AD&D 2nd edition is what I still play to this day . All the other versions didn't have the feel as AD&D did and felt more like a fantasy superhero rpg instead of a fantasy rpg . I have always used house rules for things such as level limits for the races which I did away with but kept some class restrictions but allowed a few exceptions for certain races to be classes that were not available to them such as allowing dwarven Paladins and halflings rangers and druids but kept the no wizards for either of them . All races could become clerics and added a few new races such as Minotaurs , Uldra Gnomes , Lizardmen , Wemics , Centaurs and fauna ( Saytor ) along with classes pulled from old dragon magazines but balanced to the other classes . I use my own setting which is based around a thousand islands ranging from as small as a mile to as large as 500 miles long and wide with the islands being as close as a mile apart to as far apart as 100 miles . It's mostly a nautical campaign with a lot of land based exploration
Reading the book was "Life" back in the 80s! We devoured every word. Today's people may not have that dedication. Due most likely to everything being just a google search away now.
I knew a guy in my old playing group who read it everywhere: in bed, bathroom, study hall (he put the brown bag book cover on it not to get caught by teachers) and a beach vacation before he dropped his players handbook in the ocean.
With all due respect id like to see you dedicate yourself to balancing a lvl 10+ encounter for 5 player characters and extra monsters each with their own spell lists spell slots and several unique powers and magical items while doing 9 diffrent voices in the same hour Just because we dont have to waste our time with flavour text does not mean we are not dedicated
I revisited 2e recently & marveled at its lightness. A few tweaks to get rid of thac0 & descending AC, get a full hit die of hp for a long rest, & a few feats for fighters to make combat more interesting, & you have the best version of D&D by far. I’m also adding 10 to starting hp, then saying when your hp gets down to 10, you’re wounded & attack at -3. And you get a saving throw at zero hp to avoid death & just be seriously wounded & unconscious.
AD&D was my first experience at rpg's, I believe that was when my eldest daughter was only 18months old.. hmm she's 29 now in 2019,... I have played and DM'd many different campaigns and systems but AD&D has a special place in my heart.. My first character.. Tholos Hathor, 1/2 elf Ranger.. .
A very good optional rule was that your "bonus languages" number from the Int score gave that many bonus points for buying Non-Weapon Proficiencies. (Some DM's interpreted that as the points needed to spend getting the bonus languages, as they cost 1 point each. Some gave both uses.)
Did you ever catch that because the racial CON adj raised your score from 13 to 14 your character got a +4 poison save mod, not +3, last I saw the saves block you had it noted as +3? I never really noticed how disjointed the details of 2e text organization was, we just played with it so long it was second nature. This points out how it could be difficult for a first time player. Like the video!
Great video. I like how you note that the blue pop up boxes inspired you to study history and lore at college. I think D&D has been instrumental in many kids intellectual development. At the very least it got kids to read.
Love this page; just what I was looking for! Subscribed. 3d6 straight down can be brutal for players accustomed to newer editions, with the biggest shock probably being that you can't really have a class/race already in mind and be guaranteed to play that based on your rolls, but I will say that it forces imaginative role playing to deal with any sub-par abilities, which is a good thing.
I've been playing d&d on and off for a very long time (1999). Started not really knowing what I was doing with my friends in 2e ravenloft, then all the way through 3.5. Getting back in now with my wife, figured I would revive some classic 2nd edition awesomeness 😀 One thing though, I'm pretty sure I'm tossing out racial requirements for classes. Like seriously, an elf can't be a druid? A dwarf can't be a paladin? Even world of warcraft had that lol. Salvatore even had a dwarf druid (a "doodad" haha). But other than those, I really love how detailed 2nd edition is. It really is my favorite alongside 3.5 (feats and prestige classes are amazing).
Glad I found this. About to start playing with a DM that prefers 2e so this is helpful. "...as well, too" is threatening to drive me insane though lol.
I have played only 5th edition of D&D, but have to learn how to play ad&d 2e 'cause newer editions haven't got planescape setting (such a pity that they buchered one of the best fantasy settings ever made). 2e seems to be more complicated than 5e, but weirdly interesting. Thanks for video, it was very helpful!
Great character creation video. Thanks for the info. AD&D 2e is a little bit wonky at first, but after some more reading and play testing it becomes easy.
I remember getting my first basic boxed set. I always thought it was odd to have to take a crayon and fill in the numbers on the dice to make them easier to read, when you could just go to a hobby store and buy a set of dice that was already filled in with some more permanent than crayon. I had so many sets of dice because inevitably you found new players that didn't have their own.
A slightly more rounded dice roll to keep stats near the average would be great. Say 2d6 +3. If two 1's are rolled, subtract d4-1 (giving a possible zero modifier). If two 6's are rolled, add d4-1. That would make crazy low and crazy high stats more rare.
Roll straight 3d6 six times then roll once 4d6 and take away the lowest number, then roll 1d6 to see which stat that special roll replaces. 1st is strength, 2nd Dexterity to charisma 6th. This creates a good character but allows it to feel real as it's best stat will be random about 60% of the time. Like real life how a character may focus on jokes or martial arts as a hobby.
What a great video. I started out on 2nd edition and its my favorite. Some would say the rules were too rigid and limiting. I disagree. I feel its more like the difference between chess and go fish. I think it adds structure and depth
I really like that you highlighted that the blue textbox words about heroic figures in history made you go on to study all sorts of things later! And this is a good vid on how to generate your character in AD&D 2nd ed., but I wish you had perhaps elaborated a little bit more on how the proficiencies are bought and how to use them. Such as specialization.
