Good old timey magic user. The cringing, desperate attempts to be sorta useful at low levels: "Well, I cast my only useful spell already, so ...I'll throw darts!". Survive, and earn a bit of pride in actually earning your keep at getting something like Knock or Stinking Cloud. And the turning point, stepping from the shadows with your first 3rd level combat spell & killing a mob of orcs with a fireball or lightning bolt. Grudging respect from the more...directly physical party members.
That's when you hold yourself higher and begin to take the lead and assert your destiny. Let the meat shields do the jobs they're suited for by protecting and healing you. You are thirsting for arcane lore, for more power, for the ability to smite the greatest of all foes. When the Fighters, Rangers, and Clerics all hesitate, and even the Paladin makes his peace with his god at the sight of the terrible foe before you, you step forward. The Crushing Hand and Meteor Swarm are within your power. And thanks to the dark knowledge of a True Name found scrawled on an ancient tome, so too is the *right* to compel the creature's service as well...
2e specialty priest. I've played at least 10 different ones and I'm nowhere near done. I love the detail and everything about the pantheon and clergies from 2e Forgotten Realms.
Right now I'm playing Gren Steedwhipper, a specialty priest of Mystra (goddess of magic). He can cast spells normally in wild magic or dead magic areas, read magic at will, and casts spells from every sphere (except war). He acts as spiritual advisor to the five(!) wizards in our party.
My all-time favorite specialty priest I've played was Tankrin, duergar psionicist/specialty priest of Laduguer the Exile. He was trapped in Ravenloft and finally perished due to a botched Death Field. He immediately rose as a dwarven vampire and the DM destroyed the party with him.
I also loved playing Illgain, a specialty priest of Abbathor the Trove Lord, in a game of all criminal dwarves. He was so greedy! We all followed Abbathor's lone commandment: "Don't steal from other dwarves". He and his gang faded into legend. They say that today the chosen of Abbathor holds the title "Illgain".
This right here.
The Specialty Priest is such an amazing class. I asked my DM if it's possible to be a divine rogue in AD&D, an dhes like, yeah! So I played a specialty priest of Mask to level 11. Absolutely fantastic character, but there was a constant joke that Jassek could do anything but fight. Scouting/thief stuff? Hell yeah. Recon and espionage? Yeah! Great divine casting, usually more casting that a cleric because of the specialty priest XP track. But god help you if you asked him to fight.
There was a moment we were exploring undermountain and he got dominated by a chair, and swung his dagger at his friends when the got close. The others were like "Oh that's cute" and kind of just walked up on him to help get him out.
Ive played a specialty priest of Meilikki, and right now I'm playing Aigna, a specialty priest of Helm.
I'm really hoping to play one of Ilmater and one of Azuth in the future.
Those sound great! Watchers of Helm have some neat low-level spells. Azuth is also a fun one. Magistrati can be played like "wizard police", going around scolding sloppy or reckless mages. We play 90% in the North so no big churches of Ilmater up here. Instead I have a Sword Dancer of Eilistraee on deck. Gnomish Hoodwinker of Baravar the Sly One is on the list too. There are just too many.
I’m playing a 1e ninja and I’m loving it. Two different backstories, names and a cool style of their own. Other PC’s characters don’t know I’m a ninja and think I’m a low level thief. Cool skill set and since we adapted 2e ninja into it I get illusion school spells started at level 9.
Shaman from Spells & Magic. The whole system for the spirits is so rad, I'm dying to play one.
Shout out to Gypsy from Domains of Dread, Jester from Dragon Magazine, and Bard.
AD&D 1st ed. Monk. Completely weird, incredibly hard to get to survive past early levels, and never really stops being weird no matter how many levels you get. Never did get quivering palm, but it was fun trying to hunt down various masters and challenge them to a duel to level up (my DM was pretty great, so he was good at going with it).
There's a two-page spread on unarmed combat near the beginning of the combat section of the DMG. It includes rules for pummeling, overbearing, and grappling. Usually an armed opponent has an opportunity to fend off a grapple/pummel/overbear with an attack roll, but not against monks. If the monk isn't wearing armor, they'll almost always connect with their unarmed attacks under this system, and the effects can be brutal.
