Help me get excited about 2nd Edition.

[Holy Bovine]

Well lets see. You got THAC0. Can't go wrong with THAC0
Weapons Speeds.
Weapon Profiencies
the oh so cleverly named Non-Weapon Proficiences (we couldn't just use 'skills'?)
5 different saving throws almost all of which can fall under the heading 'magic' and I don't care how high your Dex is you still aren't any better dodging that breath weapon than the other 3rd level fighter.
1d4hp human villiagers. 4th level party should really rack up the XPs in a village of 500 or so.
One Orc, Two Orc, Same Orc, Dull Orc (sub, any other monster for Orc you'll get the idea).
Initiative - how the hell did that work again? I played 2E for 6 years a never had it explained the same way twice.

but you'll get descriptive combat and won't use miniatures.

Why weren't you doing that before BTW?


Well I'm sure that sounded quite mean but I'm not trying to insult you. But what are you expecting on a board dedicated to d20 & D&D 3E? RPG.net or Dragonsfoot would probably be a better place.

 

[Desdichado]

OK, here ya go: you got Planescape, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Al-Qafrickindim, etc.

Of course, if you're not playing one of those settings, I'm back to nothing.

 

[Arnwyn]

Better flavor (yay PS and AQ!). No halfling barbarian/paladin/bard nonsense. No ridiculous prestige classes. More use out of your WSCompendium and PSCompendiums! Better monster formatting (oh wait, you're a player). Uh... that's all I got. I shudder thinking of Thac0...

Oh, and you're a player and not DM, so you don't have to worry about most of the problems!

 

[Wicht]

My favorite thing about 2e was that the thieves were more customizable than the 1e thieves.

Course in 3e they are even more so.
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In all honesty, while 2e never turned me off, going back to it from 3e is a step backward and so from a mere rules-point-of-view, there is little positive to say.

But the rules are just the vehicles for the ideas and the fun. If you and your friends can get together and have a good time together and you can more readily do it this time around with 2e rules then go for it. Just tell yourself its the company thats important, not the game.
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On the other hand, if you could convince your companions to convert the game over to 2e then more power to you

 

[Arnwyn]

and I don't care how high your Dex is you still aren't any better dodging that breath weapon than the other 3rd level fighter.

Pretty bad memory you got there, huh? Dex adjustments applied in 2e.

1d4hp human villiagers. 4th level party should really rack up the XPs in a village of 500 or so.

Ever heard of Com1's?

One Orc, Two Orc, Same Orc, Dull Orc (sub, any other monster for Orc you'll get the idea).

Don't know what this means... ??

2e-bashing is fine (and expected!) - but uninformed comments are, well, ridiculous.

 

[Bagpuss]

but you'll get descriptive combat and won't use miniatures.

Why weren't you doing that before BTW?

I've found since playing 3rd Edition the players seem to focus on the rule more, you know 5ft steps to avoid AoO, move little figure here to flank and get sneak attack. In 2nd Edition where we didn't use miniatures we had folks discribing their ducking under the opponents guard to strike at his exposed under arm and such. Sure you can do that in 3rd Edition, but I've found that with counters/miniatures to move on a board it becomes more like a wargame, and less desciptive.

Well I'm sure that sounded quite mean but I'm not trying to insult you. But what are you expecting on a board dedicated to d20 & D&D 3E? RPG.net or Dragonsfoot would probably be a better place.

Be mean about 2nd Ed all you like. I really don't want to play 2nd Edition, but I know other people (especially the DM) do.

I'm strongly of this boards 3rd edition mindset, (well not so far as "D20 is all powerful, one system to rule them all", I can see where D20 Modern falls down) so I thought I'd see if I was right in thinking there ain't nothing appealling about 2nd Ed.

 

[fett527]

Well, I don't know if I can lay anything out to be excited about. It might be good for nostalgia.

Also anyone know which 2nd AD&D book the Norse Pantheon is described in?

I think there was one of the green bound historical "splat" books that went in depth into the Norse mythology. I found this on WoTC's site though. Free download:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/LegendsAndLore.rtf

 

[Brisk-sg]

I'm thinking of playing a priest of one of the Norse gods, anyone have any recommendations for a deity to worship?

Also anyone know which 2nd AD&D book the Norse Pantheon is described in?

"On Hallowed Ground", a Planescape book that details most major Pantheons has the Norse Pantheon well detailed. One of the better 2nd Edition books in my opinion.

 

[Benben]

Take these as you will...

Fireball and Disintegrate tossing bards.

Multiclassing rules that are ready for abuse.

Druid wildshaping that is immune to pre-errata madness. ("What do you mean if I turn into a viper I don't have any poison???")

Specialty priests give clerics a wide, wide range in flavour.

Some good some bad. It's all about what the DM and the players make of the story that's important.

 

[Drawmack]

It doesn't take nearly as long to level in 2e (I mean the actuall process not accumulating the xp)

All of your dice will get used almost equally so there will be no need for the d12 to rally the other dice to me the ADDL (anti-dice descrimination league)

You don't have to worry about making a unique character, they're all pretty much the same.

Multiclassing is a big pain in the arse so munchkining is more difficult.

You don't have to worry about people calling it broken, cause the whole thing is pretty much broken.