As a player of AD&D 2e for the past 14 years, I'd be happy to answer your year-old question, friend! So, proficiencies are separated into two groups: weapon and non-weapon. The base number of each of these that the level one character has is determined by the class of the character (from 1 to 4 weapon proficiencies and 3-4 non-weapon proficiencies). Now, Intelligence provides additional Non-weapon proficiency slots. In his video, a 12 intelligence gave the character a "Number of Languages" statistic of 3. The reason this says number of languages and not "additional non-weapon proficiency slots" is because in AD&D 2e non-weapon proficiencies were entirely optional to the DM! So, a character with 12 intelligence would have 6 or 7 non-weapon proficiency slots to use and anywhere from 1-4 weapon proficiency slots. I'll use his example of a fighter with 12 intelligence, so he gets 4 weapon proficiency slots and 6 non-weapon proficiency slots (this is easily found in a table in the beginning of Chapter 5: Proficiencies). Weapon proficiency slots are very simple. To become proficient in a type of weapon, you need to allot a single weapon proficiency slot to it. If the character is a fighter, he has the option to then specialize in up to ONE weapon type, such as long sword or war hammer. To specialize in a weapon, it simply just takes one additional weapon proficiency slot allotted (for a total of two in that single weapon type). If it was a melee weapon, the fighter then gains a +1 bonus to hit, a +2 bonus to damage rolls, and an extra attack every other round. If the weapon was a bow or crossbow, then the effect is much different. In this case, the fighter gains a new "range category" named point blank which is from 6-30 feet away. When shooting enemies that are in this range, he gains a +2 bonus to hit. Additionally, if the fighter has his arrow nocked and drawn, he "automatically shoots first on the first round of combat". Otherwise, gaining proficiency in a weapon simply means you suffer NO PENALTIES haha. Every class had its own "non-proficient penalty" when attacking with weapons that were unfamiliar to them. Wizards had the worst penalty of -5 to hit, and fighters had the best penalty at only -2 to hit. (Rogues and priests had -3 to hit, if I remember). Finally, non-weapon proficiencies worked similarly somewhat. There is a very large table of proficiencies in the book, and they are separated into the following categories: General, Rogue, Warrior, Priest, and Wizard. Each proficiency takes a certain number of proficiency slots to obtain (usually 1 slot, but up to 3 in the case of weaponsmithing), is keyed to one of the six ability scores, and has a "check modifier" associated with it, which often is around -1 but ranged from -6 to +3. When a proficiency check is made, the character applies the modifier TO THE ABILITY SCORE of the proficiency to find out what number they needed to roll either equal to OR LOWER THAN, and then rolls a d20 to perform the check. If the number is equal to or lower than the modified proficiency score, then the check is a success! The character also has the option to allot additional proficiency slots to any proficiency he already has to increase its check modifier by +1. This can be done any number of times, so if you really wanted you used to be able to put like 6 slots into fishing and become excellent at fishing (though not a master fisherman by any means, as even the book points out that an adventurer at best spends a small portion of his time fishing, but a master would spend HOURS a day at it for YEARS). Finally, every class gains both weapon and non-weapon proficiency slots at some rate as they gain levels of experience. For example, a fighter gains one additional weapon proficiency slot at every third level, and one non-weapon slot at every fourth level. Most DMs would require the character to travel back to a town and spend atleast a week or two training with a trainer to actually be able to use these additional slots. And yup, that's both weapon and non-weapon proficiencies talked about! I hope I could be helpful :)
I almost forgot, but by the way, any language you want to learn must have a non-weapon proficiency slot allotted to it, which is kind of a reason why on the character sheet under intelligence it says "number of languages"
Rolled a character along with you. 😆 Rolling 3d6 straight down is a rule on my tabletop when I play AD&D (which isn’t very often, unfortunately). I like the rule in the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG where your character can die in character birth 😂 Old-school certainly isn’t for pansies 😝
i love 2E but starting out, PCs can be one-shot rather easily on occasion and the overall game, depending on the campaign style, can be quite lethal at any level. just to try and help the party out a bit, i usually let them do the 4d6 and drop lowest or 3d6 8 times and dropping the 2 lowest scores. i'm interested in trying some of the variations presented in the Player's Options books, like starting each stat at 8 (i think) and then rolling a number of d6 and adding the dice to each stat; it's different but seems interesting.
Yeah but the older editions can sort of contradict themselves. The original clearly stated that its assumed that the PC Is going to have at least 2 15's in thier ability scores. So according to that source that is sort of a minimum. The 4d6 system doesn't work bad or 3d6 12 times taking the highest 6. My favorite was 4d6 9 times taking the highest 6.
@@mikedeck8381 I use 4d6 drop the lowest die in any order . I tried rolling 3d6 straight down the line but 90% of the time I ended up with a party full of fighters and only one other class , I did it before to told the players how to roll up characters so I would know what kinds of parties the players would get . I found out rolling 4d6 dropping the lowest die in any order tended to create a more balanced party in terms of classes . Some classes are still rare compaired to the basic classes of Fighter , Cleric and Thief, classes such as Paladins and Rangers tend to be rare anyway but at lest it's not as rare as trying to roll a Paladin or Ranger on 3d6 or any other specialty class like a Druid or Bard . It's way to hard to make anything other then a Fighter by rolling 3d6 especially something like a Paladin , Ranger or a Druid
I was a teenager during these years, DMd a lot of Basic games for my friends but AD&D terrified me... just too much info and too short of an attention span. BUT I totally appreciate this video! So cool bro.
