D&D General Things That Please You

[Greg K]

Holmes Basic: Both the cover and sample dungeon in tbe book. If I recall correctly, there was also the abiility to lower certain abiity scores to raise others.

B/X: The lower ability score modifiers

AD&D 1e:

• Several of the modules (C1, D1, D2, G1-G3, I6, N1, S2, T1),
• Greyhawk as presented by Gygax, the PHB cover.
• The feel of D&D if one ignored things like S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and several of the

AD&D 2e:

• Priests of Specific Mythoi/Specialty Priests
• Clerical Spheres,
• Complete FIghter's Handbook, Complete Thief's Handbook, Complete Priest's Handbook, Complete Druid's Handbook
• DMGR series
• HR series,
• Dark Sun (original box set), Land of Fate box set, Ravenloft: Realms of Terror boxe set
• PO: Combat & Tactics, PO: Spells & Magic

D&D 3e:

• Unified Resolution Mechanics
• Ascending AC
• Unified Leveling Progression (although I think spellcasters needed to be tuned down)
• Three save categories,
• skill points (although no class should have less than 4+Int Mod per level unless the class is based on Int)
• class variants despite them getting little love until Unearthed Arcana
• 0/0 level multiclassing at first level (in 3.0 DMG)
• variants in the DMG
• critical hits
• Mass Damage Save
• monsters get ability scores
• monster AC breakdown (although the number of modifier types got out of hand)
• Unearthed Arcana, Fiendish Codex 1
• third party support

D&D 4e

• the removal of some non-biological abiilities from race and moving them to feats
• Ranger as non-spellcaster
• martial characters getting interesting things to do,
• starting class builds (e.g. Artful Dodger, Brutal Scoundrel Rogue, Cunning Sneak)
• multi-class feats, magic missile requiring attack roll, the power system (in theory)

D&D 5e

• Backgrounds
• Advantage/Disadvantage
• Inspiration
• Variant Human
• Bard class (finally closer to my image of a Bard)
• Battlemaster Fighter
• some of the third party support and fan material

 

[Reynard]

I think these kind of systems can be helpful. But the GM should be the one tracking the points. And they shouldn't be telling the players anything about it.

I struggle with this sort of thing as a GM in all the non combat pillars. I explicitly do not like arbitrary GMing where it can be avoided, but at the same time I don't want to break players' immersion with metagame aspects. After going a little overboard on the latter I am starting to keep stuff behind the screen again. There's still a system for travel (as an example) but I am trying to make it more narrative from the perspective of the players and less gamist.

 

[dave2008]

I used to think advantage/disadvantage were great, but I have doubts now... The problem with 5e? ... it's best feature.

I think the better solution is to have uses of advantage stack, not to add a 1d6. So you can roll 3d20 (pick highest) if you get two sources of advantage. It still gives you an incentive to get more advantage, but that is more psychological (more dice!) and less mathematical. Plus, it is just changing the probability not stretching the range.

 

[Ancalagon]

I think the better solution is to have advantage stack, not to make it a stacking +1d6. So you can roll 3d20 (pick highest) if you get two sources of advantage. It still gives you an incentive to get more advantage, but that is more psychological (more dice!) and less mathematical. Plus, it is just changing the probability not stretching the range.

It's not stacking. It's "take the best". If you have triple advantage, you roll 3d6, get (say), 2, 3, and 5, you get +5 to your roll.

 

[Ancalagon]

Amusingly, what he complains about I find as one of it's biggest strengths. Players are no longer tryign to design characters around getting lot of stacking bonuses. I can't talk about the PF example, but in earlier editions of D&D the proliferation of bonuses was from character build and from buff stacking, not from getting a bunch of bonuses to the same action from engaging in play. There were some, but they were a minority.

I am the author, to be clear.

I used to have a signature that linked to my blog, but that's gone it seems.

The advantage bonuses do not "stack", you just get the best value of an increasing number of D6. There is a diminishing return to adding more advantage sources. I completely agree with you that the stacking of bonuses was detrimental.

 

[dave2008]

It's not stacking. It's "take the best". If you have triple advantage, you roll 3d6, get (say), 2, 3, and 5, you get +5 to your roll.

You are stacking the d6 on top of the d20, that is what I was talking about. You stretched BA by 6.

 

[payn]

Bounded Accuracy has ruined me for games that don't have some form of bounded accuracy. I used to tolerate being on a treadmill, but it just seems like crude, bad design to me now.

Oh damn, thats a good one.

 

[Blue]

I am the author, to be clear.

I used to have a signature that linked to my blog, but that's gone it seems.

The advantage bonuses do not "stack", you just get the best value of an increasing number of D6. There is a diminishing return to adding more advantage sources. I completely agree with you that the stacking of bonuses was detrimental.

I didn't have a problem with the proposed solution - I just didn't agree that there was a problem that needed fixing. But I can understand how some may find it too straightforward and want something more.

 

[Raith5]

4e saves worked for me with having the PCs roll to hit reflex or fortitude instead of the DM rolling a save. Allowed the wizard player to roll more dice at the table. 5e attack spells are a good offshoot.

This is one of my favorite things from 4e. It just made sense me to have a universal mechanic that the actor who decided the action to roll the dice. Spell crits were a favorite of mine.

With regards to 5e I am torn between the advantage/disadvantage mechanic and the way you can split movement up before and after attacks. It add some flexibility and tactics to a system which frankly needs some further tactical depth for martial types.

 

[Shiroiken]

Not mentioned, but I really liked the gestalt multiclassing of AD&D. While a perfect version is probably impossible for 5E, I would like to see better mutli-class options available from subclasses.