Dexterity: Dexterity encompasses
a number of physical attributes
including hand-eye coordination, agility,
reflexes, precision, balance, and SPEED of movement.
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| - | - | Dexterity AC Bonus (DMG) | - | - |
A high DEX indicates superiority in all
of the
above attributes, while a low dexterity
might well indicate that one of
these attributes is actually superior,
but that the others are very poor.
DEX affects all characters with regord
to initiative in attack, the
projection of missiles from hand or other
means, and in defensive
measures. Dexterity is the maior characteristic
of the thief class of
character, and it affects their professional
activities (such as picking
pockets, opening lacks, and so forth)
accordingly. Thieves with a dexterity
ability score of 16 or more gain a bonus
of 10% of earned experience. The
two tables which follow outline the effects
of dexterity on characters.
DMG:
The dexterity rating includes the following physical characteristics:
hand-eye coordination,
agility,
reflex speed,
precision,
balance,
and actual speed of movement
in running.
It would not be unreasonable
to claim that a person with a low dexterity might well be quite agile,
but have low reflex speed,
poor precision, bad balance, and be slow of foot (but slippery in the grasp).
| Ability Score | General Information | Reaction/Attacking Adjustment | Defensive Adjustment | Two-Weapon Fighting |
| <0> | <paralysis, qv. Doomkeep, area 13> | - | - | - |
| <1> | <Incapacitation: cf. witherweed> | - | - | - |
| <2> | <Incapacitation: cf. witherweed> | - | - | - |
| 3 | - | -3 | +4 | -5, -7 |
| 4 | - | -2 | +3 | -4, -6 |
| 5 | Here or lower the character can only be a cleric | -1 | +2 | -3, -5 |
| 6 | Min. dexterity for a half-elfor magic-user character | 0 | +1 | -2, -4 |
| 7 | Min. dexterity for an elf
character
<Min. DEX for an anti-paladin> |
0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 8 | Min. dexterity for a hobbit character | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 9 | Min. dexterity for a thief character | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 10 | - | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 11 | - | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 12 | Min. dexterity for an assassin character | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 13 | - | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 14 | - | 0 | 0 | -2, -4 |
| 15 | Min. dexterity for a monk character | 0 | -1 | -2, -4 |
| 16 | Min. dexterity for an illusionist character | +1 | -2 | -1, -3 |
| 17 | Max. dexterity for a dwarf or half-orc character | +2 | -3 | 0, -2 <*> |
| 18 | - | +3 | -4 | 0, -1 |
| 19 | - | +3 | -4 | 0, -1 |
| 20 | - | +3 | -4 | 0, -1 |
| 21 | - | +4 | -5 | 0, 0 |
| 22 | - | +4 | -5 | 0, 0 |
| 23 | - | +4 | -5 | 0, 0 |
| 24 | - | +5 | -6 | 0, 0 |
| 25 | - | +5 | -6 | 0, 0 |
<* Possible advantage dual-wielding weapons, if STR is 15+.>
Notes Regarding Dexterity Table I:
Reaction/Attacking Adjustment is the penalty or bonus for both surprise (q.v) situations and missile combat attacks.
Defensive Adjustment refers to the
penalty or bonus applicable to a
character’s saves against certain forms
of attack (such as fire ball,
lightning
bolts, etc.) due to dodging ability. It also applies to the
character‘s parrying and/or dodging ability
in missile or melee combat; in
this case the penalty sutracts from the
AC
(q.v.) of the character,
making him or her easier to hit, while
the bonus adds to the defensive
value of the character’s armor class,
making him or her harder ta hit. For
example, a character with plate mail and
shield is normally treated as
AC 2; if the character has 3 dexterity,
there is a +4 penalty, so the
armor class changes to 6 (2 + 4). However,
if the same character has a
dexterity of 18, there is a bonus of -4,
so armor class changes from 2 to a -2
(2 + -4 = 1, 0, -1, -2).
| Ability Score | Picking Pockets | Opening Locks | Locating/Removing Traps | Moving Silently | Hiding in Shadows |
| 9 | -15% | -10% | -10% | -20% | -10% |
| 10 | -10% | -05% | -10% | -15% | -05% |
| 11 | -05% | 0 | -05% | -10% | 0 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -05% | 0 |
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 0 | +05% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | +5% | +10% | 0 | +05% | +05% |
| 18 | +10% | +15% | +05% | +10% | +10% |
| 19 | +15% | +20% | +10% | +12% | +12% |
| 20 | +20% | +25% | +15% | +15% | +15% |
| 21 | +25% | +30% | +20% | +18% | +18% |
| 22 | +30% | +35% | +25% | +20% | +20% |
| 23 | +35% | +40% | +30% | +23% | +23% |
| 24 | +40% | +45% | +35% | +25% | +25% |
| 25 | +45% | +50% | +40% | +30% | +30% |
Notes Regarding Dexterity Table II:
All ”Penalty or Bonus for” categories
are fully detailed under CHARACTER CLASSES, Thieves.
