[AD&D Gamebook] The Sorcerer's Crown (Kingdom of Sorcery, book 2 of 3)

[Joshua Randall]

if we're to waste high level magic, why do it AFTER the fight

WIS 3.

Another cool depiction on the magic doing its work. While we're shamelessly nitpicking, there are a lot of things to like in the books, and the colour of the spell being cast is one of them.

Definitely. These gamebooks are like one of those made-for-TV action movies with a nonsense plot, iffy acting, and surprisingly awesome special effects and action scenes.

We should also remember the audience was younger teenage boys (predominantly). Not a group known for its discerning taste in the written word.

what will the other paladin/armor-user do in this case?

While we knocked the older paladin off his horse with our extend-o-staff, Dalris and Rufyl teamed up against the younger paladin. Or more specifically against its horse: Dalris waved her sword such that the horse reared up, and Rufyl stung it while it was distracted.

The horse's eyes roll and its tongue lolls loosely just before the paralyzed beast collapses on top of its stunned rider, crushing him instantly.

So yeah. Dalris and Rufyl harmed an animal, of the non man-eating variety. And then said animal crushed a brainwashed paladin to death. Heroes!

Honestly? That's all OUR Carr can think of as a description of the monster?

Also, is this the same Polymorph Other spell that required the target to be nicely positioned for several minutes and also required a precise description of the new form it would take? I'm beginning to think this book doesn't follow its own precedents as closely as a nit-picky person like me would prefer.

Wait! Wasn't there a chance that the polymorphed person loses its mind and starts acting like the real monster? It might have saved us...

HaHA! I do like the idea of "a" tarrasque that retains Dalris's mind and character abilities. I'd like to imagine it climbing a tower with a sword gripped in one T-rex style short arm; then when it gets to the top, it yowls in bardic song to lull everyone around into slumber.

I would also like to imagine that prior to this, Dalrrasque decided to eat Carr because he turned her into a freakin' giant monster.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

She'd have died in Delmer, hiding from six gnolls, nonetheless.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Still in the Yellow Marsh, we realize there is one more target for pointless polymorphing: the unseen creature in the fog.

---

150

"Listen to this," you whisper excitedly [to Dalris]. Before she can object again, you rapidly translate the description of the Polymorph Other spell. "Don't you understand, Dalris? I can change that thing in the fog into a harmless insect, or a mouse, or…."

"Wake up, Carr!" the bard interrupts. "Perhaps Landor could have done what you're suggesting, but you've only been studying magic for five years. Polymorph Other is too powerful for you to attempt without careful research.

"I've done background studies, Dalris," you insist. "I've just never actually attempted to cast the spell. Isn't it worth a try before we go probing into that stinking cloud with just a sword and a staff?"

The bard's stern expression shifts to one of exasperation. "Do it, Carr. Just do it! You won't be content until you've played with everything in the book."

---

Commentary:

I sympathize with Carr here. The characters are in a desperate situation. Ideally, Carr would've practiced Polymorph Other in a controlled setting, changing a harmless target into another harmless form. But we are not in a controlled setting. And by definition, he can only do this once because he hasn't actually acquired 4th level spells yet. So at this point in the story, Polymorph Other is a single use magic device.

I also note this phrase: "you rapidly translate the description of the Polymorph Other spell." A description of the spell implies more than just the title. Meaning that Carr can translate a spell (via his permanent Read Magic) without accidentally casting it -- just as the AD&D rules allow. Which means that Carr should never have been surprised by the functions and requirements of any of these spells (such as the lengthy casting time for Enchant An Item).

That aside, back to the pointless polymorphing.

---

[INT test vs. 26. On success…]

116

At first, you think that the powerful Polymorph Other spell isn't going to work. Then you hear a terrible cry of agony, the bellowing and thrashing of a huge creature.

"It worked!" you exclaim, listening to the sound of a heavy body thudding to the marshy ground. The noise stops abruptly, followed by a shrill squeal.

