I am one of those who will not be making the transition to 4e (for various reasons).  However, I have seen a number of things from the 4e pre-releases that I think would make good additions to my campaign if adapted properly.  For example, the idea that racial abilities increase as  a PC goes up a level, the skill challenges, the Eladrin as a PC race, the idea of the Shadowfell and the Feywild, and the points of light concept, to name a few.

At this point, most of my thoughts are only half formed, and as I am in the middle of a campaign now (The Eberron schema module series), the development and implimentation of the ideas will have to wait.  I am curious if anyone is thinking along the same lines as me, and is planning to, or has adapted any 4e ideas to 3.5e.

I will DEFINITELY adjust racial movement scores. That´s SOOOO  obvoius and atmospheric, yet nobody had the idea before.

Elves 10,5m (35ft)
Dwarves 7,5m (25ft)
etc.

You're kidding, right Sett?

No! Totally honest!

How stupid have we been to limit movement to the 20 ft/30ft divide.
Especially with the Dwarves being medium size.

I don't have my books right now...
but I'm sure I've seen  Elves > Humans > Dwarves > Hobbits

If not... then, yes... that would be a good improvement.

We've already taken action points from d20's previous incarnations. There are some other things - actually rolling for spellcasting, for instance - we might try.

I like movement scores which vary - D&D's almost invariant* speeds have often bothered me - but I'd like mine to be informed by race and Dex. I wouldn't think it would be difficult to calibrate an accurate portrayal of humanoid speeds by doing so; it'd be nice if there were an Athletics skill which could be used to increase that Speed, as well.

*Well, there are several ways to influence Speed, I suppose, like size and special abilities. There just aren't enough, in my opinion.

Quote from: EngineI like movement scores which vary - D&D's almost invariant* speeds have often bothered me - but I'd like mine to be informed by race and Dex. I wouldn't think it would be difficult to calibrate an accurate portrayal of humanoid speeds by doing so; it'd be nice if there were an Athletics skill which could be used to increase that Speed, as well.

This is how I'd handle a chase or race (adapted from my game):

Elves > Humans > Dwarves > Hobbits (or 35 > 30 > 25 > 20)

Then for two characters with the same base speed, compare the lower of Str and Dex for each.  The character with the higher score is faster.

Then for two characters with the same base speed AND Str/Dex -- they're evenly matched and you can do some dice rollin' to see who wins.  Optionally base that on their level or something.

If it's a long race, not just a sprint, you need to get the Con score in there too.

So you were smarter than us!
Great!

But for me, it was a 4e-idea.

No, I mean I thought it was in OD&D, B/X, or AD&D.  I thought Elves were faster than humans, and Dwarves were faster than hobbits. I could be wrong though.

Quote from: StuartThis is how I'd handle a chase or race...

Or, if you add in the STR/DEX consideration ahead of time, you can just use it as Speed, and thus for maneuvering. Very nice.

Quote from: EngineOr, if you add in the STR/DEX consideration ahead of time, you can just use it as Speed, and thus for maneuvering. Very nice.

Glad you like it.  I'm using "lower/higher of attribute A or B" for some things in my game.  There's no map or maneuvering though, so things are more abstracted.

I sort of like the "everybody has bonuses only" approach to races.

It sounds like the default setting would be much more to my liking than 3.x / Forgotten Realms was.

I like the idea of minions and not keeping track of their hit points.  Using that in earlier editions I'd just say that low HD/hp monsters just go down in one hit and not worry about rolling for damage and keeping track of all those numbers.  Just keep things moving.

(It reminds me of Warhammer -- but that's not a bad thing)

I liked that idea too, I remember running a battle with 20-40 kobalds.  That was dumb (the idea, and the ensuing battle).  Trying to figure out at what hit dice to apply this to is where I'm stuck.  Would you apply it to all hit dice less than 1? or perhaps to any monsters/creatures a certain number of HD/CR lower than the PCs.

While writing this I thought perhaps you could apply it to any creatures whose CR is too low to give the PCs experience points