Thank you, finally we have reached the status of discussion!
Oh btw. I hope derailing this yearly BG thread is not too lawful evil...
Classes having different XP values indicate that it is in fact much easier to learn to move slightly more quietly than learning to alter reality, i love the way it was implemented as it gives each class a unique feel to it, this is undeniable.
I know what it is supposed to display, you continue to think I am some kind of idiot. Well, I am not.
The problem with that system is that it should be completely unnecessary. Instead of of increasing the time for a level up, why not just make the level ups equal in XP, but reduce what you gain from them?
Just like it is in 3.5. The result is the same. Plus, that way, nobody needs to be distracted by yet another class-specific table and nobody needs to be annoyed because of how much less he can improve his character than other players.
The underlying and far more important problem of all that is not one specific to AD&D, the problem is that level-based systems just make no sense. You do not kill 100 goblins, and suddenly turn stronger. Getting better is a process and every single level based system fails to display that in a good way. Point-based systems like TDE or SR where the XP-equivalent is a resource to spend will always have the upper hand as they can represent a fluent progress in contrast to an artificially fragmented one. So, yeah, this is more of a general D&D problem, or that of any level-based system.
Your complain about numbers going up or going down in a confusing way... just invert the stupid number you retard, ive had 9 year olds that understood that point and never paid attention to it again, yet only here do i meet retards that are troubled by a minus sign that changes nothing.
I know how to handle that, thank you. Of course it is entirely possible. But it is yet another completely unrequired nuisance. Again one that 3(.5) solved by something much more intuitive.
Vancian magic? i fail to see whats wrong with it, especially on PnP.
It is supposed to display the necessary preparation some magic users need to do to cast their magic. It present wizards more as ritualists than people who can bend reality at will. I don't like that theory of magic, but that is just my preference. The system itself is fine.
The problem is that this is not how it works at all in D&D. It tries, but it fails when you think about it. You need to rest for 8 hours to do... everything. During 8 hours sleep, a warrior heals his wounds. Okay.
During 8 hours sleep, a mage heals his wounds. But wait, he also needs to prepare his spells. So.. what... does he do that in his sleep? Remarkably, but I guess not. Instead, the mage will spend some time with his books and formulas. But then, he will only have 5 hours or so of sleep. How does he manage to heal as fast as the warrior that way? Do mages just need less sleep? That would be fine, if you could split both activities, preparing and sleeping. So any mage should be able to just take 2-3 hours hours to prepare his spells. And should only need 5 hours to heal. But that is not possible in D&D. You can try to find all sorts of excuses for why it is like that, or use house-rules, but they will all be very far-fetched and not able to disguise that D&D pre 4.0 fails to implement a magic system that makes sense in its own world. Which is btw the only thing better in 4.0.
Low survivability when you are low level? yes, thats how it is suposed to go, at lvl 1 you are already a trained character, and yet a single hit from most things can prove lethal, this leads to low level adventures being slow paced and tense, it makes them enjoyable and unique.
A lcharacter with not much constitution has as many HP as three rats. Three. Rats. A human being. Hello-ho? There is abstraction, and there is... this mess.
Again, I know what it is supposed to display. Every HP-based system has serious problems as there is more to one's health status than the taken damage. TDE also has that problem, btw. but makes up for it by having actual illnesses, etc. But this one just takes the crown of nonsense, at least at low levels. I fail to see how anyone can look at early level HP stats in D&D and keep a straight face.
If it does not fall apart for you when you think about it, then I will not be able to ever convince you here, so let's just stop that point.
Balance? fuck you, no character can survive on its own in AD&D and every character in the game can shine where others cant to me this is the most balanced edition of them all while still retaining a huge degree of freedom.
We agree here. That part does work very well in D&D, but any edition up to 3.5 IMO. This is what 4.0 broke utterly by making every class essentially the same.
But the freedom part is just wrong. You have far more possibilities and diversity in character creation and development in 3.5. AD&D gives you fixed abilities at level-up, kits just give more paths with fixed gained abilities. In 3.0+ you can decide what traits, etc. to take. That is a simple numbers game and AD&D just has less character development possibilities than 3.5.
I dont remember what other points you raised but they do come from the fact that you dont understand the system, and i dont mean the rules, i mean the reason most of the convoluted shit is there.
And I can only repeat myself by saying that you are utterly wrong here. I can give you the reasoning behind every design decision in AD&D, and why they did it in that way, it is not hard to understand. I know what they tried to do. But they failed in many ways. And they realized that, hence 3.0 was born, and from it 3.5.
4.0 then came out of completely different reasons, and the result is.. well, you probably know it.