[1e and OD&D] How did you handle Druids and Armor? Clerics and Edge Weapons?
JonnyP71
Explorer
Because the rules said so. And that's all that mattered. And that's all that *should* matter.
A game system should not have to try to justify every little oddity in the rules.
cbwjm
Seb-wejem
Okay. Seems weird though.
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
In my gaming group, clerics stuck to blunt weapons in the old days, maces and hammers. Pretty sure we considered morningstars to be verboten as well.
Only one person played a monk back then, and it was me. Being mostly the DM, I only got to 4th level or so with that character, so it’s not like it came up all that often. But I certainly don’t recall using flaming oil, nor missing out on it.
As for druids….well, no one in my gaming group back then ever played a druid. We were pretty young, so didn’t exactly grok true neutral. That and the whole having to fight another druid to gain your level at higher levels thing.
Only one person played a monk back then, and it was me. Being mostly the DM, I only got to 4th level or so with that character, so it’s not like it came up all that often. But I certainly don’t recall using flaming oil, nor missing out on it.
As for druids….well, no one in my gaming group back then ever played a druid. We were pretty young, so didn’t exactly grok true neutral. That and the whole having to fight another druid to gain your level at higher levels thing.
In 1e could they wear non-metallic armor? They were rather required to wear non-metallic armor. Sooo, yeah. That's how we played. A druid wearing non-metal armor would have nothing "happen" to them. They're not supposed to wear metal armor.
Leather, hides. We permitted studded leather, though I don't recall if there were a specific 1e ruling (in a book) allowing or forbidding it. And, of course, though you had to kinda make these up for yourself, "natural" armors. e.g. Giant insect chittin that would be, like, a banded armor or maybe higher; Enchanted wood/bark plate armor; Dragon-scale scale mail, Bullette-plates plate mail, etc...
Now, if a druid did put on metal armor they would, effectively, be a guy in some metal armor with whatever weapon he'd have and that's it. No magic. No shapeshifting. No druidy druidness of any kind. i.e. That much metal would interfere with the druid's magic (just as it would interfere with the spellcasting of mages/MUs) so they would be unable to do anything noticeable as "a druid."
Ohhhh no no no. Blunt "non-blood-letting" weapons only (though somehow a morningstar was always -and still- allowed). No blades. No bows/arrows/spears/piercing things. No no. No edged weapons for clerics. Nuh uh.
If they did they'd be in violation of their religious vows n' tenets n' their deity's directives...sooooo, buh-bye cleric magic. Buh-bye channeling. Bye spells. Get thee to a nunnery (or whatever religious organization to which you belong) and get some atonement slapped on ya. Probably go on a quest (difficulty depending on how egregious your offense was) and then be "forgiven" and reain your deity's grace to work their miraculous power.
I don't believe I ever knew about this prohibition for Monks. But then, I cant think of ever playing in a game back then that ever had a monk in it..let alone play one myself. If it was in the class description that they couldn't use it, then we wouldn't use it. i don't understand/know from what source/reason that would be the case. But if it were there then we wouldn't have allowed it.
If they did...I dunno. They can throw a flask of holy water (and all thrown weapons) but not one of flaming oil...maybe you could story-it-up as it being a 'dishonorable" way of attacking and that...would throw the monk's spiritual purity/enlightenment/soul into inner turmoil -misalign his chakras, what have you- which would interfere with the effective practice of their abilities. So, again, atonement, meditation, maybe take a quest to regain your "honor'/realign your mind-body-soul to regain your abilities.
None tried it - we took it that this was a religious stricture, and doing so was roughly equivalent to a Paladin violating their alignment/code restrictions - they'd lose their powers, and have to find a way to atone. I think we assumed that clerics and druids who fell became fighters with d8s for hit points, which kinda sucked, so nobody risked it.
One exception was made: Old-style bards, who did the class-switching thing, could wear chain mail or lighter when they reached their druid-phase. I don't recall what the actual rule was on that, but this is how we played it.
As above - blunt weapons only. At our table, some exception was made if the character was a fighter/cleric of a god of war or combat that had a signature weapon with an edge (like, say Garl Glittergold's axe), iirc.
Much the same - this was viewed as a philosophical stricture, and violation would mean loss of powers to some degree. Nobody tried it.
I don't recall ever playing in a D&D game prior to 2nd edition AD&D that would let clerics wield edged weapons (and none of the groups I played with in that span had monks or druids in it, so the other two never came up). There were consistent grumblings that the rule against edged weapons made no sense, but mostly from folks who didn't play clerics anyway as I recall (I was almost always the cleric when I played instead of DM'd, and I always just felt that the restriction was just one of the things that came with the class - like spellcasting or turning undead).
I think it was just "how the game was played". I don't know if I'd call it a "sacred cow", but it was just one of those quirky D&D-isms that you rolled with. Like how magic-users had to memorize spells that would disappear from their brains when they cast them - another thing that there were consistent grumblings about, but that we all played along with because, well, that was how D&D worked. If you didn't want a game that worked like that, you'd try some different game.
I think it was just "how the game was played". I don't know if I'd call it a "sacred cow", but it was just one of those quirky D&D-isms that you rolled with. Like how magic-users had to memorize spells that would disappear from their brains when they cast them - another thing that there were consistent grumblings about, but that we all played along with because, well, that was how D&D worked. If you didn't want a game that worked like that, you'd try some different game.
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