Half-orcs are removed from the Player's Handbook.
Character classes are organized into four groups: warrior (fighter, paladin, ranger), wizard (mage, specialist wizard), priest (cleric, druid), and rogue (thief, bard).
Assassins and monks are removed from the game as character classes.
"Magic-users" are renamed "mages".
Illusionists are 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).
Bards are made a normal character class, rather than the multiple-classed character that they are in 1st edition, although they still possess elements of fighters, thieves, and mages.
Rangers are changed dramatically, both thematically and mechanically, from a heavily armored, commando-style survivalist and "giant-class" monster hunter, to a much more nature oriented, lightly armored, two-weapon-wielding, druid-influenced nature warrior.
Proficiencies are officially supported in the Player's Handbook and many supplements, rather than being an optional add-on.
Attack matrices are replaced with a mathematical formula involving a character stat called THAC0, and the table printed only once in the Dungeon Master's Guide is reprinted in the 2nd edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.
References to "segments" (individual units of time representing one phase of initiative, or six seconds of game-time [simulated time]) are removed from the game; instead, actions are given an "Initiative Modifier". "Melee rounds" are unchanged, representing one minute of game-time, with a "turn" representing ten rounds (ten minutes). An optional alternative where one "melee round" represents 12 to 15 seconds of "game-time" is presented in the Player's Option: Combat & Tactics book, first of the so-called "2.5" edition.
Other changes are made to combat including the function of weapon speed, initiative, and surprise rules.
Priest and druid spells are organized into themed "spheres" that are similar to the wizard spell schools that had been introduced in Dragonlance Adventures, with access to spheres being determined by the priest's class and deity.
Descriptions of artifacts (unique magic items) are removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Many utilities, including tables for random generation of dungeons, are removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Exchange rates for the low-valued coins are doubled; it now takes only 100 copper pieces or 10 silver pieces to make one gold piece; coin weights changed from 10 per pound (1st edition) to 50 per pound (2nd edition).
The hardcover Monster Manual was initially replaced by the looseleaf binder-format Monstrous Compendium; but this was eventually replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual.
Fiendish and angelic creatures (demons, devils, daemons, devas, solars, etc.) are removed from the game, as are spells that allowed such creatures to be summoned or controlled. These creatures were later renamed and modified in the Monstrous Compendium supplement on the Outer Planes.
Psionics are no longer included in the Player's Handbook, though they later appeared in their own supplement.
Maximum level is standardized at 20 rather than varying by class.
Magic resistance is changed so that a mage above 11th level would not impose a 5% penalty per mage level above 11th on an unwilling subject the mage is casting a spell on.
Konvertieren. Mmmmh. Spiel die Drachenlanze doch mal mit AD&D2-Regeln.
Thema: AD&D 1st VS. 2nd: Die wichtigsten Unterschiede? (Gelesen 1004 mal)