5:00 - Our group did the 4d6 drop the lowest method. The DM _may_ allow you to lower one stat by 3 to raise another by 1. This could only ever be done once, and you had to have a legitimate reason. It couldn't be used to twink your character, and you can never go above 18 or your racial maximum. For example, if you had 14 STR, 16 WIS, and 16 CHA, you were 1 stat away from playing a Paladin. So the DM might allow you to lower your CON, DEX, or INT by 3 to raise your CHA by 1. The penalty had to all be taken from the same stat. You could always play Human or Gnome with no strings attached, but if you wanted to play something like an Elf, Dwarf, or Half-Orc, then you had to opt in for Central Casting. Central Casting was a 3rd party book with a TON of random events that would make up your character's past up to the point they began adventuring. Everything was random, including a chance to play more exotic race like Minotaur, Centaur, or even half-god (which only one person managed to roll in 15 years of playing.) I always opted in regardless if I was playing Human or Gnome because it was so much fun. All the dice rolling and random history made for great story telling. However, there was risk of stat penalties, permanent injuries, curses, and even _death_ before you even got play the character. :P Incidentally, I really liked the brown character sheets. Those were my favorite. I still have an unused pack of them. I used it to scan them into my computer and make digital PDF recreation of the original character sheets, complete with spell sheets, campaign specific sheets, NPC sheets, and front and rear cover. :)
Nice try man, although you could have zoomed out a bit so we could see more of the character sheet/book/dice etc. Also, your character could have been equipped better (studded leather, small shield & battle axe), even with his relatively low strength score. May I suggest a mock battle with a goblin or something similar to better illustrate thac0 & Initiative rules in practice? On the whole, I enjoyed this video & your relaxed attitude while explaining the rules & I would like to see more AD&D stuff from you, good effort!
And yet Gygax wrote the 1st edition books which tell you that you probably shouldn’t use 3d6 in order (since that method can take too long to get a suitable character), and that if you don’t have at least two scores of 15 or better you’re not likely to do well.
We tried 3d6 in order. It created some average people and a few absolutely hopeless characters. It was an experiment, so we went along with it. The equivalent would be replaying a video game and suddenly discovering hardcore survival mode.
One of the big differences I noticed between AD&D and later editions is that you need to get pretty lucky to get stats that give you meaningful bonuses (often 15+ needed) but on top of that, there's not any built in way to improve those scores past level 1. So how did players ever improve their scores? The only info I've found about it in the DMG suggests that the characters need to gain access to wishes, or certain powerful magic items. Old school D&D seems a lot like playing the lottery.
Often times players were encouraged to go out of their way to seek out legendary items solely because their characters were so static. Dungeon Masters were encouraged to provide excellent (and more permanent) rewards for feats of heroism, role-play, and progression. Since gold was directly tied into progression for every class (Fighters could build their keep, Wizards could fund their studies, Rogues could use their skills to steal it, etc...) it gave great incentive to put characters on the line for the possibility of power and control. It wasn't a perfect system, but it knew its niche and it played into it!
The next GoldBox dos game I play I am thinking to just accept the rolls I get and see how it goes. So I am curious as to dice rolling methods. Hand roll the stats then input those stats into the game, as the games appear to pump up the stat rolls in some way when using the game to roll the stats. Based on their stat rolls they will choose their profession appropriate to their rolls. I expect mayhem and death. Im not a D&D player as such, just enjoying those games.
I'm just going to learn 2e for Dark Sun, because none of the conversions really capture it correctly.. though I would attempt 3.5 with the Expanded Psionics book
This was a real trip down memory lane. Thanks, an excellent video. Do you ever plan to play the character? It might be fun to try him in a solo AD&D game.
I may circle back around to this. Since then I've upgraded some tech (allowing me to record higher quality, and longer quantity). Just need to fit it into the growing log of videos. 😉
@@questwise4077 I didn’t realise that this video was over a year old. It popped up in my queue and i thought it was new. :-) I didn’t think that the quality was different all; I guess I was enjoying the character creation too much. Whatever you do for upcoming videos I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.
I usually do my own and i do 4d6 keep the best 3 dice and did 4 sets keep the best and i did a bonus +2 on only 2 stats and let the players pick which 2
Those were optional rules, which my college group used I think like maybe twice. Lol! I'll put together a video on combat and its variants soon. I always do love talking about 2nd edition!
If you want to revise the Old Ways. Realize that Human Sacrifice was necessary for Old School. All those things you heard about DnD were very true. Yes, Satan is our Master Lord and Savior. So basically to Revive the Old Ways will require a lot of work on your part.......Just Kidding, but some of you reading got excited, and another group of you felt "I knew it those Satanic DnD players. are trying to worship Satan when they play Dungeons and Dragons". So some of you really were either Super-Happy that is what Reviving the Old Ways mean, cuz you love putting on Heavy Metal and Evoking the Beast, OR you are clearly on the side of Light and always knew that DnD was a Gateway to Satan. I'm here to tell you that neither of those are Real or True, but maybe for a small minority of people it could be, maybe like one dude who had mental issues and probably never should have played any game, let alone Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe if that person (as we don't want to assume their pronouns, they might be a He, or a She, or a They, maybe if a You or a Who, Who knows really) but if they had simply rolled up a Monk character and felt religious, but clearly not Theistic, with a Buddhist mindset, then they would never have gone off the mental deep end. We don't know. If you like my Jokes, give a thumbs up. If you don't like my jokes, give a thumbs down. Note: That human sacrifice was NEVER part of playing Dungeons and Dragons, so again, all that was part of the Joke.ua-cam.com/video/S_zv8vkqeyM/v-deo.html Just remember the words of Tom Hanks "I have spells....and I'm armed with the proper Pronouns". Exactly Tom Hanks. Exactly. You should have won an Oscar for that movie. It is nothing compared to Forest Gump. "My mom said playing Dungeons and Dragons was like a Box of Chocolates. When you roll the dice to make your character you never know what you are going to get. They roll these little tiny odd shaped things call Polyhedral Dice. My mamma said people think Dungeons and Dragons is for those who love the Devil, but she and I know it is something Special, just like when I am around Jenny. We use to play Dungeons and Dragons. My mamma said we was like Peas and Carrots when we played, we just worked together, like when a Fighter and a Cleric help each other in the game'. My friend Bubba, who made a Shrimp Boat Pirate Captain. Really he was a Cleric character, but he liked to just call himself a Shrimp Boat Captain. He said it was his Holy Mission to catch all the Shrimp in the Seven Seas.
