AD&D vs. OD&D: Ability Score Adjustments

Lately I've been doing some character creation. No, I'm not currently playing in any games and have no immediate plans to do so. However, I have been creating parties of characters to perform solo campaigning for "research." I've noted some peculiarities regarding AD&D vs. Original (Basic/Expert) D&D that I think should be noted.

While creating characters, I've noticed that there are some interesting methods in place for creating starting characters (not applicable to characters necessarily created at higher level or for one-shot tournament adventures). Everyone knows that the original D&D method of character creation involved rolling 3d6 for each ability score, and placing them in order: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. This basically meant that you would be forced to play whatever character classes your scores allowed you to choose. This is not to say that you couldn't choose a class for which you were ill-suited, but there might be a penalty to earned experience if the prime requisite was below the threshold of 9 minimum (for most classes). The demi-humans all needed minimum scores to be selected (Dwarves needed a Constitution of 9, Elves needed an Intelligence of 9, and Halflings needed a 9 in both Dexterity and Constitution). However, the prime requisites of the demi-human classes were Strength for Dwarves, Strength and Intelligence for Elves, and Strength and Dexterity for Halflings. Therefore, if you decided to play a dwarf, your Strength score could be below 9 and you could still play the character, but you would be losing experience points until you could bring that prime requisite up. Lowering one score to raise another was done away with in AD&D - most methods allowed one to arrange their scores however they wanted so this mechanic was no longer necessary.

In OD&D, beginning characters were able to adjust scores in their prime requisites in order to raise their ability scores for XP bonuses or to avoid penalties. The character had to choose their class first in order to determine what their prime requisite(s) would be. Then points could be taken from others stats on a 2 for 1 basis to raise their prime requisite. One could not, however, reduce a score below 9 in order to raise a prime requisite. And remember, this was only to raise a prime requisite, not get a bonus in an ability score outside one's prime requisite. Therefore, a halfling could not raise Wisdom by lowering Intelligence, since Wisdom is not a prime requisite for that class. However, an elf could raise Intelligence or Strength since these are both prime requisites for this class. Also, there were rules as to which classes could reduce certain abilities. Strength could be lowered by magic-users and clerics only. Intelligence could be lowered by any class except magic-user or elf. Wisdom could be lowered by any class except cleric. Dexterity could not be lowered, but could be raised if a prime requisite (thus only thieves and halflings could raise their Dex in this manner). Constitution and Charisma could not be raised or lowered - the roll stood for these stats. Most players would end up lowering a score they did not need in order to gain an XP bonus in their prime requisite.

The same could not be said for Advanced D&D. But the method of rolling ability scores varied from campaign to campaign, and there were other ability score adjustments that few considered or were even aware of in the DMG. Most DMs I know used Method I from the DMG - 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange as desired. This is the most popular method and still used in modern games of D&D. The extra die acted as a buffer against lower rolls and tended to get scores in the 13-15 range easier than the 3d6 method. This is beneficial to the PCs since most ability score bonuses started in the 15+ range. This is different in Basic/Expert D&D where bonuses start in the 13-15 range. However, penalties in Original D&D started at 8 or lower, while in AD&D penalties usually started in the 6 or lower range. Having a 7 Strength in OD&D was detrimental, but not as bad in AD&D.

AD&D was stated to encourage at least 2 scores of 15 or greater for survival (PHB, page 9). Of course, this depended on class and which two scores were selected. Having a 15+ in Intelligence and Charisma is not really all that beneficial to characters, whereas a 15+ in Dexterity and Constitution is vital for survival, allowing reduced chances of being hit and surviving blows due to increased hit points. OD&D had degrees of bonus experience points for prime requisite scores. Generally speaking, a prime requisite of 13-15 gained +5% to earned experience, while a score of 16-18 gained +10% (Elves and Halflings tended to be different since they had 2 prime requisites). The increased number of experience points gained allowed the characters to increase in level faster, thus removing them from the delicate state of being low level with minimal hit points. AD&D did away with the +5% and only gave the XP bonus to those with scores of 16+ in their principal attribute. However, demi-humans were required to sometimes have higher scores and minimums in order to become certain classes. For example, human and multi-classed half-orc clerics only needed a 9 minimum in Wisdom, whereas multi-classed half-elves needed a 13 to be a cleric. AD&D was also the first time that minimums were required for the base classes of cleric, fighter, magic-user, and thief, and the first time that minimum scores in other abilities would dictate what class a character could be. For example, if a character was unlucky enough to have a score of 4 in Dexterity, that character could only be a cleric. If they did not qualify to be a cleric, then they would have to reroll the character (or assign scores differently) depending on the DM and what rolling methods were used.

Additionally, the section on character age in the AD&D DMG allowed for the adjustment of one's ability scores at the start of the game. A random roll allowed the DM to assign starting ages to the characters. Under the heading of AGING, it states, "When age category is established, modify ability scores accordingly, making each change progressively from young adulthood, all additions and subtractions being cumulative." What does this mean? Well, if your character is in the young adult category, you start the game with -1 Wisdom and +1 Constitution. This sucks for clerics, but is great for added survivability. If you rolled an age in the mature category, you would first subtract 1 from Wisdom and add 1 to Constitution, then add 1 point to Strength and 1 point to Wisdom. I believe that the oldest a human can be as a starting characters is 40 years old (magic-user with the highest roll), which is still considered mature. However, 1 game year later, that magic-user becomes middle-aged and has to subtract 1 point of Strength and Constitution, but adds 1 point of Intelligence and Wisdom. Human fighters begin the game at age 16-20 and are the youngest of the characters other than half-orc fighters who begin at age 14-17. Note that adjustments cannot raise abilities beyond racial maximums (or 18 for humans).