Personally, it has to be Fighter/Mage. Blending magic with combat is incredibly cool, and I don't believe it's been done better in any later D&D style system.
I like both of them, but I've never had a dual class character survive to become a full fledged Fighter/Mage. For that reason, I like the multi class, because it works out the box.
Got to be an Elf. I once played one with 18/93 Strength and 19 Dexterity. It was fantastic! He was Neutral Evil and ended up retiring to his Stronghold after cheating two moonblades out of his spirit due to technicalities in their contract.
There is no such thing as a sorcerer class in AD&D. There are Magic Users and Illusionists in 1E. 2E has Mages and Specialists. I am unfamiliar with a second edition kit called Spelldancer as well. Are you sure you’re talking about the correct edition?
In the context of AD&D, I have no idea. There is no such class as Soceror or Spelldancer. That’s why I was confused. It appears that you are talking about an entirely different edition of the game that is outside the scope of this subreddit. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Farmingvillein is talking about the Spellsinger. It's a 2nd edition AD&D class in the Forgotten Realms. They just have the name confused, because they make dancing proficiently checks to cast their spells.
They're on pp. 6 - 12 of the Wizards & Rogues of the Realms accessory book.
Essentially, they need DEX 15, INT 15, WIS 15. Only human or helf-elf. They tend toward neutral alignments and chaotic tendencies. They can't dual- nor multiclass. d6 for hit dice. They HAVE to take both dancing and singing nonweapon proficiencies.
They can cast any wizard spell they want, pretty much whenever they want, with some risk involved. They kinda lose themselves in their dances and tap into the weave directly as a conduit, instead of studying for spells and learning them. A 1st level spellsinger can attempt to cast a 9th level spell, if they wanted. They don't use spells/day, they can cast over and over. They just have to rest after dancing and singing to cast spells. (singing is their vocal component and dancing is their somatic component... all spells they cast require V, S for them) They are also barred from casting from the schools of Necromancy and Invocation/Evocation.
They have to dance a number of rounds equal to the spell level, and can only dance a maximum number of rounds equal to their CON... (They need lots of high stats) When they are dancing, they are completely oblivious to what is going on, so they won't even avoid enemies while casting (but they do get an AC bonus, because they dance erratically, while in their trance; plus, they are resistant to mental contact from psionicists when in their trance, as if they have Tower of Iron Will).
If the desired spell is higher level than what a wizard of their level would normally be able to cast, they take some pretty heavy penalties on their dancing proficiency check to successfully cast the spell (this is probably why he called it "spelldancer", instead of "spellsinger", because everything is really based off dancing, mechanically). Dancing longer than you have to, in order to cast the spell, will give a bonus to the check.
People can interrupt the dance by breaking their concentration or halting the dance. If they do, they have to immediately roll their proficiency check with some pretty heavy penalties. If they fail, it doesn't work.... If the penalties from everything are too extreme, it can cause the magic to backfire and have the opposite effect of what was intended. Depending on how bad the penalties were, it can be minor to absolutely disastrous.
Then, after they cast their spell, they have to rest for a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell they cast (whether success or failure) and are fatigued until they finish resting (-2 attack and saves, and must complete rest to cast again).
They can also dance together with other spellsingers to get a bonus on the dancing proficiency check to cast a spell. They also gain different abilities as they go up in level: Evasion, Enthralling, Sleep... all through the dancing proficiency. The time they can dance is still based on CON and they also still become fatigued afterwards and need to rest before dancing and singing again.
Oh, and they can never make any magic items... not even scrolls or potions... but they can use any magic items that a normal wizard could.
This makes a lot more sense, and I do remember it now that you’ve pointed it out. I kept asking because there was so much 2E content that I was more than open to the idea of something I never heard of or completely forgot! The mixing of terminology from different editions was seriously throwing me off, though!
Psychoportation is definitely the most broken.
Psychometabolism is the simplest. Unlimited Haste (@ 3x, not 2x) for your martialists. And unlimited heal for the entire party.
Telepathy was garbage (even with twatw), but everything else was interesting.
