How was magic different in AD&D? From what I have looked at, it is exactly the same. Spell slots and the spells functioning effectively the same. I am not vet of AD&D, but I have done some curious looking. The main difference between the systems for me, is that AD&D is much more mathematically challenging for those who aren't good at number crunching. My eyes glaze over, for the most part, when I start trying to read the rules for AD&D. Part of that could be attributed to the fact that I know how 3.5 works. While I'm not so familiar with AD&D.<br/><br/>Yes, very true. No system can be entirely balanced. No matter how magic is done in a fantasy system, it will always be more powerful by virtue of its versatility. Unless you just make a magic system that is simply an Elemental nuker with little to no utility spells. Even then, the mage would likely have a slight edge.<br/><br/>Well you can't really blame people for wanting to play new things. I love Dwarves, but they have been used and abused. No different than Elves - which people really harp on for some inane reason. Races like Tieflings get gobbled up because they don't generally work in most campaigns and because LA tend to mess up the fragile balance thanks to the Imperious Class system.