AD&D Class House Rules

[jakdethe]

I wasn't sure whether this should go here, General, or in Men & Magic, so move it as needed. I just had a couple ideas for 1st Edition AD&D. I'm mostly wanting to use the iconic classes with OD&D, but I don't like the Barbarian and Bard completely.

For the Bard in the Appendix, how bad would it be if I let players start with it from level 1? I'd probably give them the Thief's attack and saving throw progression, thoughts?

For the Barbarian (Unearthed Arcana), it's actually my favorite rendition. I'm simply thinking cut most of the survival based skills, and keep just the stealth and and combat related abilities (like in 2nd Edition), as well as the Constitution and Armor Class bonuses. Then I could cut the XP requirements either in Half or in Third. Opinions?

Anyone mixed AD&D and OD&D? I'm definitely thinking of keeping d6 hit dice for everyone like Gygax did. Any other recommendations to keep it from getting out of hand are appreciated.

[waysoftheearth]

I posted AD&D Classes Backported For OD&D some three years ago.

'course now that I'm older and wiser I'd probably do it all differently, but maybe it's a place to start?

[jakdethe]

That's some really cool stuff. It's definitely along the line of stuff I normally like doing; I like the simple, yet rich class abilities.

[ravenheart87]

ODnD already has a bard class, why not use that? It starts from level 1 and has similar abilities.

[jakdethe]

May 5, 2014 4:27:19 GMT -6 ravenheart87 said:

ODnD already has a bard class, why not use that? It starts from level 1 and has similar abilities.

I heavily considered running OD&D + Supplements + Strategic Review, but I felt a lot of the early classes weren't worked out really well yet. Point in case the Ranger, which everyone agrees is a funky class, to say the least. Though I'll definitely look back into it, because it screams old school.

[ravenheart87]

May 5, 2014 8:29:36 GMT -6 jakdethe said:

May 5, 2014 4:27:19 GMT -6 ravenheart87 said:

ODnD already has a bard class, why not use that? It starts from level 1 and has similar abilities.

I heavily considered running OD&D + Supplements + Strategic Review, but I felt a lot of the early classes weren't worked out really well yet. Point in case the Ranger, which everyone agrees is a funky class, to say the least. Though I'll definitely look back into it, because it screams old school.

It's pretty easy to remove the funky parts. Easier in my opinion, than starting with the ADnD version. The bard in Strategic Review is pretty decent by the way, the only thing I've changed is the XP required for first level.