I recall reading somewhere that 2e was meant to have ascending AC and attack bonuses but that was shot down for backwards compatibility.
True story. There's a quote from Skip Williams from years ago: "Of course we thought about ascending AC, but we wanted players to be able to keep playing all their 1e stuff."
And ironically Gary tells us in the 1E DMG that he used descending AC in AD&D "for the sake of continuity and familiarity" (DMG 164). Essentially the reason we had to wait until 2000 for ascending AC is because Gary thought, when putting together the DMG in '78-'79, that reverse compatibility for the existing OD&D player base was a higher priority than what made things easier for new players. So instead of 5 years of descending AC we had 26.
Even from back in my early days of playing I never understood the arcane restriction on dwarves. I've always felt that they should be able to be arcane casters as that helps them with their crafting of magical items, cursing rings, and turning into dragons.
OD&D says dwarves "have a high level of magic resistance" and uses this as they explanation for them making saving throws as if they were four levels higher. Greyhawk says that NPC clerics exist among them, "Dwarf clerics are found as high as 7th level (Lama), and they can cure and resurrect their own. These clerics are also fighters."
AD&D mentions dwarf clerics in the PH only on the class level limitations chart on page 14, where it gives a limit and also tells us that it's an NPC-only option (same for gnomes and elves, actually), The DMG doesn't talk about or include them in any of the NPC or follower/henchman charts, but DOES include an entry for dwarf clerics on the starting age chart on DMG p12. AD&D complicated the save bonus and tied it to Con, and expanded on the anti-magic thing, saying:
"Because of their very nature, dwarves are non-magical and do not ever use magical spells. However, this nature gives them a bonus with regard to their saving throws (see COMBAT, Saving Throws) against attacks by magic wands, staves, rods and spells. This bonus is + 1 for every 3 1/2 points of constitution ability. Thus, if a dwarf had a constitution of 7 he or she would gain a +2 on dice rolls made as saving throws, at 14 constitution the bonus would be +4, and at 18 constitution the bonus would be the maximum normally possible, +5." There's a second paragraph giving them the same bonus against poisons.
2E both made PC dwarf clerics (and Fighter Cleric multiclass) an official PH option, and expanded on the anti-magical nature of dwarves even further, adding a 20% chance each time you used a magic item of it failing to work, unless it was a weapon, shield, armor, gauntlets, girdle, or an item specifically for clerics if you were a dwarven cleric.
I'm not sure what the fictional or mythological basis of dwarves being opposed to arcane magic was, but over the course of TSR editions D&D expanded on that, while from OD&D to 2E the clerical option went from NPC-only to PC core option. I wouldn't be shocked if there's some offhand reference in
Three Hearts & Three Lions, which has Hugi the dwarf as a sidekick to the protagonist.
As Theory of Mind referenced,
The Hobbit tells us in the lyrics to Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold that "the dwarves of yore made mighty spells", though the rest of the lyrics are about their craftsmanship and the wondrous things they made, so I suspect some readers have inferred that such spells were to do with crafting magical objects rather than D&D or Vance-type spells. As we know, magic in Middle Earth tends to be more subtle than a Fireball. We see Gandalf produce showy magical effects only a few times, so Tolkien may have indeed intended that dwarven magic wasn't limited just to magic items, but maybe those "spells" were meant to be subtle ones.
Saying things like, "I don't like 4e because combat is way too slow. Bring back theater of the mind!"