Dude, you didn't specialize? That's the one thing Fighter's get that other warrior classes don't: Use a proficiency slot to specialize with that Battle Axe and your attack volume increases to 3/2 right out of the gate.
I got some questions I got the Advanced collectors edition book and I trying to make a thief but the sheet doesn’t have everything on it to make one I was wondering if you could help
It appears as if all the character sheets I've looked up don't have a specific area for Thief abilities, probably to make them generic. I would just write them out in the special abilities section for easy reference.
@@simplerole-play9176 they do indeed! I am currently searching the internet for a viable fan made one for you. If I come across one, I'll pass along the link to you.
I know it seems as though the old school book present things in a wall of text, consider that the Dwarf race in the 5e PHB is 3 PAGES vs. essentially only two full columns in the 2e PHB. Add to that the sh*t show that is the editing of the 5e book...things are scattered everywhere with little to no cohesion as far as keyword usage. Much prefer the writing style and layout of the older books, they just need updated fonts and and maybe add some new art, although a lot of the art in this version of the 2e PHB is outstanding. The revised version, with the black cover, has horrid artwork.
Had to rack my brain for a minute to try remembering correctly, pretty sure I started playing "Basic D&D" (what is now referred to as BECMI D&D (Basic (lv1-3), Expert (lv4-14), Companion (Lv15-25), Masters (lv26-36), and Immortals box sets) back in 7th grade (12yo), 8th grade it was BECMI and 1E, 9th grade was 1E and 2E mix, 10th-11th was mainly 2E with 1E tweaks. I haven't seen any of my books in over 30 years (they're 2000 miles away in storage) and watching this video looking at the dense detailed text of the 2E PHB the thought that kept crossing my mind was "my friends and I had really good reading comprehension and math skills at 14 years old to understand 2E... compared to today's 5E players" I keep hearing 5E players complaining that "Old Dungeons & Dragons" (BECMI/1E/2E) is just TOO HARD and TOO CONFUSING to understand with things like THAC0, Initiative + Weapon Speed/Casting Time, racial modifiers, racial class level limits, Dual-classing, proficiencies, Weapon Type vs. Armor Type and countless other modifiers and details. A lot of these people are older than 14, even older than 20 well into adulthood, and it's scary to think that the reason why there's so much hate for "Old D&D" is because the younger 5E crowd just doesn't have the same reading and math skills me and my friends had at 14 years old. There are bigger issues with 5E beyond the writing format and editing, but the overly simplified game mechanics and rules writing could just be a reflection of the poorer reading and math skills of the generation making and playing the game.
The edition does not make the game any better, it’s all about the people playing the game. My best days of D&D were in first and 2nd editions. Only because the group was great!!
When I played 30 years ago I was obsessed with munchkin characters and superhero type games but I think there is a MUCH better game dynamic for sausage grinder games where you just roll em up and start winding the handle. Now I’m trying to DM for my kids and we accidentally rolled up a couple legit good characters. A PALADIN, a hobbit thief with 19 Dex, and a dual wield war hammer fighter. (No one can draw blood). Given the attachment we all had to these characters, it’s been very hard to put them to the test and just let them all die. Would you do that to elementary school kids? Ironically I was kinda hoping they would learn some lessons about letting people go to their grave but I don’t think that’s going to happen 😂
And just because I got your attention, do you think there is a problem with the sausage grinder concept of the Chainmail/D&D original dungeon crawler game and the Roleplaying element? I’m loving the Paladin aspect because it forces my child to behave in a better way than the fighter character who at Wisdom 3 (rolled 4d6, all ones) is an appalling example of humanitarian behaviour. I don’t want to kill that Paladin at all as the DM... but we can’t have TPKs if we don’t want characters to die!
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
2e will always be my first love.
AD&D 2nd edition is what I still play to this day .
All the other versions didn't have the feel as AD&D did and felt more like a fantasy superhero rpg instead of a fantasy rpg .
I have always used house rules for things such as level limits for the races which I did away with but kept some class restrictions but allowed a few exceptions for certain races to be classes that were not available to them such as allowing dwarven Paladins and halflings rangers and druids but kept the no wizards for either of them .
All races could become clerics and added a few new races such as Minotaurs , Uldra Gnomes , Lizardmen , Wemics , Centaurs and fauna ( Saytor ) along with classes pulled from old dragon magazines but balanced to the other classes .
I use my own setting which is based around a thousand islands ranging from as small as a mile to as large as 500 miles long and wide with the islands being as close as a mile apart to as far apart as 100 miles .
It's mostly a nautical campaign with a lot of land based exploration
This is timely. I have been enmeshed with AD&D nostalgia today. The old school stars must be aligned.
That PHB cover was pure magic to me when I saw it in shops as a kid
Reading the book was "Life" back in the 80s! We devoured every word. Today's people may not have that dedication. Due most likely to everything being just a google search away now.
I knew a guy in my old playing group who read it everywhere: in bed, bathroom, study hall (he put the brown bag book cover on it not to get caught by teachers) and a beach vacation before he dropped his players handbook in the ocean.
With all due respect id like to see you dedicate yourself to balancing a lvl 10+ encounter for 5 player characters and extra monsters each with their own spell lists spell slots
and several unique powers and magical items while doing 9 diffrent voices in the same hour
Just because we dont have to waste our time with flavour text does not mean we are not dedicated
This makes me happy. This is my D&D. Thanks for posting this.
That's how an OG AD&D book should look like...
Looks like mine...lol
That was both nostalgic and relaxing. Love to see you roll up characters for more rpgs and even other D&D editions as a video series.
I had fun filming it. Adding more of this kind of content to the channel soon!
I revisited 2e recently & marveled at its lightness. A few tweaks to get rid of thac0 & descending AC, get a full hit die of hp for a long rest, & a few feats for fighters to make combat more interesting, & you have the best version of D&D by far.