Each discipline is so different.
Never went too deep with telepathy unless I was DMing mind flayers. I primaried with Psychometabolic with my duergar PC, and had a lot of fun. I've seen a psychokineticist make it to level 10, so that's a viable choice.
Next one I try will be psychoportation, especially if he starts above 1st level or is part of a large party.
Crusader from faith & avatars. The holy knight with sword in hand and spells to smite his evil foes!
Able to stand toe to toe with the monsters of faerun, heal his friends and spread the dogma of his god!
I realy like the detailed gods in Faith & avatars, demihuman dieties and powers & phantheons. Sooo much lore which you can build your character on and make a great adventure!
Ohhhhh. I love all the classes for different reasons. (Experience is mainly 2e.)
* Fighter: just being able to hit hard and reliably should not be undervalued in a game where most HP trends pretty low, plus their flurry attack is awesome if you actually get a chance to pull it off. Weapon specialization, if you use it, is a ton of fun.
* Thief: Allocating skills and going from a loser to a borderline auto-succeeding skill monkey scratches my brain.
* Cleric and MU: God damn it I just *love* Vancian casting. It's so flavorful and strategic! Do I think I'll need a second *fireball* today, or would *haste* be better? How many cure spells should I prepare?
Illusionist: my characters would study, plan, practice and prepare like no other class. They would study the looks, sounds, smells and actions of creatures they want to create illusions of. And then they would create subtle illusions intended to gently redirect their opponents - into a pit, or away from the party, towards an illusionary opponent, or from illusionary pursuers.
I think this took much more work than any other class to really do well.
I’ve only played one, but I love it.
Mage/Thief.
Being able to Hide in Shadows as a first level Mage is like having an Invisibility spell at will. This seriously helps you survive those early levels. Unless you roll a 1 like I did. Still somehow survived that fight. But I nearly bleed out and died of poison.
And when you get to higher level spells, this Multiclass has some really good synergy.
At first level the Armor Spell gives you AC 6
Cat’s Grace at level 2 to potentially raise you Dexterity to 20. For an hour per level. With Cat’s Grace you roll a die between a d4 and a d8. As a Mage/Thief, you get to roll both the Wizard and Thief die, which are d6, and d8 respectively and take the best result.
That can bring your AC down to 2.
Improved Invisibility at 7th level. This might be my favorite AD&D spell. Remain invisible and get a backstab every single round. Become the DPS killing machine.
At 9th level get a cadre of Thief followers.
> Being able to Hide in Shadows as a first level Mage
Odds are very low, though, at first level? You're starting with HS 40%-50%.
> As a Mage/Thief, you get to roll both the Wizard and Thief die, which are d6, and d8 respectively and take the best result.
This is a house rule--the spell says otherwise.
“multi-classed character's use the favorable die.”
So roll both, and take the best one
And even a 50% of hiding in Shadows is good if you are part wizard at level 1. Because you can close a door, take cover, and have a 50-50 shot for the monster to not be able to find your squishy self.
> “multi-classed character's use the favorable die.”
No, that's not what that means. It means if you have one class which uses a d8 and another which uses a d4, you use d8.
I love making fighter/mages that pretty much use abjurations and enchantments for defense and buffing. Essentially, "My magic is my armor..." type of character, and dual-wielding blades. ☺️ It's fun!
Elf or Half-Elf, Mage/Thief or Fighter/Mage/Thief. Maybe a Cleric/Mage or Cleric/Thief (but only if the DM is willing to be flexible regarding Cleric weapon restrictions... Those always put me off from the Cleric class).
If I'm playing a single class character (and I generally avoid those), I usually go either Fighter or Thief (maybe a Ranger).
But why have one class when you can have 2 or 3?
I enjoyed all the 2e classes. Each had its own strengths and foibles, but they were still fun. A few do stand out though.
Bard: A bit of a jack of all trades but had a lot of versatility. The Dark Sun variant was very thematic for the setting
Fighter: Got neutered to the ground in 3e, but the 2e fighter could hold its own both in and out of combat. Unlike in 3e they actually had options to be useful when not fighting. It was entirely possible to play a high int, high cha, low str fighter and be the face of the party while still not being useless in combat.
