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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9748310" data-attributes="member: 7026594">In 1E?  So Spider Climb off the Defensive roll, Read Magic automatically... what were his Offensive and Misc spells?  Not that it's impossible to have four low-utility spells. Could have gotten Push for offense and Erase for Misc, say, but 1E tends to mitigate against this better than if you were to roll in B/X.  Of course B/X also doesn't make it random.  It says the DM may choose or let the player choose their spell.  AD&D also gives the M-U an additional spell every time they gain a level, and doesn't say anything about randomizing it, so I've always seen that played as chosen.  Or at least, nominate a spell you hope to learn and roll your % chance to know based on Int, and pick another to try if you fail.  Keep going until you get one. Most low level M-U spells are quick.  M-U spells you'd use in combat are almost always 1 segment per level casting time.  Cleric spells tend to be a bit slower.Of course even 3 segments for a fireball can be too much, which is part of why wands are so important, and Gary talks about that in the spellcasting initiative section in the DMG.  Part of the tactics of AD&D is deliberately using devices or low level spells in combat to be quicker. Magic Missile is specifically good for disrupting an enemy caster for that reason.The restriction on not being able to move & cast did sometimes make for awkwardness, though IME it was very common to let them cancel the spell rather than losing it if the target wasn't available anymore.As much as the slow ROF, I'm sure Toaster is thinking of the low damage. In 1E a longbow or shortbow (composite or not) does 1d6 and gets 2 shots a round.  A light crossbow does d4 and gets 1 shot, a heavy does d4+1 S/M or d6+1 against L, but only shoots every other round. They have slightly better AC adjustments, but not nearly good enough by comparison.  Heck, a longbow is just as good against plate as a heavy crossbow in 1E!  Just bonkers.Later editions of D&D let Wizards use light crossbows / made light crossbows a Simple weapon, so they got on board with your idea to make them more accessible.  A strength minimums for heavy bows would definitely make sense, but of course part of making Dex a god stat has been D&D increasingly letting martials just lean on Dex and neglect Strength entirely if they want to.I'm sure he had, but one of the things unexplained by AD&D is that I think HE may have been thinking of shorter, more concealable versions. The reason Thieves can use them in AD&D is undoubtedly because they were a standard weapon for the Thieves Guild in Lankhmar, in Leiber's stories.  Of course, that may not be it- he gave sling bullets the exact same damage as a heavy crossbow and stones the same as a light crossbow, so... <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🤷‍♂️" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2642.png" title="Man shrugging    :man_shrugging:" data-shortname=":man_shrugging:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />Leiber, baby!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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