2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 17

The PHB Appendices: More Spells than you can shake a stick at!

   The PHB appendices are all about spells. Appendix 1 is nothing but spells by level divided between Wizard and Priest spells. This is a fairly useful appendix, though I wish they'd made it a little more friendly by assigning the spells to a table for random spell rolls(at the very least for wizards!).
   Appendix 2 is divided into two parts. The first part is a description and explanation on how to read the standard spell format. The second part is adjucating illusions. There are actually things to point out here. Instantly fatal effects such as collapsed ceilings, inescapable pit traps, etc. don't grant a save. Instead they cause a system shock check. Failure indicates that the victim's brain kills the victim because it believes it has been killed. Those who succeed are not affected. A caster attempting to use an illusion to duplicate spell effects may only convincingly pull off spells he could cast at his own level of ability. Thus, a 3rd level caster could convincingly create an illusion of a 2 missile magic missile, but not three missiles. Additionally, nobody would believe the fireball he would attempt to duplicate. Monster special attacks(petrification, breath weapon, etc) can only be duplicated if the character has suffered those effects before from a real source. By core rules, a caster is NOT limited on how many hit dice an illusion would have(unless there's a limit in the spell description), and the illusion attacks at standard values for the creature(unless noted in spell description).
    There is no roll actually required for a PC to disbelieve(though a DM is free to call for one anyway) in 2nd edition. The only thing that has to happen is that the Player must state he is disbelieving, and give a reason for disbelief based on in-game physical clues. It should be noted that if a character chooses this route and the effect is NOT an illusion, disbelieving actually forfeits any save he might have gotten. The standard for NPCs is that they make a saving throw vs spell.
   Appendices 3 and 4 are the spell descriptions, Wizard spells in Level order in 3, Priest spells in level order in 4. Appendix 6 is spells listed by school for wizards and by sphere for priests. Appendix 7 is the spell index.

Next time: At least going to start on the DMG appendices.