D&D General I'm a Fighter, not a Lover: Why the 1e Fighter was so Awesome

[Lanefan]

I think he did read her books. She had shields(psionic defenses), psionic attacks, psionic powers, etc. He just put them into the game in a modified fashion the same way the 1e ranger is Aragorn, yet not exactly Aragorn.

Then he really missed the boat on the psionic-magic items she had in there: various psionic-run scrying devices, Wards Major and Minor, and so forth.

I had a party find a set of Wards Major not long ago, took 'em forever to figure out what they did (I've taken psionics out other than for a few iconic monsters, and converted items like this to work more conventionally).

 

[haakon1]

But really, personally I think that's pretty moot, because you're talking about a 20th-24th level AD&D character, which was something that hardly ever happened unless you were playing Monty Haul or started that high.

Yes. Above “name level” - where the level title matches the class name and HD top out and level titles stop changing, typically around 9th - play almost never happened in my experience.

But that’s also true for me in other editions. To me, basically around 12th - just like a lot of 5e adventures and BG3 - is the true highest level PC, with few exceptions.

 

[haakon1]

By the way, the PHB also mentions (although doesn't detail) the fact that you don't get XP until you return from adventuring to a base of operations.

I’ve always* used the rule that PC’s only level up in a place of safety, but I didn’t remember where it was from.

* Always, as in DMing 1e, 3e, and 3.5e. My campaigns in 3.5e still use a lot of AD&D flavor. “3e rules, 1e feel” isn’t just a marketing slogan, it’s a lifestyle choice.

 

[Kurotowa]

But that’s also true for me in other editions. To me, basically around 12th - just like a lot of 5e adventures and BG3 - is the true highest level PC, with few exceptions.

Yeah, I've experienced about the same. Most campaigns I'd consider "long running" still conclude somewhere in the 12th-14th level range. The one exception was a single 3e campaign that got all the way to 18th level, but everyone was quite burned out by the end and only soldiering on to finish things.