Rules Misunderstandings Over The Years

[Ranes]

No, but Steam Golems could pass through from the other side / nondimensional illusory-created demiplane.

No way! If I'd known that, my illusionist might have been second level by now.

Still, given the number of times I've encountered players and DMs who have been convinced that a character or creature couldn't be hurt, because it was invisible...

 

[Ranes]

When first starting to run 3rd edition, I couldn't figure out AoO-free five foot steps....

[snip]

Paging through the 3.5 PHB...
5-foot steps! Page 144... I'd been reading the rules wrong (neglecting to read them carefully?) the whole time! Delightful! = P

Okay, so my failure to read a paragraph was remedied by doing the sensible thing... which happened to be what the paragraph I failed to read would have told me to do anyway. Ah...

You, sir, are masterfully on topic. Next time you're in London, drop in for a game.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

For 3e, our DM initially thought that the Base Hit Tables in the classes were added together instead of incremental increases. For example, he thought that a +1 bonus to hit at 1st level was added to a +2 at third level for a grand total of +3 instead of increasing by +1 to +2 for a total increase of +1 to hit.

One friend told us that his first group thught hit dice for PCs was cumulative. Each level line listed 1d8, 2d8, etc. So they rolled an additional 2 dice worth of hit points at 2nd level, 3 at 3rd, etc.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, I guess my fist was not a rules problem, but still..

A friend of mine had the red box, and he invited me to play this game. I thought "Dungeons and Dragons" and made the obvious conclusion that it took place in a dungeon, and I thought we were playing ourselves in this game. (My friend had a lot of trouble explaining stuff) (or maybe I did when listening)

So, when we made up characters, with red box it was ridiculously easy, we started off in a castle, which basically blew my mind, and we went back and forth for a few minutes talking past each other about what was going on. I got the idea fast enough, but it was a surreal introduction to this game.

I think he seriously misinterpreted the rules when we were catapulted 300 yards out of the castle and only got "scratched" but that is his misinterpretation, not mine.

 

[shadzar]

I think he seriously misinterpreted the rules when we were catapulted 300 yards out of the castle and only got "scratched" but that is his misinterpretation, not mine.

Then again, plot device always has the capacity to do little to no harm.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

We played Basic/1st ed. AD&D for a couple of years letting magic users use short bows and several other weapons that they really shouldn't have. I only found out we were doing it wrong when I read a Dragon mag letter to the editor complaining about the restriction. It would have been traumatic for the group, but by then we had learned the hard way that a wizard using a weapon was already hosed.

My favorite mistake though was our first weekend of Red Box where I misread the wandering monster checks as supposed to occur ever turn (10 minutes). The first group TPK'd when they got mauled, in the dungeon, by wandering mountain lions that piled onto the wandering goblins and bears they were already fighting. The cleric made it to the door, but the wandering kobolds got him.

But we adapted. The players figured out quick that the best thing to do was go into the dungeon in a rush, hope not to trip traps, grab the first treasure they found, and have the survivers run out. Let all the stirred up wandering monsters fight each other, then repeat. The resemblance to Pac Man was not lost on us. We did wonder why one needed all those 10' foot poles, lantern oil, and the like, when you couldn't afford to be slowed down? Why map, when it was critical to memorize the layout, in case you had to run for the door without the map maker?

 

[Richards]

My brothers and I were introduced to AD&D 1E by our two cousins, who had been playing weekly for a year or more. Then, several months later, a friend of ours picked up the D&D basic boxed set and offered to DM for us. With our one previous game session under our belt, we were all sure we could keep this newbie DM on track until he got good at DMing.

Somewhere along the line, though, we mixed up hp and xp, so every time we killed a monster, we added the xp gained to our hp totals. When our 1st-level PCs were walking around with several hundred hp each, it suddenly occurred to us, "Wait, I'm pretty sure that's not right...."

Johnathan

 

[Huw]

Mistakes myself and various players/DMs I was with made (all 1st ed)

- Hit dice were rolled once. That 8 HD creature... has 7 hp (I rolled well )
- Spell ranges and AoE? Those were in inches. In game. Fireball acted as a really potent short range punch (see above for how we thought that was balanced)
- Bonus spells weren't cumulative, they were one-off. My 1st level cleric with 18 WIS gets a bonus 4th level spell

 

[Zelligars Apprentice]

My brothers and I were introduced to AD&D 1E by our two cousins, who had been playing weekly for a year or more. Then, several months later, a friend of ours picked up the D&D basic boxed set and offered to DM for us. With our one previous game session under our belt, we were all sure we could keep this newbie DM on track until he got good at DMing.

Somewhere along the line, though, we mixed up hp and xp, so every time we killed a monster, we added the xp gained to our hp totals. When our 1st-level PCs were walking around with several hundred hp each, it suddenly occurred to us, "Wait, I'm pretty sure that's not right...."

Johnathan

This is similar to mine. A friend told me that when he first started playing AD&D1, he thought that characters gained the HIT POINTS of the monsters they killed (added to their own HP total, of course). The cure light wounds spell suddenly became much more useful once they realized their mistake.

 

[Beginning of the End]

The irony is that this is a fairly common house-rule, and one that I've actually strongly considered.

I've been informed that the next time we play OD&D we'll be going with the old alternate/wrong interpretation of rolling your hit points before each fight. Should be interesting.

(Our OD&D game is basically a big test-bed for "paths less taken" and "wacky ideas"... some of which then get adapted, improved, and added to our 3E game.)