I’m also adding 10 to starting hp, then saying when your hp gets down to 10, you’re wounded & attack at -3. And you get a saving throw at zero hp to avoid death & just be seriously wounded & unconscious.
They actually did put the racial ability adjustments in a clearly set-apart chart before the races are even described. You just missed seeing it. 😉
AD&D was my first experience at rpg's, I believe that was when my eldest daughter was only 18months old.. hmm she's 29 now in 2019,... I have played and DM'd many different campaigns and systems but AD&D has a special place in my heart.. My first character.. Tholos Hathor, 1/2 elf Ranger.. .
A very good optional rule was that your "bonus languages" number from the Int score gave that many bonus points for buying Non-Weapon Proficiencies. (Some DM's interpreted that as the points needed to spend getting the bonus languages, as they cost 1 point each. Some gave both uses.)
Best edition ever written!
A great look back! Magical times. 🤗
Did you ever catch that because the racial CON adj raised your score from 13 to 14 your character got a +4 poison save mod, not +3, last I saw the saves block you had it noted as +3? I never really noticed how disjointed the details of 2e text organization was, we just played with it so long it was second nature. This points out how it could be difficult for a first time player. Like the video!
This was really great, I've always wanted to try AD&D since I started with 3.0.
Give it a shot. It has a different feel to it for sure.
Do it
Great video. I like how you note that the blue pop up boxes inspired you to study history and lore at college. I think D&D has been instrumental in many kids intellectual development. At the very least it got kids to read.
I love the dice, very 'old school', I am a Ravenloft fan and this was a great video.
I'm an old school Ravenloft fan as well!
Love this page; just what I was looking for! Subscribed. 3d6 straight down can be brutal for players accustomed to newer editions, with the biggest shock probably being that you can't really have a class/race already in mind and be guaranteed to play that based on your rolls, but I will say that it forces imaginative role playing to deal with any sub-par abilities, which is a good thing.
We're on the same page these days, man. Keep up the good work!
Wow! very classy! i dont miss make characters on that edition, but bring me good memories :D
A brave and stout companion no doubt! I will travel with him
I've been playing d&d on and off for a very long time (1999). Started not really knowing what I was doing with my friends in 2e ravenloft, then all the way through 3.5. Getting back in now with my wife, figured I would revive some classic 2nd edition awesomeness 😀
One thing though, I'm pretty sure I'm tossing out racial requirements for classes. Like seriously, an elf can't be a druid? A dwarf can't be a paladin? Even world of warcraft had that lol. Salvatore even had a dwarf druid (a "doodad" haha). But other than those, I really love how detailed 2nd edition is. It really is my favorite alongside 3.5 (feats and prestige classes are amazing).
I loved this game.
I could do this in my sleep I played 2nd Edition until I got 4th Edition Starter Set.
Glad I found this. About to start playing with a DM that prefers 2e so this is helpful.
"...as well, too" is threatening to drive me insane though lol.
I have played only 5th edition of D&D, but have to learn how to play ad&d 2e 'cause newer editions haven't got planescape setting (such a pity that they buchered one of the best fantasy settings ever made). 2e seems to be more complicated than 5e, but weirdly interesting. Thanks for video, it was very helpful!
I will not regret - to this day I converted many from 5e to AD&D 2e, as you stated "weirdly interesting" indeed ♥
I spent much of my early gaming years playing 2e. I like 5e, but if I had to choose, it would be 2e all the way.
I had basic advanced soft cover and then AD&D hardcover I had stopped playing when this came out , this was brand new lol
Great character creation video. Thanks for the info. AD&D 2e is a little bit wonky at first, but after some more reading and play testing it becomes easy.
I remember getting my first basic boxed set. I always thought it was odd to have to take a crayon and fill in the numbers on the dice to make them easier to read, when you could just go to a hobby store and buy a set of dice that was already filled in with some more permanent than crayon. I had so many sets of dice because inevitably you found new players that didn't have their own.
A slightly more rounded dice roll to keep stats near the average would be great. Say 2d6 +3. If two 1's are rolled, subtract d4-1 (giving a possible zero modifier). If two 6's are rolled, add d4-1. That would make crazy low and crazy high stats more rare.
Roll straight 3d6 six times then roll once 4d6 and take away the lowest number, then roll 1d6 to see which stat that special roll replaces. 1st is strength, 2nd Dexterity to charisma 6th. This creates a good character but allows it to feel real as it's best stat will be random about 60% of the time. Like real life how a character may focus on jokes or martial arts as a hobby.
Great explanation!
Great video. Love 2E to this day, one of my fav systems.
What a great video. I started out on 2nd edition and its my favorite. Some would say the rules were too rigid and limiting. I disagree. I feel its more like the difference between chess and go fish. I think it adds structure and depth
Oof those rolls... that's why we used the alternate method
I really like that you highlighted that the blue textbox words about heroic figures in history made you go on to study all sorts of things later! And this is a good vid on how to generate your character in AD&D 2nd ed., but I wish you had perhaps elaborated a little bit more on how the proficiencies are bought and how to use them. Such as specialization.
As a player of AD&D 2e for the past 14 years, I'd be happy to answer your year-old question, friend! So, proficiencies are separated into two groups: weapon and non-weapon. The base number of each of these that the level one character has is determined by the class of the character (from 1 to 4 weapon proficiencies and 3-4 non-weapon proficiencies). Now, Intelligence provides additional Non-weapon proficiency slots. In his video, a 12 intelligence gave the character a "Number of Languages" statistic of 3. The reason this says number of languages and not "additional non-weapon proficiency slots" is because in AD&D 2e non-weapon proficiencies were entirely optional to the DM! So, a character with 12 intelligence would have 6 or 7 non-weapon proficiency slots to use and anywhere from 1-4 weapon proficiency slots. I'll use his example of a fighter with 12 intelligence, so he gets 4 weapon proficiency slots and 6 non-weapon proficiency slots (this is easily found in a table in the beginning of Chapter 5: Proficiencies).
