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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 5983443" data-attributes="member: 7635">I think here AD&amp;D's greatest perceived weaknesses is actually one of its strengths. For the most part, AD&amp;D's mechanics were often disassociated with one another. Its where the &quot;subsystems and minigames&quot; of older D&amp;D went. It meant you could rip out elements of the game and replace it and often have little or no resistance from the rest of the system. Replacing (or eliminating) surprise, for example, did little to change initiative or stealth rules for thieves. Likewise, you could replace the Strength table with your own (removing Exceptional Str) and it would only effect PCs, a few NPCs, and a handful of magical items. It was a tinkerer's paradise because it usually meant you could alter things and then balance-test it on the fly. 3e could do that, but it took much more work. You couldn't remove skills like you could NWPs without majorly re-writing classes. Likewise, feats were not removable unless you gutted the fighter. Changing XP gained changed magic item creation and treasure balance vs. EL. Deadlier crits screwed up CR. Replacing the 3e ability score table with Basic's slower progression would force you to re-write every single monster in the game. It was too unwieldy to change all the stuff due to interconnection. That's not to say AD&amp;D's rules were better in all places (the elegance of Fort/Ref/Will still puts AD&amp;Ds Five Arbitrary Categories to shame) but they were a lot more modifiable.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 5983443, member: 7635"] I think here AD&D's greatest perceived weaknesses is actually one of its strengths. For the most part, AD&D's mechanics were often disassociated with one another. Its where the "subsystems and minigames" of older D&D went. It meant you could rip out elements of the game and replace it and often have little or no resistance from the rest of the system. Replacing (or eliminating) surprise, for example, did little to change initiative or stealth rules for thieves. Likewise, you could replace the Strength table with your own (removing Exceptional Str) and it would only effect PCs, a few NPCs, and a handful of magical items. It was a tinkerer's paradise because it usually meant you could alter things and then balance-test it on the fly. 3e could do that, but it took much more work. You couldn't remove skills like you could NWPs without majorly re-writing classes. Likewise, feats were not removable unless you gutted the fighter. Changing XP gained changed magic item creation and treasure balance vs. EL. Deadlier crits screwed up CR. Replacing the 3e ability score table with Basic's slower progression would force you to re-write every single monster in the game. It was too unwieldy to change all the stuff due to interconnection. That's not to say AD&D's rules were better in all places (the elegance of Fort/Ref/Will still puts AD&Ds Five Arbitrary Categories to shame) but they were a lot more modifiable. [/QUOTE]

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