AD&D 1st edition and 2nd edition differences?

[Shadeydm]

I have a vague memory of how hit points were handled changing. Something along the lines of changing at what negative HP value death happens at, the exact details escape me ATM. It might have even removed negative hit points its been too many years...

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Didn't they drop artifacts? The funny hat man has a good list. So you could use either rule set for Dragonlance.

In the interests of full disclosure I stole it from somewhere and filed it away just to throw it into threads like this. Probably stole it from a thread just like this...

 

[Orius]

So it looks like tweaks more than a full blown different rules set, is this a correct assumption?

More or less. Optional material from later 1e rulebooks were added to "core" (biggest example are the proficiencies), while things like half-orcs, assassins, and monks were dropped. I've never noticed any real significant difference between the two rules, and my guess would be that 2e is easier to run than 1e with some of the more complicated bits removed (particularly with combat being streamlined).

Didn't they drop artifacts? The funny hat man has a good list. So you could use either rule set for Dragonlance.

Nope. Chapter 10 of the 2e DMG talks about artifacts, and gives a brief description of 3 as examples, IIRC they are the Hand and Eye of Vecna, the Rod of Seven Parts, and Heward's Mystical Organ. No powers are listed for any of them, instead the DM is encouraged to give the artifacts whatever abilities are needed for the campaign. The Book of Artifacts later updated several 1e artifacts and included a few more from the existing campaign worlds at the time it was published, it's mostly descriptive flavor text with recommended powers and methods of destruction for each artifact. The book also has several tables of powers grouped into categories for the DM to choose from, and IIRC, two of the tables weren't used for any of the standard artifacts in the book, but were included for anything the DM might create. In any case, the artifact tables and all the artifacts themselves were reprinted in the Encyclopedia Magica, so the Book of Artifacts later became somewhat obsolete.

I have a vague memory of how hit points were handled changing. Something along the lines of changing at what negative HP value death happens at, the exact details escape me ATM. It might have even removed negative hit points its been too many years...

It was an optional rule, if the DM wanted once a character hit 0 hp, he fell unconscious and lost 1 hp/round until hitting -10 and died or was healed with a spell or potion. A lot of DMs allowed the healing proficiency to stop the hp loss, but I don't remember if that was part of the rule or not.

 

[qstor]

There's a list here too:

Dungeons & Dragons


Mike

 

[Evenglare]

Cool, thanks for all the replies. This is awesome!

 

[David Howery]

not sure if anyone's mentioned it but... demons, devils, demodands, and all the baddies from the outer planes disappeared for a while, only to come back with different names later on..

 

[haakon1]

So it looks like tweaks more than a full blown different rules set, is this a correct assumption?

Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventurers were tweaks on the AD&D game, and tested some rules that ended up being adopted for 2nd Edition.

Degree of difference between editions, high to low:
- 4e v. 3.5e
- 3e v. 2nd Edition
- 2nd Edition v. AD&D
- Pathfinder v. 3.5e
- 3.5e v. 3.0e

That is, you could read an adventure in 2nd Edition or AD&D, and you'd understand the content if you knew either system. But it was a different rules set, mostly in changes to the PC's.

You could play a module from either edition, but when I ran 2nd Edition modules for my A&D campaign, I completely redid any NPC's. For the monsters, I just referenced the Monster Manuals from my edition instead, with pretty much everything mainstream in 2nd Edition having an AD&D predescessor.

Over time, with the edition of splatbooks, 2nd Edition could veer away from AD&D, but most of the time, it didn't.

 

[Steely_Dan]

not sure if anyone's mentioned it but... demons, devils, demodands, and all the baddies from the outer planes disappeared for a while, only to come back with different names later on..

Yep, a lame backlash to MADD (Mothers Against Dungeons & Dragons).

 

[Steely_Dan]

[*]The ranger gets a major overhaul but not really a favorable one. Consider using the 1e ranger.
[/LIST]

Total, the 1st Ed Ranger has a certain panache, I mean, being able to blap something with a magic missile is pretty cool, and the Giant class damage bonus rocks.

2nd Ed was the beginning of the Drizztifying of the Ranger.

 

[Steely_Dan]

Main difference: Style.


1E has it.

Basically this, 1st Ed drips with vibe like no edition since; what 2nd Ed brought to the table for me was campaign settings, truly the golden age (Al-Qadim, Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, Spelljammer).

The 1st Ed Deities & Demigods is still my favourite D&D book of all time, that Melnibonean chapter is what really sucked me in back in the day.