D&D 1E Favorite Obscure Rules from TSR-era D&D

[Snarf Zagyg]

Slow poison (the spell) worked after the person already died from poison.

 

[Voadam]

Did anyone mention alignment change could be accomplished without penalty up to 3rd level?

Close. A druid no longer being a druid could be considered a penalty.

1e DMG page 25:

First, change of alignment for clerics can be very serious, as it might cause a change of deity. (See DAY-TO-DAY ACQUISITION OF CLERIC SPELLS.) If a druid changes his or her alignment — that is, becomes other than neutral — then he or she is no longer a druid at all! Change of alignment will have an adverse effect on any class of character if he or she is above the 2nd level.

 

[Fortunate Son]

Fair. I meant without the level loss penalty, but wasn't specific.

 

[rgard]

One more time- no, they can't.

Elves cannot be resurrected because elves have spirits, not souls.*

Raise dead specifies that they cannot be raised. Resurrection states that the same limits on the types of beings that be resurrected from raise dead applied to resurrection.

Raise Dead:
When the cleric casts a raise dead spell, he or she can restore life to a dwarf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, or human.

Resurrection:
See raise dead for limitations on what persons can be raised.


The reason that most people don't understand or misremember this rule are twofold:

1. The Rod of Resurrection, which, for some bizarre reason, allowed you to bring back half-orcs and elves if you used a bunch of charges. Because, reasons I guess?

2. Lobbying efforts of BigElf, which clouded the minds of people at the time with the 473 varieties of Elves, from Valley to Keebler, and people could not accept that their beloved character, Legolas IV, was really dead. Brad. Yeah, I still remember that. Now get yourself to a druid and let's have some fun with REINCARNATION! Woot.


*Left unexamined, are elves immune to Trap the Soul. Also, this applied to half-orcs, but no one cares about them.

See also Deities & Demigods p. 10-
AD&D assumes that the anima, that force which gives life and distinct existence to thinking beings, is one of two sorts: soul or spirit. Humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and half-elves (those beings which can have a raise dead or resurrection spell cast upon them) all have souls; all other beings that worship deities have spirits. This latter group includes (but is not limited to) elves, orcs, half-orcs, and the other creatures specifically mentioned in the NONHUMANS' DEITIES section of this work.

Correct. We researched a spell called Recall Spirit to be able to raise/resurrect elves because you couldn't with Raise Dead and Resurrection.

BTW...BigElf isn't the problem, but the Illuminati is run by elves so you are sort of right.

I remember losing our gnome illusionist thief in one encounter. There was a race to bring her back between the party cleric and magic-user. The magic-user got there first and we soon had a gnoll illusionist thief.

 

[Staffan]

Slow poison (the spell) worked after the person already died from poison.

When looking through the spell lists, most of my players at first glance thought "slow" in the spell name was an adjective, not a verb.

 

[JEB]

Strangely enough, halflings were the odd ones out in raising dead in OD&D.

Raise Dead: The Cleric simply points his finger, utters the incantation, and the dead person is raised. This spell works with men, elves, and dwarves only. For each level the Cleric has progressed beyond the 8th, the time limit for resurrection extends another four days. Thus, an 8th-level Cleric can raise a body dead up to four days, a 9th-level Cleric can raise a body dead up to eight days, and so on. Naturally, if the character’s Constitution was weak, the spell will not bring him back to life. In any event raised characters must spend two game weeks’ time recuperating from the ordeal.

Reading the totality of the original boxed set leads me to suspect Gygax either wasn't enthused about including hobbits halflings in the game, or they were a relatively late addition. (Or both.) The above is the biggest example, but there are other instances where they weren't listed with the other player species, and they're by far the weakest player choice. They even preface their player listing with the somewhat reluctant-sounding "Should any player wish to be one"...

 

[Orius]

2. Lobbying efforts of BigElf, which clouded the minds of people at the time with the 473 varieties of Elves, from Valley to Keebler, and people could not accept that their beloved character, Legolas IV, was really dead. Brad. Yeah, I still remember that. Now get yourself to a druid and let's have some fun with REINCARNATION! Woot.

That's right. Who wants to play a badger now? Woot!

This actually is a bit of a change in 2e with elves explicitly being able to be resurrected by the spell.

That's 'cause 2e was elves' sugar daddy.

 

[TwoSix]

That's 'cause 2e was elves' sugar daddy.

I’m reasonably surprised that “Elf Resurrection” wasn’t a 2nd level spell in the All sphere.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I’m reasonably surprised that “Elf Resurrection” wasn’t a 2nd level spell in the All sphere.

That would have robbed you of the pleasure of rolling up more elves.

 

[James Gasik]

So I wasn't going to do this at first, since this is a lot. But I just had one of my players claim that the worst rules subsystem ever printed was 3e's grappling system. Here's my "sweet summer child" reply (and yes, it's technically cheating to put every subsystem you could use to incapacitate someone non-lethally without striking them with a weapon, but how could I post one without the others?):