty much lost with all the options players had. Not that I think options are *bad*, per se, but if there is too much material, it gets very hard to be able to keep up with it.
While I also would like to see some new prestige classes ( although the base classes are very, very nice now ), I hope the writers keep them down to manageable numbers.
BTW, how will duplicate feats from 3.5 be handled? I can't imagine that some feats won't be pretty similar to 3.5 feats, but how would the copyright from WotC affect those ones?
For example, Chain Spell seems a pretty obvious thing to put out as a new metamagic spell, but already was in the Complete Arcane. So can Paizo remake it and give it another name, or is its existance in D&D 3.5 a reason why we'll never see it?
Well the whole point of Pathfinder being backward-compatible was that you could update material like this yourself for your games, if you wanted. A lot of people have done builds for the various classes so you can use and not use whatever you want from them.
For myself, there were some good ideas there that can be updated, and some fairly banal filler material.
Well the whole point of Pathfinder being backward-compatible was that you could update material like this yourself for your games, if you wanted. A lot of people have done builds for the various classes so you can use and not use whatever you want from them.
For myself, there were some good ideas there that can be updated, and some fairly banal filler material.
Yeah, but allowing the old 3.5 books would open several cans of worms for my campaign, including several overpowered PrCs, spells and magic items, all which I'd need to balance against current content.
So, no thanks, I'll pass on that.
But I'd like to see Paizo publish more of *their* crunch, I am just curious how they'll avoid copying one or more of the gazillion feats 3.5 had at its end. And, when it happens, how the copyright issue would be adjudicated.
I would deal with such things ona acase-by-case basis. If the players want stuff, I am happy to include it if I don't think it is game-breaking. Some feats are really essential for some combos - like Practiced Caster for any combo with a spell-caster.
With regard to copyright, I think as long as Paizo are making a conscientious effort to create their own feats to fulfill a need, they should be OK. Sure, they might inadvertently duplicate one feat enough to make alarm bells ring, but a single feat is not really enough to have even WotC reaching for their lawyers - even should they find out about it. As long as they aren't copying stuff by the pageful, I can't see issues.
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Creative Director
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Actual rules mechanics, as it turns out, can't be copyrighted.
We handle it by renaming feats, rewriting their flavor text, and adjusting rules text as we think it should to work with the new rules. In most cases, we don't specifically go out to duplicate feats, though. It's just that lots of feats, when you start to examine the rules and look for ways that new feats would logical grow out of those rules, you end up with similar results.
Anyway... check out our Companion line of books and the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide for how we're handling additional/new feats. There'll also be a lot of them in the revised Campaign Setting, and more showing up now and then in Pathfinder Adventure Path and other Chronicles books as they make sense to show up.
Add me to the list of "say no to splats". The APG is ok for me as long as it remains what it is.... an optional book. Back in the "complete" days I hated seeing all these new adventures using Warlocks, Scouts, etc. even if they had all the necessary stats printed in the adventure.
Im still a little worried about too much splat beyond the core. Hope these are few and far between. If they are a necessary evil, then I hope they get playtested and balanced better than the WotC days. There were some really broken PrCs back then.
I know I have the option of not using these at my table, which is fine. Id just rather not see the repeating pattern that I saw with 3E/3.5 is all. YMMV of course.
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Creative Director
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One initial goal of the APG, of course, was to put ALL of our generic splat stuff into one book. That way we can not only make sure that it's got balanced options and keep things all in one spot for ease of reference, but don't fall into the insidious trap of power creep.
It remains to be seen if we'll be able to resist not doing lots of this type of book, of course. I hope we can.
It isnt only power creep for me, its that eventually there are too many "shiny" classes available that people tend to never want to play the core classes all that much after that.
New rules are ok for certain things like quick mass combat resolution, ship to ship (or airborne) combat rules etc.
On the other hand a new (balanced please) race or two would be ok, one that is uniquely "Paizo/Golarion". Like the Dabus from PS (yes I know they werent a PC race), or the Vistani from RL, something that carries the Golarion flavor.
I trust Paizo to keep things well balanced in any event, and thanks for addressing these concerns as usual.
It remains to be seen if we'll be able to resist not doing lots of this type of book, of course. I hope we can.
I hope you cant I love this type of book
We've done 32 page books about most of the races so far, but at this time we're VERY unlikely to do one for every class.
