AD&D has some front-loaded demihumans. From dwarven saving throws to elven attack bonuses (and infravision, among other useful abilities), non-human characters enjoy substantial advantages up front. Humans get the full range of classes with no level limits, but nothing more. Add multi-classing, and demihumans have undeniable advantages. Casting spells wearing plate armor is nothing less than the best of both worlds and a powerful combo humans lack and won't make up for until advancement most won't reach...
So how do humans balance the ledger? Multi-classers divide hit points, so a character with 8 fighter hits and 2 magic-user points would get 5 (8+2/2), which is almost half those fighter hits, and well within a longsword's d8 damage. Add slower level advancement and humanity sees faster progression. But this is apples and oranges, especially considering those non-human abilities. AD&D's solution, and all of early D&D, was to impose level limits, which may come up short because in old-school gaming, low(er) levels are the only sure thing.
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Which has inspired Robyn and I, as game designers, to give human characters their own racial abilities*, or in the case of race as class, counterbalancing abilities, with unlimited advancement (where applicable) or identical limits otherwise. Now none of this is to say that AD&D got it wrong. Far from it. But B/X and BECMI, its close cousins, embraced race as class and missed an opportunity to better achieve balance; and given the fun these games continue to offer, level limits are a trivial thing, but maybe one worth reexamining.
*Basic Fantasy, a personal favorite, has been doing this for years...
I always felt like level limits were superfluous in low-level play and unnecessarily stifling beyond that, and increased XP requirements didn't really fix anything either. (A B/X elf is going to lag about one level behind its fighter comrades, on average.) Also, it's a missed opportunity for some more flavorful restrictions, like dwarves only receiving half normal effect from beneficial spells because they're magic-resistant, or elves being unable to use equipment made of iron and steel, per faerie folklore.
ReplyDeleteGreat points! Fae folklore is underutilized for sure...
DeleteWe never had a demihuman reach the level limit back then, but we used to play shorter campaigns for more variety.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of our "human fixes" was to let them roll 2 Hit Dice on gaining a level and use the best result. That usually helped in keeping them alive longer, which made them a viable choice for more of our players.
House rules are the heartbeat of gaming...
DeleteThe survival rate of characters is quite good in the AD&D game, which leads to stronger advancement, and that's where you really start to see humans' advantage: not only do they not split x.p. between two (or three) classes, but they nearly always receive a +10% x.p. bonus (depending on class) whereas it's the rare demi-/semi-human that get a bonus in *all* their classes.
ReplyDeleteEven so, my players enjoyed the "up front" advantages of demi-humans...right up until they started hitting that 6th-8th level range and could see the end drawing nigh! AD&D is highly conducive to extended campaign play (i.e. play up into the 10th+ levels) and players who enjoy themselves will want to pick up characters that include some sort of high level advancement opportunities.
Just as Gary intended...
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