OK, I need a break from bashing WotC :)
Conceding that 4/e is an inevitability (ooh -- flashback to The Matrix), what would you change?
Much as my group and I love 3.5, I think it's too complex. I've often heard that it "reads like rules for miniatures," which isn't meant kindly.
Play needs to be streamlined, and combat in particular needs to be smoother and faster.
Please don't bash WotC's solutions (we have plenty of threads for that) or each other (there are no threads for that).
Thanks :)
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OK, I need a break from bashing WotC :)
Conceding that 4/e is an inevitability (ooh -- flashback to The Matrix), what would you change?
Get rid of LA / racial HD rules. They were, IMO, a kludge. How to work this out to make 'powerful races' playable and balanced against other races, in a manner that doesn't seem forced, I don't know. They don't pay me enough to figure that out for them. (Races that advance and gain more potent abilities as they increase in level, such as Raptorans with their flight at 5 HD thing, seem like one possible solution, as well as meaningful racial levels, as used in Arcana Evolved, as opposed to the subpar 'racial levels' in Savage Species.)
More variability in class types. Right now Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, Druids and Clerics are all core classes that really on the same spellcasting mechanic. Do we really need five of the eleven core classes based on that system? Do priests in any fantastic or historical / mythical archetype pray for spells in the morning and then cast them throughout the day, or are they more likely to channel divine energies (similar to the Turn undead mechanic) into effects at the time of crisis? I'd be *very* keen on seeing a priest class that used the Turn / Rebuke mechanic (which, in itself is a bit too much of an 'all or nothing' mechanic, trivializing some encounters based on a lucky die roll) and the concept of Divine Feats. One priest might learn to channel his divine energy into healing injuries, another might worship a god of fire and channel it into fire effects, while a third might follow a god of strength and prefer enhancements and buffs (or effects that weaken foes, denying them strength). As they increase in levels, they would gain more Divine Feats, and thus more ways to channel their energies. (Gaining Divine Feats at about the same rate that Fighters gain Fighter feats, and using them to vary the effects of their Channeling powers, which would need to be available a significant number of times / day, like the Bards musical uses.)
More skills / skill tricks options, to make a skills-based character a meaningful and effective choice. Feats-based characters (Fighters) and spell-based characters (half the rest) already have many different avenues and options, but a skill-monkey is stuck with a less-than-thrilling skills system. The idea that only Rogues have 'trapfinding' is just a terribly lame attempt at keeping their skill relevant, IMO.
A ton more versatility. Arcana Unearthed as a Witch class that is essentially five different classes in one, and the Totem-Warrior is another example of this sort of thing. If you could make a party with four different Monks in it, and all of them were notably different, and able to function in different roles, it would be a glorious thing (right now, it's just barely doable, and 3.5 was a huge upgrade from what had come before, but it takes a lot of book-flipping to do it, when it should be right there in the class write-up, the way it is in Monte's Witch write-up).
Did I say more variability in class types? Yes, and here's the ironic part. *Less* core classes. There's no excuse at all for Barbarian and Monk and Fighter to be different classes. The Barbarian and Monk abilities should be folded into a Feat tree that any Fighter can take. And if the Fighter doesn't want to go all Jackie Chan, or all wild hairy-eyed berserker, he could pick up some Unarmed feats *and* some Rage feats, and have a berserking brawler! He won't have the Rage of a Fighter who has gone deeply into that tree, and he won't have the kung-fu of a Fighter that has focused on martial arts Feats, but he'll be unique and able to combine features that are incompatible in 3.X. Instead of five spellcasting classes, we could have one full caster, like the Wizard (who could choose at 1st level whether to be a prepared or spontaneous caster). Rangers, Paladins and Bards? A Fighter (or Rogue) with some Spellcaster levels, which would require that spellcasting level not be the crippling anchor-around-the-neck of a multiclassed spellcaster that it is in 3.X.
A consistent design philosophy. If an effect that does 1d6 / level to an area is X level, then it needs to be consistently that level. No strapping it onto a CR 1 monster, no sneaking it into the new flavor race or class of the moment in expansion X. It seems like class, race and monster design goes in fits and starts, with some presentations being over-the-top, and others being woefully underpowered.
No Prestige Classes. Everything they do can be shoved into existing classes or Feat options. Everything. Some of those Feats might have prereqs to prevent them from being available to any yob on the street, but an overly specific PrC that requires one to be a LG Coautl-worshipping jungle wizard? Get the heck off my lawn!