My newbie mistakes in D&D

[ThirdWizard]

Looking at the level charts for classes, I thought that you rolled 1dX at 1st level, then at second level you rolled 2dX, then at third level you rolled 3dX, etc. I wondered for a long time why the PCs had so much hp.

 

[mhensley]

I don't remember doing anything too stupid with D&D when I first started, but when I first tried Traveller I thought the scout service was like the Special Air Service (SAS) and that scouts were commandos.

 

[Hypersmurf]

And I totally didn't understand the old system of ranges; distances were all in "inches" and I thought spells totally sucked "what do you mean my magic missile spell has a range of 12 inches?!?!? that's only a foot!"

Oddly, I did understand the old system of ranges, but I remember one occasion where I forgot about it while reading Dimension Door.

I couldn't understand the point of a spell that could teleport you six inches, unless you needed to get through a really thin wall...

-Hyp.

 

[Rel]

The one that stands out for me was the Lucern Hammer. We pictured it like a REALLY big hammer (silly big like that bad guy in Conan had). We were forever pounding down doors and driving pitons with our Lucern Hammers.

I still remember the day we found out what it really looked like (I think they published pictures of all the polearms in the original Unearthed Arcana) and my friend and I looked at each oather with wide eyes...

But OUR WAY was MORE FUN!

 

[Hypersmurf]

I still remember the day we found out what it really looked like (I think they published pictures of all the polearms in the original Unearthed Arcana) and my friend and I looked at each oather with wide eyes...

Hell, my first character used a Glaive!

After all, I'd seen Krull...!

-Hyp.

 

[Asmo]

This happened when we switched to 3.0 from 2.ed:

Our dm had prepared an adventure for our mid-level party filled with powerful vampires that controlled a small town. They were holed up in a castle outside the town, guarded by contolled fighters, etc.
We managed to sneak in and after a while we encountered some vampires. Our party cleric,smiling broadly, said "I cast Daylight!" Everybody knows that vampires doesn´t like "full daylight" so we more or less breezed through that adventure, much to our dm:s chagrin.
Pretty powerful 2 level spell, we thougt.

It was sometime later down the road that we realized the difference between sunlight and daylight

Asmo

 

[Henry]

I couldn't say the word "bastard sword" because it was swearing.

You too, huh? I just called it a "normal" sword, borrowing the term from Basic D&D. If my mom had caught me using "bastard" I probably would have gotten a spanking.

 

[shilsen]

Don't have a story of my own (me & newbie mistakes?), but I always liked the one by the poster who said they assumed a 2nd lvl PC gained two HD, a 3rd lvl one got 3, and so on. So a 3rd lvl PC had 6HD (1+2+3). He was very confused why his monsters couldn't scratch the 6th lvl PCs with 21 HD.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The one that stands out for me was the Lucern Hammer. We pictured it like a REALLY big hammer (silly big like that bad guy in Conan had). We were forever pounding down doors and driving pitons with our Lucern Hammers.

Bohemian Ear Spoon, anyone?

Who else had to hide their copy of the 1E Monster Manual because their parents considered the illustrations to be borderline soft-core porn?

 

[Henry]

Shilsen just reminded me -- in 1E AD&D, one of my buddies had a DM one time who assumed that when a monster was written with "6+6" hit dice that he needed to add six hit points to EVERY roll for the monster's hit points.

The group was fighting some trolls, and did HUMONGOUS amounts of damage, yet the trolls kept coming... he couldn't understand why he had an almost TPK on his hands...