In functional analysis, there are many examples of things that ``go wrong'' in the nonseparable setting. For instance, my favorite version of the spectral theorem only works for operators on a separable Hilbert space. Within C${}^*$-algebra there are many examples of nice results that require separability. (Dixmier's problem: is every prime C${}^*$-algebra primitive? Yes for separable C*-algebras, no in general.)

I wondered whether there is a similar phenomenon in pure algebra. Are there good examples of results that hold for countable groups, countable dimensional vector spaces, etc., but fail in general?

One example I know about is Whitehead's problem, which has a positive solution for countable abelian groups, but is independent of ZFC in general.