D&D 2E [COMPLETE] Looking back at the limited series: Player's Option, Monstrous Arcana, Odyssey, and more!

[Mannahnin]

I guess I would question, are you just complaining about it now, with benefit of 30 years of game design hindsight? Yeah of course THAC0 and lower AC = better was a poor choice in retrospect.

As I recall Gygax mentions in the 1E DMG that ascending armor class would probably make more sense, but with 5 years of publications and so many people playing already and used to descending, it was too late to change!

And then ironically, the strong design mandate for 2E to maintain reverse compatibility kept descending AC in place for that edition, and it wasn't until WotC started over in 3E that ascending AC finally became the standard.

 

[Alzrius]

"The fourth Core Rulebook" is D&D's version of being called "the fifth Beatle." While it's not something you hear thrown around often these days, I distinctly recall the term (albeit infrequently) being at least a little more popular back during the 2E era, and used it myself on occasion.

When I did, it was always with regard to the Tome of Magic.

Now, in AD&D 1E the fourth Core Rulebook could justifiably have been called Deities & Demigods, if for no other reason than Gary Gygax himself, in the book's foreword, said that it wasn't a supplement. Far be it from me to argue with the godfather of gaming, but I simply can't bring myself to consider that to be the case for that book's AD&D 2nd Edition successor. There's a reason why I didn't mention that when I covered Legends & Lore in my previous post. Even with the greater emphasis on PC-friendly information via specialty priests (among other player-facing game material), the Tome of Magic is hands-down the more important book.

Or at least, that's what the AD&D 2nd Edition ecosystem of products seemed to think. I kid you not, this book seemed like it was mentioned everywhere. Looking at the list of spell changes in the Ravenloft Campaign Setting? The ToM gets mentioned. Did some of the deities in DMGR4 Monster Mythology mention granting access to spheres like Numbers, Thought, and War? They're from the ToM. Seen a reference to a "wild mage" somewhere? That class came from this book, baby! The stuff introduced in this book was referenced again and again throughout the life of this edition. This, to me, is what it's like when a book isn't a supplement.

And really, that's what made this book so indispensible, perhaps more so than its contents warranted. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of wild mages, for instance, but how many NPCs with levels in that class can you name (who aren't from the Baldur's Gate CRPGs, I mean)? Even Hornung, who has numerous wild magic spells named after him in this book, never got game statistics (unless you count that one super-rare card from the 1993 set of TSR trading cards). As much as I love this book, its contents seemed to be referenced more often than they were actually used.

Now, I'll give props where it's due, the ideas on display here are evocative in the extreme. Elementalist mages are character options that should have been available long before this; this is literally their debut in the AD&D game! Likewise, "cooperative magic" and "faith magic" always seemed like cool new options for clerics, they didn't get much use beyond a few specific spells, though that wasn't nearly as much of a waste of potential as quest spells. Does anyone else remember quest spells? The super-powerful divine magic that your god would only grant to you under extreme circumstances, typically as a result of some sort of adventure or pilgrimage or, you know...quest? I loved the idea of these, but I can't recall ever seeing them put to use. In fact, the only times I even remember them being mentioned after this are when several new, deity-specific ones were presented in Birthright's Book of Priestcraft, along with the notation that they were granted as typical "just pray for them" spells to divine spellcasters of level 40 or so in Netheril: Empire of Magic.

Oh, and they were also curtailed in Ravenloft, just like almost everything else. Which reminds me, did you know that several of the new spells in the aforementioned Ravenloft Campaign Setting were deliberately patterned off of spells from this book? Specifically, spells designed by Strahd von Zarovich. Like, strahd's frightful joining is the reverse of this book's bloodstone's frightful joining, while strahd's baneful attractor is the reverse of this book's hornung's baneful deflector. The latter Strahd spell even notes that he named it after himself rather than the "upstart" Hornung...which suggests a Ravenloft connection to the most notable wild mage that I don't think anyone has ever played up.

Also, special note that metamagic debuted here as well, though only in the form of particular spells that affected other spells. These tended to have names that were notable for how prosaic they were, being called things like far reaching II and squaring the circle. It wouldn't be until D&D 3rd Edition that metamagic would become a system of feats to affect spells, rather than spells itself.

I feel like I should also mention that there were a bunch of new magic items at the end of this book, but they always felt perfunctory to me. Did anyone ever get much use out of a wand of corridors or a crystal parrot?