Weapon proficiency slots are very simple. To become proficient in a type of weapon, you need to allot a single weapon proficiency slot to it. If the character is a fighter, he has the option to then specialize in up to ONE weapon type, such as long sword or war hammer. To specialize in a weapon, it simply just takes one additional weapon proficiency slot allotted (for a total of two in that single weapon type). If it was a melee weapon, the fighter then gains a +1 bonus to hit, a +2 bonus to damage rolls, and an extra attack every other round. If the weapon was a bow or crossbow, then the effect is much different. In this case, the fighter gains a new "range category" named point blank which is from 6-30 feet away. When shooting enemies that are in this range, he gains a +2 bonus to hit. Additionally, if the fighter has his arrow nocked and drawn, he "automatically shoots first on the first round of combat".
Otherwise, gaining proficiency in a weapon simply means you suffer NO PENALTIES haha. Every class had its own "non-proficient penalty" when attacking with weapons that were unfamiliar to them. Wizards had the worst penalty of -5 to hit, and fighters had the best penalty at only -2 to hit. (Rogues and priests had -3 to hit, if I remember).
Finally, non-weapon proficiencies worked similarly somewhat. There is a very large table of proficiencies in the book, and they are separated into the following categories: General, Rogue, Warrior, Priest, and Wizard. Each proficiency takes a certain number of proficiency slots to obtain (usually 1 slot, but up to 3 in the case of weaponsmithing), is keyed to one of the six ability scores, and has a "check modifier" associated with it, which often is around -1 but ranged from -6 to +3. When a proficiency check is made, the character applies the modifier TO THE ABILITY SCORE of the proficiency to find out what number they needed to roll either equal to OR LOWER THAN, and then rolls a d20 to perform the check. If the number is equal to or lower than the modified proficiency score, then the check is a success! The character also has the option to allot additional proficiency slots to any proficiency he already has to increase its check modifier by +1. This can be done any number of times, so if you really wanted you used to be able to put like 6 slots into fishing and become excellent at fishing (though not a master fisherman by any means, as even the book points out that an adventurer at best spends a small portion of his time fishing, but a master would spend HOURS a day at it for YEARS).
Finally, every class gains both weapon and non-weapon proficiency slots at some rate as they gain levels of experience. For example, a fighter gains one additional weapon proficiency slot at every third level, and one non-weapon slot at every fourth level. Most DMs would require the character to travel back to a town and spend atleast a week or two training with a trainer to actually be able to use these additional slots.
And yup, that's both weapon and non-weapon proficiencies talked about! I hope I could be helpful :)
I almost forgot, but by the way, any language you want to learn must have a non-weapon proficiency slot allotted to it, which is kind of a reason why on the character sheet under intelligence it says "number of languages"
I like method 1. I think a lot of people below are equating bonuses with good characters.
This is the way.
Rolled a character along with you. 😆
Rolling 3d6 straight down is a rule on my tabletop when I play AD&D (which isn’t very often, unfortunately).
I like the rule in the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG where your character can die in character birth 😂
Old-school certainly isn’t for pansies 😝
i love 2E but starting out, PCs can be one-shot rather easily on occasion and the overall game, depending on the campaign style, can be quite lethal at any level. just to try and help the party out a bit, i usually let them do the 4d6 and drop lowest or 3d6 8 times and dropping the 2 lowest scores. i'm interested in trying some of the variations presented in the Player's Options books, like starting each stat at 8 (i think) and then rolling a number of d6 and adding the dice to each stat; it's different but seems interesting.
Traveller still has a chance of death during character creation, even in it's newest edition. Best skill based game out there IMO.
Rolling down the line and sticking with it really does make for more memorable characters
Yeah but the older editions can sort of contradict themselves. The original clearly stated that its assumed that the PC Is going to have at least 2 15's in thier ability scores. So according to that source that is sort of a minimum. The 4d6 system doesn't work bad or 3d6 12 times taking the highest 6. My favorite was 4d6 9 times taking the highest 6.
@@mikedeck8381 I use 4d6 drop the lowest die in any order .
I tried rolling 3d6 straight down the line but 90% of the time I ended up with a party full of fighters and only one other class , I did it before to told the players how to roll up characters so I would know what kinds of parties the players would get .
I found out rolling 4d6 dropping the lowest die in any order tended to create a more balanced party in terms of classes .
Some classes are still rare compaired to the basic classes of Fighter , Cleric and Thief, classes such as Paladins and Rangers tend to be rare anyway but at lest it's not as rare as trying to roll a Paladin or Ranger on 3d6 or any other specialty class like a Druid or Bard .
It's way to hard to make anything other then a Fighter by rolling 3d6 especially something like a Paladin , Ranger or a Druid
I was a teenager during these years, DMd a lot of Basic games for my friends but AD&D terrified me... just too much info and too short of an attention span. BUT I totally appreciate this video! So cool bro.
Miss these green sheets (And the citadel first ed word processor ones too)
The rain starting at 22:30 or so was such a blessing. Very cozy.
🤷♂️
5:00 - Our group did the 4d6 drop the lowest method. The DM _may_ allow you to lower one stat by 3 to raise another by 1. This could only ever be done once, and you had to have a legitimate reason. It couldn't be used to twink your character, and you can never go above 18 or your racial maximum. For example, if you had 14 STR, 16 WIS, and 16 CHA, you were 1 stat away from playing a Paladin. So the DM might allow you to lower your CON, DEX, or INT by 3 to raise your CHA by 1. The penalty had to all be taken from the same stat.
