Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
D&D Older Editions
Returning to 2nd Edition
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7612746" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>IDK, it was designed to go to -10, but that seemed to disappear to make it /more/ leathal. ::shrug:: ...and AD&D was notorious for being run very differently from place to place & DM to DM.</p><p></p><p>And, how the game was designed sometimes just didn't work, it contradicted itself or punted to the DM for a judgement or ruling, making comparison even more fraught. Likewise, there was no helpful CR guide, so if you figured it was fine for purple worms, for instance, to eat 3rd level characters with regularity or whatever, you'd have a much more lethal game than someone who reserved those for deep/high-level dungeons.</p><p></p><p>You start running 5e without regard to encounter guidelines, you'll get all the TPKs you want.</p><p></p><p> Those all seem like over-statements, to me. They might be OK, if you made a number of assumptions, fairly meh stats, exactly average hp rolls, no magic items that in any way help, a Huge/Ancient dragon, etc... </p><p></p><p> You don't /need/ to insult me to register disagreement. Just say'n. </p><p></p><p>In 2e, spells scaled with class level. In 5e, with slot. The former is much more powerful, in general...</p><p></p><p></p><p> Is not hugely relevant. Yes, 5e Cure Wounds scaling with up-casting theoretically lets you burn every last slot for healing. 5e also scales hps & damage more rapidly than 2e so that scaling is called for. The same was true in 3e, by the simple expedient of having a healing spell at every spell level. </p><p>But, ultimately, if you're putting your whole slate to healing, you're not in the middle of an adventure, you're on to downtime, and you'll prep & cast as many full slates of healing as you need.</p><p></p><p>5e spontaneous casting, though, /is/ a more valid point. If a 5e party does get unexpectedly pasted, the cleric /can/ burn slots on healing like crazy, he didn't have to prep all his 1st, 4th & 5th level slots specifically for that purpose, that morning. </p><p></p><p> They didn't go up with level, there were items that could boost them, though some radically while you had the item, some incrementally but permanently. </p><p></p><p>The scaling in the two games was different. Attack & Saves scaled more quickly in 2e, hps/damage in 5e.</p><p></p><p></p><p>...anyway, perhaps more cogent, to make 5e feel more lethal:</p><p></p><p>Stick to lower levels (in particular, replacement PC start at first regardless of the party average level).</p><p>Toss the CR guidelines: feel free to use higher-CR monsters and to outnumber the party.</p><p>Feel free to narrate death the same way you would success or failure, numbers notwithstanding. You don't have to add-back SoD to kill a PC with a trap, you just describe the results of an action as a trap going off and killing him. </p><p>Don't pull any punches.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7612746, member: 996"] IDK, it was designed to go to -10, but that seemed to disappear to make it /more/ leathal. ::shrug:: ...and AD&D was notorious for being run very differently from place to place & DM to DM. And, how the game was designed sometimes just didn't work, it contradicted itself or punted to the DM for a judgement or ruling, making comparison even more fraught. Likewise, there was no helpful CR guide, so if you figured it was fine for purple worms, for instance, to eat 3rd level characters with regularity or whatever, you'd have a much more lethal game than someone who reserved those for deep/high-level dungeons. You start running 5e without regard to encounter guidelines, you'll get all the TPKs you want. Those all seem like over-statements, to me. They might be OK, if you made a number of assumptions, fairly meh stats, exactly average hp rolls, no magic items that in any way help, a Huge/Ancient dragon, etc... You don't /need/ to insult me to register disagreement. Just say'n. In 2e, spells scaled with class level. In 5e, with slot. The former is much more powerful, in general... Is not hugely relevant. Yes, 5e Cure Wounds scaling with up-casting theoretically lets you burn every last slot for healing. 5e also scales hps & damage more rapidly than 2e so that scaling is called for. The same was true in 3e, by the simple expedient of having a healing spell at every spell level. But, ultimately, if you're putting your whole slate to healing, you're not in the middle of an adventure, you're on to downtime, and you'll prep & cast as many full slates of healing as you need. 5e spontaneous casting, though, /is/ a more valid point. If a 5e party does get unexpectedly pasted, the cleric /can/ burn slots on healing like crazy, he didn't have to prep all his 1st, 4th & 5th level slots specifically for that purpose, that morning. They didn't go up with level, there were items that could boost them, though some radically while you had the item, some incrementally but permanently. The scaling in the two games was different. Attack & Saves scaled more quickly in 2e, hps/damage in 5e. ...anyway, perhaps more cogent, to make 5e feel more lethal: Stick to lower levels (in particular, replacement PC start at first regardless of the party average level). Toss the CR guidelines: feel free to use higher-CR monsters and to outnumber the party. Feel free to narrate death the same way you would success or failure, numbers notwithstanding. You don't have to add-back SoD to kill a PC with a trap, you just describe the results of an action as a trap going off and killing him. Don't pull any punches. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
D&D Older Editions
Returning to 2nd Edition
Top