Odd things I found in the rules

[Scrivener of Doom]

Ahhh, AD&D.

Where what needed complexity was horribly simplified or almost completely missing.

And where what needed simplicity was horribly and pointlessly complicated.

Gary created this hobby, was apparently a fantastic DM, laid some of the key foundations for the computer gaming industry... but had absolutely no grasp of how to write rules as OD&D, AD&D, Cyborg Commando, and Dangerous Journeys all showed.

 

[Ranes]

3.5's Darkness spell made areas that were already pitch black lighter and made it more difficult for for creatures with Darkvision to hit their opponents. I vaguely recall some tortured thinking being hauled out in the change's defence but I stuck with 3.0's version. If they'd called the spell 'Shadows', I could have lived with it but I'd still have wanted a proper Darkness spell. To make matters worse, 'Deeper Darkness' just wasn't. It should have been called 'Wider Darkness'.

 

[Greenfield]

Good one. When exploring in the dark a Darkness spell lets people without Darkvision see, without advertising your position to every predator out there. I've used it more than once that way.

 

[captnq]

Toad familiars on stilts.

So you have a familiar with low movement. Well, you can get a stilts from the A&EG at 5gp for a 2 foot pair and it will increase the familiars base speed to 20’. The familiar must make a DC 5 balance check every round, so increase your balance score to 5. Also, technically, it will give your familiar the high ground advantage and a +1 to hit. Great for touch attacks. Remember that the weigh 8 pounds, so your familiar might need a belt of strength to wear them.

Toad familiars have a movement of 5' a round. Put them on stilts, they go 20' a round.

 

[Greenfield]

Please recall that four footed creatures get a bonus to Balance checks.

 

[pemerton]

In first edition rules, there was a table called Weapon Speed Factor that was seldom used. By those rules, the preferred weapon when fighting a man with a spear, or even a sword, was the dagger. Since there were no Attack of Opportunity rules per se (there were "zone of control" rules, but they were different), and the dagger was the faster weapon, you could always bypass the longer reach of the spear or longer blade and get your strike in first.

Speed factors only count when initiative is tied. They are also used to determine whether or not a weapon attack by someone who lost initiative can interrupt a spell cast by someone who won initiative. But if initiative is not tied, then as between two weapon users speed factors do not come into it.

 

[Greenfield]

Actually, there was almost always a "tie" between a melee fighter and a spell caster in 1st edition, if the fighter was in striking range. See "Spellcasting in Melee" in the rules. The fighter used their own Initiative or the spell caster's "whichever is applicable". It was their version of "Attack of Opportunity" for that situation.

 

[Greenfield]

But if we really wanted to delve into past editions...

Every time an AD&D Wizard cast Haste, it aged the targets by a year. Under the rules for Unnatural Aging anyone who was subject to any form of magical or supernatural aging had to make a System Shock roll, or die on the spot.

And a Fireball spell, cast outdoors by a 5th level caster (minimum for throwing the spell), might very well be in the area effect of the spell, even if cast at a good distance. Why? Because, while the spell gave a burst radius, it also clarified that the spell actually had a total volume, and would expand until that volume was accounted for, as constrained by walls, floors, ceilings etc. The volume was 33,000 cubic feet or yards. Map areas were always in "inches" and an inch indoor was ten feet, but outdoor was ten yards. Add that the spell, if targeted at ground level, would have the bottom half of the spherical burst constrained by the earth itself, so the volume would be added to the top half. A hemisphere of 33,000 cubic yards has a radius a lot bigger than 20 feet.

Fireball (Evocation)

Level: 3
Range: 10" + 1"/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Area of Effect: 2" radius sphere
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 3 segments
Saving Throw: ½

Explanation/Description: A fireball is an explosive burst of flame, which detonates with a low roar, and delivers damage proportionate to the level of the magic-user who cast it, i.e. 1 six-sided die (d6) for each level of experience of the spell caster. Exception: Magic fireball wands deliver 6 die fireballs (6d6), magic staves with this capability deliver 8 die fireballs, and scroll spells of this type deliver a fireball of from 5 to 10 dice (d6 + 4) of damage. The burst of the fireball does not expend a considerable amount of pressure, and the burst will generally conform to the shape of the area in which it occurs, thus covering an area equal to its normal spherical volume. [The area which is covered by the fireball is a total volume of roughly 33,000 cubic feet (or yards)]. Besides causing damage to creatures, the fireball ignites all combustible materials within its burst radius, and the heat of the fireball will melt soft metals such as gold, copper, silver, etc. Items exposed to the spell's effects must be rolled for to determine if they are affected. Items with a creature which makes its saving throw are considered as unaffected. The magic-user points his or her finger and speaks the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. A streak flashes from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body prior to attaining the prescribed range, flowers into the fireball. If creatures fail their saving throws, they all take full hit point damage from the blast. Those who make saving throws manage to dodge, fall flat or roll aside, taking ½ the full hit point damage - each and every one within the blast area. The material component of this spell is a tiny ball composed of bat guano and sulphur. [1E PHB, p. 73]

Note the highlighted section. And while the spell area expanded outdoors, the spell range (like most spell ranges) did not.

And indoors, in the standard 10x10 corridor described in every module, it would fill 33 10x10x10 cubes of corridor space, out from its point of origin. At 5th level the maximum range would be 150 feet (10 inches + 1 inch per caster level), while the effective radius would be 16.5 inches.

Lots of fun with that one folks. !

 

[pemerton]

Actually, there was almost always a "tie" between a melee fighter and a spell caster in 1st edition, if the fighter was in striking range. See "Spellcasting in Melee" in the rules. The fighter used their own Initiative or the spell caster's "whichever is applicable". It was their version of "Attack of Opportunity" for that situation.

If the fighter wins initiative, then s/he can always attack and thereby have a chance of interrupting the spell. Only if the fighter loses initiative to the caster does speed factor matter to determining the possibility of interruption.

But your initial example was of a dagger vs a spear or pike. The only time speed factor matters as between two weapon users is on tied initiative.

 

[pemerton]

a Fireball spell, cast outdoors by a 5th level caster (minimum for throwing the spell), might very well be in the area effect of the spell, even if cast at a good distance. Why? Because, while the spell gave a burst radius, it also clarified that the spell actually had a total volume, and would expand until that volume was accounted for, as constrained by walls, floors, ceilings etc. The volume was 33,000 cubic feet or yards. Map areas were always in "inches" and an inch indoor was ten feet, but outdoor was ten yards.

For spell areas of effect, inches are always tens of feet. It is only spell ranges that increase to yards.

In 2nd ed AD&D they got rid of this notation, and just gave spell ranges in yards (thereby giving all spells much longer range indoors/underground).