Friday, July 22, 2011

A question of Feats

I'm toying around with some ideas about Feats.   I'm pretty definite on the idea that they will be strictly combat related.  There won't be any magic-related feats at all.  With the vast variety of spells, and the relative ease of making low-level scrolls, spell casting characters have enough options as it is, it's only the combatants that need some options to spice up their combat.  Now, all classes will have access to some Feats, but they will be strictly combat based feats.

The first question that arises is whether they should completely replace the system of "Weapon Proficiencies" present in the PHB.   I'm imagining that each class will get a free "Feat" that gives them the weapon selections that are germaine to their class, but can spend more to gain access to more weapons.  War Dogs would now be Feat, rather than a proficiency, and we'd have to change the fighter's bonus damage for proficient weapons. 

5 comments:

  1. Why not just transition to DND 3.5?

    I'll tell you, Epic 6 is most certainly the next flavor of DND I want to play.

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  2. Have the feats for fighters progress as weapons. With the exception of a few weapons, have the weapon 'feats' extend to an entire class of weapons, as split up on the equipment table (swords and daggers, axes and picks, bludgeons, and lances, spears, and polearm). Those are fairly easy to justify (how much difference in swinging an axe versus swinging a pick, or using a mace versus a club). Maybe split missile weapons into bows, crossbows, darts & javelins, slings, etc.

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  3. I seriously don't want to do the whole D&D 3.5, just because of the pile of stats you need for monsters. The AD&D monster stat block is 1 line of text, maybe 2. The 3.5 stat block is a metric ton, and I don't want to go back there again.

    It's not just that the stat block is huge, it's that you need (or portentially need) all the different entries in the block to properly play the game.

    I also don't like the basic set-up and assumptions about experience and advancement in D&D 3.


    But, I must say, I like 3.0/3.5 a whole lot from the character creation side of things: feats, skills, multi-classing, and free range of race and class. It's all very interesting for everyone. Although it might be interesting to use the Conan character classes rather than the D&D ones too.

    I do like the idea of Epic 6, since the D&D 3 character options are really cool, and limiting things to about levle 6 in power is really about right--none of the instant travel and the save or die spells.

    So, maybe using D&D 3e races, Conan classes, AD&D 1e monster system, and Hackmaster Spell list would be the ideal game: the best game ever.

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  4. Jason,

    I was thinking of just giving the characters all the weapons available to their class as a class proficiency at first level, and then letting a character to buy other proficiencies at the cost of 1 weapon per feat used.

    So, a first level fighter could use all the weapons on the list.

    A first level magic-user could use dagger, dart and staff all at first level. If he wanted to learn to use a spear, he'd have to spend a feat.

    Some classes (berserkers, clerics, druids, monks) would be limited for philosophical or religious reasons from using certain weapons still.

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  5. Well, sure Dave. If you want it simplified, sure, hehe.

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