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I. SAVING
THROW MATRIX FOR CHARACTERS AND HUMAN TYPES
Character Class | Experience Level | Paralyzation,
Poison, or Death Magic |
Petrification
or Polymorph * |
Rod,
Staff
or Wand |
Breath Weapon ** | Spell *** |
Clericsa | 1-3 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 15 |
- | 4-6 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 14 |
- | 7-9 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
- | 10-12 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 11 |
- | 13-15 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 10 |
- | 16-18 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 9 |
- | 19+ | 2 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
Fightersb | 0 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 19 |
- | 1-2 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 17 |
- | 3-4 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
- | 5-6 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
- | 7-8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 |
- | 9-10 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 11 |
- | 11-12 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 |
- | 13-14 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
- | 15-16 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
- | 17+ | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
Magic-Usersc | 1-5 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 12 |
- | 6-10 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 10 |
- | 11-15 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 8 |
- | 16-20 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 6 |
- | 21+ | 8 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
Thievesd | 1-4 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 15 |
- | 5-8 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 13 |
- | 9-12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 11 |
- | 13-16 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 9 |
- | 17-20 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 7 |
- | 21+ | 8 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 5 |
* Excluding polymorph wand
attacks.
** Excluding those which
cause petrification or polymorph.
*** Excluding those for which
another saving throw type is specified,
such as death, petrification,
polymorph, etc.
a
Includes Druids.
b
Includes Paladins, Rangers,
and 0 level types.
c
Includes Illusionists.
d
Includes Assassins and Monks.
Q. If a module or adventure
uses the
phrase 'save vs. magic' does
the
designer mean 'save vs death
magic'
or 'save vs spells'?
A. Some of the early
TSR modules did
contain this kind of ambiguity
-- and
some other people's adventures
still
do. Saves
against 'magic'
should be read as saves vs
spells, unless the context
makes this
unreasonable -- a save to
avoid the
effects of a trap might be
noted as a
'save vs magic', when it
should
obviously be a 'save vs death
magic'.
(Imagine #24)
N.B.: A roll of 1 is always failure, regordless of magical protections, spells, or any other reasons which indicate to the contrary.
SAVING
THROW MATRIX FOR MONSTERS
A. All monsters use the
matrix for characters.
B. HD equate
to Experience level,
with additional pluses in
hit points moving the creature upwards by one hit die.
Further die levels are added
for each increment of four additional points.
Therefore,
for the purpose of determining saving throw levels,
1 + 1 through 1 + 4 HD becomes 2,
1 + 5 through 1 + 8 becomes 3,
2 + 1 through 2 + 4 also becomes 3,
2 + 5 through 2 + 8 becomes 4, etc.
C. Most monsters SAVE as fighters,
except:
1. Those
with abilities of other character classes gain the benefit of the most
favorable saving throw score,
i.e. be it cleric or magic-user || thief.
2. Those
with no real offensive fighting capabilities save according to their area
of ability -- cleric, magic-user, thief, etc.
D. Non-intelligent creatures
save at an Experience Level equal to one-half their hit dice,
rounded upwards,
except with regard to poison
or death magic.
III. SAVING THROW MATRIX FOR MAGICAL AND NON-MAGICAL ITEMS
Attack Form & Number
Item Description | 1. acid | 2. cr. blow | 3. nor. blow | 4. dis | 5. fall | 6. fireball | 7. mag fire | 8. nor fire | 9. frost | 10. ltng | 11. elec |
A. Bone or ivory | 11 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 6 | 17 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
B. Ceramic | 4 | 18 | 12 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
C. Cloth | 12 | 6 | 3 | 20 | 2 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 1 |
D. Crystal or Vial | 6 | 19 | 14 | 20 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 5 |
E. Glass | 5 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 1 |
F. Leather or Book | 10 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 1 |
G. Liquid * | 15 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 18 | 15 |
H. Metal, hard | 7 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1a | 11 | 1 |
I. Metal, soft or Jewelry ** | 13 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 4 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 1 |
J. Mirror *** | 12 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 1 |
K. Parchment or Paper | 16 | 11 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 25 | 21 | 18 | 2 | 20 | 1 |
L. Stone, small or Gem | 3 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 2 |
M. Wood or Rope, thin | 9 | 13 | 6 | 20 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
N. Wood or Rope, thick | 8 | 10 | 3 | 19 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
* Potions, magical oils, poisons, acids while container remains intact.
