I've long admired 1st Edition AD&D and the simplicity of the system to resolve many of the facets of role-playing in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world. One portion of the game I dislike immensely is the feeling of distress when a beloved character's life hangs on a single roll of a die regardless of ability or circumstance. I speak of the saving throw or instant death situations.
Some of the worst monsters in the game are those that can kill with a simple hit or glance. Green slimes, violet fungi, bodaks, etc can destroy a character regardless of how skilled the player or what level the character may be. Instant death attacks like poison, disintegration, and death rays get a saving throw, but if the dice are feeling capricious your character is pretty much dead on the spot.
Poison was a problem I fixed by making it damage over time, allowing a slow poison spell to actually work since you can't possibly cast it the same round the person is poisoned before they die. In order for this to work I had to take into account poison strength and onset times to determine the duration of the poison in the system and damage dealt with each "tick". Energy drain attacks can also be made less lethal by providing a character a saving throw vs. Death Ray against the attack.
However, there are some monsters that break all the rules. Green slime is particularly vile in that it transforms the victim into green slime, eliminating even the possibility of resurrection! Violet fungi rots flesh, destroying the limb that contacts the creature, although determination of the limb affected in a hit point system is unknown and not well described. The Monster Manual is full of assorted special abilities that are poorly defined and leave the characters dead more often than not.
I've heard that some of the modules where these creatures were first showcased may contain additional rules for dealing with their special attacks. I may need to do some research. For instance, I found this passage on Dragonsfoot today while doing random searches. I details the effects of a violet fungi attack a bit better than in the Monster Manual (still ambiguous, but more information than previously provided...).
"An unfortunate victim loses limbs to the rot at the rate of one per
round; the torso rots last, and this causes immediate death. The loss of
each limb causes the effective loss of 10% of the victim's total
original hit points (rounded up), and this alone may slay an
already-damaged victim. However, if a cure disease effect is applied
within four full rounds of the hit, the victim's life may be saved. (A
regenerate spell will re-grow any one limb and return the hit points for
it at the same time.)" (The Temple of Elemental Evil, p.103)
Whether the above passage applies to a specific condition occurring in the dungeon or is the norm is not known. I'll be able to do more research into the older modules, but that means reading them all through....again!