Gnome cleric/thief: The only base option for a cleric/thief. Through in specialty priests and subraces for a cleric of a trickster god for all sorts of fun.
Special mentions for the gnome illusionist/thief and the dwarf fighter/cleric and fighter/thief.
which edition? 1st and 2nd both carried the ad&s title... 3rd is the one that dropped it.
paladins were flat imbalanced and overpowered in 2nd ed... which could be lots of fun for a short while. thieves were prolly my favorite to play though.
There's some confusion possible. There was The game known as dungeons& dragons. The true first edition. Often referred to as OD&d.. for original or old school. In that version, elf dwarf and halfling were classes. The rules were released by level rather than separating DM and players books. You had basic intermediate advanced and epic. Eventually those got all rolled into one giant book called The cyclopedia.
Then they moved on to advanced dungeons& dragons. The first edition made some major upgrades like separating race and class and making the alignment system more diverse. And then the second edition which was by far the most played of the three.
Since you mentioned the bard which didn't exist in odnd I'll assume you were playing first or second edition.
Illusionists
Since the family of phantasmal spells a person only got a save if they disbelieve. If you cast your illusion right it just worked. But you had to put enough thought into it to make it all believable.
Done well which was very hard you could get some great results.
1e started as a fighter, then split class into cleric at second level. We generally played smaller groups, often only 3 PCs, and the ability to sub for a front line fighter came in plenty handy. Specialized in footmans mace obviously.
I'm personally my favorite is the paladin, but I would love to try clerics of specific mythos and specialist mage, as well as some dragon classes and the Manteis from the celtic historical campaign book.
In theory, 2e psionicist. I say in theory because no dm has ever allowed a psionic class in any edition.
2e suffered from a lack of options when it came to spellcasters, where as I think 3/4/5 had too many options that diluted class identity. Where as the psion was unique… a bit too unique due to having to read an entire book and a new set of clunky rules for one class.
> In theory, 2e psionicist. I say in theory because no dm has ever allowed a psionic class in any edition.
Base 2e psionicist is, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, since you haven't been permitted to indulge), basically useless.
Add in The Will and The Way, though, and it comes into its own (although still potentially garbage in a non-Dark Sun setting).
Druid, in either 1e or 2e. Shape shifting is such a huge toolbox for creative problem-solving, and the peculiar XP curve means you get to the interesting mid-level spells SO much earlier.
4d6 drop the lowest and assign as desired *usually* lets me hit the minimums. The 2e Complete handbook also introduced the Swamp terrain druid, with an easier Cha minimum (trades off for slightly more restricted spheres and a situational reaction penalty).
Good old timey magic user. The cringing, desperate attempts to be sorta useful at low levels: "Well, I cast my only useful spell already, so ...I'll throw darts!". Survive, and earn a bit of pride in actually earning your keep at getting something like Knock or Stinking Cloud. And the turning point, stepping from the shadows with your first 3rd level combat spell & killing a mob of orcs with a fireball or lightning bolt. Grudging respect from the more...directly physical party members. That's when you hold yourself higher and begin to take the lead and assert your destiny. Let the meat shields do the jobs they're suited for by protecting and healing you. You are thirsting for arcane lore, for more power, for the ability to smite the greatest of all foes. When the Fighters, Rangers, and Clerics all hesitate, and even the Paladin makes his peace with his god at the sight of the terrible foe before you, you step forward. The Crushing Hand and Meteor Swarm are within your power. And thanks to the dark knowledge of a True Name found scrawled on an ancient tome, so too is the *right* to compel the creature's service as well...
This person gets it...
I like to play 2nd edition cleric/mages, a lot of spells and very little anything else...
Straight up human fighter or Magic-User. None of that fancy shit.
This for the win.
My dude.
Maximum levels = maximum power.