I would like to class books in the Companion but not really adding much in character options
like Monks of Golarion detailing some different orders and the like. Maybe some order specific feats or whatnot
Add me to the list of "say no to splats". The APG is ok for me as long as it remains what it is.... an optional book. Back in the "complete" days I hated seeing all these new adventures using Warlocks, Scouts, etc. even if they had all the necessary stats printed in the adventure.
Im still a little worried about too much splat beyond the core. Hope these are few and far between. If they are a necessary evil, then I hope they get playtested and balanced better than the WotC days. There were some really broken PrCs back then.
I know I have the option of not using these at my table, which is fine. Id just rather not see the repeating pattern that I saw with 3E/3.5 is all. YMMV of course.
Don't GM PFS games if you want the APG to remain optional at your table, as most of the book looks to be made official for Organized Play.
We've done 32 page books about most of the races so far, but at this time we're VERY unlikely to do one for every class.
And there was much rejoicing (at least from me).
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We've done 32 page books about most of the races so far, but at this time we're VERY unlikely to do one for every class. We're more likely to bundle things together; a product like the Advanced Player's Guide has a LOT of options for characters all under one roof. This not only has the advantage of putting everything in one place, but lets us make sure each class is treated fairly. Doing a seperate book for each class would probably result in a line that stretches out for several years (like what happened in previous similar lines), and power creep would get in there.
I'd much rather avoid that. And in so doing, free up our Companion line and Rulebook lines to tackle new frontiers.
+1
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I hope you cant I love this type of book
It remains to be seen if we'll be able to resist not doing lots of this type of book, of course. I hope we can.
+1
I also really like this type of book, but I don't think it was done all that well in 3.5. I don't like a big splat book full of feats, prestige classes and new gimmicks. But I have a lot of fondness for the 2e Wizard's Handbook, Theive's Handbook, and Fighter's Handbook. I particularly loved the thieves guild generator in the Thieve's Handbook. That's the type of thing I'd like to see if Paizo were to do a book like this - a focus on ideas inspired by the various character classes and maybe some variant classes. The other thing that I would like is if it were like Unearthed Arcana - a behind the scenes view of the mechanics that make the character class work.
Plus, I think these books appeal a lot to newer players and would be a good way to ease someone new to the game from the core rules into the campaign setting/APs.
I´m rather for expanding existing options than creating all new options. Example: the bard class mechanic has IMO a big potential for variants, and what can be made of this is shown in the Inquisitor.
And I have to agree *gasp* with Sebastian, that some of the 2e race/class books had very good stuff adding to the roleplaying potential, like elven racial origins or fighter options or the idea of kits in general. Of course, in creating a lot of options, some weak results are all but inevitable (IMO, the priests handbook was rather weak). With 3.0/3.5, WotC created a lot of options, whereas paizo aims for quality so far. I´d rather have a few good options than a lot of options of mixed quality.
Stefan
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I hope you cant I love this type of book
It remains to be seen if we'll be able to resist not doing lots of this type of book, of course. I hope we can.+1
I also really like this type of book, but I don't think it was done all that well in 3.5. I don't like a big splat book full of feats, prestige classes and new gimmicks. But I have a lot of fondness for the 2e Wizard's Handbook, Theive's Handbook, and Fighter's Handbook. I particularly loved the thieves guild generator in the Thieve's Handbook. That's the type of thing I'd like to see if Paizo were to do a book like this - a focus on ideas inspired by the various character classes and maybe some variant classes. The other thing that I would like is if it were like Unearthed Arcana - a behind the scenes view of the mechanics that make the character class work.
Plus, I think these books appeal a lot to newer players and would be a good way to ease someone new to the game from the core rules into the campaign setting/APs.
My feeling is in 3.5 they tried to do 'generic' race books. They weren't tied to any setting just the race. When you take out the "of Golarion" part of the races they are a whole lot less interesting.
Ya ask me the only two race books worth a damned wotc put out where tired to settings. The others were just very blah
Actual rules mechanics, as it turns out, can't be copyrighted.
We handle it by renaming feats, rewriting their flavor text, and adjusting rules text as we think it should to work with the new rules. In most cases, we don't specifically go out to duplicate feats, though. It's just that lots of feats, when you start to examine the rules and look for ways that new feats would logical grow out of those rules, you end up with similar results.
