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Right. Then my other answer applies for using the other optional rule in the DMG: keep the characters as they are, but they will require x2 to x4 XP to advance, subject to DM approval. For the female elf thief, you might want to increase the level as the limits don't exist in 2e anymore...

I am not sure I understand the question, but in 2e the 20th level limit doesn't seem like a hard limit, as you can keep spending the thief skill points until you reach 95% in an ability. I haven't done the calculation, but it seems unlikely that by 20th level you will have capped all thief...

This makes perfect sense. Note the Outer Planes MC appendix was sold in 1991, so it predates Planescape.

Reading the Pathfinder core book I am surprised at how much easier they made for spellcasters to craft magic items by allowing crafting even in adverse conditions and during adventuring. I am not sure what the design goal was here, considering that the classes are also more powerful than 3.5...

I think a separate thread would be helpful to avoid derail this one, but briefly: The 3.0 DMG (not the 3.5 revision, though, for some reason!) suggests to reduce the frequency of magic items, and that there are no shops where to buy them. PF1e adopts the solution of reducing the amount of...

I am definitely in the same camp, although I quite like some aspects of PF: for example different rates of XP progression, explicit guidelines for low-magic campaigns, reduced skill lists, level-independent XP values for monsters/traps. But I could never run it as-is, even core book only...

There was a simple option, and a more complex one with various tables. I used the simple option because it was effective and not very intrusive (you had to roll a natural 18 or more, and had to hit the AC by 5 points; this made it more likely for Warriors to crit.)

Taladas is one of the best ever D&D settings. Brilliant world building, and just with the core 2e rules. It helps perhaps that Zeb went into it, as he stated in an interview, as an "outsider" (he never worked on Dragonlance before.) "Classic" Dragonlance is my all-time favourite AD&D setting...

Note the 1e PHB's comment about Magic-user crafting levels were considered errata, and the DMG values were the actual level. So it's not clear why 2e went with 9th level for 2e (and kept 11th level anyway for magic items other than scrolls and potions.) 3e follows Holmes D&D in allowing scrolls...

The kits were indeed a mess. But before the Complete X series, they first appeared in Zeb Cook's Time of the Dragon boxed set. They are specifically tailored to the setting, and they are wonderfully evocative. These are the only kits I ever used; never used any other kits (and for that matter...

When we moved our campaign from BECMI to 2e back in 1989, we didn't use any of the optional classes, and we kept using 3d6 in order. But after that campaign, we used pretty much everything in the PHB (and 4d6 drop lowest for chargen).

I don't know; Fighters weren't bound by alignment, they got multiple attacks earlier, they got more weapon proficiencies, they could attract companies of mercenaries (Rangers couldn't even have men-at-arms nor henchmen before 8th level), and they got revenue when settiling a barony.

Drizzt stat block first appears in the Savage Frontier supplement, which was a 1e/UA product (p.57). He is a 10th level CG Ranger. And drow could be Rangers already from UA, so he is a perfectly legal character.

Interesting topic. In BECMI and AD&D healing was clearly a relevant aspect, but I always had players that enjoyed playing clerics, so with one in the group, it was never much of an issue. In 3.0, the first campaign I ran saw a wide abuse of CLW wands (and other magic items inflation due to...

I love all the GUMSHOE horror games (Trail of Cthulhu, Fall of Delta Green, Fear Itself, Night's Black Agents/Dracula Dossier), but Cthulhu Dark takes things to another level (for "purist" Cthulhu horror.) I like classic CoC, but never went beyond 2nd edition (as the editions churn, it became...

Yes perhaps the only useful pages in that book. Coming from Mentzer the concepts weren't totally alien to us.

I started my D&D journey with Mentzer, and moved to 2e in 1989 (it's the edition which saw more continuous time at the table than any other), but we rarely used ability checks in either games. Didn't particularly like General Skills when they appeared first in GAZ1, but the 2e NWPs saw a bit...

Excellent post! And a nitpick: the rule wasn't removed in Mentzer's. It's in the Basic DM Rulebook, p.20, column one "New rules and items". Not only that, but Mentzer expands the rule with alternative resolution mechanics involving dice different than d20, e.g. roll under with 3d6, 4d6 etc.

It goes without saying I can have any opinion I want ;) and generally I couldn't care less about others' opinions (including Gygax's). That said, and just for context, I started with BECMI, then moved to AD&D2e in 1989, played till 2003, then learned 1e; 2e is the edition that I played...

I was referring to the core rules, not any of the later splats (from what I recall from POCT, high masters increased the attack speed, but that wasn't a guarantee of going first). By the 2e DMG (earliest print, p.57, first column), there's an example of initiative and multiple attacks, and...