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<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 7618269" data-attributes="member: 3400"><p>Whenever I read people comparing the complexity of the two editions (2nd and 3rd), I usually find how many people forget the complexity 2e had to offer. For example, there may have been multiple ACs in 3e, but there were caveats with AC in 2e as well. Did you use a shield? If so, your AC depended on facing and position as well as <strong>how many</strong> attacks were directed at you from the directions covered by the shield - so that's at least 3 ACs right there. Plus, there are times (and positions) where Dexterity adjustments do not apply. Ultimately, 3e isn't really more complex so much as it formalizes a few of the ACs so they're more obvious to the end users - the players. The lack of obviousness of the other ACs may have allowed individual tables to simply ignore them, but doing so didn't make the game as written less complex.</p><p></p><p>3e's iterative attack bonus may have been a little more complex, but it served as an alternative way to operationalize AD&D's half-step attack rates so players no longer needed to worry about whether not it was a round in which they got 2 attacks or just 1 with their 3/2 attack rate. It traded one complexity for another.</p><p></p><p>The one place 3e really is more complex is in the number of buffs that could apply. But with those, players could self-regulate. If they found tracking too many modifiers a drag, they were fully in control of how many they used.</p><p></p><p>And as far as tracking hit points complexity - there's a reason some players add up damage to compare with their max hit points rather than subtract damage from their current hit points. They get to trade the subtraction they find more difficult with the addition they find easier. And with the spending of gold? That's usually not in combat round time, so calculating that doesn't really hold up play time very much.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="billd91, post: 7618269, member: 3400"] Whenever I read people comparing the complexity of the two editions (2nd and 3rd), I usually find how many people forget the complexity 2e had to offer. For example, there may have been multiple ACs in 3e, but there were caveats with AC in 2e as well. Did you use a shield? If so, your AC depended on facing and position as well as [b]how many[/b] attacks were directed at you from the directions covered by the shield - so that's at least 3 ACs right there. Plus, there are times (and positions) where Dexterity adjustments do not apply. Ultimately, 3e isn't really more complex so much as it formalizes a few of the ACs so they're more obvious to the end users - the players. The lack of obviousness of the other ACs may have allowed individual tables to simply ignore them, but doing so didn't make the game as written less complex. 3e's iterative attack bonus may have been a little more complex, but it served as an alternative way to operationalize AD&D's half-step attack rates so players no longer needed to worry about whether not it was a round in which they got 2 attacks or just 1 with their 3/2 attack rate. It traded one complexity for another. The one place 3e really is more complex is in the number of buffs that could apply. But with those, players could self-regulate. If they found tracking too many modifiers a drag, they were fully in control of how many they used. And as far as tracking hit points complexity - there's a reason some players add up damage to compare with their max hit points rather than subtract damage from their current hit points. They get to trade the subtraction they find more difficult with the addition they find easier. And with the spending of gold? That's usually not in combat round time, so calculating that doesn't really hold up play time very much. [/QUOTE]
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