Anyway... check out our Companion line of books and the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide for how we're handling additional/new feats. There'll also be a lot of them in the revised Campaign Setting, and more showing up now and then in Pathfinder Adventure Path and other Chronicles books as they make sense to show up.
Wow, thanks for the detailed information. :)
As far as more splatbooks are concerned, I personally would be fine it would be kept to the Advanced Players Guide. As I said above, at the end of 3.5 I was simply overwhelmed with so many books to keep track of.
OTOH, I wouldn't mind at all if the new classes made it into the Adventure Paths. As long as their abilities are clearly discernable from the stat block, not having the full rules should be survivable by the people who don't have the Advanced Players Guide.
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I would deal with such things ona acase-by-case basis. If the players want stuff, I am happy to include it if I don't think it is game-breaking. Some feats are really essential for some combos - like Practiced Caster for any combo with a spell-caster.
Monsters - Unless it's stupidly ridiculous, I'll accept it. Even different versions of the same monster are fine...who's to say that all orcs are the same? I love me some monster books. More more more! And conversion is simple...just calculate CMB and CMD.
Feats & Spells - These I'm a bit more careful with, but the same basic concept applies. You can never have too many spells or feats. Conversion is basically not even required for the vast majority, and very minimal for those that do require it.
New classes, base or prestige - I'm hesitant to add these. They require a LOT more work to be balanced with Pathfinder's existing classes, and the conversion work is much more intensive. Generally not worth the effort.
I'm not a big fan of splatbooks. Usually they contain a PF Companion's worth of decent material with the rest of the hardcover as filler. I'd much rather see something like the APG, which seems as if it's going to be the good parts of a dozen or so splatbooks all collected together in one volume.
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The "races" Companions seen so far are light on rules - mostly traits, a couple of feats, some gear, spells, magical equipment - and heavy on fluff.
I understand I'm going against a rather strong current, but a big NO thanks to complete-like splatbooks. I regularly found the collection of feats, PrCs, spells and extra crunch disappointing, while the more needed adventure inspiring stuff was sorely lacking.
I prefer the crunch/fluff balance seen in the Companions by a long shot.
One thing that I think shows promise so far as far as avoiding rules bloat or power creep is that the classes in the Advanced Player's Guide all fill different mechanical and flavor niches than the classes in the Core Rulebook. The witch does not do the things other casters do, the cavalier does not really replace the fighter or the paladin, and so on.
In 2nd edition, the big problem with kits was that you were a sucker not to take one. Similarly, the Complete lines of 3rd edition made a lot of base classes obsolete - why play a fighter when the classes from the Book of Nine Swords were available? And the many prestige classes made it a poor choice to stay in your base class for long.
So far, the prestige classes we have occupy their own niche and are not really superior to any of the base classes. Similarly, it looks like the new classes in the Advanced Player's Guide add new options rather than providing bigger, better versions of what we already have. As long as the books stay this course and stay optional, I really don't mind if they keep coming (although I much prefer flavor-oriented books).
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I am far more interested in options for existing classes than for new ones. I would like options for new ranger fighting styles, arcane paladins, more skilled fighters and stuff like that. I don't know if any of that will be in APG, but I am very disappointed because Paizo won't do UA book for some time yet. I love gestalt and spell point rules and I was looking forward to Paizo's take on them.
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At some point we've got to drop the focus on reviving old junk in favor of pushing new frontiers.
Exactly. Beyond a epic level book and a psionics book, I'd rather Pathfinder go off in directions that D&D hasn't gone over a million times already. After all, Pathfinder was build to be backwards compatible for a reason...if you really want to play a warlock, the simply import a 3.5 warlock. You don't have to wait for Paizo to officially put them in a Pathfinder book. Want mind flayers and beholders? You don't have to use intellect devourers and ________ as substitutes. Just calculate the CMB and CMD, and you have Pathfinder RPG ready monsters.
It's funny.
I'm in the exact opposite corner from nightflier.
I get all of the modules and APs, but mainly just because I'm a crazy pack rat completist, thought there is some cool stuff in there.
Since I run in my own campaign world, I almost never use modules, just any actual rules content.