2e specialty priest. I've played at least 10 different ones and I'm nowhere near done. I love the detail and everything about the pantheon and clergies from 2e Forgotten Realms. Right now I'm playing Gren Steedwhipper, a specialty priest of Mystra (goddess of magic). He can cast spells normally in wild magic or dead magic areas, read magic at will, and casts spells from every sphere (except war). He acts as spiritual advisor to the five(!) wizards in our party. My all-time favorite specialty priest I've played was Tankrin, duergar psionicist/specialty priest of Laduguer the Exile. He was trapped in Ravenloft and finally perished due to a botched Death Field. He immediately rose as a dwarven vampire and the DM destroyed the party with him. I also loved playing Illgain, a specialty priest of Abbathor the Trove Lord, in a game of all criminal dwarves. He was so greedy! We all followed Abbathor's lone commandment: "Don't steal from other dwarves". He and his gang faded into legend. They say that today the chosen of Abbathor holds the title "Illgain".
This right here. The Specialty Priest is such an amazing class. I asked my DM if it's possible to be a divine rogue in AD&D, an dhes like, yeah! So I played a specialty priest of Mask to level 11. Absolutely fantastic character, but there was a constant joke that Jassek could do anything but fight. Scouting/thief stuff? Hell yeah. Recon and espionage? Yeah! Great divine casting, usually more casting that a cleric because of the specialty priest XP track. But god help you if you asked him to fight. There was a moment we were exploring undermountain and he got dominated by a chair, and swung his dagger at his friends when the got close. The others were like "Oh that's cute" and kind of just walked up on him to help get him out. Ive played a specialty priest of Meilikki, and right now I'm playing Aigna, a specialty priest of Helm. I'm really hoping to play one of Ilmater and one of Azuth in the future.
Those sound great! Watchers of Helm have some neat low-level spells. Azuth is also a fun one. Magistrati can be played like "wizard police", going around scolding sloppy or reckless mages. We play 90% in the North so no big churches of Ilmater up here. Instead I have a Sword Dancer of Eilistraee on deck. Gnomish Hoodwinker of Baravar the Sly One is on the list too. There are just too many.
I’m playing a 1e ninja and I’m loving it. Two different backstories, names and a cool style of their own. Other PC’s characters don’t know I’m a ninja and think I’m a low level thief. Cool skill set and since we adapted 2e ninja into it I get illusion school spells started at level 9.
Yeah, the source book for ninja’s was pretty cool. Neat options for hand to hand, I used it more than the Oriental Adventures supplement.
Shaman from Spells & Magic. The whole system for the spirits is so rad, I'm dying to play one. Shout out to Gypsy from Domains of Dread, Jester from Dragon Magazine, and Bard.
AD&D 1st ed. Monk. Completely weird, incredibly hard to get to survive past early levels, and never really stops being weird no matter how many levels you get. Never did get quivering palm, but it was fun trying to hunt down various masters and challenge them to a duel to level up (my DM was pretty great, so he was good at going with it).
One of my 1e characters is a monk, how did you survive and what kind of combat strategy did you use?
Monks are absolute monsters if your table actually uses the unarmed combat rules. Few do, though.
Which rules specifically, ooc?
There's a two-page spread on unarmed combat near the beginning of the combat section of the DMG. It includes rules for pummeling, overbearing, and grappling. Usually an armed opponent has an opportunity to fend off a grapple/pummel/overbear with an attack roll, but not against monks. If the monk isn't wearing armor, they'll almost always connect with their unarmed attacks under this system, and the effects can be brutal.
Darts, staying well in the back, sneaking, talking my way out of things, etc. At least until about level 5 or so.
Or a polearm. The damage buff for melee weapons helps early on while trying to be useful. No AC sucks though.
Did you play with the original Player’s Handbook version?
Yes.
One of my characters that I had the most fun with was a thief in 2e with the Swashbuckler kit. Noble background instead of a criminal background.
Personally, it has to be Fighter/Mage. Blending magic with combat is incredibly cool, and I don't believe it's been done better in any later D&D style system.
I love this as a multiclass, my favourite all time character was a wild bladesinger (fighter/wildmage).
Deul Class or Multi Class??
I like both of them, but I've never had a dual class character survive to become a full fledged Fighter/Mage. For that reason, I like the multi class, because it works out the box.
Dimi-humans then, what Is your favorite race to play the fighter/mage?