You could always play Human or Gnome with no strings attached, but if you wanted to play something like an Elf, Dwarf, or Half-Orc, then you had to opt in for Central Casting. Central Casting was a 3rd party book with a TON of random events that would make up your character's past up to the point they began adventuring. Everything was random, including a chance to play more exotic race like Minotaur, Centaur, or even half-god (which only one person managed to roll in 15 years of playing.) I always opted in regardless if I was playing Human or Gnome because it was so much fun. All the dice rolling and random history made for great story telling. However, there was risk of stat penalties, permanent injuries, curses, and even _death_ before you even got play the character. :P
Incidentally, I really liked the brown character sheets. Those were my favorite. I still have an unused pack of them. I used it to scan them into my computer and make digital PDF recreation of the original character sheets, complete with spell sheets, campaign specific sheets, NPC sheets, and front and rear cover. :)
Nice try man, although you could have zoomed out a bit so we could see more of the character sheet/book/dice etc.
Also, your character could have been equipped better (studded leather, small shield & battle axe), even with his relatively low strength score.
May I suggest a mock battle with a goblin or something similar to better illustrate thac0 & Initiative rules in practice?
On the whole, I enjoyed this video & your relaxed attitude while explaining the rules & I would like to see more AD&D stuff from you, good effort!
Nice.
Helpful. Could not for the life of me figure out how to apply NWP plus the secondary skills.
Wish my work schedule allowed me play with a regular group.
I miss 2nd edition AD&D.
I have yet to see a 2e book that didn't have pages falling out. My books were more tape than paper after just a year XD
Thanks for posting the video! The only thing I dislike about the 3d6 method is it creates very "un-heroic" characters.
And yet Gygax wrote the 1st edition books which tell you that you probably shouldn’t use 3d6 in order (since that method can take too long to get a suitable character), and that if you don’t have at least two scores of 15 or better you’re not likely to do well.
We tried 3d6 in order. It created some average people and a few absolutely hopeless characters. It was an experiment, so we went along with it. The equivalent would be replaying a video game and suddenly discovering hardcore survival mode.
2E is best D&D
Good job
One of the big differences I noticed between AD&D and later editions is that you need to get pretty lucky to get stats that give you meaningful bonuses (often 15+ needed) but on top of that, there's not any built in way to improve those scores past level 1. So how did players ever improve their scores? The only info I've found about it in the DMG suggests that the characters need to gain access to wishes, or certain powerful magic items.
Old school D&D seems a lot like playing the lottery.
Often times players were encouraged to go out of their way to seek out legendary items solely because their characters were so static. Dungeon Masters were encouraged to provide excellent (and more permanent) rewards for feats of heroism, role-play, and progression. Since gold was directly tied into progression for every class (Fighters could build their keep, Wizards could fund their studies, Rogues could use their skills to steal it, etc...) it gave great incentive to put characters on the line for the possibility of power and control.
It wasn't a perfect system, but it knew its niche and it played into it!
The next GoldBox dos game I play I am thinking to just accept the rolls I get and see how it goes. So I am curious as to dice rolling methods. Hand roll the stats then input those stats into the game, as the games appear to pump up the stat rolls in some way when using the game to roll the stats. Based on their stat rolls they will choose their profession appropriate to their rolls. I expect mayhem and death. Im not a D&D player as such, just enjoying those games.
I'm just going to learn 2e for Dark Sun, because none of the conversions really capture it correctly.. though I would attempt 3.5 with the Expanded Psionics book
This was a real trip down memory lane. Thanks, an excellent video. Do you ever plan to play the character? It might be fun to try him in a solo AD&D game.
I may circle back around to this. Since then I've upgraded some tech (allowing me to record higher quality, and longer quantity). Just need to fit it into the growing log of videos. 😉
@@questwise4077 I didn’t realise that this video was over a year old. It popped up in my queue and i thought it was new. :-) I didn’t think that the quality was different all; I guess I was enjoying the character creation too much. Whatever you do for upcoming videos I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.
I'm afraid this Dwarf would have died at 0 level and gotten rerolled if it was up to me :D
I usually do my own and i do 4d6 keep the best 3 dice and did 4 sets keep the best and i did a bonus +2 on only 2 stats and let the players pick which 2
One time a player was rolling for hp for a magic user and rolled a 1. I had them roll over because 1 HP is just silly
Yeah, it's really sad when the townspeople have more hit points than you do.
I’d play the 1 HP. It’s like Raistlin from Dragonlance!
@@bigdrew565 even a lowly Kobold can scratch you and you’re done lol
Doomed at birth. Probably a gushing hemophiliac.
This is truly amazing do you teach how to do combat
I can definitely make that happen!
Quest Wise cool yeah combat in 2ed it’s a bit complicated 1d10+ speed of weapon lowest goes first
Those were optional rules, which my college group used I think like maybe twice. Lol! I'll put together a video on combat and its variants soon. I always do love talking about 2nd edition!
Only 11 minutes in - but you forgot the Race Bonuses to stats.
And at 16....you catch your mistake. ha
I rolled a 5 my human is going to die real fast
If you want to revise the Old Ways. Realize that Human Sacrifice was necessary for Old School. All those things you heard about DnD were very true. Yes, Satan is our Master Lord and Savior. So basically to Revive the Old Ways will require a lot of work on your part.......Just Kidding, but some of you reading got excited, and another group of you felt "I knew it those Satanic DnD players. are trying to worship Satan when they play Dungeons and Dragons". So some of you really were either Super-Happy that is what Reviving the Old Ways mean, cuz you love putting on Heavy Metal and Evoking the Beast, OR you are clearly on the side of Light and always knew that DnD was a Gateway to Satan.
I'm here to tell you that neither of those are Real or True, but maybe for a small minority of people it could be, maybe like one dude who had mental issues and probably never should have played any game, let alone Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe if that person (as we don't want to assume their pronouns, they might be a He, or a She, or a They, maybe if a You or a Who, Who knows really) but if they had simply rolled up a Monk character and felt religious, but clearly not Theistic, with a Buddhist mindset, then they would never have gone off the mental deep end. We don't know.
If you like my Jokes, give a thumbs up. If you don't like my jokes, give a thumbs down.
