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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 2095124" data-attributes="member: 158">Fewer bonuses to go around back then. Also, fewer HIT POINTS then than now. Nowadays, the well-prepared party is going into combat with blesses, prayers, mage armors, shields, hastes, a half-dozen feats to bolster attacks and damage, and one 20th level fighter has almost as many hit points as a first edition 20th level party had COMBINED.In older editions, players rarely messed with "buffing" spells except for about 3 or 4 total, and they were not cast as often. Bless for instance affected far fewer people for far fewer rounds, and chant was almost useless in combat. Prayer was quite useful, but you were 5th level before it was useable. Wizards had hastes, strengths, and fire shields, and later mage armors (called armor), but rarely messed with anything beyond those spells. It just wasn't worth it to do so regularly; limited casting slots and the durations of combats made it more problematic.I remember when it was announced in 3E that hit points scaled to 20th level that I balked - what kind of a video-gamey atmosphere was that?!?!?! I played it and found it to be far different than I envisoned, mostly because the spells had scaled dramatically, too! In older editions, damage output was influenced by fewer attacks, lower hit points, lower AC's, and lower attack bonuses.</blockquote>