The d20 System Part Two

I never take anything back that I write so I am just going to add on to my last entry. I still pretty much hate 3.0/3.5 as a version of D&D. It's too fucking complicated and a lot of times the DC numbers are just random and up to the DM to make up on the spot. That makes no sense to me. At least with the older rules, 1st and 2nd edition, you had a number to try and roll under. Lets use this as an example.

Lets say in second edition you have a Fire-building of 14. It's a windy day, and the wood is kind of damp. I say -4 to the roll. Okay the character needs to roll a 10 or lower and he is able to build a fire and get warm.

In 3.0 or 3.5 there is NO number for the character to even start with. The DC is completely up to the DM. So lets say the character has 4 in Fire-building, well then what is the number he needs to reach? Do I have to break out my calculator to figure out his 50/50 shot at making the number? Does that mean if the DC is supposed to start at 10, that I should make him roll a 6 or higher, or does a 4 translate to 14 in relative similarity? It just confuses the hell out of me. It's a complicated system of determining skills checks against NON-opposing forces.

I think it works great when you are talking about hitting and defending, cause you have a certain number you need to hit and it's pretty straight forward. You don't have to figure out two different things for each character like you do in 2nd edition. Each person has a number to reach and wham, right in the chiseled chin of my 14th level warrior.

I also like the idea of your stats giving you more additions and help in the lower levels. It was a VERY poor idea for 2nd edition to have you only get bonuses at 16 or higher. So it translated a dexterity of 8 as being the same as a dex of 14, which if you are using any modicum of common sense MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE AT ALL! I know it was supposed to be an exponential rise in power as the stats went up, but just keep telling yourself that, it was an oversight in designing in the game that caused it and they used that lame exponential schtick to cover their asses.

Overall so far, and I am still hip deep in my investigation, both systems are quite good in certain ways and quite bad in others. I'm not sold on switching over just yet, but making a hybrid version of the game for myself is definitely in the near future. I am going to take the best of both systems and warp them together to make one that makes fucking sense. I have this bad feeling that most of the stuff I use is going to be from the new system though, cause you can tell they really went over it with a fine tooth comb and did their homework in a lot of ways. It's a good system, but I can make it better for the kinds of games I want to run.

Michael