Your least-favorite pre-3e D&D/AD&D books

[Ottergame]

Complete Book of Clerics. The one RPG book I've read that using the options in it will actually weaken your character by a huge ammount with no positive trade offs.

 

[Nightfall]

Complete Book of Clerics. The one RPG book I've read that using the options in it will actually weaken your character by a huge ammount with no positive trade offs.

Sounds like some other people I know who don't like clerics but claim to love core classes.

 

[Ottergame]

Sounds like some other people I know who don't like clerics but claim to love core classes.

I -love- clerics. I play them almost exclusivly in 3x.

 

[Nightfall]

I -love- clerics. I play them almost exclusivly in 3x.

I loved clerics in D&D both editions. But second edition clerics always sucked and no one ever let me do anything COOL with them. The DMs all felt like "Gee we don't want any religions in OUR campaigns." Just generic gods.

 

[Ottergame]

I loved clerics in D&D both editions. But second edition clerics always sucked and no one ever let me do anything COOL with them. The DMs all felt like "Gee we don't want any religions in OUR campaigns." Just generic gods.

I didn't like the COBOC because taking a sepcific god limited you to about 1/3rd or so of a normal clerics sphere list, and the kits plain sucked.

 

[Deadguy]

I think I am gonna chime in once again with the Complete Book of Elves. If for no otehr reason than this is the book that got everyone thinking it was okay to have these Chaotic Good elves running Lawful Evil societies, but because it was Elves doing it that was okay and not LE at all!

And the Wilderness Survival Guide was, sadly, as dull as ditch water. It tried to answer all things with a mechanical resolution system (and of course many, different systems were used) whilst failing to get across flavour. Who can forget the inimitable Campfire Sparks table!

 

[Nightfall]

I didn't like the COBOC because taking a sepcific god limited you to about 1/3rd or so of a normal clerics sphere list, and the kits plain sucked.

Well there was that too.

 

[Ahrimon]

50 years ago, Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings, a book where the elves are oh-so-perfect and better than humans in every way. Ever since then, it's become common for elves in fantasy to be portrayed as perfectly wise and enlightened and beautiful, while humans are violent and short-sighted, and dwarves are greedy and ugly and used for comic relief.

We'll I've never seen them as "oh-so-perfect and better than humans in every way". But any society where the average life span is several hundred, and in the Tolkien's cas several thousand, years would almost have to develop into a peacful soceity or it would tear itself apart.

As for humans being portrayed as "violent and short-sighted". I have to say: Look out the window. We are. Individuals are ok. But humanity is violent and short-sighted.

I can agree with you on dwarves. They've never received the attention that they deserve.

So on that note. I'll add the Complete book of Dwarves to the list. Didn't do near enough for Dwarves and c'mon, who in thier right mind wants to play a Gully Dwarf.


Ahrimon

edit: Messed up the quote tag and added the CBoD.

 

[Dark Jezter]

So on that note. I'll add the Complete book of Dwarves to the list. Didn't do near enough for Dwarves and c'mon, who in thier right mind wants to play a Gully Dwarf.

Really? I consider the Complete Book of Dwarves to be one of the better 2e books. There are still parts of it that are useful to this day, such as the chapter on creating a dwarven stronghold.

 

[Orius]

Complete Book of Clerics. The one RPG book I've read that using the options in it will actually weaken your character by a huge ammount with no positive trade offs.

It's funny actually, The Complete Priest's Handbook was the only 2e book that had broken rules in that they totally nerfed characters. At the opposite end of the priest spectrum was Faiths and Avatars (and probably the related books), where the specialty priests were far more powerful than the ones in CPH. Myself, I used the point system in Skills and Powers and Spells and Magic to custom make the specialty priests IMC.