Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Casting Raise Dead on 2E
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ash Adler" data-source="post: 7834881" data-attributes="member: 7016710"><p>Fittingly enough, I actually wrote up a 2E-based retroclone with the 5E SRD as a basis. Admittedly, it hews a lot closer to 2E than 5E in most places (and I did a couple of my own homebrew things like doing secondary ability checks like BB/LG or chance to learn spells with 2d6 instead of the various ways of original 2E), but it might be along the lines of what you're looking for: <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=118Yej6HQ8iSSaQeawAX4Ntvr-jOsNIhv" target="_blank">PDF link</a></p><p></p><p>I never quite got around to filling out all the monster stat blocks and magic item details, but if you've still got your old books (or faith in your ability to come up with those things for yourself), that shouldn't be a problem.</p><p></p><p>(I've got a quick reference summary of the rules on two 11x17 pages, if you'd like that, along with a page for character generation reference and two pages for standard equipment/items. Also, if you're curious about where and why I deviated from the base systems, here are links to blog posts about that: <a href="http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/04/Reflective-Revision-Ability-Scores-PC-Races-PC-Classes-and-Alignment" target="_blank">1</a>, <a href="http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/06/Reflective-Revision-Weapon-and-Skill-Training-Money-and-Equipment" target="_blank">2</a>, <a href="http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/06/Reflective-Revision-General-Rules-Adventuring-Vision-and-Light-Time-and-Movement-NPCs-Experience" target="_blank">3</a>, <a href="http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/07/Reflective-Revision-Treasure-Encounters-and-Combat" target="_blank">4</a>)</p><p></p><p></p><p>While it's true that 2E casters tend to have more spell slots than 5E casters, there's a lot more to things than that. Starting right from class selection, 2E has 5 significant magic-using classes (bard, cleric, druid, mage, specialist wizard) and 2 classes that gain a little magic at high levels (paladin and ranger) out of 9 total classes, while 5E has 6 significant magic-using classes (bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, wizard) AND 2 magic-heavy martials (paladin and ranger) out of 12, plus monks are almost nonmagical-magic users (their PHB entry even has "The Magic of Ki" as a subsection), fighters and rogues can both pick up casting subclasses, and non-berserker barbarians basically have nonmagical-magic elements to their rage. 5E's arcane spellcasters gain 1-2 spells per level automatically, whereas 2E's arcane spellcasters don't gain spells by default unless they find scrolls (though I let specialist wizards gain 1 spell from their specialty school on leveling). Furthermore, while the individual spells are generally more powerful in 2E when compared directly (especially when accounting for the generally-lower HP values in 2E with respect to damage-based spells), the fact that 2E casters have to pick a specific spell for each spell slot tends to greatly reduce their moment-to-moment tactical versatility (making it not-infrequent for priests and wizards to have to rely on mundane solutions much more often than they do in 5E, even without at-will cantrips). Also, casting magic in combat specifically in 2E is much more cumbersome, given that the character can't move before the spell is cast (or perhaps even for the whole round, since the rules aren't entirely clear on it), loses their DEX bonus to AC until the spell is cast, and has the casting wasted completely if they take any damage or fail any saving throws before the spell is cast.</p><p></p><p>I'd agree that, by default, 2E is still a high magic system, but magic use is more deliberate instead of being something that you can spray all over the place, it's less prominent in combat (though more impactful when used effectively, as fitting for a system that's inspired more by swords'&'sorcery than high fantasy), it's easier to tune down to a low magic setting than 5E is, and even without doing that, the base rules make magic play out as a special compliment to the rest of what your character can do instead of as the only thing your character does. Right now, I'm running a 2E campaign and playing in a 5E campaign, and there's a VERY clear difference in how the two feel with respect to prevalence of magic despite both having exactly a 50/50 split of casters and martials in the party.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ash Adler, post: 7834881, member: 7016710"] Fittingly enough, I actually wrote up a 2E-based retroclone with the 5E SRD as a basis. Admittedly, it hews a lot closer to 2E than 5E in most places (and I did a couple of my own homebrew things like doing secondary ability checks like BB/LG or chance to learn spells with 2d6 instead of the various ways of original 2E), but it might be along the lines of what you're looking for: [URL='https://drive.google.com/open?id=118Yej6HQ8iSSaQeawAX4Ntvr-jOsNIhv']PDF link[/URL] I never quite got around to filling out all the monster stat blocks and magic item details, but if you've still got your old books (or faith in your ability to come up with those things for yourself), that shouldn't be a problem. (I've got a quick reference summary of the rules on two 11x17 pages, if you'd like that, along with a page for character generation reference and two pages for standard equipment/items. Also, if you're curious about where and why I deviated from the base systems, here are links to blog posts about that: [URL='http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/04/Reflective-Revision-Ability-Scores-PC-Races-PC-Classes-and-Alignment']1[/URL], [URL='http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/06/Reflective-Revision-Weapon-and-Skill-Training-Money-and-Equipment']2[/URL], [URL='http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/06/Reflective-Revision-General-Rules-Adventuring-Vision-and-Light-Time-and-Movement-NPCs-Experience']3[/URL], [URL='http://www.ashadler.com/single-post/2019/06/07/Reflective-Revision-Treasure-Encounters-and-Combat']4[/URL]) While it's true that 2E casters tend to have more spell slots than 5E casters, there's a lot more to things than that. Starting right from class selection, 2E has 5 significant magic-using classes (bard, cleric, druid, mage, specialist wizard) and 2 classes that gain a little magic at high levels (paladin and ranger) out of 9 total classes, while 5E has 6 significant magic-using classes (bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, wizard) AND 2 magic-heavy martials (paladin and ranger) out of 12, plus monks are almost nonmagical-magic users (their PHB entry even has "The Magic of Ki" as a subsection), fighters and rogues can both pick up casting subclasses, and non-berserker barbarians basically have nonmagical-magic elements to their rage. 5E's arcane spellcasters gain 1-2 spells per level automatically, whereas 2E's arcane spellcasters don't gain spells by default unless they find scrolls (though I let specialist wizards gain 1 spell from their specialty school on leveling). Furthermore, while the individual spells are generally more powerful in 2E when compared directly (especially when accounting for the generally-lower HP values in 2E with respect to damage-based spells), the fact that 2E casters have to pick a specific spell for each spell slot tends to greatly reduce their moment-to-moment tactical versatility (making it not-infrequent for priests and wizards to have to rely on mundane solutions much more often than they do in 5E, even without at-will cantrips). Also, casting magic in combat specifically in 2E is much more cumbersome, given that the character can't move before the spell is cast (or perhaps even for the whole round, since the rules aren't entirely clear on it), loses their DEX bonus to AC until the spell is cast, and has the casting wasted completely if they take any damage or fail any saving throws before the spell is cast. I'd agree that, by default, 2E is still a high magic system, but magic use is more deliberate instead of being something that you can spray all over the place, it's less prominent in combat (though more impactful when used effectively, as fitting for a system that's inspired more by swords'&'sorcery than high fantasy), it's easier to tune down to a low magic setting than 5E is, and even without doing that, the base rules make magic play out as a special compliment to the rest of what your character can do instead of as the only thing your character does. Right now, I'm running a 2E campaign and playing in a 5E campaign, and there's a VERY clear difference in how the two feel with respect to prevalence of magic despite both having exactly a 50/50 split of casters and martials in the party. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Casting Raise Dead on 2E
Top