On the other hand, I love additional sourcebooks. I'm looking forward to the APG and the GMG, and really do hope that Paizo puts out additional books of material. I do think that books with too narrow of a focus is bad, and while I liked the Complete series a lot, that was a problem - if you were a fighter type it was great, but if you had to wait for Complete Adventurer and Complete Scoundrel, it was not so great.
That's why I think the environmental ones like Sandstorm, Frostburn, etc. were great. Those were a lot more class-neutral.
They've said that once they come out with the APG, they're pretty much done with new classes. So from now on, we're pretty much only looking at prestige classes, feats, and spells.
So, my preference would be topic-specific splat books. Going to adventure in the darklands? Here's feats, prestige classes, spells, and alternate class features in the Darklands Player's Guide. Going to be spending a lot of time in the forest and/or jungle? Here's the Wildwood Player's Guide. Etc. That way the alchemist isn't waiting months and months for his guide and his chance to shine.
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And I see Kthulhu ninja'ed me ... and I'll second the epic book. I'm REALLY looking forward to some epic support.
New classes, base or prestige - I'm hesitant to add these. They require a LOT more work to be balanced with Pathfinder's existing classes, and the conversion work is much more intensive. Generally not worth the effort.
If I have a converted version (and there are a lot to choose from) or if the player wants to do the conversion, I'll look at what there is rather than do the grunt-work myself. I'll also look at the possibilities inherent in the existing classes to see if the concept fits an existing class better than it used to.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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+1We've done 32 page books about most of the races so far, but at this time we're VERY unlikely to do one for every class. We're more likely to bundle things together; a product like the Advanced Player's Guide has a LOT of options for characters all under one roof. This not only has the advantage of putting everything in one place, but lets us make sure each class is treated fairly. Doing a seperate book for each class would probably result in a line that stretches out for several years (like what happened in previous similar lines), and power creep would get in there.
I'd much rather avoid that. And in so doing, free up our Companion line and Rulebook lines to tackle new frontiers.
So say we all.
It's funny.
I'm in the exact opposite corner from nightflier.
I get all of the modules and APs, but mainly just because I'm a crazy pack rat completist, thought there is some cool stuff in there.
I agree with this for myself I have the Adventure Path Subscriptions alot for whats in that is not the adventure
Now I dont want to see a rehash of the complete series but I would not mind an Advanced Players Guide Type book every year
And I want to say a +1 for both Psionics Handbook and Epic Handbook
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Anyway... check out our Companion line of books and the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide for how we're handling additional/new feats. There'll also be a lot of them in the revised Campaign Setting, and more showing up now and then in Pathfinder Adventure Path and other Chronicles books as they make sense to show up.
Is that out, or is it scheduled out in the near future? If I buy the current PDf of the campaign setting will it be updated?
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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My feeling is in 3.5 they tried to do 'generic' race books. They weren't tied to any setting just the race. When you take out the "of Golarion" part of the races they are a whole lot less interesting.
Yeah, the 3.5 race books didn't have a lot of appeal to me. I would expect the class books to focus on Golarion if Paizo did them. That would allow them to be a little fluffier and have less of a risk of power creep.
And I want to say a +1 for both Psionics Handbook and Epic Handbook
There have been a few psionics threads where the question has been bandied about - currently Dreamscarred Press are doing a Pathfinder Psionics release, and following the lead of releasing alpha and beta builds along the way; this is based firmly on the 3.5 mechanics.
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Creative Director
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Anyway... check out our Companion line of books and the upcoming Advanced Player's Guide for how we're handling additional/new feats. There'll also be a lot of them in the revised Campaign Setting, and more showing up now and then in Pathfinder Adventure Path and other Chronicles books as they make sense to show up.Is that out, or is it scheduled out in the near future? If I buy the current PDf of the campaign setting will it be updated?
The revised Campaign Setting book will be out in September, hopefully. If you buy the current edition and get the PDF version, it won't be automatically updated to the revised version, as the revised version is going to be very different.
So say we all.
BSG?
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I am far more interested in options for existing classes than for new ones. I would like options for new ranger fighting styles, arcane paladins, more skilled fighters and stuff like that.
Scurries back to work...
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CEO
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Beyond a epic level book and a psionics book, I'd rather Pathfinder go off in directions that D&D hasn't gone over a million times already.