The other strange concept added to AD&D was ability score minimums and maximums for demi-humans and different genders of all races. In OD&D you could be a female dwarf with an 18 Str; in AD&D you could have no higher than a 17 Str. Halflings now had 4 ability score minimums that they had to be aware of (Str, Int, Dex, Con), other than the two listed in OD&D (Str and Dex). Some of these were quite demanding - 13 minimum Con to be a half-orc, for example. On the flip side, some character races allowed ability scores to raise above 18, something that never occurred in OD&D. Dwarves, halflings and half-orcs could achieve 19 in Constitution, and Elves could achieve 19 in Dexterity. So what if the character had a score lower than the minimum required based on race and gender? Then they could not be a demi-human character and had to select human. Racial adjustments could only modify the score after the minimums were met. And one cannot forget the racial adjustments for dwarves, elves, half-orcs and halflings on page 14 of the PHB.

So, although AD&D had more modifiers to the ability scores, and allowed greater choice when it came to arranging scores to be the class the player preferred, there were still other factors that contributed to limiting the choices one could play. OD&D was a bit more forgiving by giving out bonuses for lower scores and allowing classes to be played without many ability requirements, but there were only 4 human classes and 3 demi-humans to select from. AD&D mixed race and age into the ability score determination for a starting character. OD&D allowed for some adjustment of scores based on prime requisite and class, but rolls were based on 3d6 so scores were generally lower, with more in the single digit range that was detrimental to character survivability (especially with lower hit dice being used for the classes).

B2: Keep on the Borderlands - Time and Travel

 I do so love the older D&D modules. There's a sense that the entire game functions as a well-oiled machine when you find rules actually reiterated in the pages of the original adventures. I'm especially a fan of those adventures written by E. Gary Gygax himself! But there are a few reasons why this is so. First and foremost, the creator of one of the best games I have ever played was consistent (at least in the earlier days) when it came to instructing new DMs on how to run the game. He also tried to tie rules into the narrative, to give the adventure a verisimilitude in how a D&D campaign works. When a DM and his players are all on the same page, so to speak, and seem to all understand exactly how the game works, it's pure magic!

Now, I know it's very hard to remain consistent all the time; and good editors keep most of the glaring mistakes out of the text. But eventually, every writer and game designer fails to keep his or her facts straight or misreads a rule somewhere. And I can't fault anyone for their mistakes - they happen to us all at some time or another. However, that being said, I find module B2: Keep on the Borderlands to be one of the best written modules of its time. It is clear and concise, instructional and informative, and has remained a powerful DMing tool for hundreds, if not thousands, of DMs, from neophytes to grizzled veterans. Just reading through the pages inspires me to run something in Basic D&D once more!

My only quibble with the module, and it is very minor, is that there is so much happening in a mere 3 by 2 mile area. The map scale for the Wilderness Map is strange, set at 100 yards per square. First off, we were taught that wilderness was usually mapped in hexes, not squares. It says so in the Expert D&D rulebook! Of course, it says that wilderness could be mapped using graph paper, but that hexes make it easier to figure movement (ah, those pesky diagonals). Gygax's use of graph paper for his Wilderness Map is peculiar. Also, his scale used is even more curious, but makes more sense when you realize that he is trying to explain how outdoor adventures work without making reference to the Expert set rules! As long time fans of Basic/Expert D&D know, distance outdoors is measured in yards, not feet. Therefore, a character who moves 90'/turn indoors will move 90 yards/turn outdoors. Since each square is 100 yards, that's almost equivalent to what a Man can move in 1 turn if wearing light armor or is lightly encumbered. Why he didn't simply make 1 square = 90 yards is unknown. In any case, the scale is strange because 17.6 squares is 1 mile (1760 yards/mile), and if you are going by normal outdoor movement (and assuming that the party contains slow/moving members at 60' movement rate), then they can cover a distance of (60/5 = ) 12 miles per day (see page X19 in the Cook version of the D&D Expert rulebook). If that's the case, and there are roughly 50 squares of travel along the road from the keep to the Caves of Chaos, then the distance traveled by the characters is only about 5000 yards or 2.84 miles. So, the time it takes to get to and from the Caves of Chaos is roughly 1/4 of a day's travel. Assuming that one must travel there and back to the Keep, that's half a day blown on travel.

But that's not the same rate as listed in the B2 module! In this case, Gygax states that normal movement rate is 1 square per HOUR searching, or 3 squares per HOUR walking. Walking in the fens is equivalent to searching (1 square/hour). Walking in the forest is 2 squares per HOUR. He then states parenthetically that wilderness adventures are more completely explained in the D&D Expert set rulebook. Hmm, so according to the D&D Expert Set, the total distance from the Keep to the Caves should take no more than 1/4 day (assuming a 10 hour travel period, that would be about 2½ hours). Yet according to Gygax's bizarre scale movement, 2½ hours would only get me about 8 squares from the Keep! Something here doesn't add up.

