TM
®
TM
Player’s Handbook®
for the AD&D™ Game.
Foreword to the 2nd Edition
It has been a long time getting here. I don’t mean the months, perhaps finally coming out, the feeling of relief is beginning to set in. There were
even years, you may have waited for a revised, expanded, and improved times when the task looked impossible, when it seemed it would never
edition of the AD&D game. I mean the long time it has taken me to reach end, or when everything was going wrong. Only now, when it’s in the final
this point, the writing of the foreword. Forewords are written last, so that stages of polishing, am I beginning to realize that it is really done. And of
you can summarize your feelings and experiences about the book you course there is the nervousness. The AD&D game is the granddaddy of all
have written. role-playing games. You’ve made it perfectly clear that you liked the origi-
nal edition of the AD&D game, even with all its warts. I liked (and still like)
It’s not accurate to say this is a book that I alone have written. First off, it. So, now with the arrival of AD&D 2nd Edition, of course I’m nervous.
there are a lot of other names listed in the credits. They, especially the
developers, contributed time and talents that I don’t have. Improving the None of this comes as any surprise. I volunteered to prepare this Edi-
organization and readability was one of the reasons we started this project tion because I wanted to do something for the game I liked. The ten years
in the first place. These are tasks that can’t be done without talented of experience I’ve had in game design has shown me what works and
developers and editors who play and care about the game. If you discover what doesn’t and sometimes even why. At the very start, we outlined the
that it’s easier to find rules during your gaming sessions and that every- goals: to make it easier to find things, to make the rules easier to under-
thing seems to make more sense, thank them. stand, to fix the things that did not work, to add the best new ideas from
the expansions and other sources, and, most important of all, to make
Even with the editors, this is not our work alone. None of this would sure the game was still the one you knew and enjoyed. Of them all, the
ever have come into being without interested and involved players. The last was the hardest and most demanding, conflicting as it did with my
people who really decided what needed to be done for the AD&D 2nd basic desire to design things. Fortunately, things didn’t rest on me alone.
Edition game are the players who mailed in questions, everyone who Lots of eager eyes, from those of fellow designers to those of enthusiastic
wrote an article for DRAGON® Magazine, and everyone who button-holed playtesters, minutely examined this book and restrained me from over-
me (or other designers) at conventions. These were the people who zealousness. It hasn’t always been easy to walk the fine line between “not
decided what needed to be done, what needed fixing, what was unclear, enough” and “too much.”
and what they just didn’t like. I didn’t sit in a vacuum and make these
decisions. As the designer, I had to make the final choice, but those In the past two years, I’ve talked to interested players many times,
choices were based on your input. And your input is the most valuable hearing their concerns and sharing my ideas. It was at the end of one of
asset we have going. these talks (at a convention in Missoula, Montana), just as I described
some rules change, that one of the listeners smiled and said, “You know,
So how do I feel? Excited, exhausted, relieved, and nervous—all at we’ve been doing that for years.” And that is what AD&D 2nd Edition is all
once. It’s a great bag of emotions. I’m excited to see this book come out. about—collecting and organizing all those things that we, as players, have
I’ve spent more time on this than I have on any other single work I’ve been doing for years.
done. That leads to exhaustion. The AD&D 2nd Edition game has
demanded and received hours upon months of attention. Now that it is David “Zeb” Cook; January, 1989
Credits
2nd Edition Design: David “Zeb” Cook
Development: Steve Winter and Jon Pickens
Playtest Coordination: Jon Pickens
Editing: Mike Breault, Jean Rabe, Thomas Reid, Steven Schend, and Ray Vallese
Proofreading: Jean Black, Teresa Reid, Curtis Smith, Valerie Vallese, and James Ward
Art Coordinator: Peggy Cooper
Cover Illustration: Jeff Easley
Interior Illustrations: Ned Dameron, Laura Lakey, Den Beauvais, Les Dorscheid, Jeff Easley, Ken Frank,
Daniel Frazier, Carol Heyer, David O. Miller, Alan Pollack, Robh Ruppel, Tony Sczcudlo
Graphics Coordinator: Sarah Feggestad
Graphic Design: Dee Barnett
Typography: Nancy J. Kerkstra
Diagrams: Diesel
Too numerous to mention by name are the hundreds of players who assisted us in playtesting the AD&D 2nd Edition game.
Their efforts were invaluable in improving the manuscript.
Finally, credit must also be shared with anyone who has ever asked a question, offered a suggestion, written an article, or made
a comment about the AD&D game.
This is a derivative work based on the original A D & D Player’s Handbook® and D M
Guide™ by Gary Gygax and Unearthed Arcana™ and other materials by Gary Gygax and others.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is
prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Published by Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA.
Manufactured by: Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by: Hasbro Europe, 2 Roundwood Ave., Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex,
UB11 1AZ, UK. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide, Monstrous Manual, Wizards of the Coast,
and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries. All Wizards of the Coast characters and their distinctive likenesses
are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC.
© 1989, 1995, 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-0–7869–6445-1 First Printing May 2013 P U.S.A.
620A3574000001EN Original Printing April 1995
2
