I use literally Everything in Print, which means if it has appeared in any AD&D or D&D product anywhere, you can use it. For example, you can be a 2nd edition Athasian Half-Dwarf race using the 1st edition Dragonlance Knight of the Rose class. Both Rangers exist, and are seperate classes (Ranger1 and Ranger2, the number indicating edition). Both Bards similarly exist, plus the "Not So Hard" Bard from Dragon Magazine, and the Athasian Bard as well.

Unfortunately, not everyone owns everything in print, and carrying around 40+ hardbounds from 1st throught 3rd edition (and then having everyone at the gaming table share) is cumbersome. Thus the Collective came into being, which is (basically) the charts of the various supplements put together into one product. The Collective does not explicitly describe how to use these charts, as familiarity with basic AD&D material is assumed. The Collective also makes many changes to those charts.

The lack of description and changes are done for two reasons: to correct certain problem areas in terms of mechanics, and to not completely rip off and violate TSR's copyrights. You will still need to buy The Complete Psionics Handbook in order to understand 2nd edition Psionics, the Collective only gives a grossly abbreviated version of it. That way, for example, you know what the power check is for Detonate and how much damage it does. That's generally all you need to know when you're playing, and carrying around huge books of lengthy descriptions is rather wasteful.

I have a tendency to abbreviate and change copyrighted and "known" AD&D material much more than new material, If you're looking at the Collective to get powers from "Will and the Way" rather than buying it, don't bother. You won't understand what the powers do from the table I give and several of the power checks and effects are changed anyway. That isn't the point of the Collective, the point is to unify the game and provide NEW material.

The Collective also includes a decent amount of material converted from other gaming systems to AD&D terms, and a LOT of stuff of my own design.

I don't expect other DMs to go to the length of "Everything in Print". I do expect that other DM's may find the Collective useful as a nice reference, or a source of a rather massive amount of gaming material. Again, for material that exists commonly in print, I don't provide exact details, but I assume you're familiar with the concept of what the rule/effect does.

One of the side effects of doing "Everything in Print" is that we end up with three different Psionic rule sets. 1st edition, 2nd edition, and 3rd edition psionics all exist. They operate on different "frequencies" so each is considered non-psionic to the other. (This is very reminiscent of two Tournament Tholians fighting in the Star Fleet Battles game.)

Thus, a 1st edition Id Insinuation does nothing to a 2nd edition psionic character (as it affects only "psionic creatures", which means "1st edition psionic creatures"), unless the 2nd edition psionic happens to ALSO have 1st edition psionics. I don't have any problems with a character using several psionic frequencies at once, see rules [P2] and [Q0] for rules on what is required of such a character.

Once you have psionic frequencies 1, 2, and 3, the (obvious) question is: Are there any more? My answer is "yes", and I've added about 30 more psionic frequencies, each with their own rules set. Thus, a character could be trained in frequencies 4, 7, and 14, for example. Details on the other psionic frequencies may be found in the [Q] rules.

My system for deciding WHAT a character can do in a round (this is different from initiative, which decides WHEN those actions occur). There are tons of initiative systems out there, but hardly any address what a PC can actually do in a round. For example, can a character cast a spell and run at the same time? Here's the system to answer these types of questions:

Each character normally gets 1 Mental (M), 1 Physical (P), and 1 Movement (V) action per round. Examples of some typical actions and what they cost to use:

Swinging a weapon 1P

Moving 30' (assuming 12" movement rate) 1V

Using a psionic ability 1M (powerful ones use more)

Casting a spell 1M+1P

Thus, a character could walk, swing a weapon, and use a psionic power all in the same round. There are many other things you can do with your actions (Rogue abilities, Turning Undead, etc.) each of which has an action cost as above. To answer the above question, a character cannot normally cast a spell and run at the same time.

P actions can be converted to V actions (but not vice versa). Thus a character could convert his P action to a V action and then move twice (this is called "running").

