Using Player Option Stuff

[Sinister]

so I'm starting a new AD&D game, half the players have never played with thaco. What I'm wondering is, should we introduce the player option stuff? Futhermore, I'm playing a priest of Curiceacen. IF we do play with the player option stuff, should all the powers granted to my cleric by the Stormlord by paid for with PO points or should that stuff be on top of PO points?

Part of me thinks we should just leave the PO stuff alone.

[AndrewTall]

I loved S&P, finally something useful for my theives to swap in exchange for useless skills like pick pockets to avoid them dragging down the party...

There was a S&P article for BR in dragon mag. "Heroes of Cerilia" by Ed Bonny in No. 247 on page 46+ by the way.

[splinter]

you have to pay all the powers by points, there is a dragon magazine article with the skills and powers options for birthright, if you want me to i can scan the pages for you.

[AndrewTall]

you have to pay all the powers by points, there is a dragon magazine article with the skills and powers options for birthright, if you want me to i can scan the pages for you.

actually if you google "dragon magazine" and "247" the whole magazine is on one of the first page websites in a rather shameless breach of copyright.... If not for which I would have wiki'd the article long ago.

[Sinister]

Thanks guys.

I looked over the article. They did a good job. One question I have is that clerics could use points to get wizards spells but the article didn't mention it. Do you think that's fitting in birthright or thematic?

[AndrewTall]

Thanks guys.

I looked over the article. They did a good job. One question I have is that clerics could use points to get wizards spells but the article didn't mention it. Do you think that's fitting in birthright or thematic?

In BR wizard spells are heavily circumscribed - elves and scions only for any wizard spell over L3, a magician - the closest a non-scion could get could only cast divination and illusions spells (I'd have given them charm also) over L3.

So If you want to blur the classes then I'd let the priest cast 'mage' spells as a magician - but not as a wizard.

In my own stuff I blurred further and eliminated the priest class, allowing wizards full access to <all> magic, with 'priest' then being a job title. I then gave low-level healing to magicians. 'priests' were then (if spell casters at all) wizards, magicians or bards who simply cast their spells in very ritualised ways, and with a spell selection limited to church known and approved lists.

[Lee]

so I'm starting a new AD&D game, half the players have never played with thaco. What I'm wondering is, should we introduce the player option stuff? Futhermore, I'm playing a priest of Curiceacen. IF we do play with the player option stuff, should all the powers granted to my cleric by the Stormlord by paid for with PO points or should that stuff be on top of PO points?

Part of me thinks we should just leave the PO stuff alone.

Just IMO-- leave PO alone, unless someone calls for it. As a DM, the biggest thing I used the character options for was to slightly customize someone's character.
"Can I have power X?"
{flip, flip} "That's a 10-point option. OK, if you give up ability Y for it."

We did use the lowered checks for NW proficiencies, but we had gotten that from a Dragon article years before.

I pored through the combat book (I'm a fighter-lovin' combat nut) and pulled out exactly one page of additions I *had* to use, and left the rest for "if needed."

Funny you should post this, I talked my wife into a solo 2e game just this week. I've been wanting to experiment/indulge in nostalgia/whatever for at least a year.

If your group is tense about "new rules," it's probably best to stick to as few books as possible, so as not to scare them off.

[Sinister]

We went back to second ed for a couple of reasons. I was really tired of 3X and wanting something different. 4E wasn't going to need a ton of tweaks to work right. 1/2 the group likes 4E, half doesn't and half the group had never played an edition earlier than 3rd. So going back to the original materials seemed fun and some people get to experience the wonders of THAC0 and NW profiencies. Should be fun. It's been a good decade since I played any second ed, and I recall sometimes we used PO and sometimes we didn't.