Hacking 2e: The Specialist Wizard Kits

His chain-diamond is merely to
distract you from his tufted shoes.

The Illusionist debuted in the same rush of mid-70s fan-made hacks that would eventually constitute the majority of AD&D’s core classes. For more on the paleolithic Illusionist, see Jon Peterson. The Specialist Wizard is a natural evolution of that original class; Illusionists begot the organization of magic into ‘schools’, which in turn suggested practitioners of those schools.

Instead of listing each school’s specialist, 2e provides the rules needed to build your own, along with an example Illusionist. This was the smartest way to handle this, as none of these specialists have any defining features that the others don’t, aside from the chosen school and some requirements. I’d prefer to make each specialist its own kit; as will be seen, I go for a hybrid approach.

Hacking 2e: The Wizard

How much time do you think
he spends on that beard?

In each group of classes, the primary class reflects its “mega-class”. Fighters are Warriors without the bells, Clerics are Priests with Turn Undead, etc. No more is this true than the Mage, which brings nothing to the table that the group didn’t already provide: it’s a Wizard given another new title (yes, the Magic-User got renamed twice), in order to differentiate it from a more focused spellcaster. (It’s also one of my primary motivations for doing away with the group system; if there is no practical difference between your main class and its container group, why keep the group?) So, even though they’re known as a Mage in 2e, I’ll constantly refer to them as a Wizard.

Normally at this point, I’d direct you to an overly in-depth History of the Class article set for more information on the changes that this class has gone through over 50+ years. Alas, he didn’t write one for the Wizard, so you’re on your own.

The challenge with this entry is that the Wizard class is not much more than its spells, and I haven’t reached the point where I’m ready to manufacture a hacked magic system. Let’s see if I can get through this without accidentally creating one.

Hacking 2e: The Ranger Kit

The Ranger is the only class not provided
with bad art, so you get the Dúnedain.

From its humble beginnings of “what if Strider was a playable class” to the current generation’s dual-wielding, magic-slinging beastmaster, the Ranger has been through some changes over time. If you wish to dive into those changes, Stoddard is still your resource. 2e’s Ranger is the middle of this great shift, introducing new (and now iconic) powers while retaining old ideas. In Dragon #121, Zeb warned that the class would “mutate.” He wasn’t kidding.

Let’s dig into each feature and see what can be broken.

Hacking 2e: The Paladin Kit – Part 2

In Part 1, I retained the alignment focus of the Paladin, along with the Saving Throw bonus and disease immunity. I converted Detect Evil into a spell grant, and buffed Lay on Hands to cover both hp regen and disease curing while also improving over time. This time, I’ll look at the kit’s auras, its Cleric-adjacent features, the war horse, and some detail on the Paladin’s asceticism.

Hacking 2e: The Paladin Kit – Part 1

Nice greaves.

Described by 2e as the “noble and heroic warrior, the symbol of all that is right and true in the world,” the game has high expectations for the Paladin. They are a pillar of goodness and law based solely on roleplay and vibes, requiring adherence to a Lawful Good code in order to retain their powers, lest they fall to a shameful state of specializationless fighterdom. For the history, I will continue to direct you to Stoddard’s History of the Classes: The Paladin Class.

This is the first attempt to rebuild the non-core classes as kits. In this case: a Fighter kit. That means a removal of Weapon Specialization and the addition of the myriad features that come part and parcel with the Paladin.

And boy, what a collection of features. Try as I might, I could not eat the whole meal, so I’ve got another split entry.

Hacking 2e: The Fighter

That's right, I'll be using the revised
PHB artwork for this series. Despair!

The Fighter (né Fighting-Man) has been here since Chainmail, and has survived every edition. If there was a default character class in D&D, this is it. Due to its simplicity of design and straightforward mechanics, it is commonly derided as too simple and, ultimately, boring. Most editions would take a stab at trying to make the Fighter more interesting, and 2e was no exception, though its solution was to copy Unearthed Arcana and just make the class hit better and harder and more often. If your goal is to keep the Fighter as the easy-to-run martial choice, this gets the job done.

However, this is not a history lesson. If you want an absurd amount of detail about the Fighter’s travel through the editions (and beyond), you can’t do better than Brandes Stoddard’s fourteen part history of the class.

While you’re at it, I always recommend Matt Colville’s The History of D&D, One Fighter at a Time. It’s a good mix of general history and Fighter-specific detail. He made it as far as 3rd Edition.

Let’s dissect the Fighter, see what works, and what might need some adjustment.

Hacking 2e: Class

Class is the beating heart of D&D. You could ditch almost everything from the game – many editions have, in one form or another – but as long as you have distinct classes which differentiate themselves through unique powers and abilities, you still have the essence. Without them, you’re playing something else.

Admittedly, this is why I’ve spent the better part of a year finding anything else to write about: it’s a big slice of work, and an important one for the purposes of this hack, so I’ve put off making a mess of it. However, playtesting is fast approaching, so it’s time to crack this open.