What have you added from 4e to your 3.5?

[Joël of the FoS]

The 4e books are out, people are discussing them. But many people will keep their campaign in 3.5 (me included), for whatever reason which aren't the point of this post.

So, esteemed Fraternity members, what will you steal from 4e to use/adapt to your 3.5 game?

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One simple thing I did already add is the possibility to change a feat or rebalance the skills when learning a new level ("retraining"). Good way to get rid of a bad PC creation decision (or that feat that became meaningless when getting higher level), and to go toward the flavor where you have the most fun with your PC.

Joël

[cure]

A good idea for a thread.

Retaining, however, wasn't it broached in DMG2?

[Joël of the FoS]

A good idea for a thread.

Retaining, however, wasn't it broached in DMG2?

Possibly, I do not have my books with me these days (staying at my gf), and I possibly missed retraining in it if it was the case.

Joël

[alhoon]

Tougher Starting chars: +1HD+con mod HP at first level. Toughness gives 2 hp+1/lvl

Death rule: I'll use the death rule from 4th edition. I.e you die if you fall under 1/3rd of your HP and each round you roll 1d20 to see if you stabilize.

Defences:Saves to defences.

Coins: I'll use the astral diamond as coinage

Minions: I'll include them. Each minion will count as 1/6th of a monster of the same CR. I.e 5 CR down.

Monster variety: I already had orcs with javelins and orc barbarians. Now I'll include some of the features of the MManual to iconic monsters. The Warrior's surge for orcs seems good.

Healing surges: Each char will have 3 healing surges usable once per encounter or at intervals. Each healing surge heals 1/4th of the char's HP.

Class abilities:For warrior types some stolen powers from the fighter/ranger lists. For spellcasters I'll use the reserve feats from complete mage as class features so that they will have at will powers.

Spells & rituals: I'll use spell points for battle spells and some spells will become rituals so they won't take as much space from the PCs.
It also helps to not having them able to teleport on the fly but having to pay for it.

Rogue talents: I'll steal a few powers of the rogue and make them class features for the rogue.

Skill challenges: The best idea I have seen in D&D after the feats of 3rd edition. XP? As if the PCs defeated a monster of CR equal to the challenge's level/5 x complexity. I.e complexity 5 skill challenge will give as much XP as a CR of equal level.

[Nikolas of the Mists]

If I were going to bring something from 4e back to 3.5 it would probably be incorporating the combat system/actions mechanic.

Other things I would consider exporting back would be the concept of Rituals and the Ritual Caster Feat, and racial stat adjustments being a pair of +2s rather than a +2/-2 adjustment.

[LordGodefroi]

The one thing I'm seriously considering is allowing wizards/sorcerers "At will" abilities and "Per Day" abilities so that they don't have to retreat when they run out of spells.

I am, however, considering making these "At will / Per Day" abilities dependent on having a focusing item (i.e. Wizard's staff or equivalent) in one's hand or on one's person in order to use them.

[alhoon]

For at will abilities use the Reserve feats in the Complete mage. It's balanced.

For per day abilities... well, spells are per day.

[HuManBing]

The only thing I have dabbled with using from the 4E is the static saves, where it's assumed that the defender takes 10 on his roll, and the attacker makes the DC as a roll. I'm not sure that that is measurably better though. It cuts down on the rolling, which is good.

I have also pretty much eliminated the Vancian "memorize spells beforehand" mechanic. Now both wizards and sorcerors can do spontaneous casting, which pretty much means nobody wants to play a sorceror. That suits me fine, given that the sorceror was an imperfect workaround to a deeply flawed game mechanic that had somehow survived from 1st ed.

I have also implemented a mechanic that healing magic only restores half hp, and the other half is converted into subdual (nonlethal). This means that combats are a fair bit more dangerous, and the chances of a TPK are reduced but a TPC (total party capture) are increased.

[Paladyn]

I like skill challenges system, but what captured my imagination, it's the epic destinies. I'd like my PC to become legends of their own time and achieve living-epic status (to vanish in mystical and mysterious way).

[alhoon]

You can do that easily in 3rd edition. Say, after 16th level give them a feat for free that opens up their chosen epic destiny. Give another one at 19th and a final one at 22nd. Just a thought.

[Paladyn]

Oh, I have plenty of time to consider it, as they are at 2nd level .
In the meantime, i worm through 4E Players Guide and must admit, I have very mixed feelings. I like simpler rules, new ideas but in the meantime there is always something that don't "clicks". I don't know what it is, perhaps I must be accustomed to new style.

[Lord Soth]

There was an article on the WotC site about implementing Epic Destinies in 3.5. They even had a bigger list then what you get in the 4E PHB.

HERE it is. Hopefully some of those see print in 4E sooner rather then later. Eternal Hero is one that especially interests me.

[Paladyn]

It was great. Actually it was one thing, that put my new campaign in a motion. I had very long break from DM'ing and RPG as whole and wasn't sure, if I can still be a good DM, but after reading this article, I was instantly hooked and decided to start the show.

[alhoon]

necromancy: Since people are asking about it.

On topic: I'm also thinking to add treasure parcels. Yes, they are a bit stupid.
On the other hand, they are a good way to give "random" treasure to higher level chars.
For example breaking up the treasure each level gives in 8 parcels and assuming that each char would probably receive 2 parcels and then rolling starting treasure in character creation gives some randomness.

I.e a 2nd level char should have equipment worth 900 gp. Instead of handing 900 gp and tell him to buy whatever he wants, there could be a dice roll with results like: X gp, mundane item, magic item worth Y gp.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Skills: As I said before, I like the grouped skills. But I'm taking it a bit further--namely grouping even more skills together. This a quick list of what 3.5 skills go where. Classes receive half the usual number of points for skills (fighters get 1 + Int modifier, rogues get 4 + Int modifier, etc.) minimum one per level. The new limit is now (Level + 5) for Class Skills and (Level + 3) for Cross-Class Skills. Though classes get less points per level, there's a net gain of overall skill using this system and it's easier to max out ranks in one or two skills, hence the increased limits.

Acrobatics (Str): Balance, Escape Artist, Tumble, Use Rope.
Academics (Int): Decipher Script, All Knowledge skills, Martial Lore, Spellcraft, Psicraft.
Athletics (Con): Climb, Jump, Swim.
Crafts (Int): All Craft skills.
Endurance (Con): Constitution checks for fatigue, Concentration (retaining the Endurance feat as written, also).
Mentalism (Int): Autohypnosis, Hypnosis, Lucid Dreaming.
Perception (Wis): Appraise, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot.
Performance (Cha): All Performance skills.
Persuasion (Cha): Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate.
Profession (Wis): All Profession skills.
Stealth (Dex): Disguise, Hide, Move Silently.
Survival (Wis): Handle Animal, Heal, Ride, Survival.
Thievery (Dex): Disable Device, Forgery, Open Lock, Sleight of Hand, Use Magic Device, Use Psionic Device.

Speak Language is not a skill per se, as all classes require only skill point to learn a language. This system requires the skill lists of all classes to be re-written, but it does make skills a lot easier to manage and still allows for low-skill point classes to be good at more than just one or two things. It's also 40+ individual skills (not counting the various various ways to use Craft and Profession) to a mere 11, a much simpler system (especially for those of us who are poor at managing large numbers).

Also note that some skills may seem oddly grouped, but I've tried to stick to logic as much as possible (first aid is an essential skill for outdoorsmen, so Heal is in with Survival; Ride is also in Survival because a good mount can be the difference between life and death, and any outdoorsman worth their salt will be trained in rearing and riding animals).