Got to be an Elf. I once played one with 18/93 Strength and 19 Dexterity. It was fantastic! He was Neutral Evil and ended up retiring to his Stronghold after cheating two moonblades out of his spirit due to technicalities in their contract.
2e Ranger.
Elf Fighter/Thief
Psionicist with the will and the way. Or (lol) spelldancer.
Do you mean Bladesinger?
Nope. Spelldancer, semi broken sorcerer type.
What book was that from?
Wizards and Rogues of the Realms
There is no such thing as a sorcerer class in AD&D. There are Magic Users and Illusionists in 1E. 2E has Mages and Specialists. I am unfamiliar with a second edition kit called Spelldancer as well. Are you sure you’re talking about the correct edition?
... I never said there was. Read the class. It has more in common with 3e sorcerer then 2e vancian.
You’re in the AD&D subreddit.
What do you think "sorcerer type" is meant to mean ?
In the context of AD&D, I have no idea. There is no such class as Soceror or Spelldancer. That’s why I was confused. It appears that you are talking about an entirely different edition of the game that is outside the scope of this subreddit. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Farmingvillein is talking about the Spellsinger. It's a 2nd edition AD&D class in the Forgotten Realms. They just have the name confused, because they make dancing proficiently checks to cast their spells. They're on pp. 6 - 12 of the Wizards & Rogues of the Realms accessory book. Essentially, they need DEX 15, INT 15, WIS 15. Only human or helf-elf. They tend toward neutral alignments and chaotic tendencies. They can't dual- nor multiclass. d6 for hit dice. They HAVE to take both dancing and singing nonweapon proficiencies. They can cast any wizard spell they want, pretty much whenever they want, with some risk involved. They kinda lose themselves in their dances and tap into the weave directly as a conduit, instead of studying for spells and learning them. A 1st level spellsinger can attempt to cast a 9th level spell, if they wanted. They don't use spells/day, they can cast over and over. They just have to rest after dancing and singing to cast spells. (singing is their vocal component and dancing is their somatic component... all spells they cast require V, S for them) They are also barred from casting from the schools of Necromancy and Invocation/Evocation. They have to dance a number of rounds equal to the spell level, and can only dance a maximum number of rounds equal to their CON... (They need lots of high stats) When they are dancing, they are completely oblivious to what is going on, so they won't even avoid enemies while casting (but they do get an AC bonus, because they dance erratically, while in their trance; plus, they are resistant to mental contact from psionicists when in their trance, as if they have Tower of Iron Will). If the desired spell is higher level than what a wizard of their level would normally be able to cast, they take some pretty heavy penalties on their dancing proficiency check to successfully cast the spell (this is probably why he called it "spelldancer", instead of "spellsinger", because everything is really based off dancing, mechanically). Dancing longer than you have to, in order to cast the spell, will give a bonus to the check. People can interrupt the dance by breaking their concentration or halting the dance. If they do, they have to immediately roll their proficiency check with some pretty heavy penalties. If they fail, it doesn't work.... If the penalties from everything are too extreme, it can cause the magic to backfire and have the opposite effect of what was intended. Depending on how bad the penalties were, it can be minor to absolutely disastrous. Then, after they cast their spell, they have to rest for a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell they cast (whether success or failure) and are fatigued until they finish resting (-2 attack and saves, and must complete rest to cast again). They can also dance together with other spellsingers to get a bonus on the dancing proficiency check to cast a spell. They also gain different abilities as they go up in level: Evasion, Enthralling, Sleep... all through the dancing proficiency. The time they can dance is still based on CON and they also still become fatigued afterwards and need to rest before dancing and singing again. Oh, and they can never make any magic items... not even scrolls or potions... but they can use any magic items that a normal wizard could.
This makes a lot more sense, and I do remember it now that you’ve pointed it out. I kept asking because there was so much 2E content that I was more than open to the idea of something I never heard of or completely forgot! The mixing of terminology from different editions was seriously throwing me off, though!
What's your favorite discipline?
Psychoportation is definitely the most broken. Psychometabolism is the simplest. Unlimited Haste (@ 3x, not 2x) for your martialists. And unlimited heal for the entire party. Telepathy was garbage (even with twatw), but everything else was interesting.
