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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jmarso" data-source="post: 8665640" data-attributes="member: 7032066">The simplicity in character creation and leveling up (usually less than ten minutes for either), the simplicity in NPC creation, (especially random encounters on the fly), the lethality of the game in terms of un-nerfed monsters with save-or-die threats, and spells whose effects could last in terms of weeks or months, and not be shrugged off with a save at the beginning of each round. Everything you want to do with a character in later editions you can do in the earlier ones, and you aren't limited. Same thing with backgrounds. Any outlandish act can be accomplished with a called shot, an attribute check, or something similar- it doesn't require feats or skills. And the lack of skills necessitates actual roleplaying, not players just yawning, and rolling the dice against a skill to do something like intimidate or bluff a foe. I also like the fact that combat is streamlined and faster, as players and monsters both have fewer hit points. Combat rounds with five or six players around the table don't take a half hour to resolve, due to players flipping through pages of skills and feats that allow multiple attacks and effects in a single six second round. In 2E, despite a combat round being 1minute, a table of a half dozen players can resolve the round usually in less than ten minutes, sometimes a lot faster in a cut-and-dry situation.Don't get me wrong, there is a lot that 5E gets right, and a lot left to be desired about the older systems. For example, I HATE the monetary value hauled for XP aspect of the earlier systems. But taken overall, I've re-discovered that a game of 2E or AD&D is just more fun to play, covers more ground per game session, and results in more 'fear and cheers' than an equivalent game of 5E. At this point I'm not sure I can go back to playing 5E. I'm also convinced that the perfect version of D&D lives somewhere between 2E and 5E rulesets, and could be brought forth with some effort and skull sweat.</blockquote>

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