So, this is a good question. I have heard a number of people talk about taking Pathfinder in directions that D&D hasn't gone before. I have done a lot of brainstorms on this topic and it is really hard to find ideas for books that haven't already been done during the 30+ year history of D&D.
So, what are ideas for products that haven't been done a million times before?
-Lisa
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Beyond a epic level book and a psionics book, I'd rather Pathfinder go off in directions that D&D hasn't gone over a million times already.So, this is a good question. I have heard a number of people talk about taking Pathfinder in directions that D&D hasn't gone before. I have done a lot of brainstorms on this topic and it is really hard to find ideas for books that haven't already been done during the 30+ year history of D&D.
So, what are ideas for products that haven't been done a million times before?
-Lisa
Adventure Builder's Handbook. Paizo has the most experienced adventure designers on the planet. Your work product is stellar. What I would really, really, really love to see is the behind the scenes details of how you think about, plot, outline, and prepare an adventure path. In particular, I'd like a focus on building exciting combat/non-combat encounters, creating good monsters, etc. It'd be great if the book broke apart the various APs and highlighted encounters that you guys were particularly proud of/dissappointed with.
I think one of the casualties of the 3.5 crunch/fluff dichotomy is products aimed at DM's that explain how to make good game mechanics, how to build interesting encounters, and how to create a memorable campaign arc. Books somewhat like this were done quite often in 1e (can't think of the names off the top of my head - Wilderness Survival Guide? there was also a DM toolkit with forms) and 2e (Complete Villian's Handbook, Catacomb Guide), but not much in 3e (Unearthed Arcana and the DMGII are the closest things that come to mind).
Sadly, products aimed only at DMs sell to a smaller audience.
Psionics is being done by Dreamscarred, but Epic Pathfinder might be interesting. Not just how to develop the characters but how to create epic level adventures and challenges.
At the opposite end of the scale, 'apprentice level' work might be interesting: How to start an adventure with NPC or '0-level' classes, maybe, and evolve them into PC classes.
I really liked the class variations in the campaign setting, and I think more on how to adapt classes to different concepts would be useful - rather than 20+ new character classes, how about going back to core and giving us variations that make the core classes bend to what we want. For example, I wanted a swashbuckler in a game, but the DM wasn't keen on introducing the class. So instead we used the Academy Fighter, sacrificing medium and heavy armour proficiency instead of the first level feat, I added a few levels of rogue, and can then go to the Duelist PrC to finish off the 'build' (I don't like that term, but basically, I got my swashbuckler-concept).
To do this, we need to have a form of 'exchange rate' between class abilities, though, and their limitations.
Beyond a epic level book and a psionics book, I'd rather Pathfinder go off in directions that D&D hasn't gone over a million times already.
So, this is a good question. I have heard a number of people talk about taking Pathfinder in directions that D&D hasn't gone before. I have done a lot of brainstorms on this topic and it is really hard to find ideas for books that haven't already been done during the 30+ year history of D&D.So, what are ideas for products that haven't been done a million times before?
-Lisa
Adventure Builder's Handbook. Paizo has the most experienced adventure designers on the planet. Your work product is stellar. What I would really, really, really love to see is the behind the scenes details of how you think about, plot, outline, and prepare an adventure path. In particular, I'd like a focus on building exciting combat/non-combat encounters, creating good monsters, etc. It'd be great if the book broke apart the various APs and highlighted encounters that you guys were particularly proud of/dissappointed with.
I agree with Sebastian that would be a great book
But the problem I see with going in a differnt direction, I see that very hard because there have been so many books done for DND in the last 30 years and you dont want to lose your core customers who like the DND feel
I think most books have been done but not done to the quality that Paizo does books.
I think what ever books you guys deside to create will be great books and help someway in the games I run and play in
So, what are ideas for products that haven't been done a million times before?
This would have to wait for post-epic rules, but I kind of want to revisit the old "Immortals" rules. A set of rules that takes PCs and ascends them to godhood. Then deals with the politics and difficulties of being a god. It isn't exactly a new idea, but as far as I know it hasn't been touched since the original basic line of D&D boxes.
Of course you'd have to write "Test of the Starstone" as an epic level adventure to lead into it. ;)
You mean like Adventure Paths and Modules, Paizo's core product lines?Sadly, products aimed only at DMs sell to a smaller audience.
