D&D General Lethality, AD&D, and 5e: Looking Back at the Deadliest Edition

[overgeeked]

yeah fireball and lightingbolt were the DM's wipe out the party magic items go to at mid to high level's. Fireballs in 1e were more scary for what they could do to your items than to your character once you hit 6th level.

I miss that so much in modern D&D editions. Bouncing lightning bolts and fireballs with volume.

“Are you sure you want to set off an explosion that’s has a 20ft radius in a 10x10 hallway? LOL. Okay…who’s got the calculator?”

 

[nevin]

wait your DM asked. nice guy.....

 

[nevin]

our rule was after 5th level DM didn't question anything party told him they were doing. At that point your supposed to know your character.

 

[nevin]

I hate playing in games where the DM rolls an intelligence check and warns you it's stupid. Let us role play please.....everyone makes mistakes even when they are smart. The smart ones just make bigger mistakes.

 

[Mannahnin]

Yeah. Someone sits down at the table with any character that has those kinds of stats we’d laugh and tell them to roll again at the table with everyone watching.

Eh. 17-18 Strength (or other prime requisite) would be quite common in AD&D IME. Pretty much everyone I played with DID use generous ability rolling methods. I think our most common over years was 4d6 drop lowest, roll three sets and pick one. Having a couple of scores high enough for bonuses would be pretty common (and Gygax suggested that a PC should have at least two scores of 15 or better in the PH), but three at the 16+ range is pretty fortunate. We never did point-swapping to Prime Requisite in AD&D though, which I think Hussar said his group did.

What are proficiencies. In 1e a fighter could pick up any weapon and use it with full effect. You are confusing 2e with 1e sir. He could also wear any armor.


edit: and I think in 2e the only thing they needed a proficiency or skill for is exotic weapons but I could be wrong that may not have come till 3rd edition

No, you're misremembering. Weapon proficiencies were a core rule in 1E from 1978, and retained in 2E. Nonweapon proficiencies didn't show up until Oriental Adventures and the WSG and DSG, and were listed as optional in the 2E PH, but the later books almost all assumed their use.

at that level it didn't matter if your stats were low you probably had girdle of giant st or gauntlets of ogre power and great armor.

To a certain extent that's true, but it's missing my point about rolling stats. You wouldn't just assign a mediocre score to a new Fighter's Strength assuming that you'd find Gauntlets or a girdle at some point, and suck up having no hit, damage, or XP bonuses in the meantime.

I miss that so much in modern D&D editions. Bouncing lightning bolts and fireballs with volume.

“Are you sure you want to set off an explosion that’s has a 20ft radius in a 10x10 hallway? LOL. Okay…who’s got the calculator?”

Did you ever see the blog post Jeff Rients did with a simplified way to calculate fireball volume in dungeons? Love it.

Fire in the Hole

I have a few nitpicks about the spells in the 5e Basic rules. Sleep only lasts a minute, Charm Person last only an hour. Revivy , bas...

jrients.blogspot.com

 

[Voadam]

What are proficiencies. In 1e a fighter could pick up any weapon and use it with full effect. You are confusing 2e with 1e sir. He could also wear any armor.


edit: and I think in 2e the only thing they needed a proficiency or skill for is exotic weapons but I could be wrong that may not have come till 3rd edition

1e PH top of page 37:

 

[nevin]

I guess I'm confusing they fact that they can use any weapon with what they can use per level.

 

[nevin]

Eh. 17-18 Strength (or other prime requisite) would be quite common in AD&D IME. Pretty much everyone I played with DID use generous ability rolling methods. I think our most common over years was 4d6 drop lowest, roll three sets and pick one. Having a couple of scores high enough for bonuses would be pretty common (and Gygax suggested that a PC should have at least two scores of 15 or better in the PH), but three at the 16+ range is pretty fortunate. We never did point-swapping to Prime Requisite in AD&D though, which I think Hussar said his group did.


No, you're misremembering. Weapon proficiencies were a core rule in 1E from 1978, and retained in 2E. Nonweapon proficiencies didn't show up until Oriental Adventures and the WSG and DSG, and were listed as optional in the 2E PH, but the later books almost all assumed their use.


To a certain extent that's true, but it's missing my point about rolling stats. You wouldn't just assign a mediocre score to a new Fighter's Strength assuming that you'd find Gauntlets or a girdle at some point, and suck up having no hit, damage, or XP bonuses in the meantime.


Did you ever see the blog post Jeff Rients did with a simplified way to calculate fireball volume in dungeons? Love it.

Fire in the Hole

I have a few nitpicks about the spells in the 5e Basic rules. Sleep only lasts a minute, Charm Person last only an hour. Revivy , bas...

jrients.blogspot.com

I have never seen this I heartily approve.

 

[Nikosandros]

What are proficiencies. In 1e a fighter could pick up any weapon and use it with full effect. You are confusing 2e with 1e sir.

As mentioned upthread, they are described on page 37 of the PHB.

 

[Maxperson]

Nope. Weapon proficiencies were a 1e thing. And not listed as an optional rule. ANYONE could use any weapon they picked up as long as it wasn't prohibited, they just suffered the non-proficiency penalty, which for fighters was low (-2).

Right, but @hussaid the fighter would not be able to use a maul. The fighter could use anything.