Characters can get more actions by various means. The Haste spell gives each person affected +1P and +1V action, giving him 1M,2P,2V (assuming no other effects). This character could cast a spell, swing a weapon, and run all in the same round. Very high Dexterity scores also give more P and V actions. You can get more M actions by having very high mental stats (Int/Wis/Chr).

There are other action types besides M,P,V. These include Zero actions (0) which cover very minor things like turning around and dropping an item out of your hand, Full actions (F), Opposing actions (O), Godly actions (G), Death actions (D), and Swing actions (S) which cover various other mechanics.

90% or more of the game uses only M,P,V actions, the other types are for rather obscure things which aren't really necessary for a basic level of play. Details on other action types are found in the [C] rules section.

Everything in my rules set uses this system. If you don't like it, simply ignore it, and replace with whatever mechanic you desire.

Magic Resistance (MR) is the basic resistance of the game. It applies to both Wizard and Priest spells, plus magic items in general.

Radiation Resistance (RR) has been mentioned a few times before in AD&D. It applies to radioactive effects, as well as Mutant Powers (psionic frequencies 9 and 18).

Psionic Resistance (PR) applies to any psionic frequency other than 7,9,14, or 18, and also to psionic items and mental attacks.

Innate Resistance (IR) applies to the innate abilities of creatures that is not covered by magic or psionics. A rust's monster's attack would be an example of IR in use. Rogue abilities also use IR. IR is rather rare.

Weapon Resistance (WR) applies to weapon attacks, both melee and missile. Unlike Evasion (the Acrobat ability), it is not lowered by how much the attack hits (but it is lowered by 5% per level over 12 as per normal). WR is also rather rare.

Effects/Equipment Resistance (ER) applies to effects that destroy or turn off your effects or items. Works like any other normal blahR, except the source of the effect is irrelevant (Magic vs. Psi or whatever); ER is always used to protect your effects/items.

Godly Resistance (GR) applies to godly affects and artifacts, and to psionic frequencies 7 and 14. This is extremely rare and is almost impossible to find as a mortal.

Resistances are generally lowered by 5% per caster level over 12, so a 14th level caster lowers an MR rating by 10% when he casts a spell at a creature with MR.

If you have multiple sources of a Resistance type, use the following formula:

Net Resistance = (highest source) + (2nd highest)/2 + (3rd highest)/3 + ...

Thus, if you have 60% MR, 40% MR, 30% MR, and 20% MR, your total MR would be 60 + 40/2 + 30/3 + 20/4 = 95%.

Some sources of Resistances are irreducible, and are not lowered by caster levels over 12. These are indicated as "irrMR" or "iMR" in the rules. Such resistances cannot be lowered by effects that lower resistance, such as the MR Evasion non-weapon proficiency and the Lower Resistance spell. There are effects that specifically lower irreducible Resistances, these are rare and

will be clearly indicated as doing this.

Some sources of Resistances apply to the reverse of the power type, for example Anti-Magic Resistance, which would allow the character to resist the effects of Anti-Magic (such as a Beholder's central eye). These are denoted "antiMR" or "aMR" in the rules.

Occasionally I get a little lazy and list a whole group of same-rated Resistances under one "R" heading, for example, "MiPaIRR 60%" is MR 60%, iPR 60%, aIR 60%, and RR 60%. Note that "i" and "a" modifiers apply only to the resistance directly following the letter. (This is a change from older versions of the Collective).

My character generation system uses no dice. Why have a random element at all if you want beginning characters to be in some way balanced? There's nothing worse than rolling horribly for your stats or hit points and being screwed even before the game starts. What's also bad is to look at another player and see his PC's stats are simply better than yours. Instead of dice, I have a system where you can choose which ability scores are higher, at the cost of lowering others. You won't be able to have straight 18's, but at least you'll have decent stats for what you want to do.

Ability Score Point Per Level is something I came up with a long time ago. Each level (including Level 1), you get 1 Ability Score point. This point may be applied to any of the 6 (7 if using Comeliness) ability scores.

If you are multi or dual classed, you get a point only if you have attained a level higher than all of your classes' other levels. For example, a level 2/3 character going to 2/4 would get a stat point, but not for going to 3/3.

