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

[Rabulias]

I remember shocking the players of some fighter PCs with this back in the day: Shields did not help your AC against all attacks. From AD&D 1st edition Players Handbook, p:36:

 

[James Gasik]

I remember shocking the players of some fighter PCs with this back in the day: Shields did not help your AC against all attacks. From AD&D 1st edition Players Handbook, p:36:

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This was true in 2e as well- non-magical shields were basically not worth the effort of using (heck, the Complete Fighter's Handbook let a 1st-level character gain a +2 to AC by not carrying a shield at all!).

 

[JEB]

Not favorites exactly, but odd rules that stuck with me from the original D&D boxed set:

• All attacks inflict 1d6 unless otherwise specified. Therefore, a dagger does as much damage as a two-handed sword (and costs much less to boot).
• Player characters can't see in the dark, but monsters always can. However, if a monster switches sides and joins the player characters, they can't see in the dark anymore.
• Every single magic sword has an alignment, and damages those of different alignments when they pick them up. Every single magic sword also has to be checked for Intelligence, and possibly Ego, languages, and special powers. Some also have a special origin or purpose tied to their alignment, which automatically maxes out their Intelligence and Ego, and gives them even more powers. (None of this applies to other magic weapons.)
• Once you get within two hexes of a castle in the wilderness, the inhabitants have a chance to challenge you. Fighting-men challenge you to a joust, but magic-users shake you down for magic items or force you to quest for same, and clerics demand a donation or put you under geas.
• If you start a barony but tick off your vassals too much, this invokes the "angry villager rule", which can even lead to Conan-types being sent after you.
• They advise players to designate an heir for their character's stuff if they disappear. (If you don't, the stuff is lost.) If your original character returns, you can transfer the stuff back and keep the heir as an NPC... but they suggest that the heir-NPC might resent this.
• Raise Dead specifically benefits men, dwarves, and elves - but no mention of halflings.
• Slow Spell doesn't explain what it actually does. Haste Spell does the opposite...

 

[Lanefan]

I remember shocking the players of some fighter PCs with this back in the day: Shields did not help your AC against all attacks. From AD&D 1st edition Players Handbook, p:36:

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I love how this assumes every character out there is right-handed and thus has its shield on the left arm....

 

[Lanefan]

Raise Dead specifically benefits men, dwarves, and elves - but no mention of halflings.

No mention of women either. Guess they're either out of luck or are so stupendously resilient that they never need Raise Dead in the first place...

Slow Spell doesn't explain what it actually does. Haste Spell does the opposite...

That sounds about par for the course.

 

[JEB]

No mention of women either.

Near as I can tell, the only explicit reference to the existence of female characters in the original boxed set is under the entry for unicorns (which says they will obey "maiden-warriors")...

 

[John R Davis]

I could be misremembering but in the DMG doesn't oil do an awful lot of damage and/or is very cheap if you can find where the price is?

 

[Kobold Stew]

Rolling for spells in your spellbook at level 1. Wizard training was totally unoptimized, and one kid woudl get taught Sleep, and other Magic Missile, and the third Light.

This, and the percentile dice fractioning of 18 strength were the two things where every kid I knew would lie about their dice rolls.

(It helped for percentages that the dice just differed in colour, none of the 00 10 20 nonsense, which meant you could always claim that the pink one was the tens when it suited you.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Rolling for spells in your spellbook at level 1. Wizard training was totally unoptimized, and one kid woudl get taught Sleep, and other Magic Missile, and the third Light.

I always thought of that as students simply grasping certain different spells better than their fellow students.

In Law School, students eventually encounter the Rule Against Perpetuities. Some grasped it immediately. Some had to work on it for a while. Some people graduated and passed the bar exam and still have to look it up.

In an orchestral or band setting, some people grasp certain songs quickly while others struggle with that same composition. And vice versa.

 

[Lanefan]

I could be misremembering but in the DMG doesn't oil do an awful lot of damage and/or is very cheap if you can find where the price is?

The price is in the equipment guide in the PH (page 36, under 'miscellaneous'), at 1 g.p. per flask. And yes, oil is useful stuff at very low level.