** Includes pearls of any sort.
*** Silvered glass. Treat silver mirror as "Metal, soft," steel as "Metal, hard."
a If exposed to extreme cold then struck against a very hard surface with force, the save is -10 on die!
Attack Forms
1. Acid
2. Blow, Crushing
3. Blow, Normal
4. Disintegration
5. Fall
6. Fireball
(or breath)
7. Fire, Magical
8. Fire, Normal
(oil)
9. Frost,
Magical
10. Lightning
Bolt
11. Electrical
Discharge/Current
1.^^. Acid: This assumes a considerable volume of strong acid (black dragon or giant slug spittle) or immersion for a period which would affect the item.
2.^^. Blow, Crushing:
This assumes that the item
is struck by a weighty falling object
or a blow from an ogre's
|| giant's weapon, for example.
Another example would be
a (ceramic) flask of oil or a (crystal or glass) vial of holy water
hurled
against a hard surface ar dropped from a height.
A piece of cloth can be ripped
or tarn by a crushing blow.
3.^^.
Blow,
Normal: This assumes an attack by a normal-strength opponent or only
fairly heavy object which strikes the object.
This also applies to a (ceramic)
flask of oil or a (crystal || glass) vial of holy water hurled against
a tough,
but slightly
yielding, surface.
4.^^. Disintegration: This is the magical effect.
5.^^.
Fall:
This assumes the item falls about 5' and comes into contact with a hard
(stone-like) surface.
A softer surface (wood-like)
gives a + 1 on the saving throw,
and a
fleshy-soft surface gives +5.
For each 5' over the first
5' the item falls,
subtract
-1 from the die roll to save.
6.^^. Fireball: This is the magical fireball, meteor swarm, (red) dragon breath, etc.
7.^^. Fire, Magical: This is the magical wall of fire, fire storm, flame strike, etc.
8.^^.
Fire,
Normal: This assumes a hot fire such as produced by a blazing wood
fire, flaming oil, and the like.
The
item in question would have to be exposed to the fire for an amount of
time sufficient to have an effect,
i.e.
paper or parchment for but 1 melee round, cloth for 2, bone or ivory for
3, etc.
9.^^. Frost, Magical: This is the magical frost or cold such as a white dragon breathes or spells such as cone of cold || ice storm.
10.^^. Lightning Bolt: This is magical attack from lightning called from the sky, blue dragon breath, etc.
11.^^. Electrical Discharge/Current: The "shock" of an electric eel, magical items, traps, etc.
Magical
Items: Magical items gain +2 on all rolls plus +1 for each plus they
have above + 1,
i.e. +
1 = +2 on saving throw, +2 = +3 on saving throw.
Furthermore, the magic item
gains +5 on saving throws against attack forms in its own mode,
i.e. blow
vs. shield,
fireball
vs. ring of fire resistance or fireball wand.
Non-Magical
Items: Those items which do not exactly conform to item descriptions
above can be interpolated.
[>>]
It is assumed that the item in question is actually exposed to the form
of attack,
i.e. the
blow falls on the item,
the fall
is such as to not cushion the item,
the fire
actually contacts the item, etc.
As with magical items, non-magical
items gain +5 versus attacks in their own mode.
<thin wood is defined as wood that is 1/2" or less thick: Dungeon 1, page 62>
Aranion wrote:
Hi, Gary!
Sorry to bother you with a question from AD&D. This has cropped up on the 1E forum, and while a common sense answer seems evident, getting your take directly would be most appreciated (not that your take is somehow opposed to common sense!).
On page 80 of the DMG, you
list the saving throw matrix for magical and nonmagical items.
A number of these have 1s
and 0s listed; for instance, the saving throw for liquid vs crushing blow
is 0.
The easist explanation for
this is that, well, duh! - liquids as a general rule can't be hurt by a
crushing blow.
However, that doesn't explain
the items with a "1" listing.
Since you have to roll the
given number or below, what was the purpose of giving some items a 1 rating
and others a 0, since they work the same for all intents and purposes?
Why not just put n/a for
those items?
Any thoughts you can share about this would be most appreciated. Thanks for the time and patience, and most of all for the game that fires the imagination and brings friends together for creative, intelligent fun.
