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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9775618" data-attributes="member: 42582">This is wrong about Gygax's AD&D, in multiple ways.For instance:In the MM, Elves are 1+1 HD. Nothing in the Elven PC build rules reflect this - in fact, PC Elves suffer a CON penalty.In the MM, Mountain Dwarves are 1+1 HD, whereas Hill Dwarves are 1 HD. Nothing in the PC build rules reflects this difference between the two types of Dwarf.In the MM and PHB, only NPC Dwarves and Elves can be clerics (including multi-class clerics).In the DM rules for NPCs (p 100), NPCs are permitted with ability adjustments and ability minimums different from those for PCs. Under the heading "Adjustments to Ability Dice Rolls for Non-Player Characters", Dwarves get +1 STR (as well as +1 CON and -1 CHA); Elves get +1 INT; Gnomes get +1 WIS, +1 CON and -1 CHA; and Halflings get +1 CON (as well as +1 DEX and -1 STR) and so can start with a Constitution of 19, which a PC Halfling cannot.On the same page, under the sub-heading "Minimum Scores or Adjustment to Ability Dice Roll", it is stated that Druids need minimum 12 WIS and 14 CHA (for PCs that is 12 and 15), that Rangers need 12 minimum WIS (for PCs, that is 14), that Illusionists need 15 minimum INT and DEX (for PCs that is 15 and 16), and that Monks need minimum 12/15/15 STR/WIS/DEX (for PCs the minimum is 15 in all three).In the DMG, there are rules for NPC humans - sages - that have abilities that no PC can get, and for other sorts of people, including humans - spies - that have abilities that PC Assassins can get, but without having the other abilities of a PC Assassin.And the rules for the manufacture of potions (DMG, p 116) make reference to the need for an Alchemist (if the PC is below 12th level) and the benefits of retaining one (if the PC is above 11th level). An Alchemist is a NPC expert hireling, detailed on p 29 of the same book.All of this shows that there was no general assumption, in early D&D, that PCs and NPCs are built or expressed statistically in the same way, nor that any ability available to a NPC is available to a PC. This point is reinforced by the presence, in the magazines of the time, of "NPC classes", some of which have a clear function of having abilities that will make them mechanically suitable opponents for groups of PCs (and thus mechanically more powerful than what any individual PC might be). (There is a list here <a href="https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24436" target="_blank">https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24436</a>, though it includes some classes also intended for PC use.)</blockquote>

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