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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack Daniel" data-source="post: 8201051" data-attributes="member: 694">8 & 9) The "prestige" druid and the mystic class were actually pretty late innovations, coming from the '83 Companion Set and '84 Master Set respectively. The original druid (from Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry) and monk (from Supplement II: Blackmoor) were both cleric sub-classes that you could start in from level one, and they're very similar to the AD&D 1e versions. And it is true that the original Blackmoor monk, the AD&D 1st edition monk (and 2nd edition Scarlet Brotherhood monk), and the Master Set/Rules Cyclopedia mystic actually didn't change all that much, even as they progressed into the 3.0/3.5 monk class. It's kind of astonishing when you compare them all side-by-side.10) The one-hour spell prep time is something Basic shares with 3rd. In 1st and 2nd edition, magic-users required 10 minutes per spell level for each separate spell that they memorized!12) Having cure light wounds alternatively cure paralysis was something Tom Moldvay added to the Basic Set rules in '81 so that the spell list was kept short (eight spells per spell level for clerics). Dr Holmes, author of the '77 blue-cover Basic Set, <a href="https://swordandshieldrpg.blogspot.com/2011/07/holmes-compares-his-basic-d-boxed-set.html" target="_blank">didn't like that change</a> and thought it made things too easy on the players!13) You needed to be both 33rd level and have an 18 Int (for a mage) or 36th level and have an 18 WIs (for a cleric)!16) General skills were added to Basic D&D in the late 80s in the Mystara Gazetteers, and they're based directly on non-weapon proficiencies, which come from the late 1st edition AD&D books from '85 and '86 (Oriental Adventures, Dungeoneers Survival Guide, Wilderness Survival Guide). They were always optional, even into 2nd edition, and their use pretty drastically changes how the game plays. You can play a Rules Cyclopedia game with or without skills, and it works either way, but the experience is going to differ.17) Basic D&D's exploration rules are the best. They still work even if you port them into 3rd or 5th edition.25) But at high levels, the opposite is true—high-level characters almost always make saves, and this didn't change until 3rd edition borked the saving throw math for ever afterward. And you'll notice that dwarves and halflings hit those good save numbers way sooner than everybody else, followed by fighters next—fighters being able to make most saving throws is one of their hidden bits of awesomeness (along with their use of magic swords) that makes a "plain" looking class actually rock the house in Basic when played rules-as-written! (Even if you don't use Weapon Mastery!)</blockquote>

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