Explan DMG First Ed. to me!

[Psychic Warrior]

Strange. My illusionist did it all the time.

Comments like this one reflect a basic misunderstanding of the whole spirit of 1e and its DMG.

To quote: "It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, you are creator and final arbiter."
(DMG, p. 230.)


Excellent advice, IMO. Pity so many players these days fail to take it to heart (despite the 'rule 0').

Emirikol can zap people from horseback because it makes sense for him to do so. That is the 1e rule for casting spells from horseback.

And now we have actual rules as to how it can be done rather than relying on DM fiat.

 

[Quasqueton]

I can pick up the 1eDMG, open to a random page, and just read for pleasure. The writing is dense, purple, idiosyncratic, and delightful.

The 3e DMG, on the other hand, is clear, concise, and as boring as stereo instructions.

Really?

COMPARE

AD&D 1st edition DMG:
At the onset of each and every character's creation it is necessary that you establish his or her age. For player characters and henchmen you must use the appropriate table. You may do the same for other characters, or you may assign age as you see fit in light of the milieu you have developed. There are two tables, one for non-human (the demi-humans, part humans, and the like) and one for humans.

For multi-classed characters use the column which develops the highest age and use the greatest possible addition to the base age, i.e., do NOT generate the age variable by random die roll, but assign the maximum.

Once character age is established, you must keep track of it from game year to game year. (Cf. TIME IN THE CAMPAIGN.) To normal game time years must be added any of the various unnatural causes of shortening life, i.e. aging. These effectively add years to the character's age. The effects of aging are given in the next section. The maximum age of any characters is likewise explained.

In order to establish the overall effects of age, it is necessary to establish a number of standard age brackets for each race of characters. When age category is established, modify ability scores accordingly, making each change progressively from young adulthood, all additions and subtractions being cumulative. The only ability which may exceed 18 due to age effects (unless age restricts this) is wisdom. Most adjustments are in whole numbers, so that 18 strength drops to 17, even if it is from 18/00, as exceptional strength is not considered.

It is important to remember that adjustments cannot exceed racial maximums nor can they be used if they cause abilities to exceed stated maximums. Likewise, any adjustments cannot lower any ability below racial or class minimums.

D&D 3rd edition PHB:
You can choose or randomly generate your characters's age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character's race and class. Your character's minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character's race and class on Table 6-4: Random Starting Ages. For example, and elf ranger must be at least 116 years old (adulthood age 110 plus 6, because the entry for an elf ranger is +6d6).

Alternatively, refer to Table 6-4: Random Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old you character is. An elf ranger's randomly generated starting age, for example is 110+6d6 years.

With age, a character's physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table 6-5: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character's ability scores can reduced below 1 in this way.

For example, when a human reaches 35 years of age, his Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores each drop 1 point, while his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores each increase by 1 point. When he becomes 53 years old, his physical ability scores all drop by an additional 2 points, while his mental ability scores increase by 1 again. So far he has lost a total of 3 points from his Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity scores and gained a total of 2 points to his Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma scores because of the effects of aging.

I'll try to post more comparisons later (maybe poison, disease).

Quasqueton

 

[Darkness]

Hm, changed tag since this more of a pre-3e topic.

 

[Akrasia]

And now we have actual rules as to how it can be done rather than relying on DM fiat.

It is sad that so many people these days feel the need to have rules for everything, and think it is appropriate to refer to 'common sense' as 'DM fiat'. Oh well, to each their own...

 

[Akrasia]

...

I'll try to post more comparisons later (maybe poison, disease).

Quasqueton

I am not sure what point you are trying to establish here. If it is simply that there are particular passages in the 1e DMG that are as dry as equivalent passages in the 3e DMG? I fail to see why that is an interesting fact, or something that bears on the overall character of the respective books.

 

[hong]

It is sad that so many people these days feel the need to have rules for everything, and think it is appropriate to refer to 'common sense' as 'DM fiat'. Oh well, to each their own...

The great thing about common sense is that there's so many different versions to choose from.

Whoops, sorry, that's computing standards. My bad!

 

[Akrasia]

The great thing about common sense is that there's so many different versions to choose from. ...

Common sense dictates the best version of common sense to use in any given situation...

 

[Nifft]

"Common" is the first thing I cut out of a setting, sense and otherwise.

-- N

 

[Quasqueton]

I am not sure what point you are trying to establish here. If it is simply that there are particular passages in the 1e DMG that are as dry as equivalent passages in the 3e DMG? I fail to see why that is an interesting fact, or something that bears on the overall character of the respective books.

It is disingenuous to say the writing of AD&D1 is evocative and D&D3 is dry. Where D&D3 is dry stereo instructions, I find AD&D1 very similar. I find plenty of evocative prose in D&D3 material, just as I can find it in AD&D1.

Quasqueton

 

[hong]

best

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.