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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8595858" data-attributes="member: 19857">It's interesting to me that the character class gatekeeping via rarity that you point out didn't really enter the game until various supplements and then was codified in AD&amp;D 1e.&nbsp; The high stats needed as entry tickets into certain classes, the percentile strength bonus for fighters, etc. were AD&amp;D things not in the core game - and the divergent game created by Basic D&amp;D didn't include them.&nbsp; Except for the bonus to XP for getting lucky and winning a high stat early - that was in all of them.&nbsp; In retrospect it makes me realize how much more important the &quot;character creation subgame&quot; was to AD&amp;D than to B/X D&amp;D beyond just AD&amp;D having more choices to consider.It's also interesting to think about how those 3 areas have flowed into the modern game and where they changed.&nbsp; Balance over time was thrown out with 3e - the unified XP table, the attempts at making classes more equivalent to each other.&nbsp; Yes at higher levels you had the linear vs. quadratic progression to deal with so it didn't go away entirely, but the idea that it was a balancing mechanic rather than an artifact of high level play that showed the rules were &quot;broken&quot; did go away.3e also mostly did away with &quot;rarity gatekeeping&quot; - you still had random tables for treasure, but the &quot;you must be this high to play this class&quot; restrictions were removed.&nbsp; (I'd argue that the gatekeeping moved from the rules and onto the player base, where optimization started really becoming a thing and dictates on what kind of characters you should make started being spread around).But niche protection remains a fundamental part of D&amp;D even in 5e.&nbsp; 3e was built on it, 4e was niche protection taken to the extreme limit, 5e dials it back but it's still there and still considered an important thing to structure classes around, even if it is tempered compared to earlier editions of the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8595858, member: 19857"] It's interesting to me that the character class gatekeeping via rarity that you point out didn't really enter the game until various supplements and then was codified in AD&D 1e. The high stats needed as entry tickets into certain classes, the percentile strength bonus for fighters, etc. were AD&D things not in the core game - and the divergent game created by Basic D&D didn't include them. Except for the bonus to XP for getting lucky and winning a high stat early - that was in all of them. In retrospect it makes me realize how much more important the "character creation subgame" was to AD&D than to B/X D&D beyond just AD&D having more choices to consider. It's also interesting to think about how those 3 areas have flowed into the modern game and where they changed. Balance over time was thrown out with 3e - the unified XP table, the attempts at making classes more equivalent to each other. Yes at higher levels you had the linear vs. quadratic progression to deal with so it didn't go away entirely, but the idea that it was a balancing mechanic rather than an artifact of high level play that showed the rules were "broken" did go away. 3e also mostly did away with "rarity gatekeeping" - you still had random tables for treasure, but the "you must be this high to play this class" restrictions were removed. (I'd argue that the gatekeeping moved from the rules and onto the player base, where optimization started really becoming a thing and dictates on what kind of characters you should make started being spread around). But niche protection remains a fundamental part of D&D even in 5e. 3e was built on it, 4e was niche protection taken to the extreme limit, 5e dials it back but it's still there and still considered an important thing to structure classes around, even if it is tempered compared to earlier editions of the game. [/QUOTE]

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