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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6464739" data-attributes="member: 66434">What? Some monsters can be hostile?  No way. I suppose that means the blacksmith's apprentice and the serving wench need to be killed on sight, just in case they were considering hostility. Jeb Eckert and Barnabas Park. The priest is Lareth the Beautiful.  The nature of the encounters with these NPCs is up to the players. If you approach the game from a perspective of anything not forbidden is possible, instead of a perspective of anything not proscribed is forbidden a whole lot of options and possibilities open up. The early editions were designed by wargamers for wargamers who understood how to apply common sense. ANYONE taking reasonable precautions can be stealthy. The thief abilities were a saving throw of sorts to give these characters with special training a last ditch chance to pull off something a regular character could not. The existence of stats signifies nothing. ZEUS had stats, but strangely no treasure type. Why?  The MM had all kinds of creatures. Gold dragons had stats, did heroes go around slaying them? What about good aligned beings from the outer planes? The MM also had all kinds of men including merchants & traders. Just for slaughtering I suppose. There WERE rules for resolving encounters without combat. Reaction rolls were the norm for many encounters. Thinking monsters could be communicated with and deals could be made. Monsters have goals too and staying alive is pretty high up on the priority list for the ones with half a brain. Just because YOU decided that they were all homicidal maniacs with death wishes doesn't mean that the rest of world played that way. If you are playing OD&D and have the luxury of choosing where to put your stats, damn right putting an 18 in CHA is a smart play.An OD&D fighter with an 18 STR gets an xp bonus and can carry more stuff- that's it. An 18 CHA, provides a good reaction bonus, allows more henchmen to be retained, and raises the loyalty of those henchmen.</blockquote>

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