"You haven't destroyed the thing's intelligence, Master," warns Rufyl. "I can still sense its thoughts — and its fury!"

"Now what?" mutters Dalris.

You follow her gaze to the ground, where an irate field-mouse is charging through the mire toward the three of you. It would be easy to smash the tiny rodent with your staff before it reaches you (204), although you're tempted to let Dalris use her druid skills to soothe its anger (47) and let it live.

---

Commentary:

I have zero sympathy for Shanif the Marid here. He could have used his mega-telepathy to "speak" with us and tell us what's up any time he wanted to. Instead he lurked in the fog like a creeper and made no efforts to communicate. So the fact that he ends up polymorphed into a field-mouse serves him right.

Also, the image of a really angry rodent charging at us through the swamp is HILARIOUS.

If Carr chooses to be a murderhobo jerk and tries to smash the mouse, then Shanif uses his own magic to polymorph Carr into a cricket, with the implication that he's going to eat us. Yikes!

If Carr chooses to be a reasonable human being and allows Dalris to soothe the mouse, then somehow Shanif is able to dispel the polymorph on himself and we move on to the ask-one-question path.

So your choices for getting the One True Answer are:

• whack a giant hand with your staff
• cast a low-level spell that the marid shrugs off because magic
• or turn the marid into a mouse, then spare its life

Silly, eh? But par for the course in this gamebook.

 

[Joshua Randall]

We've danced around the topic but it's time to get serious: What level is OUR Carr Delling? We must acknowledge that any evidence we present will be invalidated by the gamebook's boilerplate language: "ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS [registered trademark symbol] Adventure Gamebooks read easily, without complicated rules to slow down the story." We're not really playing AD&D here, so "character level" is not really relevant. But no matter! It is fine fodder for nit-picking.

Some of our evidence (or "evidence") about Carr's level came from the spells he has prepared, which top out at 3rd (spell) level. The AD&D magic-user gains access to 3rd level spells at the 5th level of the class, but we've been generous and allowed that OUR Carr Delling could be 6th level.

But there is another way to gauge a magic-user's level, and that is…

Magic-Missile Mayhem

To quote the AD&D Players Handbook (p. 67),

Use of the magic missile spell creates one or more magical missiles which dart forth from the magic-user’s fingertip and unerringly strike their target. [...] For every 2 levels of experience, the magic-user gains an additional missile, i.e. 2 at 3rd level, 3 at 5th level, 4 at 7th level, etc.

Simple, really: we just need to count up how many missiles OUR Carr Delling creates when he casts it, and we'll know his level. Ish. Within two.

---

10
[vs. the Manticore -- don't tell Dalris]

Six swirling disks of pure energy, three from each hand, appear instantly at your fingertips. In a blinding flash of golden light, the swirling circles assume the shapes of elliptical bullets streaking toward the tawny side and chest of the giant monster.

---

50
[vs. the Manticore on a slightly different path]

Three oval disks of energy appear instantly at the fingertips of each hand and form themselves into six bullets of blinding yellow light.

---

104
[vs. the mounted knights on the highway to Saven]

Four bullets of pure energy fashioned from the dweomer of your Magic Missile spell streak from each of your fingers, two at the first paladin and the other pair at his younger comrade.

---

176
[vs. the unknown giant monster (Shanif the Marid) in the fog of the Yellow Marsh]

Four torpedoes of energy instantly form in the air in front of your fingers and then shoot forward, burying themselves in the yellow flesh, leaving four clean, bloodless holes.

---

So now we know! Carr can fire either six or four Magic Missiles, meaning he is either 11th or 7th level at minimum.

…

WAITAMINUTE!

If Carr is 11th (magic-user) level, why on earth do his prepared spells stop at 3rd (spell) level? Heck, if Carr is 7th (magic-user) level, why do his prepared spells stop at 3rd (spell) level?

For that matter, why does Carr's Magic Missile sometimes create six missiles and other times only four? Unlike in later editions of the game, AD&D (1st edition) does not require a higher level spell slot to "upcast" Magic Missile. If you're an 11th level magic-user, you always get six Magic Missiles from your 1st level spell slot — no muss, no fuss.

