Differences between 1st & 2nd Edition?

[billd91]

The ranger was changed substantially from 1st to 2nd edition.
Thief skills were handled in a much more customizable way.
XP for treasure, I believe, was done away with as a standard rule.
XP for monsters was calculated differently.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm surprised there isn't a comprehensive list online.

One thing that comes to mind is that level limits for demi-humans (there is a term that hasn't been used for a while) were increased and more class options were opened for them. It was still very restrictive, but much better than AD&D.

 

[trancejeremy]

Some of the classes were tweaked a lot, including names. More customization for Rogues and Priests most notably, and specialization for Wizards.

1st AD&D did have THAC0, it was in the DMG in the appendix of the monsters.

Pretty much it was like the difference between 3.0 and 3.5, IMHO.

 

[Thanael]

2E introduced the specialty priest.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I'm surprised there isn't a comprehensive list online.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_&_Dragons

 

[Voadam]

THAC0 was formalised as a concept (1e had 'to hit' tables, by the time 2e came around many people had realised that you didn't need the whole table, all you needed was the target number to hit AC 0 and you could quickly calculate whether you had hit any AC through a bit of simple maths)

1e DMG in the appendix showing short stats for all the monsters from the MM, one entry is To hit Armor Class 0. Many 1e Modules use THAC0 in the short stat blocks. I know my 1e character sheets had THAC0 entries.

 

[Voadam]

I should have been more specific -- well known, Judeo-Christian, demons were no longer in evidence. The various forms of Tanar'ri were not culled from a real world religion except in the most flimsy of prestenses. They were demons, yes, they were not recognizably drawn from Biblical sources as Belial, Behemoth, etc were. And they were not frequently referred to as "demons" until later in the life of 2e. Likewise, named gods from real religions had their visibility greatly reduced until much later in the life of 2e.

[Edit: Plane Sailing beat me to it.]

Demons and devils were not in the first monstrous compendiums, although all the generic demons, devils, daemons, and demondands from 1e MM and MMII showed up in the outer planes MC appendix. These included all the judeo christian devils from Dante's inferno (the horned devils, etc.), although devils were renamed as a group to Baatezu and given individual different names as well.

Demon lords and devils did make appearances in 2e products such as planescape and the Hell book.

1e only had judeo christian demon and devil lords in the MM, MM II, and Manual of the Planes though. Oh yeah, and Asmodeus shows up in the joke module Castle Greyhawk late in the 1e cycle.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

EDIT- NM. Brother Mclaren beat me to it. What I get for being late to the party.

 

[Voadam]

One big difference was putting THAC0 and saves in the PH instead of in the DMG.

Monster entries generally were a full page in 2e versus a paragraph or two in 1e, generally providing more description.

How you earned xp was handled differently.

The addition of specialty priests are one of my favorite changes in 2e.

 

[Gentlegamer]

Did 1E have the repeating 20's on the to-hit tables? If so, that made THAC0 a bit different than the tables.

M-Us needed to roll a 20 to hit AC 1 (as well as AC 0).