Troll Lord Games

I have the first printing, the third printing and the latest flip book, which I believe is the 6th printing but softcover and black & white.

I like the thinness and durability of the third printing PHB, were any others made this way?

Also, has anyone made an attempt at putting together a definitive list of the differences between the various printings?

I would say that Traveller or someone has. I have several "printings" I use the latest. I agree the old thin one was nice.. but well I assume the latest has the most stuff with the least errors. I heard only the Barbarian had any significant changes.

Captain_K wrote:I would say that Traveller or someone has. I have several "printings" I use the latest. I agree the old thin one was nice.. but well I assume the latest has the most stuff with the least errors. I heard only the Barbarian had any significant changes.

I know some of the rules were changed, like unarmed combat for example. Illusionist spells were added some time after the 3rd printing. The encumbrance rules changed several times. Multiclassing wasn't added until after the 3rd printing, not sure when it was exactly. Same with class & a half.

Kayolan wrote:

Captain_K wrote:I would say that Traveller or someone has. I have several "printings" I use the latest. I agree the old thin one was nice.. but well I assume the latest has the most stuff with the least errors. I heard only the Barbarian had any significant changes.

I know some of the rules were changed, like unarmed combat for example. Illusionist spells were added some time after the 3rd printing. The encumbrance rules changed several times. Multiclassing wasn't added until after the 3rd printing, not sure when it was exactly. Same with class & a half.

Most of those changes came with the 4th printing.

R-

I liked the decision to go color on the 5th print. But much of the art was browned out and the text was a bit dark (for me anyway).

The 7th print is simply fabulous. With Jason Walton's fantastic cover, lighter text and the use of the glossy smooth pages (as in the 3rd print) are a total win - win for me!

[The Gaxmoor book is smooth glossy too, love it!]

I don't track changes to the various printings and never have. Errata is what I did, and to an extent I will still do it, especially where it may be critical (see my signature). Other than error correction the only real changes to the PHB are the revision to the barbarian, the addition of illusionist healing, and the simplification of the encumbrance rules. There were some minor things like eliminating the d20 system "escape clause" of the maze spell, adding aging effects to casting certain spells, and changing the number of pages in a character's spellbook from 100 to 200.

The multi-class rules have been available for years prior to their inclusion in the book, so that doesn't count as a change.

Traveller wrote:The multi-class rules have been available for years prior to their inclusion in the book, so that doesn't count as a change.

I wasn't aware of that, was this a pdf or something available on the TLG website?

Kayolan wrote:

Traveller wrote:The multi-class rules have been available for years prior to their inclusion in the book, so that doesn't count as a change.

I wasn't aware of that, was this a pdf or something available on the TLG website?

Not sure, but I think he is referring to the rules in the Yggsburgh book. Even if I am right, I don't think they are identical to what we use now. Haven't compared the two for years, if ever, so maybe they do match.

Treebore wrote:

Kayolan wrote:

Traveller wrote:The multi-class rules have been available for years prior to their inclusion in the book, so that doesn't count as a change.

I wasn't aware of that, was this a pdf or something available on the TLG website?

Not sure, but I think he is referring to the rules in the Yggsburgh book. Even if I am right, I don't think they are identical to what we use now. Haven't compared the two for years, if ever, so maybe they do match.

No, the Yggsburgh stuff was slightly different, but they were the first "official" multi/dual class rules.

R-

They are vastly different than class-and-a-half.

So other than Gygax's rules for the Zagyg/Yggsburgh material, there were no multi-classing rules for C&C before the 4th printing?

No there were no "official" rules for multiclassing before the 4th printing.

However, Mike Stewart did a blended class thing in one of the Crusader Mags, but I don't remember which one it was for sure. I was one of the earlier ones though.

R-

Davis's multi-classing rules were in Crusader v2 #4, which would be before the 4th printing. That same issue contains another multi-classing system by Joseph Hepler and Mike's Multiclasses as Classes.

I think I'll start a new thread on multi=class

Surprised no one brought up the Barbarian being tweaked a bit as well for 4th printing and beyond.

second post noted it, but not well.

Captain_K wrote:second post noted it, but not well.

ah. missed that. too early for the eyes to focus yet. lol

Some class abilities have had corrections, if you consider those "changes." For example, illusionists requiring a check to use sharp senses. At some point there wasn't a check. Then there was, and maybe there isn't now. Honestly don't know as I don't keep up with the PHB -- I prefer my 1st print and its what I use.

serleran wrote:I prefer my 1st print and its what I use.

Just curious serleran, do you allow players to use the later printings to create characters?