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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9639379" data-attributes="member: 7737">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 MayhemTo 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.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"To… to know what creature waits in ambush below us!"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Nevertheless, it's true. Who are you?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Then tell me, Arioch, what is the thing awaiting us in the yellow fog? Is it evil?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Do you mean that it seeks to kill us?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Then, we shouldn't go any farther into Yellow Marsh?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Do you mean, 'No, we should not go', or 'Yes, we should go'?"</li> </ol>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.</blockquote>

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