Short answer:
The 0s and 1s assume that
there can be modification of saving throws that penalize the die roll.
Some attack might have a
penalty of 5, for example, so one could actually fail a roll with a 0 or
1 save.
The term saving throw is common
enough, coming to us from miniature
wargames and D&D.
It represents the chance for the figure concerned to
avoid (or at least partially
avoid) the cruel results of fate. In AD&D
it is the
same. By means of skill,
luck, magical protections, quirks of fate and the
aid of supernatural powers,
the character making his or her saving throw
takes none or only part of
the indicated results - [fireball] damage, poisoning,
being turned to stone, or
whatever. The various saving throws are
shown on the appropriate
tables -- for characters, monsters, and items as
well. When someone or something
fails to roll the number shown, or
better, whatever is coming
comes in full. To better understand the concept
of the saving throw, the
following is offered:
As has been often pointed
out, AD&D is a game wherein participants
create personae and operate
them in the milieu created and designed, in
whole or in part, by the
DM and shared by all, including the
DM, in imagination and enthusiasm.
The central theme of this game is the
interaction of these personae,
whether those of the players or those of the
DM, with the milieu, including
that part represented by the characters and
creatures personified by
the DM. This interaction results in adventures and
deeds of daring. The heroic
fantasy which results is a blend of the dramatic
and the comic, the foolish
and the brave, stirring excitement and grinding
boredom. It is a game in
which the continuing epic is the most meaningful
portion. It becomes an entity
in which at least some of the characters seem
to be able to survive for
an indefinite time, and characters who have
shorter spans of existence
are linked one to the other by blood or purpose.
These personae put up with
the frustrations, the setbacks, and the
tragedies because they aim
for and can reasonably expect to achieve
adventure, challenge, wealth,
glory and more. If player characters are not
of the same stamp as Conan,
they also appreciate that they are in effect
writing their own adventures
and creating their own legends, not merely
reliving those of someone
else's creation.
Yet because the PC is all-important,
he or she must always --
or nearly always - have a
chance, no matter how small, a chance of
somehow escaping what otherwise
would be inevitable destruction. Many
will not be able to do so,
but the escapes of those who do are what the
fabric of the game is created
upon. These adventures become the twicetold
tales && lejends
of the campaign. The fame (or infamy) of certain
characters gives lustre to
the campaign and enjoyment to player and DM
alike as the parts grow and
are entwined to become a fantastic history of a
never-was world where all
of us would wish to live if we could.
Someone once sharply criticized
the concept of the saving throw as
ridiculous. Could a man chained
to a rock, they asked, save himself from
the blast of a red
dragon's breath? Why not?, I replied. If you accept firebreathing
dragons, why doubt the chance
to reduce the damage sustained
from such a creature's attack?
Imagine that the figure, at the last moment,
of course, manages to drop
beneath the licking flames, or finds a crevice
in which to shield his or
her body, or succeeds in finding a way to be free
of the fetters. Why not?
The mechanics of combat or the details of the
injury caused by some horrible
weapon are not the key to heroic fantasy
and adventure games. It is
the character, how he or she becomes involved
in the combat, how he or
she somehow escapes -- or fails to escape -- the
mortal threat which is important
to the enjoyment and longevity of the
game.
If some further rationale
is needed to explain saves versus magic,
hece is one way of looking
at it. Magical power is energy from another
plane channeled through this
one by the use of certain prescribed
formulae. The magic obeys
(or disobeys) the magic-user because he or
she controls and constrains
it by a combination of the formulae and willpower.
As magic-users advance in
level, their willpower increases through
practice, and so does their
control. Inherently magical creatures exercise
such control instinctively.
A character under magical
attack is in a stress situation, and his or her own
will force reacts instinctively
to protect the character by slightly altering the
effects of the magical assault.
This protection takes a slightly different form
for each class of character.
Magic-users understand spells, even on an unconscious
level, and are able to slightly
tamper with one so as to render it
ineffective. Fighters withstand
them through sheer defiance, while clerics
create a small island of
faith. Thieves find they are able to avoid a spell's
full effects by quickness
. . .
