Colin McComb's disowning of PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves?

[Faraer]

I remember reading that Colin McComb had disowned (or perhaps something less drastic) his infamous work PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves. But I don't know and can't find where. Did he?

[Edit: Hm, maybe he *apologized* for it.]

 

[Dark Jezter]

Well, if he did disown The Complete Book of Elves, I can't say that I blame him. That book had major problems, and I know several DMs who refused to allow it in their 2e AD&D games.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I don't think he disowned it, but he did confess to some balance issues. The big problem was that he tried to balance numbers with roleplay and you got classes like the bladesinger who got abilities in exchange for being in trouble all the time (which as a PC would probably happen anyway).

 

[Dark Jezter]

I don't think he disowned it, but he did confess to some balance issues.

There's the understatement of the century.

 

[Psion]

I don't remember that, but I do remember Jeff Grubb apologizing for kits.

 

[Grazzt]

I don't remember that, but I do remember Jeff Grubb apologizing for kits.

And rightly so.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

I don't remember that, but I do remember Jeff Grubb apologizing for kits.

Oh, you mean PrCs by another name...

 

[Olive]

Oh, you mean PrCs by another name...

Oh please. some PrCs are bad, but nothing on the majority of kits. PrCs are what kits should have been.

 

[Psion]

Oh, you mean PrCs by another name...

Nope.

PrCs require you to spend your ability pool (i.e., levels) for abilities. It doesn't deficit spend like kits do, which inherently entrain often meaningless disads on the assumption that it balances with the advantage, and then tacks on bonus proficiencies on the side that blow away any notion that the advantage and disadvantage balance.

Not to mention, if you see a PrC you like, you don't have to restart a new game to get into it.

 

[billd91]

Nope.

PrCs require you to spend your ability pool (i.e., levels) for abilities. It doesn't deficit spend like kits do, which inherently entrain often meaningless disads on the assumption that it balances with the advantage, and then tacks on bonus proficiencies on the side that blow away any notion that the advantage and disadvantage balance.

That depended a great deal on which kits you were talking about. Some were good, some were bad, some were over the top bad. The problem was that a good many of them balanced things with role-playing rather than purely mechanical means. And for many games, heavy role-playing isn't a significant part of the game. Hence, the penalties were relatively meaningless.
The other problem was that 2nd edition's kits, as I saw it, got further out of hand as the development of the system went along.
The problem I saw with 2nd edition was where it went with the Player's Option books. That was where things really got out of hand.