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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
The OA Theory- When OD&D Became Second Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="teitan" data-source="post: 7817335" data-attributes="member: 3457"><p>When it comes to classic D&D, to me, AD&D 2e was the pinnacle when it came to the core rules when you consider how it refined many elements that were clear as mud in 1e. But there is a caveat to that... things like Non-Weapon Proficiencies, Specialty priests and other “optional rules” are discluded in that. </p><p></p><p>Remove those optional rules and you have the peak of classic D&D design and it’s still compatible with original, 1e and Basic. Improvements to initiative and thief skills becoming customizable rather than cookie cutter, official adoption of THAC0, and similar streamlining through all the classes. Specialty wizards were well done. It’s just damn near perfect. Changes to the ranger notwithstanding. </p><p></p><p>Why did I disclude the optional rules? Well Non-Weapon Proficiencies are a skill system that is inconsistent with the established system for rangers and thieves. Why were Rangers & Thieves poor in their core skills but super adequate in their Non-Weapon Proficiencies? Specialty priests were great with Legends & Lore but later implementations were inconsistent. </p><p></p><p>Monsters were also well done aside from the psionics being core to some monsters with no options for nonPsionic versions of those monsters. The Monstrous Compendium was a garbage idea but hey whatcha gonna do?</p><p></p><p>The flaw that makes 2e a hot mess is that all those optional rules weren’t optional as mentioned with Psionics. All the later supplements assumed the use of optional rules. </p><p></p><p>So for a classic D&D experience your pinnacle is 2e core.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="teitan, post: 7817335, member: 3457"] When it comes to classic D&D, to me, AD&D 2e was the pinnacle when it came to the core rules when you consider how it refined many elements that were clear as mud in 1e. But there is a caveat to that... things like Non-Weapon Proficiencies, Specialty priests and other “optional rules” are discluded in that. Remove those optional rules and you have the peak of classic D&D design and it’s still compatible with original, 1e and Basic. Improvements to initiative and thief skills becoming customizable rather than cookie cutter, official adoption of THAC0, and similar streamlining through all the classes. Specialty wizards were well done. It’s just damn near perfect. Changes to the ranger notwithstanding. Why did I disclude the optional rules? Well Non-Weapon Proficiencies are a skill system that is inconsistent with the established system for rangers and thieves. Why were Rangers & Thieves poor in their core skills but super adequate in their Non-Weapon Proficiencies? Specialty priests were great with Legends & Lore but later implementations were inconsistent. Monsters were also well done aside from the psionics being core to some monsters with no options for nonPsionic versions of those monsters. The Monstrous Compendium was a garbage idea but hey whatcha gonna do? The flaw that makes 2e a hot mess is that all those optional rules weren’t optional as mentioned with Psionics. All the later supplements assumed the use of optional rules. So for a classic D&D experience your pinnacle is 2e core. [/QUOTE]
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