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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 9174543" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Next we look at Chapter 1: Player Character Ability Scores. And here I must make a personal apology to WotC and 3e. You see, I'm a SIWDCC man to the bone. So one I saw (initially in 4e, but also later in 3e) that WotC was using SDCIWC, I scoffed at a pointless change that obscured the prime requisites. But it turns out, this wasn't a 3e change; it happened in 2nd Edition. Although 2nd Ed. retains the prime requisite terminology, the attributes are ordered Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.Six methods are given for rolling up characters. Method I, the default, is 3d6 rolled and assigned in order. Method II is to roll twice for each ability in order, choosing the best result. Method III is 3d6 rolled once for each ability, but assigned however you like. Method IV combines II and III. You roll 3d6 twelve times, choose the best six scores, and assign them as you like. Method V is the now classic 4d6-drop-lowest, assigned however you like. Method VI is rather intriguing: each ability starts at 8. Then you roll 1d6 seven times. You then add the results of those dice to your ability scores. You can add as many dice to an ability as you want, up to a max of 18, but the total has to equal 18 without exceeding it (i.e., you can add a 3, a 3, and a 4 to get exactly 18, but you can't add a 2, a 3, and a 6 to get there, as that would total 19).Interestingly, this is actually a significant break from 1st Edition AD&D! 1st Edition did not recommend 3d6 in order; it recommended 4d6-drop lowest, arranged to taste, 2nd Editions Method V. The alternative 1st Edition methods were: 1) roll 3d6 twelve times, pick the six highest scores, and arrange as desired (2nd Ed.'s Method IV), 2) roll 3d6 six times for each ability, and pick the highest, 3) roll 3d6 enough to make 12 characters and choose the set you like. That's a lot of dice rolling!But this illuminated some things that always bugged me. Used as I was to D&D's straight forward system of ability bonuses and penalties, I never understood why AD&D's bonuses were so meager, nor why percentile strength was a thing at all. But if you're using 1st Edition character generation methods, you're going to get a lot of high scores, and one of those is probably going to be an 18! (As of today, I have no more time for people who criticize later editions for inflating ability scores.)But this puts 2nd Edition in somewhat of a weird space. Gygax included the 1st Edition ability score generation methods because, "While it is possible to generate some fairly playable characters by 3d6, there is often an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one due to quirks of the dice. Furthermore, these rather marginal characters tend to have short life expectancy -- which tends to discourage new players, as does have to make do with some character of a race and/or class which he or she really can't or won't identify with."One would think that 2nd Edition, taking a more "heroic" approach that de-emphasized dungeon crawling, and put XP rewards squarely in the domain of defeating monsters, would likewise make the default character generation be one that resulted in stronger characters. But instead they went with the D&D approach as default, and even when providing alternatives, included only the more conservative alternatives suggested by 1st Edition. Alternatively, they might have revised the bonuses to be closer to D&D, but here they kept very close to the AD&D originals. With nearly 35 years of hindsight, it seems something of an odd choice.Strength - The Strength bonus table follows closely to 1st Ed., except while 1st Ed. goes from 3 to 18(00), 2nd Ed. goes from 1 to 25 (including percentile strength). Expanded range aside, Hit probability, Damage Adjustment, and Bend Bars/Lift Gates remain the same. Open Doors has gone from "chance out of six" to a 1d20-roll-under system, allowing for more granularity. It should be noted that, as with 1st Ed., this chance is only for opening heavy or stuck doors, and players can attempt as many tries as they have time for. For locked, barred, or magically held doors, there's a separate number in parentheses for STR 18 (91-99) or higher. These can only be attempted once. Meanwhile, Weight Allowance has gone from being gold coin-weight in 1st Ed. to straight pounds in 2nd Ed. This is a nice example of the kind of clean up 2nd Ed. did. In 1st Ed., Weight Allowance was given in gold coin weight. In other words, a STR 18 (00) character can carry +3000 gold coins in addition to the normal amount without being encumbered. But what is the normal amount? For that you have to look at the movement section in the latter half of the book, where it says that an unencumbered character can carry 35 lb of weight. How much do 3000 gold coins weigh? 10 gold coins = 1 lb, so 300 lb. 2nd Ed. cuts out the middle man, and just says that an 18 (00) Strength character can carry 335 lb without being encumbered. Sure, this change somewhat downplays the "getting treasure" aspect of the game, but I personally think it's an improvement.2nd Ed. adds a new column to the table: Maximum Press. In 1st Ed., there is no table column, but it notes in the description for Strength that a player can lift over their heads "in a military press" their Strength score x 10. Nothing is noted for what to do with percentile strength, even though an 18 (00) character can carry 275 lb more than the straight 18 character. 2nd Ed. instead sets a range of 10 lb for a STR 3 character to 480 lb for a STR 18 (00) character. They note that that the 1987 world record for lifting a weight overhead in a single move was 465 lb, so the strongest AD&D characters could surpass that. (Assuming "in a single move" refers to the snatch, the current world record is 495 lb.)Gone in 2nd Ed. are any sex-based Strength limits. We'll look at Race based limits when we get to Chapter 2: Player Character Races.Dexterity - The content of the Dexterity bonus table is essentially the same as in 1st Edition, except for some cosmetic changes. 1st Edition has two columns: Reaction/Attacking Adjustment (bonus to surprise and missile attacks rolls) and Defensive Adjustment (bonus to AC and saves that involve dodging). 2nd Edition splits Reaction/Attacking Adjustment into two columns: Reaction Adjustment and Missile Attack Adjustment. But the bonuses/penalties in each column are exactly the same. Also, for some reason, the +3 Reaction/Attack Adjustment for DEX 18 in 1st Edition is changed to +2 for both Reaction Adjustment and Missile Attack Adjustment. I cannot fathom why. Perhaps the +3 to missile attacks was seen as too powerful compared to the STR bonus, which only gets to +3 at 18 (00)? Defensive Adjustment remains unchanged.Constitution - The Constitution bonus table adds two columns not present in 1st Edition: Poison Save and Regeneration. However, neither of these apply to characters with a CON of 3-18. A 19-20 gets a Poison Save bonus of +1, 21-22 a +2, 23-24 a +3, and a 25 gets a +4. Regeneration doesn't kick in until CON 20, at 1/6 turns, and then increases frequency by 1 until 1/1 at CON 25.Coming from D&D, System Shock and Resurrection Survival were two rules I resolved to never use in my own games. What, the PC already suffers the indignity of missing a Save, and now they have to roll to survive? And then again if they get turned back? The PC is dead and any resurrection will reduce their CON, but they have to roll to come back? It just seemed like piling on for no good reason, and since D&D worked fine without those rules, I figured AD&D would work fine as well.Next time, wrapping up the Ability Scores!</blockquote>

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