I wonder if the map was originally to a different scale? Assuming a 60' movement rate for armored and/or encumbered characters who will not likely be able to afford horses for a while, they should be able to move at 60 yards per turn or 360 yards per hour. I think I see some disconnect here. The miles per day rate is assumed to be on a road, not mapping just traveling, and definitely not expecting to be attacked or being on alert for danger. Given that rate, the party could travel 3 miles in 2½ hours or 1.2 mph. Given the map scale of 2.25 miles east to west and just under 3 miles north to south, the party would be long gone off the map before they had to make camp. It states on page X19 that ten minute turns are rarely used in outdoor play - one either uses rounds during combats, or uses miles/day to determine how far they progress.

The hourly movement proposed by Gygax would have the characters traveling for almost 17 hours to reach the Caves of Chaos using walking movement speed (and that's actually if they have already located the place and know where they are going). The sandbox nature of the module, however, does not give hints on where the Caves are located on the map - the characters have to adventure and explore the area in order to locate them. Although this is great for a campaign setting, it's not so great for a one-shot adventure (not that the module should or could be finished in a single play session, unless the players are in for one marathon session lasting through the night and into the next day). Also, given the numbers of creatures involved in the Caves, attrition is likely to kill off the party long before they complete it. Using the hourly rate for movement doesn't make much sense. The calculation for daily movement in D&D Expert is movement rate divided by 5 equals the number of miles traveled per day. Therefore, an unencumbered Man moving at 120'/turn can travel (120/5 =) 24 miles per day. This would be the equivalent of moving 10.6 map widths in a day (since the map is only 2.25 miles wide! So something is very wrong with the scale of movement here!

So how does one rectify the glaring discrepancy in the travel rates in B2? Remember that the characters should not have to travel all day to reach the Caves once they are located! In fact, according to the movement rates in the Expert Set, they should be able to reach their destination by mid-morning. If however, you do use the hourly movement rate, you should take something into consideration: Is that movement rate for someone moving at normal (unencumbered) speed, or it is assumed that everyone will be moving at the metal-armored (encumbered) speed? To say that 300 yards per hour is slow is really understating things. It's even slower than breaking speed down to turn movement! However, it is somewhat accurate. Assuming the movement rate really IS 360 yards per hour for a slow moving party, then that would be 3.6 squares per hour. How many hours of travel are there in a day? That's not stated anywhere. It could be 8 hours, 10 hours, or 12 hours depending on the time of year. I typically use 10 hours for travel. Assuming a party rises at dawn (roughly 6 am discounting seasonal variation), spend 1 hour in the morning preparing for travel, then spend 5 hours traveling, stop at noon for lunch (1 hour break), and then continue walking until 1 hour before dinner, then eat dinner at 6 pm and make plans and set camp, feed and care for horse, etc. By the time they bed down it would be close to 8 pm losing the light fast. Assuming then that watches begin at 8 pm and continue to 6 am, that's 10 hours of watch time or thereabouts. This is really a bit more in depth than typical D&D adventures get, but one has to know total times for most activities.

Assuming a 10 hour travel day, the party moving at hourly speed will be able to cover 36 squares in a day's travel. That means that the party will have traveled 3600 yards in total, or a little over 2 miles distance for the day. I used to walk 1.5 miles to school every morning with a heavy backpack filled with books and it only took me 1 hour to do that. If the 10 hour day is used, and the Expert Set movement rates per day are used, then we end up with a 1.2 miles/hour speed (2112 yds/hour), almost 6 times faster than the hourly movement rate, but jives better with real life movement!

So what factors could exist to justify this slow movement rate? Again, I think the map scale was changed at some point, or maybe someone made a conversion mistake when trying to figure out how far the Caves should be from the Keep. Note that terrain factors have not really been taken into consideration yet. However, the bulk of the journey from the Keep to the Caves is on the road and, according to page X20 in the Expert Rulebook, movement along a road is at 1.5 times the normal rate! With that assumption in place (but never mentioned in B2), travel along the road should be at 5.4 squares per hour. With this movement rate, the party should be able to make it to the Caves of Chaos by nightfall. This is still much slower than the daily rate of movement, however, and I wonder why that should be so. If the daily movement rate of 12 miles/day is modified by the 1.5 x movement rate, then the party can travel 18 miles/day on the road and it should only take about 1/6 day (about 1½ hours) to reach the Caves once they have been located. Keep in mind that forest movement is at 2/3 normal rate, and swamp (fen) movement is 1/2 normal rate. The fen is not all that large and it shouldn't take several days to slog through it to locate the lair located therein. Using the 1.2 miles per hour rate, the characters would travel 21 squares per hour walking in clear terrain, 31.5 squares per hour on the road, 14 squares per hour in the forest, and 10.5 squares per hour while searching or moving through the fen.

