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

[James Gasik]

Hm, now I wonder if Xan Yae, the only level 18 Monk in existence, was limited to knocking out 9' 4" 1,150 pound dudes...

 

[James Gasik]

Couple more things, and something I need explained, because I think I know what Gary is saying, but it's still pretty weird.

First up, not too obscure, because this was the way the game was for a very long time, but it feels like something that got lost and if anyone noticed, I haven't heard any comments about- losing your Dex bonus to AC!

I think we lost it in 4e, where instead there was the generic "combat advantage" for situations like that.

Next, a rare moment of Gary saying "do what you want" in the attack matrices section:

So give Fighters 1 better "to hit" per level, or +2 at even levels, or hey, don't give them a better to hit at all?! Yikes.

And finally, on the same page, but weirder:

I think someone mentioned this upthread, and I skimmed past it, but now it's staring me in the face. If I'm reading this right, some races can't be 0-level? And NPC half-orcs are monsters? What?!

 

[Alzrius]

Couple more things, and something I need explained, because I think I know what Gary is saying, but it's still pretty weird.

First up, not too obscure, because this was the way the game was for a very long time, but it feels like something that got lost and if anyone noticed, I haven't heard any comments about- losing your Dex bonus to AC!
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I think we lost it in 4e, where instead there was the generic "combat advantage" for situations like that.

That reminds me a lot of "flat-footed AC" in 3E, to be honest.

And finally, on the same page, but weirder:
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I think someone mentioned this upthread, and I skimmed past it, but now it's staring me in the face. If I'm reading this right, some races can't be 0-level? And NPC half-orcs are monsters? What?!

I think this is Gary's way of having the mechanics reinforce what he felt in-world flavor should be. For instance, dwarves and elves are always going to be at least 1st-level because it reinforces that they're better than humans and halflings, who don't have that same degree of "mystical competence" that we so often see them possessing in classical mythology.

As for half-orcs...yeah, they're monsters. It's certainly of a piece with how they're limited to being clerics of no higher than 4th-level, i.e. they can never cast clerical spells of 3rd-level or higher, since according to Deities & Demigods (if I recall correctly), 3rd-level and higher spells are granted by divine servants, whereas 2nd-level spells and below come from faith and religious training. Half-orcs are too human for the orc gods and too orc for all the other gods.

 

[Staffan]

I couldn't find it in the first printing, but the revised campaign setting does note this. Did they suddenly find the advantage was too good, or were DM's constantly being bombarded by questions about "is it this, or this, or this? I'm immune to those!"

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Revised Dark Sun dialed back quite a bit of the power level of OG Dark Sun.

The thing was that the 19-25 ability score tables were from Deities & Demigods. They were meant for beings that were literally divine, and little care was taken to make them scale properly with lower stats. The jump from 18 to 20 is much bigger than the jump from 16 to 18 (moreso regarding Strength because of bypassing the Exceptional Strength steps).

So when designing OG Dark Sun, the designers likely didn't consider the implications of superhuman stats much, and just went with it. When the time came to revise it, the new designers decided to rein those things in a little.

 

[Alzrius]

Speaking of Dark Sun, there's a fun little intersection between it and Ravenloft in the old Forbidden Lore boxed set.

While normally, a templar can only receive their spells from a sorcerer-king, Forbidden Lore outlines that it's possible for a templar in Ravenloft to receive them from a domain lord! Should a templar worship a domain lord that's higher-level than them, and (if I recall correctly) is a spellcaster, then the templar will lose two levels and immediately have their alignment change to evil (if it wasn't already), but will receive spells from them exactly as if they were praying to a sorcerer-king.

I always wanted to run a game where the PCs ran afoul of a cult of templars who worshiped Strahd or Azalin or some other darklord, shocking the party with how they had actual clerical spells, but I never got the chance.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

While not quite a rule per se, there's a fun little tidbit (one of several, actually) from the TSR trading cards:

The card for "Javair," #176 from the 1992 set, has the only instance I've ever seen of someone having a magical longsword +2, +4 vs. peasants.

Oh! That reminds me of mine: I'm doing this from memory, but Taladas: The Minotaurs, [I stand corrected it was] Dragonlance: Book of Lairs featured a ring that was THOUGHT to be ...of Minotaur Control but was actually ...of BOVINE Control. So, Minotaurs, Gorgons, and...Cows, I guess.

Also, I think it was that book that allowed Minotaur PCs to be Paladins, so there's my obscure rule, too!

 

[the Jester]

Oh! That reminds me of mine: I'm doing this from memory, but Taladas: The Minotaurs, featured a ring that was THOUGHT to be ...of Minotaur Control but was actually ...of BOVINE Control. So, Minotaurs, Gorgons, and...Cows, I guess.

Also, I think it was that book that allowed Minotaur PCs to be Paladins, so there's my obscure rule, too!

Buffalo and bison! And stench kine!

EDIT: And depending on your interpretation, maybe catoblepas???

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

Buffalo and bison! And stench kine!

EDIT: And depending on your interpretation, maybe catoblepas???

You know, I basically live across the street from a bison herd preserve. I have no one to blame but myself for my disappointment in myself that I only came up with cows. We can also add aurochs, oxen, and yak!

But really, that's an odd item.

 

[James Gasik]

That reminds me a lot of "flat-footed AC" in 3E, to be honest.

Yeah that's really where it came from. There's a lot in 3e that really was no different than what had come before, but I know several people who would rather commit ritual suicide than admit it lol.

 

[Staffan]

Yeah that's really where it came from. There's a lot in 3e that really was no different than what had come before, but I know several people who would rather commit ritual suicide than admit it lol.

2e, over the course of its life cycle, threw a lot of stuff on the walls. Some of that stuff stuck and made it into 3e. For example, I think touch AC was an idea from Spells & Magic.