That's a nice, clean copy! I love 2e. Yes, 2e and 1e are compatible, in that you can easily play characters and monsters with either rules set. (Monsters are a tad tougher in 2e due to some power creep.) We played a hybrid 1e/2e back in the day as they rolled out the books. Bards were first in 1e. But you had to play a fighter, switch to Thief, then Druid (all of which broke the normal rules) and then you progressed as a bard. And the rules for which were optional in an appendix in the back of the book. Multiclassing was for non humans. Dual classing was for humans who abandoned a class to take up another, if they met the requirements. The classes in 2e are categorized Warrior, Wizard, Rogue, and Priest. All the classes fall under those categories, they are not classes themselves. So a mage is a wizard, as are specialist wizards, (of which illusionist is an example) but there is no separate wizard class. As the publication cycle wore on and supplement after supplement came out, you could add a "kit" to your class. A kit is a bit hard to define, but it's a cross between a background and a subclass. So a fighter could be a swashbuckler, or a samurai, or a berzerker, etc. Some kits were more potent than others.
Thanks. I also started with 5 e. New subscriber from Tampa Fl
That's a nice, clean copy! I love 2e.
Yes, 2e and 1e are compatible, in that you can easily play characters and monsters with either rules set. (Monsters are a tad tougher in 2e due to some power creep.) We played a hybrid 1e/2e back in the day as they rolled out the books.
Bards were first in 1e. But you had to play a fighter, switch to Thief, then Druid (all of which broke the normal rules) and then you progressed as a bard. And the rules for which were optional in an appendix in the back of the book.
Multiclassing was for non humans. Dual classing was for humans who abandoned a class to take up another, if they met the requirements.
The classes in 2e are categorized Warrior, Wizard, Rogue, and Priest. All the classes fall under those categories, they are not classes themselves. So a mage is a wizard, as are specialist wizards, (of which illusionist is an example) but there is no separate wizard class. As the publication cycle wore on and supplement after supplement came out, you could add a "kit" to your class. A kit is a bit hard to define, but it's a cross between a background and a subclass. So a fighter could be a swashbuckler, or a samurai, or a berzerker, etc. Some kits were more potent than others.
I got into D&D with 5e as well but I've gotten into Old School stuff recently, time to get my hand on a 2e book, I guess :D
My preferred way to refer to the 2024 5e is 5 and a Fifth edition, since they don't want to fully commit to it being 5.5
My recommendation is to approach 2e with new eyes: forget your 5e terms and concepts and take 2e on its own terms.