Ad&d 2nd ed player help

[Symbiot]

My gaming group has decided to turn back the years and attempt to clear the grey hawk ruins in 2nd ed. I have only ever played pathfinder and a bit of 5th ed. I am a fighter /mage level 5,5. I have the war wizard kit. My gear consists of elven chain a +1 long sword, a cloak of protection +1 and a level 1 ring of wizardry.
As there is not alot on the Web around 2nd ed I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers or advice to help me in my adventure. For example good utility spells or good items to go for.
Thanks

[LibraryOgre]

First of all, dragonsfoot.org has an active 2nd edition forum with some good people (and a few right bastards) who will be happy to help. Not saying you have to take it there... we're more than happy to help... just letting you know of the resource.

Your big deal right now will be the Spell of Choice; my reading of the War Wizard kit is that you will have 1 of those, chosen at 4th level, and chosen from among your 1st and 2nd level spells. While USUALLY a large-scale offense or self-defense spell, it can be something else. At lower levels, I would concentrate on spells that have a saving throw... your spells are already very fast, so the initiative bonus won't do you as much good as a save penalty.

Good spells for this are:
Burning Hands (basic offensive spell, pretty solid damage that keeps increasing until level 10)
Color Spray (the version in the PH gives a save to anyone 6 HD or higher, but bases its effects relative to your level)
Grease (not nearly as nice as in 3.x, but still a decent disabler)
Flaming Sphere (big ol' summonable ball of fire, great for disrupting formations)
Glitterdust (blinding! With an Area of Effect!)
Stinking Cloud (AoE Disabler)
Summon Swarm (minor damage, primarily a wizard-killer, since it prevents spellcasting)
Web (general purpose disabler).

Good defensive spells are Shield and Mirror Image BUT I would not take them as your spell of choice, as you don't get a lot out of the boost available from Spell of Choice.

[Symbiot]

Thanks for the reply I have burning hands as my spell of choice for the negative to save option.

[LibraryOgre]

2nd Edition seldom works on the idea of "items to go for"... while later games had the idea of a magic items being crucial to how you played the game, 2e tends more towards items as special, rare, modifiers. Add in to that, a lot depends on how you're set up otherwise... your longsword says you're probably a melee fighter, so what melee fighter DOESN'T want Gauntlets of Ogre Power or a Girdle of Giant Strength?

I'd also ask what kinds of rules your DM is using... he's obviously using at least some Complete Handbooks, so you might look into Weapon Style specializations. With a longsword and no shield, you might consider both Single Weapon Style and Two-Handed Weapon Style (two hands on the hilt of your longsword). Single Weapon Style will give you a +1 to AC without needing a shield; Two-Handed Weapon Style will give you a +1 to damage.

[MeeposFire]

Are you an elf If so you might consider the bladesinger prof. As I recall it has decent benefits and is a good use of prof slots and I think it stacks with single weapon style.

Also long bows use them. You will have two attacks with a bow and being away from melee can be very advantageous in many situations.

Remember since you have a warrior class you can potentially use your int bonus to languages to get more proficiencies and that can be key to improving yourself in combat. I would need to look but one expensive route would be to pick up single weapon style, bladesinging style (which I think requires you to only use a weapon in one hand), two weapon style, specialize in punching (all warriors can do so even if multiclass), and wield a cestus (requires no additional prof slot to use).

The part I would need to check is that from the Complete handbook for fighters it does mention using single weapon style while using two weapon fighting with a punch as a potential benefit but I would have to see if bladesinging uses similar language. As for the punching with a cestus it would deal 1d4 damage with a +1 to hit and damage from just one prof point into punching specialization (yes punching specialization works with the cestus) and you can get an additional +2 to hit if you have prof in tumbling (though that would require additional slots so that may be out of reach).

If you look deep enough into the abyss you can find even more bonuses to get while using the punching rules and even a shield that requires no hands to use as it is an armored set of sleeves (also in the complete handbook for fighters called I think kote and it is a Japanese based item so not always allowed in some games and further it does seem kind of unfair as items go but it does exist).

[Digitalelf]

long bows use them. You will have two attacks with a bow and being away from melee can be very advantageous in many situations.

It's important to remember, that when using bows in 2nd Edition AD&D, and firing them into combat, you have as much of a chance of hitting your fellow party members as you do of hitting your enemies.

[Symbiot]

I am the main source of magic in our party we have a fighter/ their a war cleric a paladin inquisitor and a fighter. So i tend to stay more towards the arcane art at the moment. I have the one handed style already and a good dex so when I do wade into combat I have ac -2. We are using all the complete books but that is pretty much it.

[Lord Torath]

Would you consider switching from Fighter/Mage to Bard if you want to focus on magic? You'll be 2 or more levels ahead of the ftr/mage and a level or more ahead of a single-class mage from level 3 onward. Your THAC0 progression will be slightly worse than a fighter/mage, but is still substantially better than the single-class mage. You can still use swords and bows, and wear light armor as well.

Your martial prowess would suffer a bit, but it sounds like your party is already pretty well covered in that department, and this would boost your magical prowess substantially.

[Duff]

Fly spell is really useful in a way you probably haven't seen before.
I think invisibility is the same (from memory).

You may even consider using weapons (bow or sword) in combat and saving your spells for problem solving.
You don't have a lot of spells so consider, your spells may do a bit more damage than you can with weapons while they last,
But
The right spell in the right place can blow a situation wide open.

[JAL_1138]

At low levels, Color Spray and Sleep were solid gold. Tapered off in effectiveness as you got to higher levels though. Mark Hall's spell recommendations are pretty much spot-on.

Seconding the Bard recommendation from Lord Torath. Mix their quick leveling with some decent thief skills, light armor, and ability to use any weapon, they're surprisingly quite powerful despite possibly looking a bit underwhelming at first glance.