Lol! Oh that is mean! A fake grenade, never heard of it, but so funny.<br/><br/>My group didn't have anything for new guys. We just played.<br/><br/>Well the way you describe Metagaming, is actually metagaming. You can only use knowledge that a character gains within the game. I.E. observation, hearing about, reading. Anything else is pure metagame.<br/><br/>Oh yeah, I knew to an extent, how bad AD&D was. Magic users were weak as snot to begin with, but got godly at later levels. Paladins were better though, from what I've been told. The thing about magic, though, isn't really the fault of the game designers. The type of magic that D&D uses is innately just more powerful. Thus magic will always be more powerful. To nerf it, would not accomplish anything but going against the way magic works in the D&D universe. There is no fixing magic. They would have to entirely redesign the way magic works and that would fundamentally shatter the rest of the D&D universe.<br/><br/>Cleric's and Mages do not actually get lots of skill points. They are both just as gimped as a fighter. 2+Int mod. Same as a fighter. The only reason it may look like a Wizard gets more, is because Intelligence is their primary stat. Cleric's can use Int, but not really at the same time. I prefer a Warrior Cleric style. Because Cleric's spells aren't very offensive and it gets rather boring just healing and casting the occasional buff.