AD&D 1E Rules that are kinda cool but everyone forgot

[Moving Pictures]

Elves would have a hard time getting to those limits anyway due to another oft-forgotten (or discarded) rule: they couldn't come back from the dead, once killed.

Which speaks to another thing that's always bothered me: the super-long lifespans of elves.

I gave them the same lifespan, ultravision, better dex, worse strength.

What I realize writing this? Doing that allows "Long-lived gorgeous pointy-eared beings of intelligence and grace" to be fey....

Huh.

 

[Moving Pictures]

Yeah, while I think some people might have not played a Dwarf of Halfling because some day they might hit a limit, I think for most it just didn't come up in play. I had one campaign that went long enough for it to matter. Far more odious were the limits to which classes they could be.

It's kinda funny how long it took for someone to come up with the idea of just giving humans a power bump rather than restricting demihumans.

I remember playing a half-elf that slammed against the cleric level limit .... that was annoyingly low.

 

[Rabulias]

Elves would have a hard time getting to those limits anyway due to another oft-forgotten (or discarded) rule: they couldn't come back from the dead, once killed.

They could, but you would need reincarnate, resurrection, or wish, IIRC.

 

[Lanefan]

They could, but you would need reincarnate, resurrection, or wish, IIRC.

Reincarnate or Wish (if well worded) maybe, but I'm very dubious about Resurrection.

Edit to add: and the obvious problem with Reincarnate, of course, is you risk coming back as a badger or something else completely unplayable.

 

[cbwjm]

Reincarnate or Wish (if well worded) maybe, but I'm very dubious about Resurrection.

Edit to add: and the obvious problem with Reincarnate, of course, is you risk coming back as a badger or something else completely unplayable.

I think it might be different in 2e, but looking at raise dead and resurrection in 1e, looks like the latter doesn't work on elves either.

 

[Voadam]

But a rod of resurrection can bring them back.

 

[Rabulias]

But a rod of resurrection can bring them back.

Ah that was what I was thinking of.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Edit to add: and the obvious problem with Reincarnate, of course, is you risk coming back as a badger or something else completely unplayable.

Problem, but also opportunity. I remember myriad of inventive ways being come up with to either 1) make a badger playable, or 2) get the badger back into the form of a playable character race. I don't remember how much it actually came up, rather than being the ponderings of overactive imaginations.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

I think that, as is the case with many rules seen in "early" D&D, level limits can make (at least some) sense in the context of the idea of each player running a "stable" of characters.

Also in the context that the original D&D designers were running multiple sessions a week, some lasting over 12 hours, including as many as 20 players simultaneously, and running for months or years. Not much else to do when snowed in in WI/MN before the internet or video games. These were long, frequent games for large groups.

Level limits make much more sense in that context - with that frequency of play they're far more likely to come up as a legitimate limiter.

In the modern era of 1-4 monthly sessions, 2-4 hours each, a party just never going to come close to reaching those limits.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Also in the context that the original D&D designers were running multiple sessions a week, some lasting over 12 hours, including as many as 20 players simultaneously, and running for months or years. Not much else to do when snowed in in WI/MN before the internet or video games. These were long, frequent games for large groups.

Level limits make much more sense in that context - with that frequency of play they're far more likely to come up as a legitimate limiter.

In the modern era of 1-4 monthly sessions, 2-4 hours each, a party just never going to come close to reaching those limits.

IME, leveling is today's game is much, much faster than it was when we played 1e. I've had PCs reach level 10+ in 5e in under a year with bi-weekly sessions when it took me years in 1e with more frequent or longer sessions. In 1e, we could be playing for months, get our PCs up to level 3 or 4, then have then die and have to start with a new one. That doesn't really exist in 5e. Dying is harder (no longer save or die, death saves, expanded healing), and if you do, raising is easier (revivify at level 5 instead vs. raise dead at level 9).

Thus, getting level capped at level 7 in 1e still meant you had a long campaign with that PC, while getting level capped at 7 in 5e means you just had a year or less with that PC.