D&D 5.0 (daydream)

[DMMike]

Am I crazy, or was 3.5 almost perfect?

This is a bit of a house rules question, but what would your D&D 5 look like?

I have the suspicion that 4.0 was such a radical departure from 3.0 because Wizards just wanted to create enough distance from d20 that people (consumers) would love its return in the follow-up version. Thus, a brand-new PHB with similar rules to 3.5 is worth $50, since they've been out-of-print for, say, 5 years or more.

My D&D 5 would start with the 3.5 ruleset, and use a few significant changes like:
- attack rolls succeed when they EXCEED an armor class, not when they match it.
- players make Defense Checks to avoid attacks - giving them more of a feeling of trying to avoid danger.
- enemies become shaken/wounded if they fail a Will save DC 20, when they hit or go below half hit points. PCs have this as an optional rule.
- Attack Bonus becomes a Skill/Cross Class Skill (maybe nix the 1st level 3 point skill bonus)
- Warlocks rot in the 4th layer of hell. Permanently.

Damage reduction - Armor Class - Hit points
This one's a bit tricky, because you CAN eliminate Armor Class. But I think it plays an important role in differentiating classes.
I was a believer in Damage Reduction as AC, until I looked closer at AC. AC doesn't mean a whole lot to warrior classes above 5th level. Or at least it shouldn't - warrior classes are supposed to hit everything that moves.
However, caster and skill classes are not supposed to hit everything that moves. So trouble hitting ACs is what keeps other classes from being warriors. This makes Hit Points into an enemy's true physical defense, instead of AC. The harder an enemy is to kill physically is the more hit points it should have, not higher AC.

This (or something similar) is what occurred to me as I was contemplating why characters don't get AC bonuses as they progress in level. They get a defense bonus, but it's called HP, not AC.

[Zippee]

I agree that's a daydream

I can't see WotC returning to anything 3.x based - that would be direct competition with Pathfinder why would they dilute the brand/market?

Whether 5e will be as radical a departure from 4e as 4e was from 3e seems very unclear to me. What I actually expect is the difference to be more along the lines of how the game is published, played and promoted rather than how the rules work mechanically. Expect more Essentials and DDI type change and less fiddling with dice mechanics.

But then what do I know? It's your pipedream...

[tesral]

There is always roll your own.

[nijineko]

ogl, make your own. ^^

[DMMike]

Well, pen and paper gamers, like bookstores, are now a dying breed. Zippee, you're probably right. D&D 5 is just going to be an iPhone app. Complete with a video-chat app that allows you to video-conference your game, which is really just one step closer to WoW anyway.

So glad that I have the Rules Compendium now.

[Zippee]

Zippee, you're probably right. D&D 5 is just going to be an iPhone app

Heck i'd love it to be a networked, computer enabled software system whereby me and my mates could sit around an interactive table with our iPad character sheets and tablet rules interface. That'd be great - we'd still play face-to-face because for us the game's as much about the social interaction with good friends (new and old) as it is about slaying dragons and running away from vampires.

The new medium wouldn't change how we played the game it would just make the math easier for our elderly sensibilities whilst we sit in the care home