Note: That human sacrifice was NEVER part of playing Dungeons and Dragons, so again, all that was part of the Joke.ua-cam.com/video/S_zv8vkqeyM/v-deo.html
Just remember the words of Tom Hanks "I have spells....and I'm armed with the proper Pronouns". Exactly Tom Hanks. Exactly. You should have won an Oscar for that movie. It is nothing compared to Forest Gump. "My mom said playing Dungeons and Dragons was like a Box of Chocolates. When you roll the dice to make your character you never know what you are going to get. They roll these little tiny odd shaped things call Polyhedral Dice. My mamma said people think Dungeons and Dragons is for those who love the Devil, but she and I know it is something Special, just like when I am around Jenny. We use to play Dungeons and Dragons. My mamma said we was like Peas and Carrots when we played, we just worked together, like when a Fighter and a Cleric help each other in the game'.
My friend Bubba, who made a Shrimp Boat Pirate Captain. Really he was a Cleric character, but he liked to just call himself a Shrimp Boat Captain. He said it was his Holy Mission to catch all the Shrimp in the Seven Seas.
If this was 3.5 the video would be 2 hours long xD.
Dude, you didn't specialize? That's the one thing Fighter's get that other warrior classes don't: Use a proficiency slot to specialize with that Battle Axe and your attack volume increases to 3/2 right out of the gate.
How do you do the movement. Didnt catch it the first time. I see a value of 25 but don’t understand
Movement is determined by race and reduced by encumbrance, if you carry too much gear or armor.
Armor worn was the main determinate, Race also could count (Elves faster, Dwarves slower)
Elven wizard????
I got some questions I got the Advanced collectors edition book and I trying to make a thief but the sheet doesn’t have everything on it to make one I was wondering if you could help
Possibly. I'm not too familiar with the collectors edition sheet, but let me do some research and I'll get back to you soon.
It appears as if all the character sheets I've looked up don't have a specific area for Thief abilities, probably to make them generic. I would just write them out in the special abilities section for easy reference.
Quest Wise ahh man that sucks ~ like thief has a lot of information more than the other classes I think
@@simplerole-play9176 they do indeed! I am currently searching the internet for a viable fan made one for you. If I come across one, I'll pass along the link to you.
Quest Wise wow awesome thanks you don’t have to do that
I know it seems as though the old school book present things in a wall of text, consider that the Dwarf race in the 5e PHB is 3 PAGES vs. essentially only two full columns in the 2e PHB. Add to that the sh*t show that is the editing of the 5e book...things are scattered everywhere with little to no cohesion as far as keyword usage. Much prefer the writing style and layout of the older books, they just need updated fonts and and maybe add some new art, although a lot of the art in this version of the 2e PHB is outstanding. The revised version, with the black cover, has horrid artwork.
I agree with you on the Black Books. Never liked any of them. Just didn't feel like 2nd edition to me.
Had to rack my brain for a minute to try remembering correctly, pretty sure I started playing "Basic D&D" (what is now referred to as BECMI D&D (Basic (lv1-3), Expert (lv4-14), Companion (Lv15-25), Masters (lv26-36), and Immortals box sets) back in 7th grade (12yo), 8th grade it was BECMI and 1E, 9th grade was 1E and 2E mix, 10th-11th was mainly 2E with 1E tweaks.
I haven't seen any of my books in over 30 years (they're 2000 miles away in storage) and watching this video looking at the dense detailed text of the 2E PHB the thought that kept crossing my mind was "my friends and I had really good reading comprehension and math skills at 14 years old to understand 2E... compared to today's 5E players" I keep hearing 5E players complaining that "Old Dungeons & Dragons" (BECMI/1E/2E) is just TOO HARD and TOO CONFUSING to understand with things like THAC0, Initiative + Weapon Speed/Casting Time, racial modifiers, racial class level limits, Dual-classing, proficiencies, Weapon Type vs. Armor Type and countless other modifiers and details. A lot of these people are older than 14, even older than 20 well into adulthood, and it's scary to think that the reason why there's so much hate for "Old D&D" is because the younger 5E crowd just doesn't have the same reading and math skills me and my friends had at 14 years old. There are bigger issues with 5E beyond the writing format and editing, but the overly simplified game mechanics and rules writing could just be a reflection of the poorer reading and math skills of the generation making and playing the game.
The edition does not make the game any better, it’s all about the people playing the game. My best days of D&D were in first and 2nd editions. Only because the group was great!!
Best D&D edition imho; all other editions like to pamper players, much like modern computer games.
I think your character should've gotten an extra non weapon proficiency from an intelligence bonus.
When I played 30 years ago I was obsessed with munchkin characters and superhero type games but I think there is a MUCH better game dynamic for sausage grinder games where you just roll em up and start winding the handle. Now I’m trying to DM for my kids and we accidentally rolled up a couple legit good characters. A PALADIN, a hobbit thief with 19 Dex, and a dual wield war hammer fighter. (No one can draw blood).
Given the attachment we all had to these characters, it’s been very hard to put them to the test and just let them all die. Would you do that to elementary school kids?
Ironically I was kinda hoping they would learn some lessons about letting people go to their grave but I don’t think that’s going to happen 😂
And just because I got your attention, do you think there is a problem with the sausage grinder concept of the Chainmail/D&D original dungeon crawler game and the Roleplaying element? I’m loving the Paladin aspect because it forces my child to behave in a better way than the fighter character who at Wisdom 3 (rolled 4d6, all ones) is an appalling example of humanitarian behaviour. I don’t want to kill that Paladin at all as the DM... but we can’t have TPKs if we don’t want characters to die!
@@Xplora213 wisdom of 3, nice. So hes basically some gullible hick that believes every story he hears.
Why so zoomed in? Seems kind of claustrophobic...
Roll 3, keep 2 highest, roll 2 keep best. Then put them where you want. Otherwise you get shit characters like that