Daily movement and turn movement are not the same and should not be equated. How these values are determined are two completely different methods that have no mathematical equivalency. Also, the hourly rates in the B2 module should be ignored and the Expert Set movement rules used instead, unless the DM decides to make module B2 into a much longer campaign. It's hard to justify moving at the listed search speed of 1 square per hour. That would be the equivalent of taking an hour to cross a football field - preposterous to say the least! Given the size of a typical D&D party, unless they were all looking for a lost copper piece in heavy brush and light forest, there's no way they would have to move that slowly to search an area of wilderness.

AD&D: Psionics

An inordinate number of pages in both the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide are associated with the "optional" game mechanic known as psionics. It's unusual to find such abilities existing side-by-side with a magic system in a fantasy RPG, mostly because psionics are more of a science-fiction nod to supernatural abilities possessed by an individual. However, since Gygax enjoyed mixing genres, it's only natural that such an add-on to the game would be included. Psionics were first introduced near the end of the Original D&D era in Eldritch Wizardry, and then included in the Advanced D&D rules in 1978 as an official add-on. However, the rules themselves are poorly explained and, if properly played, would almost never belong to player characters in any event. However, the Monster Manual was liberally sprinkled with all sorts of monsters capable of utilizing psionics powers - from extraplanar creatures like demons, devils, couatl, and shedu, to the exclusively psionic thought eater, mind flayer, and intellect devourer. Most early campaigns dabbled in psionics in one form or another, but it seemed unbalancing in the long run. One of the characters in my second ever campaign in the Temple of Elemental Evil had psionics, a magic-user of questionably Lawful Good alignment. After battling with a psionic creature, however, he lost the ability to use his psionic abilities permanently (and I was surely glad of that). DRAGON Magazine offered the Psionicist NPC class, but no one ever used these as NPCs, and instead used them as new character classes to be exploited in the game. After 2nd Edition came along, no one paid much heed to the psionics rules and it all but disappeared after 3rd edition D&D (even though it was finally formalized into a character class all its own).

The AD&D rules on psionics were confusing and hard to work into a campaign. The rarity of such characters with psionics made any character with this ability immediately suspect unless the roll was performed in front of the group. No DM I ever spoke to allowed such abilities in their games - and after experiencing them, I too agreed. It was unfair that a PC could gain such abilities simply due to the luck of a random roll. However, Gygax also tried to limit these abilities to non-spellcasting characters or those without too many special abilities or multi-classing options (humans, dwarves, and halflings only). Also, the ability was only open to those with high scores in non-combat stats: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Finally, psionic attack modes were downplayed so that they only worked on similarly endowed psionic creatures. The only attack that would work on non-psionic creatures was Psionic Blast (attack mode A) and it had limited uses. So, unless a demon had attack mode A, one rarely had to worry about psionic attacks being made upon them (most of the sciences and devotions had uses other than attacking).

The most confusing aspect of psionics was how to use them in combat if one DID face a psionically capable creature. There were a number of charts in the DMG relating to psionic combat, but it all seemed to exist outside the normal combat system of round structure and initiative. In fact, each psionic exchange took but 1 segment of time and it was suggested that "a good DM will usually just stop everything else until it is taken care of." That was another reason to not like psionic combats, since most of the other players would be sitting around until the one possessing psionics was finished having fun. Exclusionary parts of the game are frowned upon, especially when one character gets to do something while everyone else sits around waiting to find out what happened. And, let's face it, no more than one character per gaming group is ever going to be lucky enough to have psionics - it's just statistically rare, especially if you don't have the stats for it. Given the usual number of elves and half-elves in any game, it's just not likely that a character will be psionically gifted. Also, most DMs don't want to bother to learn a new combat system when they have enough to worry about in the game.

There are a lot of monsters in the game that have psionics and can use them to help or hurt the characters. A surprising number of "good" creatures in the game are psionic, and most extra-planar creatures are psionic as well. In fact, most creatures that can enter the ethereal plane or astral plane at will are psionic to some degree. Since the astral plane is considered a "plane of the mind," this makes sense (especially in the "psychic 70s" that focused on supernatural and psychic phenomena). I suppose that, like the addition of "kung-fu" monks and "mafia-style" assassins, it's no wonder that psychedelic powers were added to a game written in the 1970s.

Monsters with psionic powers from the Monster Manual include: brain moles, cerebral parasites**, couatls, most demons and devils, dwarves*, gray oozes*, halflings*, intellect devourers, ki-rin, liches*, men*, mind flayers, yellow mold*, shedu, su-monsters, thought eaters**, titans, and tritons*. Fiend Folio creatures with psionics include: algoids, Lolth, styx devil, elemental princes of evil, dark elves (?), enveloper, githyanki, githzerai, skeleton warriors*, most slaads, sussuri (?), and trillochs (?). Creatures marked with one asterisk are not inherently psionic, but indicate that there do exist creatures of these sorts with psionic abilities. In the cast of the thought eater and cerebral parasite (two asterisks), these creatures have no psionic powers but sustain themselves on draining the psionic powers of others. Creatures marked with a question mark indicate that it is unknown if these creatures have psionic capability. So it seems that Gygax made it very difficult to engage psionic creatures on their own terms (most listed are 5+ HD), but also made it hard for psionic characters to exist and fight off those seeking to capitalize on their windfall. Curiously, although devil and demon are given psionics, the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon were not. It seems that only high level daemons and daemon lords had access to psionics. Demodands and devas have no psionics except for the astral deva and solar.