Er, <cough> that was a natural 1 on my explaining myself roll, I was trying to say, that this is why Wizards never did it.
Bluff roll:
... I think she bought it ...
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I think one of the casualties of the 3.5 crunch/fluff dichotomy is products aimed at DM's that explain how to make good game mechanics, how to build interesting encounters, and how to create a memorable campaign arc. Books somewhat like this were done quite often in 1e (can't think of the names off the top of my head - Wilderness Survival Guide? there was also a DM toolkit with forms) and 2e (Complete Villian's Handbook, Catacomb Guide), but not much in 3e (Unearthed Arcana and the DMGII are the closest things that come to mind).
I agree with all of that and would go even futher to say that the 3rd ed UA was more mechanical philosophy/design vs actual DM styles and game development. DMGII had some crunch but is probably one of the few 3.5 books I find myself re-reading (as I do my 1st ed DMG).
There was an RPGA adventure design booklet(s) - that may have been the toolkit/form book you mentioned. Had a sort of random dungeon and plot generator - wasn't great to be used as written but if did go into plot, hooks, foils, etc -in a random generation format.And while I would not like to see the return of the "complete" series I wouldn't mind books - any books that have fluff and philosophy behind them as the core driver. More descriptive fluff and ideas for character dev would be good, but modern gaming products are sorely lacking in the area module/adventure design & philosophy, DMing all aspects of the game, character dev, plot dev, campaign dev as a whole.
For example - Having books on fantasy cities from a PF perspective would be great - but I don't need urban templates, city street golem stats or other crunch - I would like to get paizo’s take on running a city dealing with magic, adventures, deities, threats, etc. So a book on wilderness characters and wilderness adventuring would be great if it was more in the 2e style (less crunch) than 3e style (new subsystems, mechanics, power creep feats and spells). I wouldn't mind the player focused books if I didn't need to worry about them and the new mechanics or outragous powers they would bring. If it's minor or cool customizations which give players some more depth or sparks creativity it isn't going to kill my game. Also I don't need to read it cover to cover to vet it as a ref.
Anyway, just one DMs opinion.
You mean like Adventure Paths and Modules, Paizo's core product lines?Sadly, products aimed only at DMs sell to a smaller audience.
Er, <cough> that was a natural 1 on my explaining myself roll, I was trying to say, that this is why Wizards never did it.
Bluff roll: 1d20-5
... I think she bought it ...
Actually, that's still a valid statement. It is, without a doubt, an honest statement that PF core is the best selling book Paizo ever produced in their history.
If you don't believe it, ask them how many times they had to do emergency reprints in the first 3 months of sales (hint, one of the emergency reprints was BEFORE it officially hit the shelves).
Now, that is not to say that they don't make most of their money off the APs and Modules, they do. But, they have to put those out at a 5 or 6 to one ratio over something like the Core or Bestiary or Advanced Players Guide to reach the same number of books sold. And, in addition, a GM only book the size and heft of the Gamemastery Guide costs significantly more in both time and production costs than an AP or Module.
So... yeah, don't expect them to produce anywhere near a large percentage of GM oriented PFRPG books. It's not that they don't want to do some of those GM oriented ideas, they just can't logistically or monetarily. Now, the Bestiary is kind of a horse of a different color, as while it's targeted for GMs, history has shown that bestiaries are popular with players as well.
As to doing things that haven't been done a million times before, good luck finding something that hasn't been done in D&D since 1970.
Rather, I'd like to see some things that were previously done poorly but need to be redone correctly. Some samples?
Monster PC's (As well as rules for alternate types of races, like the elemental races, aquatics, etc, and even a ruleset on building races)
Environment Rules (Not one splat book per environment, but one big book with each section covering one of these environments : Arctic, Forest, Desert, Swamp, Ocean, Urban)
Epic Rules (Both playing as a 20+ and becoming demigods)
Deity Book (designing deities, formal rules, not just a bunch of dieties)
Planar book (A detailed planes book, detailing rules for planes, alternate planar makeups, hints and tricks, things like this)
These are the ones I can think
EDIT: Add Mountains, Plains and Hills to that environment list on Environment Rules. Heck, call it a 'world building' book and give some rules for building the physical world in a home brew. That would be good for both GMs and players.