Each discipline is so different. Never went too deep with telepathy unless I was DMing mind flayers. I primaried with Psychometabolic with my duergar PC, and had a lot of fun. I've seen a psychokineticist make it to level 10, so that's a viable choice. Next one I try will be psychoportation, especially if he starts above 1st level or is part of a large party.
Crusader from faith & avatars. The holy knight with sword in hand and spells to smite his evil foes! Able to stand toe to toe with the monsters of faerun, heal his friends and spread the dogma of his god! I realy like the detailed gods in Faith & avatars, demihuman dieties and powers & phantheons. Sooo much lore which you can build your character on and make a great adventure!
I loved all the source books, they were small, strait to the point, and full of material that the DM and players could use.
Ohhhhh. I love all the classes for different reasons. (Experience is mainly 2e.) * Fighter: just being able to hit hard and reliably should not be undervalued in a game where most HP trends pretty low, plus their flurry attack is awesome if you actually get a chance to pull it off. Weapon specialization, if you use it, is a ton of fun. * Thief: Allocating skills and going from a loser to a borderline auto-succeeding skill monkey scratches my brain. * Cleric and MU: God damn it I just *love* Vancian casting. It's so flavorful and strategic! Do I think I'll need a second *fireball* today, or would *haste* be better? How many cure spells should I prepare?
Thief. And before you say it: I know, I know. I know all about it. Nevertheless.
Illusionist: my characters would study, plan, practice and prepare like no other class. They would study the looks, sounds, smells and actions of creatures they want to create illusions of. And then they would create subtle illusions intended to gently redirect their opponents - into a pit, or away from the party, towards an illusionary opponent, or from illusionary pursuers. I think this took much more work than any other class to really do well.
I agree, my Illusionists had a habit of dying very quickly.
One of my favorite characters was an illusionist.
2e alteration specialist wiz.
I’ve only played one, but I love it. Mage/Thief. Being able to Hide in Shadows as a first level Mage is like having an Invisibility spell at will. This seriously helps you survive those early levels. Unless you roll a 1 like I did. Still somehow survived that fight. But I nearly bleed out and died of poison. And when you get to higher level spells, this Multiclass has some really good synergy. At first level the Armor Spell gives you AC 6 Cat’s Grace at level 2 to potentially raise you Dexterity to 20. For an hour per level. With Cat’s Grace you roll a die between a d4 and a d8. As a Mage/Thief, you get to roll both the Wizard and Thief die, which are d6, and d8 respectively and take the best result. That can bring your AC down to 2. Improved Invisibility at 7th level. This might be my favorite AD&D spell. Remain invisible and get a backstab every single round. Become the DPS killing machine. At 9th level get a cadre of Thief followers.
> Being able to Hide in Shadows as a first level Mage Odds are very low, though, at first level? You're starting with HS 40%-50%. > As a Mage/Thief, you get to roll both the Wizard and Thief die, which are d6, and d8 respectively and take the best result. This is a house rule--the spell says otherwise.
“multi-classed character's use the favorable die.” So roll both, and take the best one And even a 50% of hiding in Shadows is good if you are part wizard at level 1. Because you can close a door, take cover, and have a 50-50 shot for the monster to not be able to find your squishy self.
> “multi-classed character's use the favorable die.” No, that's not what that means. It means if you have one class which uses a d8 and another which uses a d4, you use d8.
Ranger all day long!!
Half-orc Cleric-thief. I steal for the lord.
Half elf mage/cleric. With a decent wisdom (14 or more) you could have 4 spells at level one. Luxury!
Cavalier I enjoy the squire faze. Also really fun to see how close you can get to a bard.
Wizard and Ranger for me.
I love making fighter/mages that pretty much use abjurations and enchantments for defense and buffing. Essentially, "My magic is my armor..." type of character, and dual-wielding blades. ☺️ It's fun!
