What must D&D have?

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Post originally by Charlie Dunwoody at 2005-04-04 04:40:03
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I've decided to write a follow up column incorporating several ideas discussed in the responses to this column. Thanks everyone for all the great feedback.

First, I want to make some changes to D&D while keeping it the game we know. So what must D&D have in order to stay D&D?

Robert Aronson included the following things that I think are a good start for defining D&D:
- A high fantasy swords and sorcery world designed for adventuring that increases both wealth and status
- A long, epic history filled with the workings of many gods
- A major presence of dragons
- Lots of "dungeons" to explore that are filled with monsters and treasure, the exploration of which increases wealth and status
- An assortment of magic items to be gained, such as potions, scrolls, and enchanted objects of all sorts
- A wicked assortment of arms and armor to show off
- A wicked assortment of things to kill to show off

All the standard player races:
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Dwarves - stubborn; haughty; prefer subterranean environs; masters of metalworking
Elves - arrogant; highly intelligent; prefer woodland environs; masters of wizardry
Gnomes - fun-loving pranksters; love to tinker with machines; masters of illusion magic
Halflings - extremely curious; adventurous; highly energetic
Half-Elves
Half-Orcs
Humans, who are the dominant form of intelligent life
Orcs - barbaric; war-minded; tribal; not good at magic

All the standard fauna of a high-fantasy world:
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Archons, Beholders, Bugbears, Celestials, Centaurs, Demons, "Dire" animals, Doppelgangers, Dragons (all forms), Gelatinous Cubes, Gnolls, Goblins, Griffins, Kobolds, Lizardmen, Mindflayers, Minotaurs, Nightmares, Ogres, Owlbears, Pegasi, Sprites (all forms), Trolls, Undead (all forms - ghosts, wraiths, spectres, poltergeists, liches, zombies, skeletons, etc.), Unicorns.

What else is needed? Six ability scores but ditch 3-18? Keep nine levels of spells but ditch fire and forget?

Charlie

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Post originally by Jason Thompson at 2005-04-04 09:41:40
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I love "fire and forget", because it's much more fun than the most frequently proposed game-balanced alternative which I hear (letting spellcasters use an infinite number of weak, sucky spells, instead of a limited number of actually good spells, as the system currently works).

(BTW, why did you suggest ditching the "Contact Other Plane" type spells? That seems like the *most* fun type of spell to cast as a cleric... the idea of clerics as healers is so boring anyway... I'm currently using the "priest" class as described in D&D's EGYPTIAN ADVENTURES supplement, where a cleric of a water god can spontaneously cast water spells instead of healing spells, for instance. Personally, I think the primary difference between cleric-types and wizard-types should be one of role-playing... clerics have to follow certain standards of conduct and wizards don't.)

I don't mind 3-18, because it's so traditional (albeit inherently meaningless).

Jason

P.S. Actually... this is purely a private peev, but I hate all the "standard player races"... they're all such a bunch of @#$*ing Tolkien rip-offs... but as long as the ghost of J.R.R. Tolkien continues to dominate the fantasy landscape, I don't expect anyone to agree with me... :/

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Post originally by Sergio Mascarenhas at 2005-04-05 21:49:09
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All you describe is the setting. Other than the last sentence you make no reference to rules. I think this is misleading. That same setting can be covered by rulesets such as HARP, d6 Fantasy, Heroquest, RuneQuest, DragonQuest, and many more.

What makes D&D is that setting AND the rules that it includes to handle it. You have done only half the job.

Sergio

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Post originally by Charlie Dunwoody at 2005-04-06 04:09:01
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I agree that you need rules and setting. Much of the discussion here has been about rules so I thought including the setting details was important as well.

I'm doing a follow up to this column's topic which should be posted next week. I talk more about changing existing rules in that column.

Charlie

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Post originally by SteelCaress at 2005-04-19 21:30:47
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Ditch fire & forget spells. Just have a number of spells per day that mages can cast, and stick to it, regardless of level. If someone can cast 5 spells per day, and wants to cast 5 3rd level spells or 5 7th level spells, let him. However, using up those spells per day is fatiguing, possibly leading to hit point damage, or ability damage to CON and/or STR until the mage is rested. Or have a Corruption Threshold based on the level of spell being cast, where a high roll combined with a high level puts "the taint of magic" on the caster, such as glowing eyes, horns, fur, etc.

Get rid of classes. Instead have customizable templates, unique to the setting, rather than generic "I'm a big dumb fighter."

Deep-six the concept of armor making you harder to hit. That's stupid. As it stands, a heavily-armored fighter is the only kind you can make. If you make armor stop damage, and make a Defense Rating that goes up every level, it would seem a lot more realistic. Star Wars d20 does this.

To avoid the "character concept-killer" that D&D has always seemed to be, perhaps allow "keywords" to be selected during character creation that give bonuses. I'm not talking about the combat-oriented boring Feat system but something like "Faithful" where you fight better when trying to save your friends. Or even work up a system where a 3-5 sentence description of the character adds bonuses to certain things. If you describe yourself as "Tall," you may get a bonus to Intimidation.

Also, you could make each character uniquely excellent at different things. That way you don't have the "I suck, even at my chosen profession" syndrome.

During play, it might be interesting to have certain events grant potential bonuses. Rather than taking a Feat that relates to NOTHING that you did for the last three adventures, maybe have fighting Venomous Serpent Men grant you a bonus to resist poison, or getting hit alot grants you certain bonuses to hit/damage/dodge when you're low on hit points. This would make things more interesting.

Any thoughts? I'd prefer constructive criticism if you hate the idea, not just "that rule is broken." Tell me *why* you think it's broken, please.

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Post originally by Charlie Dunwoody at 2005-04-21 04:15:04
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I like your ideas, especially keywords. I think 4th edition D&D should arrive at a middle ground between some of your far reaching changes and what currently exists.

Ideas like yours are what inspired me to follow up on my one shot column about D&D 4th edition. I wanted to brainstorm with other gamers and get a lot of ideas, including radical or not so radical changes.

Charlie