The powers one gets for being a psionic character may be great or just so-so depending on random rolls. Also, determining your abilities for psionics takes a bit of advanced math. The average D&D character rolled using the 3d6 method will probably never get psionics because a 00 needs to be rolled on d% to get the abilities. Of course, if the character has Intelligence, Wisdom, and/or Charisma above 16, then this increases their chances of obtaining such powers. It's more likely to roll such high abilities using a different ability rolling method from the DMG or one of the alternate methods from Unearthed Arcana. Even with "4d6 drop the lowest" a character can get one or two scores in the range needed. However, statistics show that psionics are rare (as they should be) and thus will more than likely never enter a campaign at all. But what if they do? What does a DM have to prepare for in order to allow psionics to enter their new (or ongoing) campaign?

First off, a DM should be aware of psionics and how they are perceived and used in his campaign. I have always stated that monks are semi-psionic in nature; they perfect the body, mind, and soul and thus gain powers beyond the ability of normal humans. Their high ability requirement in Wisdom show that these powers are derived from insight and meditation, also useful to psionically endowed individuals. And, like monks, psionic characters should be exceedingly rare in a campaign given the requirements. Assume a typical character is rolled, and no excessively high scores are obtained (no higher than 15 in any score); the character is not very likely to be psionic, but the chance still exists (albeit very small, at 1%). The DM still needs to consider how psionics fits into the scheme of his or her campaign, because at some point it may happen that a character, replacement character, or even a henchman, could show up with psionic abilities. It's thus better to think this out ahead of time, than have to cram a new development into an evolved campaign that may not have such abilities considered. Although the number of psionic abilities is dependent on random rolls, the types are determined by choice. Having monks (a rare human-only class) be the keepers of psionic knowledge makes some sense here. Psionics could thus be better explained to the psionic individual if they journey to a remote monastery and speak to a Grandmaster in order to get better insight on their "condition." Such a monk may also be able to better explain the dangers of using psionic abilities, and some of the pitfalls to avoid. Having an in-game method of explaining the ins and outs of psionics is key to establishing these mental abilities in the game. PCs are typically rare among humans; this is not obvious given the number of NPCs who have character classes! According to the section on Henchmen in the DMG, "human and half-orc characters suitable for level advancement are found at a ratio of 1 in 100." So, going by that assumption, a population of 25,000 humans has 250 potential PCs, and of those, only 2.5 will have psionic abilities. Thus, the possibility of finding a psionic individual is 1 in 10,000. If a PC is rolled from that community, there are at best 1 or 2 other individuals with similar psionic potentials, be they PCs or NPCs. This is just going by straight statistics. It's possible that these individuals may not even be aware of their abilities since they have never been exposed to a catalyst or experience that would cause them to emerge. This is strictly from an in-game perspective; if I had the ability to read thoughts, or control minds you bet I would have kept that secret for as long as possible and used it to my advantage over the years!

But what about the rest of the campaign world? How would other races who are non-psionic deal with psionic creatures? Would they fear and despise them? How would magic-users approach them? With reverence and respect or revulsion and threats since psionics can easily do what it took magic-users years to perfect? One has to consider that most psionic characters would keep their powers secret, perhaps only identifying each other psychically (if they had the proper devotions to do so). Otherwise, they might masquerade as a dual or multi-class caster (harder to accomplish if dwarven or halfling). How would the demi-human races treat a psionic character? Would they be outcast as "dark dwarves" or witch-kin? And how would populations at large treat psionic entities they may encounter? Surely, magic is accepted in the AD&D multiverse as real and useful; but what would the populace think about mental powers that cannot be detected by magic spells or abilities that may enhance greatly the powers of the normal character classes? I see this being treated as if the characters where mutants in the Marvel Universe - people with inborn abilities that most humans could never have are treated with fear and mistrust. So it would be with psionic individuals who flaunt their powers. Worse, those who keep their powers secret are forced to use them only when they can keep them from others, breeding even more distrust and suspicion in a gaming group or community. Some players like that extra flavor in their campaigns, but those who roll the ability without even expecting it (or wanting it) might find it debilitating, especially if there are other players who wanted psionics and didn't qualify or blew their roll. The DM must take all this information into consideration before even allowing psionics into his game. A clear indication of whether psionics is even permitted should be explained before the game begins; some background explanation as to the ramifications should also be explained, should the characters want to roll. But a DM should only give away general information about how society treats such individuals, without spoiling the surprises that come from in-game knowledge gathering.

At some point, PCs will leave their mortal plane and adventure beyond the Astral Sea. They will find that psionics is much more prevalent in the Outer Planes among the servants of the gods than the Inner Planes or Material Plane. And it is that prevalence that defines the split between extraplanar creatures and mortal monsters. Psionics endow these creatures with more abilities than PCs will ever possess and leads them to being the truly powerful opponents that PCs need to face at higher levels. If the PCs have the same powers, they are elevated to the same level as these opponents and should be judged accordingly as being more of a threat (and hence, more of a target) by those creatures. At some point, the PCs will likely find a threat that causes the psionically endowed character more problems than the other PCs, turning his or her strength into a liability (consider that most greater demons have Psychic Crush which can kill with a single attack, but only works on psionically gifted targets).

