NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flying Toaster" data-source="post: 9715268" data-attributes="member: 7052563">Every table is different.  When the 2E PHB came out in 1989 we eagerly adopted it with no hesitation.  I was already chafing at what I saw as limitations in the 1E rules and the only disappointment I felt about 2E was that it did not go farther: ditch the weird AD&D ability score tables and use the nice smooth bell curves from B/X, beef up crossbows and slings, ditch demi-human class and level limits altogether in favor of XP penalties to slow advancement, etc.  We now know that the designers wanted to make more revisions but were held back in the name of backwards compatibility.We used all the optional rules that gave spellcasters and Thieves more customized options.  The 2E Ranger was a bit of a letdown I guess.  I have a distinct memory of our group’s first look at the 2E PHB as we read the new rules and rolled up characters.  I looked up and said “Hey guys, did you notice something?  They took out the Assassin, Monk, and Half-Orc!”.  We paused for a moment..  and then just shrugged and went back to what we were doing, because no one in our group had ever played any of those options.  I did not even mention the deletion of the overpowered UA options like the Barbarian and Cavalier because we had never even considered using those. Your example of a high level D&D character deliberately jumping off a cliff because they have no fear of falling damage is IIRC the very hypothetical that set off an epic series of arguments in the Forum column of Dragon magazine.  The 1980’s RPG scene had a preoccupation with realism, perhaps a holdover from the wargaming days.  Falling damage in particular was the kind of topic that would have people cracking open their college physics textbooks in order to bolster their arguments.  A PC nonchalantly jumping off a cliff is a pretty clear example of the rules interfering with immersion.  I would probably give that player a stern warning and then let them take the damage if they insist.  Of course there might be something nasty lying in wait at the bottom of the cliff...</blockquote>

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