Shair-afiyun
Villager
Spell level, caster level, character level, and class level. Man I dunno why, for me, but thac0 felt easier to comprehend than the different kind of levels.
D&D General What term or rule really confused you, when you first started playing?
- Thread starter Marc_C
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Bolares
Hero
Yeah they will change back to metric... but the releases are taking A LONG TIME with 5e... Basically have the 3 main books and some adventures translated. Eberron for an example was never translated to portuguese (or at least brazillian portuguese) before.
AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
I remember that! It was throughout the book due to a find-replace goof. I love showing it to my friends who are editors.
Fanaelialae
Legend
The first time a friend of mine played a cleric, he encountered some goblins and said, "I want to turn undead."
I responded, "The goblins aren't undead."
He said, "I don't care. I want to turn undead."
To which I responded, "But there are no undead for you to turn!"
"Huh? What are you talking about. I just want to turn undead."
This went on for another minute or two before we figured out that he thought turn undead allowed the cleric to turn into an undead creature.
I responded, "The goblins aren't undead."
He said, "I don't care. I want to turn undead."
To which I responded, "But there are no undead for you to turn!"
"Huh? What are you talking about. I just want to turn undead."
This went on for another minute or two before we figured out that he thought turn undead allowed the cleric to turn into an undead creature.
RangerWickett
Legend
I actually managed to reach negative AC in 3rd edition. Raging barbarian, 8 Dexterity, take a potion of enlarge person, and use the feat that let me apply my power attack penalty to AC instead of attack bonus, then charge. I think I got down to AC -3 at 5th level.
Lakesidefantasy
Hero
I used to pronounce chaotic like ciao. 
Mage was "Maw-j!"I used to pronounce chaotic like ciao.
Yora
Legend
The German manual for Baldur's Gate actually translated it to "become undead", and I was wondering if that's supposed to be something like undead leaving the party alone because they think the cleric or paladin is also an undead.
Illusions. In 1E you had to actively disbelieve in the illusion, or it affected you like the real thing (at least in your mind). My first character was killed by my brother's illusionist, who used Phantasmal Force to create a duplicate of me. Once I was unconscious from my "wounds," he just walked over and slit my throat.
The spells part was the screw up. Spells never changed distance or size, but ranged weapons did. This wasn't made clear, with it mentioned only once in the DMG.
This was where the original AC began to fail. If AC stopped at 1, everything would make sense. With negative AC, going downwards was just strange.
1E had attack charts instead of THAC0, since it stopped being linear when you needed a 20. The purpose behind the multiple 20s was to make sure that while you could hit most things with a 20, at some point you were just out of your league. I believe 2E or 3E changed it to "20 always hits."
That table was awesome, we used it quite a bit. One specific time comes to mind. Think in the Doom of Daggerdale or one the Randal Morn trilogy adventures there's a tavern outside of Dagger Falls called the Rusty Nail. The PCs go in and find a bunch of Zhentilar in a pit fight. One of the PCs had a ring of invisibility, so while the other PC got in on the pit fighting, the one with the ring put a wager on the other player then turned invisible, stood on the outskirts of the fight and took pot shots every few rounds ensuring the PCs won. We used the unarmed combat table for that entire fight to some very hilarious results. Might have to dust that off next time I DM.
Kits was one that I couldnt understand at first. My friend brought the 2e fighters handbook over and Id never seen any of the players books before. I was DMing at the time he asked if he could take a kit I said youre already a fighter why do you get another class. After a few minutes of him explaining it and then reading the entry I understood it. I miss kits, I wish theyd bring them back to 5E, hell of alot better than archetypes imo.
The ESP spell always gave me trouble too. You could read the targets surface thoughts?
DM: Player 1, what are you thinking?
Player 1: You're a real naughty word DM.
Illusions were tough to adjudicate at times. Some were pretty straight forward but what always threw me for a curve was trying to run an encounter were 2 party members made their save but 3 didnt.
The ESP spell always gave me trouble too. You could read the targets surface thoughts?
DM: Player 1, what are you thinking?
Player 1: You're a real naughty word DM.
Bacon Bits
Hero
I definitely recall being confused about 1" vs 1'. I also remember being confused by how long a turn was and how long a round was supposed to be.
Infravision I remember making complete sense until the game actually started, and then it made no sense.
Why they were called "magic-user" and "fighter" instead of, well, anything else. And, yes, I know the motivation now. They're still awful names.
Grappling rules. And it wasn't until 3e that they made sense and not until 5e that I no longer needed to reference the book whenever they came up. Only took 'em 40 years!
I distinctly remember thinking, "What the heck is a 'saving throw' supposed to be? What is my character throwing?"
Infravision I remember making complete sense until the game actually started, and then it made no sense.
Why they were called "magic-user" and "fighter" instead of, well, anything else. And, yes, I know the motivation now. They're still awful names.
Grappling rules. And it wasn't until 3e that they made sense and not until 5e that I no longer needed to reference the book whenever they came up. Only took 'em 40 years!
I distinctly remember thinking, "What the heck is a 'saving throw' supposed to be? What is my character throwing?"
ccs
41st lv DM
It's because our favorite game derives from miniature wargaming of the time.
In alot of minis games, the more protected the mini, the easier it is to roll your armour save. Often on a d6. You're trying to roll that # or higher.
A save of 6+ is terrible. A save of 3+? Much better.
You can see this in action even today by watching a current game of 40k or Age of Sigmar (and before that Warhammer Fantasy Battle) from GW.
For example:
No armor = no save
Shield OR Light armor = 6+
Shield + Light Armor OR Heavy Armor = 5+
Heavy Armor + shield = 4+
add in barding if the models mounted on an armored steed for another +1
add in magic/cover/range/special abilities (like Dex) for additional downward mods depending on the exact game/edition....
Looking familiar yet??
In D&D the better your armor & mods, the lower your AC.
Now there's also mods based on the strength of the attack. These push the save back up. So if I hit your Save 3+ model with a weapon that has a +2 str bonus, now you need a 5+ to avoid damage.
In D&D this is where the str/dex mods to hit + that really awfully explained "weapons vs armor" chart come into play.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
Same here. THAC0 was the thing that really boggled my mind when I first started. I eventually got used to it, but I never liked it.
RoughCoronet0
Dragon Lover
Switching from 4e's AEDU powers system to 5e's spell slot magic system took me a while to grasp.
Doesn't help that some of the spellcasting classes are different in how they prepare and cast spells. I had to read it a few times to pick up on some of the subtleties too. I really wish the spells were listed by school too as well as class instead of just in the spell description.
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