AD&D Magic Items: Wands

One of the more common magic items of middling power, wands are typically wielded by magic-users seeking to hold off on depleting their own magical resources or keep from being disrupted when stuck in melee range. But wands are not solely for magic-users - many of the lesser wands are usable by just about any class. Wands are a great source of experience points (if they can be used by the PCs) or wealth (if they are useless to the party and sold in towns or cities). Prices for a fully-charged wand range from 7,500 to 50,000 gold pieces! Unlike other items, however, price varies with the amount of charges in the wand, so most wands are sold at a certain percentage of full price.

Wands are lumped together with rods and staves, and are found in random hoards a mere 5% of the time. Of that 5%, wands are found 67% of the time, with the most rare of the wands being the wand of conjuration, and the most common being the wand of magic detection. There are 16 wands listed on the table in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE. Of these wands, half can be used by any class, the remainder require a magic-user to use (with the wand of fear being the sole exception, also usable by clerics). Oddly enough, the wand of magic missiles, which seems as if it should be usable only by magic-users, is actually usable by any character (so long as they are permitted to use wands at all). Illusionists are more limited in the types of wands they are permitted to use as they are not fully magic-users - they may only use wands of enemy detection, fear, illusion, magic detection, metal & mineral detection, secret door & trap detection, and wonder. Monks are prohibited from using wands of any kind.

Physically, wands are 1¼ feet (15 inches) long and slender. They are typically made of ivory, bone, or wood and are tipped with something - metal, crystal, stone, etc. Wands are fragile and tend to break easily. Wands are usually found in cases, which could be elaborate carved wooden boxes or leather sheathes strapped to legs, arms, or hidden in another object. A wand can hold as many as 100 charges when full, but when found as treasure are likely to have 0-19 (d20-1) charges less than full. A nearly full wand is a very potent item; most wands should be found in a nearly depleted state unless of a non-combat nature. Most wands can be recharged; only the wand of negation and wand of wonder may not be recharged. The recharging process is supposed to be detailed under FABRICATION OF MAGIC ITEMS, but is only touched upon and not really described in any useful detail. It seems to require an enchant an item spell and access to the spell(s) used by the wand. The exact cost in time and materials is only hinted at, and may have to be ruled on by your Dungeon Master. A wand must still have charges remaining in order to be recharged - a depleted wand is useless and crumbles to dust as the last charge is expended. Each use of a wand's abilities uses one or more charges (refer to the individual wand type).

Any magical device that discharges some form of magic over a distance must generally have a command word spoken in order to cause the device to function. Therefore, wands have command words, and use requires speaking this word (thus magical silence prohibits the use of wands). How one learns the command word for a newly discovered wand is a matter for the individual player and DM to work out. I suggest having command words inscribed magically on the wand (thus requiring read magic to decipher the word). Simply hearing a user utter the command word may be enough to learn it as well, but that usually means one is the target of the wand's effects and must survive this to gain the wand.... Bardic knowledge or legend lore might learn the command word for a wand. An identify spell is probably too low in level to determine command words, since the spell cannot even give precise information on the number of charges remaining in the wand (only gives 25% increments). All the abilities of wands function at 6th level of ability (if level is required to determine range, duration, area of effect, etc.). One oft-overlooked feature of wands is that 1% of all wands are trapped to backfire (but this is at the DM's option).

Following is a general overview of the wands (to keep some of the mystique of these magic items). Those wands usable only by clerics or magic-users are denoted with a "C" or "M". 

Wand of Conjuration (M) is a potent item in the hands of a magic-user. It allows use of the unseen servant, monster summoning I to VI, or prismatic sphere (or wall) spells. It also allows conjuring of a curtain of utter blackness. It allows the holder to identify any cast or written magic-user conjuration or summoning spell.

Wand of Enemy Detection seems like a useless item at first. It can only detect enemies at a 6" range (60 feet indoors, 60 yards outdoors). It pulses like the ping of a submarine's sonar then points in the direction of any enemies within range. It will detect creatures that are invisible, ethereal, astral, out of phase, hidden, disguised, or in plain sight. Each use requires 1 charge and lasts 1 turn. This wand is particularly useful when dealing with shapechangers, illusionists, assassins, air elementals, or other creatures that either hide in plain sight or use magic to mask their appearance.

Wand of Fear (C, M) creates a pale amber ray that forms a cone 6" long by 2" in base diameter. Any creature touched by the cone of effect must save vs. wand or fall under the effect of a cause fear spell (1st level cleric spell, reverse of remove fear), turning and moving at fastest speed from the wand user for 6 rounds. Each use costs 1 charge and can operate just once per round.

Wand of Fire (M) has four separate functions: burning hands, pyrotechnics, fireball, and wall of fire. Only one function per round can be used and each ability replicates the spell of the same name. This wand is great for any magic-user when out of spells, or those who never learned these great combat spells.

Wand of Frost (M) is the most costly wand on the list. It has three separate functions: ice storm, wall of ice, and cone of cold. These abilities function like the spells of the same name and can only be used once per round. As cold spells are of higher level, and fire-using creatures are found with more frequency, this wand may seem to be of higher caliber. However, the spell effects it creates are hard to use in tight spaces.

