[D&D + Others] Mechanical Changes You Like or Want

Bump?

maiming and mutilation istead of Meatpoints.

>>53419485
1 minute long combat rounds.

Grouping (almost) all of the different things you roll into a single die mechanic, namely D20+modifiers vs DC made the system easy to learn.

Consolidating Good/Average/Poor BAB, Good/Poor saves, and Trained/Untrained skills into a single Proficient/Not Proficient mechanic simplifies and consolidates a fuckton of things.

The advantage/disadvantage mechanic in place of arbitrary +/-2 or so is nice.

People malign the alignment system, and it can be used terribly, but it can also be a quick, easily understood way to describe a character (or NPC!)'s morality and personality in an extremely brief way.

>>53419485
>Power Sources
>At-Wills/Encounters/Dailies/Utilities
>Defender Marks
>Escalation Die
I liked 4e

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145KB, 1777x935px

>>53419485
>6. Feats as optional choice (5e)
>He thinks feats are optional

I'll summarize all the editions I've played.

>B/X
XP for GP
Most class features aren't tied to stats
Larger focus on adventuring and dungeon crawling rather than combat

>3.5
Unified die mechanic
The d20 SRD and OGL, as much as it contributed to the glut of awful d20 games and splatbooks, was a very good concept.

>4e
Separation of fluff and crunch

>Gamma World 7e
Origins character generation system is still my favorite method of character generation to this day.
Weapons as broad categories rather than specific

>5e
Proficiency Bonus
Advantage / Disadvantage
Ideals / Bonds / Flaws
Improvement on Vancian casting
Movement as a resource rather than an action

>LotFP
Simplified encumbrance rules
Simpler skill system
Niche protection

>S&W Whitebox
Single save category
Lower level limit
d6 for both hit dice and weapon damage

>13th Age
Escalation Die
Icons
One Unique Thing
Less emphasis on grids for combat
Simplified enemy stats
Occultists

>4e
removing caster supremacy
making every class unique and fun to play
Transparent mechanics, roles etc., admitting it was a game and helping people understand it instead of making things convoluted for no reason
Separation of fluff/crunch

This combined with it being very balanced made for a great game. I like 5e but its shortcomings are too big for me to ignore, mostly the caster/martial disparity and balance.

13th Age also handles magic items well, the chakra system makes sense and I like it better in the fiction than the whole attunement mechanic. 4e had great structure for artifacts though, with their own goals, tiers of power based on how much they like you etc. It may have defined characters a bit much, and I do like 5e making them more rare and not matter as much to a character, but I really liked how artifacts felt like powerful magical items instead of just some power or loot.

So are we ignoring 4e then?

>>53419485
>3. Base Attack Bonus (3e)
Not actually a mechanical difference.
THAC0 and BAB are part of the same algebra.

>8. Simplified equipment/encumbrance rules
Not sure if WotC ever simplified their encumbrance, but 3e made it worse.
Encumbrance and weight in GP sounds obtuse, but it is actually simpler to use than lb.

The action economy was a pretty big change.

How attributes work was a pretty big change (Greyhawk).
How attributes work was a pretty big change (3e).
Gutting GP:XP was an enormous change (2e).

I could go on. But comparing OSR to WotC "D&D" is awkward and painful.
They're apples and oranges.

>>53426012
I'd guess OP hasn't played it, several replies focus on it though.

Gold->XP is probably my favorite single thing from OSR, though as you say they are mostly just different. In 5e gold is in a weird spot without being able to buy magical items though, beyond very low levels it's mostly just going to be used for spell components, which makes loot a bit less impactful as a reward.

>>53427047
This. If gold isn't XP and can't buy magic items, there's little else to do, making PC looks like dragons: hoarding because hoarding.

>>53423224
but D&D doesn't have meat points