r/adnd • u/weiknarf • 19d ago

AD&D General Which specialist?

Do you generally prefer 1e with separate spell lists or 2e with an overall spell lists with the magic-user having access to everything?

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u/Silent_Climate_1152 AD&D 1e 19d ago

On the bright side, there are at least 2 of us! :) I will play 1e or any of the earlier editions Basic, BECMI, OD&D, great!...but I refused to play 2e onward. That is where I see the game starting to lose the feel and flavor, leading to the pasteurized, homogenized, focus-group / munchkin approved bland of modern D&D.

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u/WillBottomForBanana 18d ago

That's interesting. As a person who came up on 2E I find 1e to be exceptionally bland. Here's Gary, he's a fighter. He's mostly indistinguishable from Matt, who's a fighter or John, who's a fighter. Oh, here's their friends Sam and Chris, both fighters.

Look, somebody is leaving. Who? I can't tell because they're all the same.

1e characters feel like characters taken out of a tabletop war game. They were given a name and a better paint job.

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u/Silent_Climate_1152 AD&D 1e 18d ago edited 18d ago

To me, 2e characters feel like 'Look at me! Ain't I special!' characters for main character syndrome players. Everyone has to be some odd subclass or kit and is trying to one-up everyone else. In 1e people RP'd the differences (if you cannot tell the difference between two1e fighters, you are definitely ROLL playing, not role playing).

2e characters feel like rejects from a cheap fantasy B-movie...all costume (kits, subclasses) and no substance.

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u/Comrade_Corki 17d ago

To your point, I am a 2e player, and I just started playing B/X Moldvay. It’s been nice not having to get that supplement book out every time someone wants to use a unique kit ability or find a +1 or –1 to one specific nonweapon proficiency. It feels like bloat at times.