Differences between editions of Dungeons & Dragons

There are many differences, both major and minor, between the various versions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Time line

• Original Dungeons & Dragons – first published in 1974.
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition – first published in 1978.
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition – first published in 1989.
• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition – first published in 2000.
• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition revised (3.5) – first published in 2003.

Original (Basic) Dungeons & Dragons to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition

• The game rules were spread across three hardcover rulebooks (the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual) rather than one boxed set or series of booklets.
• Character classes and character races were differentiated, where previously non-human character races were character classes.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition to 2nd Edition

• Assassins, Barbarians, and Monks were removed from the game as character classes, although later supplements would introduce "kits" bearing the names of these classes and of optional classes from sources such as Complete Book of Barbarians.
• "Magic-users" were renamed "mages".
• Half-orcs were removed from the Player's Handbook, although they would be again made a playable race in supplements such as the Complete Book of Humanoids.
• Character classes were grouped into one of four groups: Warrior (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger), Wizard (Mage, Specialist Wizard), Priest (Cleric, Druid), and Rogue (Thief, Bard).
• Bards were made a normal character class, rather than the multiple-classed character that they had been in Unearthed Arcana, although they still possessed elements of fighters, thieves, and mages.
• Illusionists were made into a subtype of the Wizard class, along with new classes specializing in the other seven schools of magic (which were first introduced in Dragonlance Adventures).
• Fiendish and angelic creatures (demons, devils, daemons, devas, solars, etc.) were removed from the game, as were spells that allowed such creatures to be summoned or controlled. These creatures would later be renamed and modified in the Monstrous Compendium supplement on the Outer Planes.
• References to "segments" (individual units of time representing one phase of initiative) were removed from the game.
• Proficiencies were officially supported in the Player's Handbook and many supplements, rather than being the optional add-on found in a handful of 1st Edition supplements.
• Priest spells were organized into themed "spheres" similar to wizard spell schools, with access to spheres being determined by character class.
• Descriptions of artifacts were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
• Many utilities, including tables for random generation of dungeons and harlots, were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
• The hardcover Monster Manual was replaced by the looseleaf binder-format Monstrous Compendium; the Monstrous Compendium would eventually be replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition to Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition

• The game system converted to the d20 System, in which most die rolls were normalized onto the 20-sided die with positive modifiers representing a greater chance of success and negative modifiers representing a greater chance of failure.
• THAC0 replaced by "attack bonus".
• Abilities gave bonuses differently (bonus = ability score / 2 – 5, instead of the previous non-linear progression).
• Saving throws normalized into three categories: Reflex (Dexterity-based), Fortitude (Constitution-based), and Willpower (Wisdom-based).
• Skills replaced non-weapon proficiencies, and became a fundamental parts of the game, with class abilities such as thieving skills being translated directly into skills.
• Barbarians, Monks, and Half-Orcs were re-added to the Player's Handbook.
• "Mage" renamed to "Wizard", and "Thief" to "Rogue".
• The Sorcerer class (a wizard who cast fewer spells, but without preparation) was added to the game.
• Clerics gained domains that allowed them to use bonus spells and abilities based on their deity's area of influence, as well as the ability to swap out prepared spells for curative spells.
• All character classes used the same experience table.
• Multiclassing as per previous editions was removed. Dual-classing was renamed multiclassing and made available to all races, although characters with multiple classes of differing levels would be penalized.
• Any combination of race and class is now permitted (with the exception of some prestige classes).
• All spells belonged to only one school of magic, whereas previously some spells belonged to two or more, and many spells' schools were drastically altered.
• Many spells were given descriptors such as "Fire" or "Evil" that could determine how the spells affected or were affected by certain creatures and effects.
• Priest spell spheres were removed from the game; each spellcasting class now had its own specific spell list (although wizard and sorcerer shared a list).
• Creatures that were immune to weapons below a specific level of enchantment (for example, +2 weapons) instead had damage reduction: damage dealt by a weapon not of that type would be reduced by a fixed amount instead of being completely negated.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition to 3.5 Edition

This revision was intentionally a small one (hence the name change of only "half an edition"), small enough so that the basic rules are nearly identical and many monsters / items are compatible (or even unchanged) between those editions. In fact, some players, disliking some changes 3.5 made, use some 3e rules as house rules.

Major changes

• The Ranger class has different hit dice, skill points and many new bonus feats and abilities.
• Weapon sizes work differently (there are now smaller and bigger versions of weapons for smaller and larger creatures).
• Damage reduction works differently (it no longer depends on the enchantment bonus of the weapon, but rather on various descriptors it has, such as "evil", "cold iron" or "magic").
• New spells and numerous changes to existing spells.
• New feats and numerous changes to existing feats.
• The way monsters gain feats and skills is now identical to the way PCs gain them, usually resulting in a lot more skill points and feats to every monster.
• Many new prestige classes.

Minor changes

• The Ranger and the Bard receive a different number of skill points per level.
• Different rate of gaining new abilities for almost all the classes.
• Druids can cast Summon Nature's Ally spells as spontaneous spells, like the cleric's spontaneous casting.
• Some player races get free Weapon Familiarity (for example, dwarves treat dwarven waraxes as martial weapon instead of exotic).
• Sorcerers can change known spells (albeit rarely).
• Gnome favored class changed to Bard.
• There are no longer any skills that are restricted only to certain classes.
• Some skills changed and and a few were folded together into a new skill (for example, Wilderness Lore and Intuit Direction are now both under Survival).

Changes to the core books

In addition to rule change, the core books themselves have undergone changes.

• The Player's Handbook is mostly similar to what it was before, with the exception of the chapter on combat (chapter 8), which focuses a lot more on how moves work on a battle grid.
• In the Dungeon Master's Guide the order of chapters was completely changed, and many prestige classes have been added. Some magic item traits were changed as well, but in general they remained the same.
• The Monster's Manual sports a slightly different entry on each monster, particularly the division of the attack into Attack and Full Attack entries. Also, most of the monsters now have an enhanced version of them near the original one as an example of advancement (usually either with a template or with class levels). All the monsters the writers thought could be used as player characters – and that includes many monsters – now have instructions on how to use them as such.

See also

• Dungeons & Dragons
• d20 system

External links

• Official booklet of changes between 3e and 3.5e