Editions

[pawsplay]

No no, Hussar - that was everything leading up to 2e.

Seriously, why are we bashing/mocking/whatevering the various editions here? The base question's been answered already...

True. It's a convention, and I accept that. I find it a little illogical.

 

[diaglo]

-The D&D Companion set introduced the first prestige classes, the Druid, Paladin, Avenger, and Knight, accessible to higher level charcters. The AD&D1e bard was similar, but dual classing was very different than modern multiclassing and prestige classing.

the first PrC was the Paladin introduced in Supplement I Greyhawk (1975)

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Surely 3e started out as a fusion between AD&D concepts and mechanics derived from Rolemaster. It's evolved a lot since then, of course.

 

[Delta]

The following are not true about Basic D&D..

-D&D 3e has a skill system much closer to the RC rules than AD&D non weapon proficiencies
-The D&D Companion set introduced the first prestige classes, the Druid, Paladin, Avenger, and Knight, accessible to higher level charcters. The AD&D1e bard was similar, but dual classing was very different than modern multiclassing and prestige classing.
-Max hit points at first level comes from the Basic DM book.
-D&D 3e uses a Basic initiative system, not AD&D "count down" and certainly no weapon speed.
-All classes are one HD per level.

- 3E skill text is frequently copy-and-pasted from the 2E PHB (check it out).
- Consider 1E Unearthed Arcana's Thief-Acrobat split-class.
- Basic D&D didn't roll initiative individually per character.
- Basic D&D classes did not get one HD each level; they still capped out at level 9 and got small fixed hit points thereafter.

But, this is all beside the point. If you compare text for spells, magic items, and skills, you'll find that the majority has been copy-and-pasted from 1E, 2E AD&D through 3E sources. Conversion documents were published by WOTC to convert characters from 2E AD&D (not any form of Basic), etc.