The penalties and bonuses are applied
to the base chances of success for each named category. Racial adjustments
for dwarves, elves, etc. are additional pluses.
SA: Non-thieves can use the listed thieving abilities at the percentages stated on the table. (Variant rule).
A: You have indeed
found a mistake in the PH.
Half-orcs do have a maximum
dexterity of 17.
(139.68)
coordination tend to break down into specific
skills. In fact, very slight variations in
the skill learned can have disastrous effects
upon the application of the skill. If a tennis
player switches to an unfamiliar racket, his
or her overall playing ability will initially
deteriorate. Ultimately, it seems that people
don?t have one sort of coordination; but
have several coordinations relative to different
tasks. We know that being good at
typing gives no guarantee of being good at
playing the piano, but it might be surprising
to know that playing the piano well is
no guarantee of being able to play the harpsichord
well, since some of the muscle interplay
is slightly different. For many years it
was thought that teaching students to play
tennis would carry a benefit over into driving
a car. The fact is that coordination
breaks down into skill-related categories
which are very different.
Agility is the overall flexibility and quickness
of the body. One who is highly agile
might be a better climber, swimmer, runner,
and be better at dodging. The ability to
walk along the balance beam is an agility
skill. Again, this breaks down into subcategories,
and there are many different
agilities inherent in one person. Even the
sense of balance is not a general skill: one
who is good at walking a balance beam with
his feet lengthwise has no assurance of being
good at walking along it with his feet held
crosswise. There is very little common skill
in balancing. The same is true for running;
only a few of the skills involved in running
carry over from one type of run to another,
even when both runs are of the same general
distance and duration.
Skills are improved by practice. Dexterity,
coordination, and agility can all be
learned. One aspect of skills training is
called skill transference, and transference
comes in three varieties: positive, negative,
and indifferent transfer. If a fencer learns to
fence with an epee, this skill has virtually
nothing to do with learning to fence with a
saber; the skill transfer is indifferent. Someone
learning to perform a skill needs to
practice with that skill, in precise detail,
before the practice will have a beneficial
effect. Playing tennis against a backboard
has only an indifferent transfer of skill
toward playing tennis against an opponent.
Negative transfer occurs when two skills are
close to one another, but are not identical.
Someone who learns to shoot a thirty-pound
bow will be extremely frustrated by a thirtyone-
pound bow. Practice with a mace wills
not give skill in the use of a sword, and
practice with one sword will not guarantee
skill in the use of another sword. One must
practice the skills that are to be learned.
Dragon #107b, Improving: Now we
leave strength and constitution
behind and enter a different realm of
a
character?s abilities. Dexterity, although
it
also encompasses physical skills, can?t
be
improved by training the way strength
and
constitution can. The main reason for
this,
as Jeff points out, is that dexterity
takes
many specific forms. You don?t get better
at
dexterity per se by training to improve
it;
instead, you train for and acquire the
ability
to perform a dexterity-related skill better
than you could before.
This is where the AD&D
game rules on
weapon proficiency come in. It is assumed
that a character?s between-levels training
sessions (not to be confused with training
to
gain strength or constitution) include
practice
that enables him to maintain his skill
with weapons he knows-; and other practice
to develop proficiency with weapons he
didn?t know how to use before.
The special abilities of a thief or thiefacrobat
are another way in which the rules
acknowledge improvement in dexterity,
at
least for those classes where dexterity
is a
principal skill. As a thief rises in experience
levels, he gets better ? more dextrous
? at
performing the activities related to his
profession.
Because a character can?t take up ?dexterity
training? as such, the best way to
handle improvements to dexterity is to
award benefits in special circumstances.
A
fighter who has just spent the last two
hours
climbing carefully down an icy mountainside
is somewhat better at negotiating the
terrain than he was when he started the
climb.
If occasional checks
against dexterity
are called for to
see if the character slips and
falls, then after
a certain amount of time the
DM might award a
+1 or +2 bonus to the
character?s chance
of not slipping because of
the ?experience?
he has gained.
As Jeff would put it, there is very little
common skill involved in dexterity. It
means different things to different people,
and manifests itself in different ways.
Spe-
cific skills that are related to or dependent
on dexterity can be improved, but the
ability
score itself should be very difficult
or
impossible to alter without magic.
-
Richard,
All RPG are games,
and the numbers rolled to describe the player's character dictate the matter.
What a person is in actuality
has no bearing on the PC in virtually all systems.
Dealing and being concerned with one's actual mental, physical, and spiritual state is called living life.
Cheerio,
Gary
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