Wand of Illumination has four separate functions: dancing lights, light, continual light, and sunburst. The former three function as the spells of the same name. The latter is a unique ability that greatly damages undead creatures or blinds those facing the burst.

Wand of Illusion (M) creates audible and visual illusions. It emits an invisible ray up to 14" away. The user must concentrate on the illusion in order to maintain it, but may move normally (no combat). Each portion of the illusions (visual and audible) costs 1 charge to create and 1 per round to maintain. This is a most costly wand to use, but illusions can have powerful effects if used appropriately.

Wand of Lightning (M) can cause a shock (like a shocking grasp spell and requiring a roll to hit in melee) or release a bolt of lightning (as the lightning bolt spell), but can only perform 1 function per round.

Wand of Magic Detection functions like the wand of enemy detection but only has a radius of 3". When activated it pulses and points to the strongest source of magic in range. Operation requires 1 round, and successive rounds can point to lesser sources of magic. The category of magic can be determined by expending 1 round in concentration on an aura. Starting with the second round there is a 2% cumulative chance of the wand malfunctioning (non-magical items reveal as magical or vice-versa). This prevents this item from being abused and activated all the time while exploring a new section of dungeon.

Wand of Metal and Mineral Detection is similar to the wand of magic detection, with a 3" radius of detection. When it pulses it points to the largest mass of metal within its effective area. A user can concentrate on a specific metal or mineral; if the selected type is in range it will point to any and all instances of that type, and the user will be able to determine approximate quantity as well. Each charge allows 1 turn of use, and each operation takes 1 round. While this may seem very limited, it is very good at singling out certain coin types in a large hoard, locating which chests hold treasure vs. traps or tricks. It would also be priceless for miners seeking to follow a lode of precious metals or gemstone vein in ore rock.

Wand of Magic Missiles fires missiles similar to the 1st level magic-user spell. Those wands wielded by magic-users will allow the missiles to hit unerringly; other users must roll to hit with the missiles. Each missile take 3 segments to discharge, and up to 2 may be shot in 1 round.

Wand of Negation is used to negate the functions of other wands, staves, rods, or other magic items. When the wand is pointed, a pale gray beam shoots out to touch the target - device or individual. This totally negates any wand function and make any other spell or spell-like function from a device 75% likely to be negated regardless of spell level. Operation of the wand takes 1 segment but may only function once per round. This wand cannot be recharged. This is a create defensive item; and can stop the functioning of any item with a spell-like ability (including magical swords, rings, and miscellaneous items).

Wand of Paralyzation (M) shoots out a thin ray of bluish color to a range of 6". Any creature touched by the ray must save vs. wand or become immobile for 5-20 rounds. A save indicates the ray missed. Only one creature can be affected each round; the ray stops the instant it contacts a creature.

Wand of Polymorphing (M) emits a green beam, a thin ray that extends to a range of 6". If the ray strikes a creature it must save vs. wands or be polymorphed as the polymorph other spell. The wand wielder can only turn the target into a small and inoffensive creature (like a snail, frog, insect, bunny, squirrel, chipmunk, etc.). If instead the creature is physically touched with the wand, the wielder can transform that creature into any form desired but only functions as the polymorph self spell. Only one function can be used per round.

Wand of Secret Door and Trap Location has an effective radius of 1½" for secret doors and 3" for traps. When used, the wielder has to determine what to look for (secret doors or traps), and the wand will pulse and point to the nearest phenomena. It requires 1 round to use and uses 1 charge.

Wand of Wonder is a truly chaotic wand, and generates random effects on a table that could be beneficial, detrimental, or just plain weird. The table is listed in the DMG, but can be altered by the DM to suit his or her personal campaign, or to differentiate wands of the same type. I have enjoyed these wands and laughed at their truly capricious abilities to screw over the player characters in the most innocent of ways. Only one function per round is possible with only 1 charge per use. The wand cannot be recharged.

Use of Wands

It's important to note that wands with segments of activation behave like spells in combat. In other words, if a wand takes 3 segments to activate, it's effects come at the end of the 3rd segment, regardless of the number rolled for initiative. Wands wielded as melee weapons (the shock attack of the wand of lightning or polymorph self ability of the wand of polymorphing, for example) act on the normal initiative roll. The main benefit of using a wand is that, unlike casting a spell, it's use cannot be stopped (except by the aforementioned wand of negation) or disrupted (unless the wand is broken or damaged by a failed item saving throw). Wands also allow a magic-user to use spells they might not be otherwise able to cast due to failed Chance to Know or the spells they contain were never located or written into their spell books.

Unearthed Arcana Wands

Wands received their own actual table in the UNEARTHED ARCANA. Twelve new wands were added to the mix, although some seem to be reworked versions of the fire, frost, and lightning wands. Some strange wand types were added with twisted rules. Most of these wands are usable by any class that can use wands.

Anything Wand performs like a wand of wonder, but only has 50 charges at full. It also has three other special uses: upon command it performs as if it were any other sort of known wand, but can only duplicate a single kind of wand no more than once. If commanded to perform as a single kind of wand more than once, the second or third command have no effect - and after three such commands, successful or not, the wand is drained and totally useless. The wand cannot be recharged (like the wand of wonder). I suppose this is slightly less chaotic, but other types of wand must be known to the Player Character, not the player.

