D&D 1E Holdover rules from 1e/2e

[Darmanicus]

I wonder how much of this mentality comes from the [incorrect] assumption that there is a "best" weapon/feat/skill/spell? The Player feels he must read every option to choose the best possible one.

It reminds me of playing Talisman. The characters are pretty well balanced -- I have seen just about each of them win the game or at least put up a damn good showing. Usually when introducing a new player to the game, I say just everyone pick a character at random. But some folks feel the need to read every character card, learning every ability, considering how each ability interacts with the other characters, and so on. I have seen players spend 20 minutes choosing a character and loose to another player who drew randomly.

And again, this is a problem with the player, not the game.

Quasqueton

Man, Talisman was just the BEST game EVAR, why did I sell the original and all its expansions!!!???

 

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

But my point is we're 3.X ed and it's STILL bludgeoning only yet Clerics can use what the hell they like nowadays to smite the infidels!!!!

I agree. We "house ruled" that in my game. The paladin reaaally wanted a smiting sword.

 

[Jarrod]

Deific Intervention ROCKS. Though we upped it to level%...

My monk went and grappled the BBEG cleric. Oops, but hey... one Word of Recall later, he's about to be sacrificed. RTToEE, BTW... would have been kinda icky. He prays, I roll a 05... and his god shows up. Saves my monk, evil clerics book, and I'm found walking into the front door of the big temple where the rest of the party was trying to figure out what to do.

Naked.

See, the god didn't care particularly about stuff.

Coolest. Moment. EVAR. And made a _big_ difference to the character.. took it from "kill off the icky bad things" to "Holy crusade and MY GOD IS ON MY SIDE". Eventually took levels of the Oriental Adventures Shintao Monk -- basically a Monk/Paladin crossbreed.

Anyway. Other than that... not much from 1st. I still use the DMG for the ambiance tables and the immense amount of information, though.

 

[Darmanicus]

I agree. We "house ruled" that in my game. The paladin reaaally wanted a smiting sword.

I'll broach the subject with me DM I reckon. Last night he allowed our resident mage to Polymorph Any Object on me Holy Avenger longsword and now it's a falchion.....permanently, woo-hoo!!!

 

[vulcan_idic]

I still use THAC0


But seriously... my last DM used training rules similar to those in 2nd Ed. for level advancement. I've also toyed with the idea of making Haste and Timestop (especially Timestop) age the caster.

Would that take a whole lot of uses in order for the max 30 seconds (1d4+1 or 5 max, multiplied by 6 second rounds) of effect (for Timestop) to accumulate to the point of having a discernable effect on a persons age?

 

[dcollins]

Would that take a whole lot of uses in order for the max 30 seconds (1d4+1 or 5 max, multiplied by 6 second rounds) of effect (for Timestop) to accumulate to the point of having a discernable effect on a persons age?

What he's talking about is that in 1st Ed., a number of spells had the side-effect of aging a target several years (mostly spells which now have an XP component). For example (see AD&D 1st Ed. DMG p. 13):
- Gate: 5 years
- Limited wish: 1 year
- Wish: 3 years
- Haste: 1 year

 

[Ero Gaki]

Although I enjoy the aging effect some spells had in 2nd addition, I'm glad they got rid of it. It was just another excuse to play a stupid elf mage. Our games were crawling with the filthy buggers.