D&D General I'm a Fighter, not a Lover: Why the 1e Fighter was so Awesome

[Voadam]

Maybe the bounded accuracy was the attack matrix all along

"Armor class below 10 is not possible except through cursed items. Armor class above 2 is easily possible due to magical bonuses and dexterity bonuses. To determine a “to hit” number not on the charts, project upwards by 1’s (5% increments), repeating 20 six times before continuing with 21 (Cf. MATRIX I.A.)."

So if you need to hit an AC of -16 here is how you calculate it . . .

 

[Maxperson]

Modules didn't really seem to care how rare an item was, like getting a Ring of Elemental Command or Djinni Summoning in Bone Hill at levels 2-4. Lots of +1 weapons and armor all around, which really makes me confused when people wax nostalgic about "getting a magic weapon was a special and rare thing" at low levels, lol.

Most DMs I played with made up their own adventures. Let me tell you, when DMs are putting magic in, it gets rarer for some reason.

 

[Maxperson]

Except they don't. Here's a list of all protection rings, cloaks, and bracers from the more popular modules. I excluded items belonging to playable NPCs or NPCs where it was unlikely the PCs would ever get them unless they went full murder hobo and killed everyone in town. The +3 items don't show up until your at or past name level, and the only +4 item is the final module of facing Lloth in GDQ series.

The modules certainly don't have items to justify -7 AC for a level 7 or so PC. Not even for a level 15 PC. Again, assuming you went through all the right modules and found all the best magic items and one PC got them all. I was surprised to see just how few cloak of protections there were.

Item	Modue
ring +1	A1
cloak +1	A1
ring +2	A1
bracers AC 6	A1
bracers AC 6	A1
cloak +2	A2
bracers AC 4	A3
shield +1	B2
plate +1	B2
ring +1	B5
ring +1	B5
ring +1	B6
ring +1	B6
ring +1	C1
bracers AC 4	C2
ring +3	C2
ring +3	D1
ring +3	D2
ring +1	D3
bracers, DM fiat	D3
ring +3	D3
ring +3	D3
ring +3	D3
ring +1	D3
ring +1	D3
ring +3	G2
ring +3	G3
ring +1	I1
cloak +1	I1
bracers AC 4	I1
cloak +2	I12
bracers AC 6	I12
cloak +3	I2
cloak +2	I2
ring +3	I3
cloak +1	I4
ring +1	I5
ring +1	L1
bracers AC 9	L1
ring +2	L1
bracers AC 4	L2
bracers AC 8	L2
bracers AC 2	L2
ring +2	L2
ring +2	N1
ring +1	N1
ring +4	Q1
ring +1	Q1
ring +2	Q1
ring +2	Q1
ring +3	Q1
bracers AC 3	Q1
ring +1	S1
bracers AC 6	S1
ring +1	S2
ring +1	S3
ring +2	S4
ring +1	S4
bracers AC 5	S4
bracers AC 7	S4
ring +1	T1-4
cloak +1	T1-4
ring +1	T1-4
ring +1	T1-4
cloak +1	T1-4
cloak +2	T1-4
ring +2	T1-4
ring +2	T1-4
bracers AC 6	T1-4
bracers AC 3	T1-4
bracers AC 3	T1-4
ring +1	U1
ring +1	U2
ring +1	U3
ring +2	U3
bracers AC 4	U3
cloak +1	UK2
ring +1	X2
ring +1	X2
ring +1	X3
ring +2	X3
ring +1	X4
ring +1	X4
ring +1	X5
ring +1	X5
ring +1	X5
ring +1	X5

That's a LOT of rings of protection!

 

[Minigiant]

I ponder creating a 1e Fighter 5e subclass



Level 3:
The RoughEST
When you attack with a weapon whose mastery property you can use, you can replace that property with the Cleave property for that attack. If that weapon already has the Cleave mastery, you can add your Strength modifier to the damage.

In addition you can make the extra attack from the Cleave mastery as many times per turn as your fighter level.

Level 3:
The. FashEST
Your Speed increases by 5ft. If you take the Dash action, your Speed increases by 10ft.

Level 7:
The ToughEST
Double your Constitution bonus (if positive) to Hit Bonus when determining Maximum HP.

Level 10
The StrongEST
Icrease your Strength score by 2.

Level 15
The BraveEST
When you roll a Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw, you can substitute it with a Strength saving throw by expending a Hit Die.

Level 18
The GreatEST
You gain 2 additional attunement slots. If you have any unused attunement, you gain +1 bonus to AC and Death saving throws per unused attunement.

 

[James Gasik]

Most DMs I played with made up their own adventures. Let me tell you, when DMs are putting magic in, it gets rarer for some reason.

You're not wrong, sadly...

 

[Maxperson]

I had forgotten those were a thing, another potential +5 of AC and save bonuses (just does not stack with armor and shields)

My theory for the lack of cloaks of protection in modules is space. You could only wear one cloak, so too many protection cloaks would be wasted. People were going to want cloaks of the manta or cloaks of elven kind. Rings on the other hand were one per hand, so you could have an interesting ring and a protection ring. And everyone likes more defense.

 

[James Gasik]

My theory for the lack of cloaks of protection in modules is space. You could only wear one cloak, so too many protection cloaks would be wasted. People were going to want cloaks of the manta or cloaks of elven kind. Rings on the other hand were one per hand, so you could have an interesting ring and a protection ring. And everyone likes more defense.

I had a DM who wouldn't let people wear Robes and Cloaks at the same time, which made it worse. Who wants to choose between a Cloak of Displacement or a Robe of Scintillating Colors?

 

[ValamirCleaver]

My theory for the lack of cloaks of protection in modules is space. You could only wear one cloak, so too many protection cloaks would be wasted.

Couldn't one's character give their extra (unneeded) magic items to henchmen or trade them with other PCs? I know I & others with whom I gamed did.

Who wants to choose between a Cloak of Displacement or a Robe of Scintillating Colors?

I would choose the Cloak of Displacement for my character, in fact in the past I had.

 

[Maxperson]

Couldn't one's character give their extra (unneeded) magic items to henchmen or trade them with other PCs? I know I & others with whom I gamed did.

Yes. I was in a campaign that ran for many years. At one point we were exploring a ruined temple and came across a magic longsword. I had two magic longswords at that point, one +4 and one +2. I asked around the group and nobody wanted it because we all already had magic weapons in the +2 or +3 range, so I gave it to my paladin henchman(she became a paladin after being rescued by me, so she stayed). A while later we found out that we had given her the only +5 weapon the DM had ever placed into the game.

 

[Maxperson]

I had a DM who wouldn't let people wear Robes and Cloaks at the same time, which made it worse. Who wants to choose between a Cloak of Displacement or a Robe of Scintillating Colors?

I'm glad I never encountered that limitation.