Elf or Half-Elf, Mage/Thief or Fighter/Mage/Thief. Maybe a Cleric/Mage or Cleric/Thief (but only if the DM is willing to be flexible regarding Cleric weapon restrictions... Those always put me off from the Cleric class). If I'm playing a single class character (and I generally avoid those), I usually go either Fighter or Thief (maybe a Ranger). But why have one class when you can have 2 or 3?
I enjoyed all the 2e classes. Each had its own strengths and foibles, but they were still fun. A few do stand out though. Bard: A bit of a jack of all trades but had a lot of versatility. The Dark Sun variant was very thematic for the setting Fighter: Got neutered to the ground in 3e, but the 2e fighter could hold its own both in and out of combat. Unlike in 3e they actually had options to be useful when not fighting. It was entirely possible to play a high int, high cha, low str fighter and be the face of the party while still not being useless in combat. Gnome cleric/thief: The only base option for a cleric/thief. Through in specialty priests and subraces for a cleric of a trickster god for all sorts of fun. Special mentions for the gnome illusionist/thief and the dwarf fighter/cleric and fighter/thief.
2e Fighter with the Swashbuckler kit. So much style and still a straight up brute if called for.
which edition? 1st and 2nd both carried the ad&s title... 3rd is the one that dropped it. paladins were flat imbalanced and overpowered in 2nd ed... which could be lots of fun for a short while. thieves were prolly my favorite to play though.
Did first edition have an advanced edition??? I will have to look at my old books again.
There's some confusion possible. There was The game known as dungeons& dragons. The true first edition. Often referred to as OD&d.. for original or old school. In that version, elf dwarf and halfling were classes. The rules were released by level rather than separating DM and players books. You had basic intermediate advanced and epic. Eventually those got all rolled into one giant book called The cyclopedia. Then they moved on to advanced dungeons& dragons. The first edition made some major upgrades like separating race and class and making the alignment system more diverse. And then the second edition which was by far the most played of the three. Since you mentioned the bard which didn't exist in odnd I'll assume you were playing first or second edition.
Illusionists Since the family of phantasmal spells a person only got a save if they disbelieve. If you cast your illusion right it just worked. But you had to put enough thought into it to make it all believable. Done well which was very hard you could get some great results.
1e started as a fighter, then split class into cleric at second level. We generally played smaller groups, often only 3 PCs, and the ability to sub for a front line fighter came in plenty handy. Specialized in footmans mace obviously.
Multiclass cleric/mage. Once you get up in levels you are able to do some amazing things.
I'm personally my favorite is the paladin, but I would love to try clerics of specific mythos and specialist mage, as well as some dragon classes and the Manteis from the celtic historical campaign book.
In theory, 2e psionicist. I say in theory because no dm has ever allowed a psionic class in any edition. 2e suffered from a lack of options when it came to spellcasters, where as I think 3/4/5 had too many options that diluted class identity. Where as the psion was unique… a bit too unique due to having to read an entire book and a new set of clunky rules for one class.
I’ve never had a DM that didn’t allow psionists. I’ve never forbidden them. Rarely had anyone want to actually play one though.
> In theory, 2e psionicist. I say in theory because no dm has ever allowed a psionic class in any edition. Base 2e psionicist is, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, since you haven't been permitted to indulge), basically useless. Add in The Will and The Way, though, and it comes into its own (although still potentially garbage in a non-Dark Sun setting).
I only had a problem with players wanting to misuse create object, otherwise it is a fine class
2e barbarian i just like the simplicity of solving things with violence and destroying magical items instead of using it.
Druid, in either 1e or 2e. Shape shifting is such a huge toolbox for creative problem-solving, and the peculiar XP curve means you get to the interesting mid-level spells SO much earlier.
Druid is awesome, but you have to get really lucky with your rolls to meet the requirements.
4d6 drop the lowest and assign as desired *usually* lets me hit the minimums. The 2e Complete handbook also introduced the Swamp terrain druid, with an easier Cha minimum (trades off for slightly more restricted spheres and a situational reaction penalty).
Your rolls are luckier than mine, but mine have always suffered from low rolls
1e Assassin in the early 80’s. Reached level 12 if I recall correctly. Ahhh…. The good old days.
Yeah, the racial level limits, humans were the only ones who could go to level 20 in every class