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

[fuindordm]

3e turns casting time into a standard action, so generally only disrupted if a fighter readies an action to single attack (giving up full attacks) during casting, or if casting in melee you provoke an attack of opportunity (but the caster can make a DC 15 skill check to not provoke) and then there is a concentration check to not get disrupted if you take damage.

This was one of the biggests shifts in the game experience between 1e/2e and later editions.

When spellcasters no longer needed to fear getting disrupted, they had to nerf many iconic spells to keep some kind of parity. So from 3rd edition on, spells gradually weakened and became more like standard attacks. Until we reach 5th edition where sometimes I feel like a wizard is just a fighter who uses pretty lights instead of weapons. The sentiment is exaggerated and a little unfair, but the gradual convergence of the classes to a common standard is very real.

This is one of the big reasons I recently went back to running 1st edition. Yes, the PH is rife with save-or-suck spells, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Players love it when they can take 2 or 3 opponents out of combat with a single spell. But if they don't want to risk getting hit with hold person, then they need to keep a watchful eye out for the enemy cleric and not give them a chance to cast if they can possibly help it!

In 1st edition spells are more powerful but also harder to cast successfully, and the difficulties are tactical in nature rather than an abstract limitation like a skill roll. Being a spellcaster means something far more than "I buff" or "I have some AOE abilities". Every class has its own distinct challenges and incentives that change the player's way of interacting with the game world.

 

[James Gasik]

I've often said this before, but I don't actually believe AD&D spellcasters were all that powerful compared to their modern counterparts. Consider the following:

*Spells above 7th level were relegated to Wizards only.
*Spells not only could be easily interrupted if you took so much as a point of damage, but you were also considerably more vulnerable to attacks while casting.
*Wizards did not have full control over the spells they could cast, and could easily miss out on some of the better spells. The 1e DMG infamously advised the DM to make Wizard spell acquisition incredibly heinous, with many NPC's refusing to teach spells unless you handed them magic items!
*Many spells were "Save neg.", and as you rose in level, it became more likely for your foes to make their saving throw.
*Not a few monsters had defenses against spells, such as immunities.
*Magic Resistance was not uncommon, and while it became somewhat more tolerable at higher levels in 1e (where MR went down past level 11) it was truly horrid at lower levels. In 2e, it was bad at all levels, and it sometimes felt like it was handed out like candy to foes.
*Other planes or specialty settings often had huge lists of spell alterations (Ravenloft and Spelljammer are standouts, but just take a gander at Beyond the Crystal Cave!), often with no way of the spellcaster being aware of this beforehand.
*You had more spell slots, but memorizing spells into them took longer, and at higher levels, it could take multiple days to completely refill your spell slots.
*Getting to higher level as a Wizard was incredibly difficult- you had the defensive quality of single-ply tissue paper, the early levels took large amounts of xp, and you often could only cast a few spells each day, the rest of your time being spent hiding in the back row throwing darts or oil. Infamously a 2e housecat could easily slay a 1st or even 2nd level Wizard!

The narrative power of a spellcaster at high levels was nothing to sneeze at, when you could create mighty fortresses of stone out of nowhere, obliterate huge numbers of weaker foes, have unbelievable defenses, create wealth out of nowhere, and be nearly impossible to kill, and this has never really changed, but the play experience during the "dungeon crawling" (pre-Name) levels was absolutely vile, which is the entire reason why spellcasting had to change.

Consider how some adventures will say things like "spell x or y is required" to overcome a challenge, making having a spellcaster incredibly vital, but actually playing one is so wretched an experience that few people (at least, IME) would even want to play one!*

*That having been said, the Thief was in a similar situation, yet remained oddly popular for some reason. I can't explain that, beyond some people getting the idea that the class encouraged you to be a backstabbing jerk to your fellow players.

Sure, a single fireball might be able to clean out most of a goblin warren, but it's not like those same goblins were that much of a threat to 5th-level Fighters to begin with!