AD&D 2nd Edition is very different from D&D 5th.
D&D evolved (unfortunately) to be more like a simple tabletop game. Compared to D&D 3.5, the latest D&D edition could be easily named "Hero Quest, Advanced Edition" - that made the game reach more people and sell more (because it becomes MUCH easier to grasp), and made a lot of the hardcore fans scatter to other systems like Pathfinder 1st edition.
Said that you are probably not lacking the option when you level up (that indeed have not changed much), you're probably lacking character complexity.
It is important to note that up to D&D 3.5, we could easily find magic stuff in every single corner and quickly munchkin up weapons, armors, rings, staves... (ok, not staves XD); while on Baldur's 3 we still can find lots of magic stuff (compared to tabletop D&D 5th), it's not even close to the previous games. Pilling up magic items, and aiming for "char features + item" synergy played a great role in character customization on previous systems - and we will probably not see that on Baldur's 3.