Before we throw up our hands in dismay (or, in preparation for doing so), let's look at one other spell that has a variable effect based on magic-user level that we can accurately (?) measure in this gamebook.

---

123
[Contact Other Plane]

According to the AD&D PH description of Contact Other Plane (p. 80),

For every 2 levels of experience of the magic-user one question may be asked.

So all we have to do is count up the number of questions Carr asks, multiply by two, and we have his level.

In Carr's conversation with Arioch, Carr makes six statements.

1. "To… to know what creature waits in ambush below us!"
2. "Nevertheless, it's true. Who are you?"
3. "Then tell me, Arioch, what is the thing awaiting us in the yellow fog? Is it evil?"
4. "Do you mean that it seeks to kill us?"
5. "Then, we shouldn't go any farther into Yellow Marsh?"
6. "Do you mean, 'No, we should not go', or 'Yes, we should go'?"

Arguably the first statement is not a question and shouldn't count, but the third statement is technically two questions so should arguably count double. So that's a wash?

Thus OUR Carr Delling's level is 12. (Or 10 if you don't want to count #1 nor count #3 as two questions.)

Level 12 is plausible with the Carr who fires six Magic Missiles, because a 12th level magic-user would indeed create six missiles.

But, again, if Carr is 12th (magic-user) level, why would his prepared spells stop at 3rd (spell) level?

Round and round we go. The real answer is undoubtedly that Morris Simon didn't write an adventure that carefully abides by the rules as written; he wrote a gamebook based loosely on the AD&D rules. In the gamebook, Carr Delling is indeed a magic-user who casts spells titled Magic Missile and Contact Other Plane. But how those spells work and how many "things" they create is entirely arbitrary.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

As always, you make excellent points.

Though I'd say that level is best measured by the achieved effect. If OUR Carr can, reliably, cast 6 magic missile, he shouuld be level 11-12 at least. If he can ask 6 questions to Arioch (is it THE Arioch, Elric's?) he must be level 12.

Sure, you showed that sometimes only four missiles seem to appear. It's possible that when striking the same targets, some magical bullet where so close to each other that they appear to Carr's (or the exterior narrator) as a single one. After all, they are made of magical energy, they can occupy the same physical space. Far-fetched? Sure. But better than estimating that our Carrr is losing levels over the course of the book. An encounter with an invisible XP leech is another theory.

Thus OUR Carr Delling's level is 12. (Or 10 if you don't want to count #1 nor count #3 as two questions.)

Level 12 is plausible with the Carr who fires six Magic Missiles, because a 12th level magic-user would indeed create six missiles.

But, again, if Carr is 12th (magic-user) level, why would his prepared spells stop at 3rd (spell) level?

Hypothesis 1 :

In order to prepare a spell, a magic-user, if it works like I think it worked back then, would need to have the spell written in his spellbook. Having 4th, 5th and 6th level spells in Landor's book wouldn't make them HIS, and so while he can cast them from the bookk as a scroll, he can't memorize them. Our Carr gained level but never bothered to write the spells in his spellbook. In the old days, there was no free spells when leveling up. I remember playing the old computer games and having slots that stayed empty because I had no spell yet to use them, or being forced to memorize crummy spells because I didn't find the juicy ones.

Carr not hurrying to copy the spell in his own spellbook is fitting for his low WIS.

Hypothesis 2 :

There was a minimum stat needed to cast spell back in the day. I remember because I often had the luck, when making a wizard, to roll 18 for intelligence and 18 for wisdom when creating a cleric. It was important to have a good spellcasting stat. While OUR Carr is INT 19, the author has obviously chosen to have characteristics differ greatly from the book (CHA increase from being a jerk?) so maybe he's using another scale and INT 19 in this book is equal to INT 13 in the regular AD&D rules.

Carr not being able to cast advanced spells and being low INT is fitting with how Dalris is obviously treating him like a loser.