So a
character manages to avoid the full blast of the fireball,
or averts his
or her gaze from the basilisk
or medusa, or the poisonous stinger of the
giant scorpion misses or
fails somehow to inject its venom. Whatever the
rationale, the character
is saved to go on. Of course, some saves result in
the death of the character
anyway, as partial damage causes him or her to
meet death. But at least
the character had some hope, and he or she
fought until the very end.
Stories will be told of it at the inn, and songs
sung of the battle when warriors
gather around the campfire. Almost,
almost he managed to reach
the bend in the passage where the fell breath
of the blue dragon Razisiz
could not reach, but at the last moment his toe
struck a protrusion, and
as he stumbled the dragon slew him!
Saving
Throw Modifiers:
DM
Stipulations: You may assign modifiers to any saving throws as you
see fit, always keeping in
mind game balance.
Rule
Stipulations: Some attack forms will always give an adjustment to
saving throws because of
the creature considered, e.g., a large spider's
poison attack is always at
a plus on the saving throw dice. Some attack
forms always receive adjustments
against certain creatures also. Check
facts regarding the characters
and/or monsters concerned.
Magical
Devices and Protections: Various magic items (rings, armor,
shields, etc.) allow saving
throw dice modifications. In general, these
modifiers are cumulative,
unless otherwise stated. Some spells will also
cause such modifications.
It is necessary to familiarize yourself with all
such information by having
a working knowledge of both MONSTER MANUAL
and PLAYERS
HANDBOOK, as well as this volume.
Circumstantial
Adjustments: Such adjustments are quite similar to DM stipulations.
That is, if a character is
standing in a pool of water holding a sword in his steel-gauntleted hand
when the [blue dragon] breathes at him,
you just might wish to slightly
alter his chances of saving.
In like manner, you might
wish to give this same character one-half or NO damage from a red dragon's
<l> breath in the same circumstances.
(In this same fashion you
may feel no constraint with respect to allotting pluses to damage so meted
out to players,
adjusting the score of each
die upwards or downwards as you see fit because of prevailing circumstances.)
Certain
Failure: As shown on the table, a 1 is ALWAYS a failure, regardless
of magical modifiers to the
contrary. However, as DM you may adjust such
failures according to prevailing
circumstances, although any adjudication
which negates failure on
a roll of 1 is not recommended at all. Another
rule you may wish to consider
is allowing a save (where applicable) on a
natural 20, regardless of
penalties.
Item
Saving Throws:
These saving throws are self-explanatory
in general. It is a case of either
saving or failing. Potions
and liquids which do not make their saving
throws should be noted secretly
by you -- unless the player concerned has
his or her character check
to determine if the fluid was harmed. Such
failure will not otherwise
be notable without examination and testing.
<Items with a creature which makes its save are considered as unaffected. - fireball>
Artifacts
& Relics: Because of the very nature of these items, you may
desire to disallow any destruction
or harm to these items by common
normal or magical means.
This rule may apply to some, all, or none as you
deem best in the circumstances
of your campaign. You might, for
example, decide that all
such items have an additional + 3 on their saving
throw dice, and that certain
obviously potent items are subject to harm
only from other artifacts
and relics or attacks by gods or similarly powerful
beings.
Poison
Saving Throws For Characters:
For those who wonder why
poison does either killing damage (usually) or
no harm whatsoever, recall
the justification for character hit points. That is,
damage is not octually sustained
-at least in proportion to the number of
hit points marked off in
most cases. The so called damage i s the expenditure
of favor from deities, luck,
skill, and perhaps a scratch, and thus the
saving throw. If that mere
scratch managed to be venomous, then DEATH.
If no such wound was delivered,
then NO DAMAGE FROM THE POISON. In
cases where some partial
damage is indicated, this reflects poisons either
placed so that they are ingested
or used so as to ensure that some small
portion does get in the wound
or skin of the opponent.
Poison
Saving Throws For Monsters:
There are exceptions to the
death (or damage) rule for poison. Any
creature with a thick layer
of fat (where blood vessels and nerves are
virtually non-existent) will
be totally immune to poison from creatures
which are not able to penetrate
this fat layer when injecting their poison.
All swine, wereboars included,
will be in this protected class. Similarly,
very large creatures poisoned
by very small ones are not likely to be
affected. Even the poison
of the deadly coral snake would not be likely to
harm an apatosaurus.
Giants would simply smash giant centipedes without
fear of their poison -- which
would cause a swelling and rash,
perhaps, at worst. Whenever
a situation arises where poison IS involved,
consider both of these cases
in reaching a decision.