This system gives high stats for high level characters, but at the same time doesn't make low level characters too powerful.

Non-Weapon Proficiencies are NOT assigned at the beginning of the game, they are left as Open Slots. These Open Slots may be spent at any time during the game to round out your character. Your character suddenly gets the proficiency as you spend the Open Slot, and is assumed to have had that skill all along.

This may seem abusive until you realize the role-playing benefits of this rule. No one can be expected to have a complete character concept down to his minor skills. Just like the movies (where you learn very late that Indiana Jones' first name is "Henry"), your character develops with time. There are certain skills your character may have possessed for years, but we the players and DM (as onlookers) are just now seeing what the character knows. Yes, it may seem out of place that a character "just happens to have" a needed skill during an adventure, but that proficiency now is filled and we have a better concept of what the character is about. Besides, most slots will probably be filled by the time they reach 3rd-5th level, and the really challenging stuff starts.

If you KNOW that your character will definately have a certain skill, of course fill an Open Slot even before it is needed.

Multi-Class characters do not need to divide their XP evenly in the Collective. For example, if you're a Fighter/Thief and get 10000 XP, you can apply ALL of it to Fighter or ALL of it to Thief, or any combination. You do not need to apply 5000 XP to each class. This may lead to characters with a wide range of levels, the Fighter/Thief levels 1/9 is not uncommon.

This is balanced by the fact that the character above would have not many hit points compared to a single classed Thief 9.

I also allow ANY combination of classes in a multi-classed character, as long as they have the Ability Score and Alignment restrictions. There is nothing wrong with an Archer/Necromancer/Assassin, for example. Certain classes (such as Bard from 1st edition, Ninja from OA, and Barbarian from UA) may have additional requirements or restrictions.

An Unenforced Rule is a rule that is presented in the Collective, but is unenforced (not followed) by default. The DM should go through the Collective and declare at the beginning that the rule is in use, otherwise the rule may be broken without penalty. Think of them as Optional Rules.

Examples of Unenfored Rules are:

Encumbrance (assuming the PC is not completely outrageous here)

Level Limits and Class Restrictions for Non-Human Races

XP Penalties for not playing your Alignment (but your AL would still change)

Ego Domination by Magic Items (artifacts and such would be enforced)

Food & Water requirements (PCs are assumed to have this unless noted)

Light requirements (again, PCs have this unless circumstances warrant)

Training to go up in Level with associated gp costs

Rules such as these have a tendency to just get in the way and bog the game down, UNLESS that's precisely what the DM is trying to do in a campaign. In this case, several (or all) of the above rules could be declared enforced.

Each creature and object has a single "multiplier" rating indicating it's level of power in terms of diety-hood. It is indicated as a number like "x1", indicating a "times one" creature (a normal mortal or PC). A "times two" (x2) being is an immortal Deva/Demon, an intermediary to a god, a powerful Lich, or some other powerful being that isn't actually a god.

"Times three" (x3) and higher beings are gods of various power levels. Most campaigns will involve only x1 beings, with perhaps a single x2 artifact and/or very indirect interactions with x4 to x6 gods.

x9 creatures are "Creators of the Universe", x10-x19 are "Ultraplanar Beings", x20-x22 are "Originators".

Rules on what x2 and higher creatures do is in the [X] section.

Not yet. Collective 1.0 is still using the 1st/2nd edition AD&D system. The biggest difference is the AC ratings, and the calculation of THAC0 (instead of a total bonus to hit). The XP scale is different too.

Collective 1.1 might switch over to the d20 System, but I will still retain different XP tables for the classes, and I doubt 3rd Edition multi-classing will be used.

These are factors which describe the power setting of the world. They typically range from 5-15, with a Fantasy norm being 10.

PF = Physical Factor = How physically "animated" the world is.

TF = Temporal Factor = How much technology/innovation is available. (TechF is sometimes listed separately.)

MF = Magical Factor = How much magical energy there is. An MF of 10 means 10th level spells are possible.

It is possible to permanently increase or decrease the local factors; but the results will probably be very unexpected / disastrous.