Buckler Wand can be used by any class except cleric. It activates in 1 segment, the tip becoming equivalent to a +1 dagger and the rest of the shaft blossoms into a +1 buckler (small shield). The whole becomes equal to a spiked buckler +1. Because of the magic, it can be wielded by a magic-user, but no spells can be cast unless the wielder is a multi-classed fighter/magic-user. A thief using this wand cannot climb walls or perform other abilities requiring use of his/her hands while holding the device.

Wand of Defoliation is constructed only of ivory or bone (never wood). With one charge, all chlorophyll within 3" radius is destroyed, causing plants to wither into autumn colors before turning dry and brown. With two charges, all normal plant life within 3" radius withers and dies. Sentient plant creatures and non-normal plants suffer 1d6 points of damage. This can be directed into a cone-shape by the wand wielder but will cause 6-36 damage to any plant creature in the area of effect (save vs. wands for half damage).

Wand of Earth and Stone is short and topped by some sort of mineral. It can perform the following functions: dig, passwall, move earth. 50% of all wands have the following additional powers: transmute mud to rock, transmute rock to mud.

Wand of Fireballs enables the wielder to cast a fireball (and only a fireball) spell quickly (1 segment to activate, 1 segment to activate the fireball).

Wand of Flame Extinguishing has three functions: 1) when applied to normal fires of normal size no charges are expended to extinguish the flames; 2) when applied to large normal fires 1 charge is expended and continuously created flames are extinguished for 6 rounds before flaring back up; and 3) when applied to large magical fires, 2 charges are expended to extinguish the flames. Using one charge upon a creature composed of fire, the wand inflicts 6-36 points of damage.

Wand of Force (F, M) has three functions: 1) creates a shaft of force that functions as a +5 bastard sword when wielded in combat (1 charge per turn); 2) create a wall of force expending 1 charge; and 3) create a plane of force that behaves as a Bigby's Forceful Hand spell (must be a magic-user to use this function and know one of the Bigby's hand spells to use it), expending ½ charge per round of use. Fighters can use the first two functions. The wand can be recharged, but can also be recharged by contacting  a Bigby's hand spell, Mordenkainen's Sword, or wall of force. Touching any of these spell effects with the wand acts as a disintegrate spell, destroying the spell manifestation and absorbing 1 charge into the wand.

Wand of Ice Storms enables the wielder to cause an ice storm (damaging hail or slippery ice are possible). Activation time is 1 segment, 1 segment to use ice storm). This wand can be recharged.

Wand of Lightning Bolts enables the wielder to cast a lightning bolt (6-36 damage) with a saving throw for half damage. Stroke or forked bolt is possible. Wand takes 1 segment to activate, and 1 segment to discharge). The wand can be recharged.

Wand of Metal Command appears to be a wand of metal and mineral detection, but in the hands of a dwarf or gnome it reveals its special powers: 1) with one charge, the wand can transmute gold to lead, or lead to gold with a 3" range; 2) with two charges, the user can heat metal as a druid with a 3" range and only a single target; and 3) with three charges, the possessor can cast any of the following spells as an 18th level magic-user: crystalbrittle, glassee, or glassteel.

Wand of Size Alteration enables the wielder to cause any single creature of any size to enlarge or diminish in size. Either effect causes a 50% chance in size. The wand has a 1" range. A save is permitted, but creatures can choose to forego the saving throw if desired. Each use expends a charge and the wand can be recharged.

Wand of Steam and Vapor has two separate functions, each of which expends 1 charge: 1) Steam jet spouts out in a cone causing 6-36 damage; the cloud persists but reduces in damage each round; 2) Vapor billows out of the wand equal to a fog cloud, persisting for 6 rounds and remaining stationary unless moved by magical or non-magical winds.

Final Thoughts on Wands

Wands began as a means for magic-users to continue fighting magically once their spells were expended. It also allowed a magic-user who was bum-rushed into melee range to still engage in magical combat without fear of spells being interrupted. The wands listed in the DMG were either for a magic-user to use in combat, or as a utilitarian device for any other class to use in dungeon adventures (locating treasure, enemies, traps, secret doors, magic, etc.). Wands added into the game with UA were mainly for any character to use, thus allowing other classes to behave as a magic-user (and thus lessening the M-U superiority in the game) or allowing magic-users to expand on their already prodigious magical abilities.

Wand combat is typically fast and usually performed at range. Ways to foil wand usage include possession of a wand of negation, destroying the wand, or disarming the wand. Shatter spells will not function on magical items, thus they cannot affect wands. Fireballs and lightning bolts would affect a drawn wand if the wielder failed their saving throw. Again, silence spells prevent the use of a wand with a command word (most have a command word). Invisible barriers (like wall of force) could cause a wand wielder to suffer an attack from their same weapon if the range assumed is suddenly cut short. I don't ever remember seeing a wand in any published adventure with more than 25 charges or so. Holding off on using a wand because it is low on charges is a fool's ploy - wands are made to be used to depletion. There are so many other wands that could be located and used in a campaign, so burn through those wand charges and enjoy the spectacle of a magic-user in wand combat!