The magical properties of
the various sorts of magic armor will sometimes,
but not always, add bonuses
to saving throw dice rolls made by wearers.
All cases cannot be dealt
with, for there will undoubtedly be many special
circumstances which occur.
There are guidelines, however, which will
generally serve. Saving throws
will NOT be aided by magic armor against:
Saving throw rolls WILL receive
an armor bonus against:
Of course, where no saving
throw is permitted, magic armor does not then
give such an option unless
otherwise stated.
ADQ: On page 81 of the DMG,
it says that magick armor protects
the wearer from spells that cause
physical damage. Would this also protect
against non-magickal cold attacks? The
implication seems to be that magick armor
protects against a cone of cold spell but
not against white dragon breath.
(Polyhedron #30)
ADA: Magick armor also gives save
bonuses vs. non-magickal cold or fire attacks,
assuming that the attack form allows a
save in the 1st place. It does not
provide extra protection against attack
forms such as gas & poison, which do
not
depend on physical damage to work, not
against spells which do not inflict damage,
such as sleep, charm, etc. The passage
merely indicates that magick armor provides
defensive bonuses vs. damage-producing
spells IN ADDITION to extra protection
from normal attack forms.
(Polyhedron #30)
Circumstantial Adjustments:
Such adjustments are quite similar to DM stipulations.
That is, if a character is
standing in a pool of water holding a sword in his steel-gauntleted hand
when the [blue dragon] breathes at him,
you just might wish to slightly
alter his chances of saving.
In like manner, you might
wish to give this same character one-half or NO damage from a red dragon's
<l> breath in the same circumstances.
(In this same fashion you
may feel no constraint with respect to allotting pluses to damage so meted
out to players,
adjusting the score of each
die upwards or downwards as you see fit because of prevailing circumstances.)
Quote:
In your games or in your
original thoughts behind the rules, is it possible for a PC to forego making
a saving throw. Especially when spells are used by his allies. For example,
both enlarge and levitate call for a save to negate the effects, but both
of these spells can also usefully be used intraparty for combat advantage.
I know that a lot of spells specify that an unwilling recipient must make
a save; should this be extrapolated to all spells?
Indeed, the rule should be
extrapolated to allow a willing recipient to be effected by a spell sans
any saving throw.
the save for one unwiling
represents their active attejmkpts to avoid being affected.
Quote:
As another wrinkle: what
if a PC did not know that a potentially friendly spell is coming. Say an
MU sees somehting bearing down on her fighter friend and tries to levitate
that fighter out of harm's way. Should the fighter be forced to make a
save since he does not know the origin of the magic?
There's a whole other issue about whether magic resistance can be intentionally lowered, but we'll stick to this for now.
Thanks a lot.
HH
I would say that the PC unaware
of the origination of a spell aimed at him would have a saving throw apply,
as that individual would not be willing it to work on him.
Cheers,
Gary
Because these creatures love
water and wetness and are always damp,
they are not as vulnerable
to fire as their feathery forms would indicate.
Saving throws vs. fire are
made at +1 and damage is at -1 per die.
- eblis,
MM2
rabindranath72 wrote:
...I was referring to AD&D
saving throw categories. Sorry if it is the wrong forum
Cheers,
Antonio
Actually. I am not fond of
the new Saving Throw method, as it rather weakens the archetypes and the
class-base of the system.
Cheers,
Gary
orgcandman wrote:
3) Why weren't any combat
rules, saves, to-hit, etc.. included in the player's
handbook?
-Aaron
3) Players should be concentrating
on enacting the role of their in-game persona.
not looking at charts and
tables to study probabilities.
The game form is about that,
not combat simulation
Cheers,
Gary
The AD&D
combat system came from OD&D,
and OD&D came from the original
Chainmail medieval military miniatures rules.
The armor protection system
in the latter rules was progressively higher the better the armor, so the
current D20 approach is not a new concept.
For the rest, I do believe
that using THAC0 was as complicated as the to hit system in D20, so it
is more a matter of personal preference that not in my thinking.
I can use either method,
but I rather like t6he old one better, as I do the old saving
throw tables.
