Fanaelialae
Legend
Back in 1e there were fairly severe experience penalties for changing alignment (and if you didn't play your alignment consistently, it would change). I daresay that playing an evil character just for the sake of using poison probably wouldn't work that well. You'd be expected to play your alignment, which could get you in trouble with the party, or suffer the experience penalty. Additionally, some of the best classes (paladin and ranger) could only be good.I wonder how much 'balance' was built on the orginal players and DMs mindsets.