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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5988153" data-attributes="member: 996">Only 3.x had this.  2e used THAC0, prior to that it was tables.  Class/level, not attack bonus of any kind, determined multiple attacks.3e introduced formal ability damage and ability drain, and it existed before in the form of various monster abilities.  3e, 2e, and 1e had separate rules for diseases, and 1e even had rules for insanity.  1e had subdual damage, and 2e expanded upon it, IIRC.  1e psionic combat used power points as a measure of ability to continue the combat. And, all included Life-Energy Level Drain in some, form, yet another sub-stystem in control for health.Really, you should have said:  "Prior eds had myriad, incompatible, and imbalanced sub-sytems for tracking various aspects of health, while 4e is 'limited' to only hps, surges, and the disease track. Except for 3e spells that used Touch Attacks, spells that gave no saving throw, and spells that used unique-to-themselves resolution mechanics, like 1e Phantasmal Killer.Utility magic starts at 2 for formal utility powers, and 1st for Rituals, including rituals that some casters got for free.  Using utility magic did not require giving up combat spells, so, if anything, it was /more/ available at low levels than in prior eds.4e has Bigby's and Mordenkainen's Spells, and also has Tenser's Floating Disc as a ritual.Presented as an option in the Manual of Planes.  Also, the formal 'Great Wheel' was introduced in 2e.0e had only 3 alignments (law, neurtrality, chaos).  4e had '5', but the 'missing' alignments were just lumped into others.  CN/LN/TN are part of 'unaligned,' NG/LG are Good, and NE/LE are 'Evil.'  You said it yourself.Not many 4e items do.  And, some earlier items did, requiring you to 'spend' hps to charge or to use them.3e was every bit as grid-dependent, and had more complex rules for using the grid.Roles existed, very strongly, they just weren't formalized until 3e and the 'iconic class roles' of Fighter, Rogue, Wizard & Cleric.  The 'Healer' (formally Cleric in 3e) role was the most obvious one, and any class with healing was verymuch 'shoehorned' into it.12 out of 20 were flat-out bogus, so feel free to continue, as to the others...These are difference, but they're mostly a matter of purely mechanical consolidation.  Nothing that they actually represented was gone from the game, it was just modeled in a more streamlined, consistent manner.These are true.  They are also clear improvements.OK, I'll grant you this one.  While I'd argue that over the editions, D&D had been moving towards a more proportional natural healing rule (in early D&D, it took high-level characters much longer to heal, in 3e the difference was down to how big your class's HD was), and 4e finally made natural healing the same for everyone, it did cross a line in making it overnight, and not providing any provision for more serious wounds that might take longer to heal.  The disease track rule could have been easily adapted to that, but it was never done.</blockquote>

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