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

[Lanefan]

From what I recall, elves and half-orcs couldn't be subject to a raise dead spell, but a resurrection worked on them normally (hence why the rod of resurrection worked).

I knew about Elves but never realized Half-Orcs had the same limitation.

Fun fact: chapter three of DM's Option: High-Level Campaigns included some notes that increased the aging that (some of) these spells inflicted proportional to the caster's race. So a human casting wish would age five years, but a halfling casting it would age ten years, and an elf casting it would age twenty-five!

Huh. And here I thought I came up with that idea all on my own!

I long ago converted most aging effects to what I call Human Year Equivalent (HYE) based on the specific species' maximum natural lifespan (i.e. the high end of 'venerable'). This, if the max possible lifespan for Humans is 110 years and that of Dwarves is 600, the the HYE for a Dwarf will be whatever 600/110 is; and if something would age a Human 4 years it'll age the Dwarf by [Dwarf HYE x 4] years instead.

This is actually a benefit to Part-Orcs, who otherwise really get hosed by aging effects as their natural lifespans are so short.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

If a helmet is not worn, 1 blow in 6 will strike at the AC 10 head, unless the opponent is intelligent, in which case 1 blow in 2 will be aimed at the AC 10 head (d6, 1-3 = head blow).
Okay? So ... you can aim your (abstract) attacks?

It is not in the best interests of an adventure game, however, to delve too deeply into cut and thrust, parry and riposte. The location of a hit or wound, the sort of damage done, sprains, breaks, and dislocations are not the stuff of heroic fantasy. The reasons for this are manifold. As has been detailed, hit points are not actually of measure of physical damage, by and large, as far as characters (and some other creatures as well) are concerned. Therefore, the location of hits and the type of damage caused are not germane to them.
...
With complex combat systems which stress so-called realism and feature hit location, special damage, and so on, either this option is severely limited or the rules are highly slanted towards favoring the player characters at the expense of their opponents.

Um... Welp, consistency is the hobgoblin of small ... goblins?

 

[Lanefan]

PHBR13 The Complete Druid's Handbook had expanded rules for agriculture, which you could use "if a PC takes up farming." Yes, it actually said that.

I'll reiterate now what I said back when I first made note of this: if your player wants to take up farming, they're running an NPC.

Why?

Just because the PC has a farm and goes there during downtime doesn't mean the PC stops adventuring.

Never mind the party could use that farm as a home base.

 

[Lanefan]

1e DMG page 67:

"(Cf. MELEE, Magically Sleeping or Held Opponents.)
Apply bonuses to the chance of the opponent being struck. The opponent will gain no dexterity bonus, of course. In totally immobilized and powerless situations, the opponent can be fully trussed, slain, or whatever in 1 round, so no bonus need be given."

Running a campaign with an evil cleric magic user PC with both sleep and hold person this rule came up a bunch in my game.

"Sleep and slit" has been a staple tactic for low-level parties since forever round here.

 

[darjr]

Thieves could cast spells from scrolls. At tenth level.

 

[Willie the Duck]

They were actually really great, except for two things-

1. They slowed down combat a lot.
2. Given most combat was against monsters, it was always unclear how to translate this.

For that reason, it was a great idea that I never saw used because it slowed down the combats.

I also found that a few +s and -s with specific weapon-armor pairings* usually got drowned out by magic weapon pluses or (in AD&D) the really playing-favorites weapon damage.
*that honestly still favored a bunch of the otherwise-optimal weapons like 2h swords and lances anyways

If a helmet is not worn, 1 blow in 6 will strike at the AC 10 head, unless the opponent is intelligent, in which case 1 blow in 2 will be aimed at the AC 10 head (d6, 1-3 = head blow).
Okay? So ... you can aim your (abstract) attacks?

Perhaps this is an abstraction of the notion that an intelligent foe will take advantage of a clear and obvious vulnerability?

Okay, a few of mine:

In theory, Haste is one of the best combat boosts in the game -- except that it kills your party members. Haste ages affected PCs. PCs who are magically aged need to make System Shock checks to survive the aging. Even the potentially 15+ Con front-liners you want to cast it on can have system shock checks in the 91-97% range, meaning you might have a 9% chance of killing the party member you were combat boosting.

Kind of a cheat, but let's look at Chainmail. A lot is made of how Heroes and Superheroes need to be hit by 4-8 regular attacks in the same round to drop (and what it would have done to D&D fighters if that logic was kept). However, a less realized one shows up in the Appendix D chart. Superheroes (level 8 fighters, as they could have been) can detect hidden or invisible foes. No specific reason, they just are that badass. Now imagine if that had made it into D&D.

 

[Reynard]

Why?

Just because the PC has a farm and goes there during downtime doesn't mean the PC stops adventuring.

Never mind the party could use that farm as a home base.

Right? I mean, let's recall that Odysseus was a farmer and a king.

 

[Voadam]

My favorite was priest of Horus. You got to be a Paladin, Clerical spellcasting, and Chaotic Good alignment; all for delaying Turn Undead until 5th level.

Norse giant Aegir allows fighters to get some bonus cleric powers, such as full priest spellcasting with four specific spheres.

Edit: Note the "AR b" though, that is an armor restriction of non-metal armor only for the sea god priests so it is not a complete one way power up.

 

[Lanefan]

Thieves could cast spells from scrolls. At tenth level.

Indeed, and my 10th-level Thief is well aware of this one.

 

[darjr]

Indeed, and my 10th-level Thief is well aware of this one.

Scrolls, nice pocket sized resource…..