Cheers,
Gary
Saving throws
Dear Editor:
I have been an avid D&D®
player for almost
two years now. I have always been interested
in devising new ways of making the game
even more exciting for both the DM and the
players, and to this end I wish to contribute a
saving-throw conversion table.
I offer this scenario: Garth and Adalard, a
ranger and thief, have been tracking an assassin
(who murdered the third member of
their party) for several days. They ride into
town and wearily enter the first tavern, where
they immediately spot the killer on the other
side of the room. After a short chase through
corridors and alleys, the assassin whirls,
throws, and hits Adalard with a dagger tipped
with, say, a Type A or B poison. The DM calls
for a saving throw—whereupon Adalard rolls
a 19, removes the dagger, and doesn’t give
another thought to the wound....
How can Adalard know that the poison will
have no further effects upon him? For that
matter, if the poison were of a stronger variety,
how can Adalard be assured of surviving
the night, even if he feels fine right now?
The point here is that many times (not always)
a player character is required to save in
a situation where he/she should not immediately
know whether or not the save was successful.
The purpose of a saving-throw conversion
table is to keep players off balance
with regard to what constitutes “good” and
“bad” saving rolls. It is constructed of four
columns of 20 entries each, with the numbers
1-20 randomly listed in each column. Each
column is assigned a heading number (1-4).
To use the table, the DM rolls d4 to determine
which heading to use for a particular
save. The player then rolls a die for his saving
throw and gets, say, a “7.” The DM consults
the 7th entry from the top in the appropriate
column to find the number to be applied for
that save in place of the “7.” Bonuses and/or
penalties are applied only after the conversion
on the table has been made.
The table should be explained to players
before beginning an adventure or campaign
with it, since it is for their benefit; namely, to
increase and hold their anticipation when
making a save, as well as keeping them in
suspense in cases when the success or failure
of a save would not be immediately apparent.
I plan to incorporate the table into my next
campaign because I believe it allows characters
the right to determine their own fate without
the ability to know that fate too soon.
Wayne A. Langguth
Findlay, Ohio
(Dragon #55)
‘Helping DMs’
Dear Editor:
Regarding Wayne A. Langguth’s letter in
issue #55 of DRAGON: Great idea!
I don’t mean his suggested method for saving
throws under certain conditions, for it is
up to every DM who reads it to decide whether
or not it is a good idea. I mean the idea of
helping other DMs on sections of the rules
that were either forgotten, not thought of, or
purposely left out of the books to avoid unneccesary
complication. Many parts of AD&D
are vague and seem to be missing semiessential
parts, notably, in this case, saving
throws that player characters should not immediately
know the results of. Every DM must
fill in these gaps with his or her own rules, but
nobody could possibly cover them all. So, it is
a great idea to make public some tried ideas,
so that DMs can use them in their campaigns
if they like them or discard them from their
memories if they don’t.
Here is my idea, and I hope that other ideas
will follow to benefit all DMs. One fault in
the
game is the detection of magic in weapons
and armor. To quote the DMG, “Most swords
of magical nature shed light when drawn from
their scabbard,” and “For game purposes all
magical armor should be considered as being
virtually weightless — equal to normal clothing.”
I think it is much more interesting if,
when players find magic weapons or armor,
they do not know immediately, whether by
seeing if it glows or how heavy it is, that it
is
magic. The players in my campaign, whenever
they discovered something that may be
magic, would shout simultaneously, “Does it
glow?” I quickly became bored with this, and
have playtested and been very successful
with the following “rule”: Not all swords that
glow are magic, and not all magic swords
glow; and not all armor that is extra light is
magic and not all magic armor is extra light.
This is accomplished by placing enchantments
on magical and non-magical items,
such as a perfectly normal sword with a Continual
Light spell on it, or a magical suit of
plate mail that appears normal until struck in
battle, when it displays its magical properties.
I find it much more interesting when players
have to cast spells, use devices, or even hire
NPCs to find out if their treasure is magical.
Nathan Brown
Newark, Del
(Dragon #58)
Nathan has the right idea: Whether or not
you agree with the particulars of his “magic”
proposal, and whether or not you agree with
Wayne Langguth’s saving-throw system, is
immaterial. This letter, and Wayne’s letter before
it, can at least be used as food for
thought. And if only one DM is stimulated to
think of some way to improve his game in a
similar fashion, then the space we used to
print the letters was space well spent.
— KM
(Dragon #58)