More musings

So thinking more on alternate rulings for D&D, revert back to Holmes style  all weapons do a d6 damage, except those that are used hand and a half or two handed - the big weapons not as in the change in combat in 3rd edition with using two hands to wield a weapon ( removing shield usage) then the damage is 2d6.
In combat if we use the to hit roll as a to penetrate roll and instead of using dexterity  bonus / penalty to lower / raise Armour class ( depending on descending or ascending AC)  now it is used as an ability to negate that may points of damage ( the bonus from high dexterity ) from the damage roll as the target 'rolls with the blow' or tries to use their dexterity to minimise damage. Of course as always if you are hit there would be a minimum of 1 point per attack that penetrates the armour.   I don't think I would use this with the previous idea on hit points as this smells to much like power creep , producing super heroes level characters at low levels that I associate 3 and 3.5 editions with.

So next classes or as I would rename Professions. Each profession has abilities and knowledge s particular to that endeavor.  There are some baseline abilities and knowledge that are global - e.g.everyone can swing a weapon, but fighters , perhaps, either can place it well to hit more often or gain more attacks. Following are some examples of that which are global, and that which belongs to a particular Profession;

Global; Sneak, track, use a weapon, build a fire, climb, swim, ride a horse, row a boat, fish, forage/hunt, cook, knowledge on geography, languages, history, culture, engineering, building, crafting, etiquette, math, literacy, disguise




Fighter: use tactics or strategy in a fight, combat endurance, use almost anything as a weapon, size up the enemy, place an effective blow, have greater number of attacks, blind fighting, maintenance of weapons and armour

Ranger: identify animal types, identify plant types, particular  terrain survival,  animal husbandry, naturopathy, more effective hunting or foraging, identify tracks, more effective tracking, camouflage, weapon/armour maintenance

Thief: moving extra quietly, palm objects, pick pockets, bilk another, evaluate items, discern traps, discern security, more effective sneaking, quick attacks, weapon maintenance

Magic user/ Illusionist: use arcane spells, brew potions, magic magical items, knowledge on arcane subjects/items, literacy

Clerics: use divine magic, follow religious tenets, can benefits or bonuses to overcome opposing religion(s) from either /and their gods and religious order, create divine powered magic items, perform rituals, knowledge on religions, knowledge/belief on what comes after death, literacy

If including Paladins: a mix of Cleric and Fighter

If including Assassin: similar to a thief adding poison use and effective disguise

I have chosen not to include Monk as from the 1st edition  as they , for me at least, tend to be of a more oriental feel and my focus is on the more 'medieval' feeling of D&D.

Races: the would have specific physical and  cultural traits on top of the above listed, if they were from a race that was heavily involved in magic  or favored by a particular god they may have specialised abilities gifted to them through those vectors.
So I know it sounds like I have roughly summed up whats already in existance but my next step will be to quantify these more precisely and see what that looks like.. see you whenever Ive got round to that. Until then .. GAME ON!