Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Which edition had more PC Deaths
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Pickaxe" data-source="post: 3631037" data-attributes="member: 10812"><p>IME, 3e is far more deadly. I didn't play much 2e but played a lot of 1e, albeit with the same group for the most part.</p><p></p><p>The main reason I think 3e is more deadly is that HP are about the same but damage is greater. In 1e, you needed 16 Str just to get +1 to damage (and +0 to hit). Orcs and other humanoids had standard weapon damage with little in the way of Str modifiers; in 3e, orcs carry greataxes or falchions and have a racial bonus to their Strength scores. Sneak attack is easier to do and does more damage at higher levels than the X4 or so that you got from backstabbing, and more humanoid races can have classes and therefore have sneak attack.</p><p></p><p>Iconic monsters like dragons and giants are much more powerful. Yes, 1e had save-or-die events, but it also had a saving throw chart that eventually made things like poison inconsequential at high levels.</p><p></p><p>We also played without miniatures, so there were no AoO to deter party spellcasters.</p><p></p><p>My recollection of a typical 1e encounter is that the melee types would wade into the fray, and, if they took significant damage (which usually took a good number of rounds), they waded out and got a heal from the cleric. In 3e, there's a greater chance you'll take serious damage in a given round, so losing just about any HP is not trivial and reason enough to get healed up immediately.</p><p></p><p>3e rules also just seem to provide for challenging encounters where you may get into a situation that's hard to get out of; it may not be "save or die", but once things start going south, they go south real fast. In 1e, it always seemed that the rules didn't empower the DM enough and he had to bend them (or create new ones) in order to challenge the party. Party's might walk into a tough situation, but it wasn't that tough to walk right back out of it and regroup.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, that may reflect more of how we played 1e than it does the general 1e experience, but that's the difference I've seen.</p><p></p><p>--Axe</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pickaxe, post: 3631037, member: 10812"] IME, 3e is far more deadly. I didn't play much 2e but played a lot of 1e, albeit with the same group for the most part. The main reason I think 3e is more deadly is that HP are about the same but damage is greater. In 1e, you needed 16 Str just to get +1 to damage (and +0 to hit). Orcs and other humanoids had standard weapon damage with little in the way of Str modifiers; in 3e, orcs carry greataxes or falchions and have a racial bonus to their Strength scores. Sneak attack is easier to do and does more damage at higher levels than the X4 or so that you got from backstabbing, and more humanoid races can have classes and therefore have sneak attack. Iconic monsters like dragons and giants are much more powerful. Yes, 1e had save-or-die events, but it also had a saving throw chart that eventually made things like poison inconsequential at high levels. We also played without miniatures, so there were no AoO to deter party spellcasters. My recollection of a typical 1e encounter is that the melee types would wade into the fray, and, if they took significant damage (which usually took a good number of rounds), they waded out and got a heal from the cleric. In 3e, there's a greater chance you'll take serious damage in a given round, so losing just about any HP is not trivial and reason enough to get healed up immediately. 3e rules also just seem to provide for challenging encounters where you may get into a situation that's hard to get out of; it may not be "save or die", but once things start going south, they go south real fast. In 1e, it always seemed that the rules didn't empower the DM enough and he had to bend them (or create new ones) in order to challenge the party. Party's might walk into a tough situation, but it wasn't that tough to walk right back out of it and regroup. Anyway, that may reflect more of how we played 1e than it does the general 1e experience, but that's the difference I've seen. --Axe [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Which edition had more PC Deaths
Top