What were the major changes in AD&D 2nd edition from 1st edition?
What follows is a list of the major differences between 1st edition AD&D and 2nd edition AD&D. Because some of the changes actually occurred within later 1st edition books (such as Unearthed Arcana and the Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide) or in the pages of Dragon magazine, players who adopted the rules presented in those books saw fewer changes to the core rules when 2nd edition came out. Characters • Monk and assassin were removed as standard character classes. The four basic classes have been reshaped into the warrior, wizard, priest, and rogue groups into which all classes fall. The fighter, mage, cleric, and thief are classes that are the equals of the ranger, druid, bard, and other classes. • Druids can now progress up to 20th level and have a new progression table. • Thief abilities now have a degree of player choice in their improvement. • Rangers have been reworked. They now get a d10 for Hit Dice, no mage spells, and so on. They also are able to use two weapons at once in combat
