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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aging Bard" data-source="post: 8299131" data-attributes="member: 7030944">I'm working on a "Refit" of the 1st Edition rules: cleaning up ambiguities, pre-ruling common actions, and greatly resequencing combat to clarify what actions are possible and when. None of this is directly related to the OP. However, one conclusion of the Refit is that certain classes are entirely too squishy for modern play and this must be addressed. This includes magic-users and thieves in particular. One solution comes from the Unearthed Arcana supplement, which granted single-class fighters and rangers weapon specialization. I realized that all single-class non-prestige classes needed additional abilities. Multi-class characters were fine as is. Magic-users also needed less spell squish, which I realize will be seen as a violation of a basic right of passage of early D&D. Fie, I say!Quick quiz: How many 1st level spells does a typical cleric/druid/magic-user/illusionist being with?Answer: 3/4/1/1. This is because 1) druids begin with 2 1st level spells for some reason, and 2) clerics and druids gain bonus spells for high Wisdom, and at Wis 14 2 1st level are gained, which is quite typical.Thus, we change the rules so that: 1) all of the Big 4 spellcasters start with 2 1st level spells, and 2) magic-users and illusionists gain bonus spells for high Int. We further add that all single-class Big 4 casters gain 1 additional spell per spell level once a new level is obtained. So typical single-class Big 4 casters will start with 5 1st level spells. Sacrilege you say? No, I say magic-users get to actually cast spells instead of throwing darts. Considering the tradeoff of 4 cantrips per spell slot, a single-class magic-user can begin with 8 cantrips and 3 spells and be almost constantly casting. My revised rest rules also allow a low-level cast to re-acquire all 1st level spells in less than 2 hours. That's a setting I want.As for thieves, they gain 2 single-class bonuses: 1) +10% to all normal thief abilities, +2% to climb walls; and 2) weapon specialization in a single ranged weapon. The first ability makes thief abilities useful, particularly if Dex and no armor bonuses apply. Note that this does not apply to assassin or acrobat specific abilities. The second ability applies to all weapons in the Ranged Weapon Table, and if these are also melee weapons then melee specialization also applies. I also made thieves better two weapon fighters (watching too much Conan the Destroyer), which strongly encourages dagger specialization for both melee and ranged combat. Finally, I am convinced that Gygax hated DMing thieves because he added all sorts of "stars are right" requirements to using stealth abilities in the DMG. Begone, I say! Move silently and Hide in shadows are things thieves get to do if they make their roll, even if you are staring right at them. They are just that good.</blockquote>

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