Overall, this was a book that loomed large over the edition it was released for. It couldn't not be mentioned when it came time to talk about magic, it seemed, and that made this book appear to be ubiquitous. Whether it actually deserved that presentation is another matter.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Voadam]

"The fourth Core Rulebook" is D&D's version of being called "the fifth Beatle." While it's not something you hear thrown around often these days, I distinctly recall the term (albeit infrequently) being at least a little more popular back during the 2E era, and used it myself on occasion.

When I did, it was always with regard to the Tome of Magic.

Now, in AD&D 1E the fourth Core Rulebook could justifiably have been called Deities & Demigods, if for no other reason than Gary Gygax himself, in the book's foreword, said that it wasn't a supplement. Far be it from me to argue with the godfather of gaming, but I simply can't bring myself to consider that to be the case for that book's AD&D 2nd Edition successor. There's a reason why I didn't mention that when I covered Legends & Lore in my previous post. Even with the greater emphasis on PC-friendly information via specialty priests (among other player-facing game material), the Tome of Magic is hands-down the more important book.

I would much more of thought of Unearthed Arcana for 1e as a fourth corebook with the expanded races, classes, weapons, armor, spells, and stat generation that could be used in all campaigns instead whereas Deities & Demigods were more of a pick what you want for a campaign thing.

OD&D was explicit that Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes was Supplement IV for that line similar to Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and Eldritch Wizardry.

 

[Voadam]

Also, special note that metamagic debuted here as well, though only in the form of particular spells that affected other spells. These tended to have names that were notable for how prosaic they were, being called things like far reaching II and squaring the circle. It wouldn't be until D&D 3rd Edition that metamagic would become a system of feats to affect spells, rather than spells itself.

Well the 1e PH had spells like the magic user Extension spell series that affected other spells.

Extension I (Alteration)
Level: 4 Components: V
Range: 0 Casting Time: 2 segments
Duration: Special Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: Special
Explanation/Description: By use of an extension I spell the magic-user prolongs the duration of a previously cast first, second, or third level spell by 50%. Thus, a levitate spell can be made to function 1½ turns/level, a hold person spell made to work for 3 rounds/level, etc. Naturally, the spell has effect only on such spells where duration is meaningful.

These continued in the 2e PH as well before Tome of Magic.

Also there was a system for using a nonweapon proficiency to accomplish metamagic abilities in the late 2e book College of Wizardry.

 

[Alzrius]

Well the 1e PH had spells like the magic user Extension spell series that affected other spells.

True, but the concept of that being "metamagic," as a term, originated in the ToM, and did get mentioned as such throughout the life of the edition, albeit infrequently.

I recall it being mentioned, for example, in the overview of Sammaster's life in the Cult of the Dragon supplement (p. 8), crediting him with having "discovered, rediscovered, or improved upon" several spells from the "advanced theory of magic known as 'metamagic'."

Of course, that entire sequence reads like he was someone's Monty Haul character, as he not only hits 21st level, but also gains the Chosen of Mystra template and is said (p. 12) to have figured out how to use the "silver fire" that template grants to mimic all of the spellfire abilities from Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. Broken!

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[the Jester]

I mean you can complain about 80s music too, or clothes or pretty much anything.
But in those days, it was cool.

It was popular, but awful. Speaking as a guy who also hated metaplot in my game books back in the day.

 

[RuinousPowers]

I LOVE themed wizards, so I was all over Elementalists back in the day, even stating that they were the most common type of wizards in my setting. The love for wild magic never interested me though.

I don't think I ever got much mileage out of the new clerical spheres, though I dutifully assigned them to my deities.

 

[Orius]

I've long considered ToM to be 2e's fourth core book myself. There's really not much else to say.

Most of the book is just new spells and magic items, and there's plenty to choose from. Some of the spells have survived to 5e, and some of the magic items got into 3e at least. In that respect it shares something else with UA being a source of material that got used later on.

Is there any 2e player that doesn't have ToM? It's pretty much an essential part of any 2e library.

 

[Voadam]

I've long considered ToM to be 2e's fourth core book myself. There's really not much else to say.

Most of the book is just new spells and magic items, and there's plenty to choose from. Some of the spells have survived to 5e, and some of the magic items got into 3e at least. In that respect it shares something else with UA being a source of material that got used later on.

Is there any 2e player that doesn't have ToM? It's pretty much an essential part of any 2e library.

I had friends who played who didn't own the PH.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

For what it is worth, the Savage Coast line was an internet download rerelease/expansion of the Red Steel boxed sets under the Odyssey line, a setting built from the ground up around the expectation of kits. Ignoring any problematic aspect of the colonialist angle of the Age of Exploration, I think it worked as well as Al Qadim’s take on kits worked.