Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 2

Last weekend we sat down to make new characters for the AD&D Dogma phase of the experiment. Dogma rules basically use the rules as written - no house rules, adaptations, or additions. Anything in the books is fair game. Only the Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual were being used. Some supplemental information had to be incorporated since we are using the World of Greyhawk as the campaign world - none of this impacted the characters at all, and adds more flavor than crunch.

We rolled stats using Method I (4d6, drop the lowest, arrange as desired). I set the beginning XP as the minimum amount to bring a fighter to the beginning of 2nd level (2,001) plus the amount of XP the party would have received from all the adventuring they did with their previous basic characters (preserving a feeling of accomplishment and reward). The total was roughly 2950 xp. Those characters with 10% would increase this amount. The players settled on a half-orc cleric/fighter 2nd/1st level (Gort), gnome fighter/illusionist 1st/1st level (Trixalix), and a human cleric 3rd level (with an 18 Wis!)(Elana). We adjusted stats by age categories (as mentioned in the DMG) and the half-orc turned into a brute! Starting money was as rolled in the PHB + any of the treasures they recovered in the Basic phase. They used that to outfit themselves. Up for grabs were the 4 +1 magic arrows from the bandit treasure. Using the charts in the back of the DMG, I allowed them to roll for possible magic items. The half-orc got a battle axe +1, the gnome took the magic arrows since he missed all his percentages, and the cleric received a spell scroll of snake charm. Numerous charts were consulted to develop the height, weight, secondary skills, saving throws, etc. The poor gnome got the raw deal when he rolled for hit points - only 3! The other two rolled really well for hp (the cleric had 3 HD and rolled 16 total, the half-orc with his amazing constitution has 19 hp!

We sat down at 7:30 pm to begin making characters and never got to play. It took over 4 hours to roll up all the information we needed to make the characters by the book. The gnome rolled for his spellbook randomly, but I had to take pity on him and allowed one reroll since he really had nothing of much use. He got detect invisibility, change self, and gaze reflection. He opted to reroll the gaze reflection and took dancing lights instead; much more useful! They equipped themselves and then we went over the encumbrance rules....again.... We have a house rule in my regular AD&D campaign, but we opted to use the value in the back of the PHB for current encumbrance values. We then went over everyone's characters to make sure all the math was correct. I had to point out that the encumbrance rules would be strictly adhered to. The half-orc bought a hunting dog (he rolled hunter for secondary skill). The gnome wants a mule to carry all his stuff - but I kept pointing out that if the party comes to a ladder, chasm, or had to climb using ropes, they would have to leave the mule someplace untended. I might have to do some henchmen and hirelings to supplement the party on this one. Knowing what exists in the lower levels of the moathouse, that gnome may not live much past the first encounter!

Some of the rules that will be in play are the helm rule from the DMG, the -10 death rule from the DMG, the cleric/deity rules from DDG, and all the rules from the PHB. Psionics were checked for the human but the roll failed (thank goodness). They have decided to keep Spugnoir on for his sleep spell. I might argue that they should look for others to join their group (in fact, they suspect that there is something going on with Elmo, but they have no idea what). The party alignments are NG (cleric of Pelor), LN (half-orc cleric/fighter of Wee Jas), and True Neutral (gnome). Spugnoir makes a good fit, and Elmo would also be a decent fit, but might see the half-orc as a problem. They have no thief, so perhaps Furnok would also be a good fit. Kobort and Turuko are already slain, so no worries there. My concern is the large number of humanoids in the dungeons - the ogre in particular - and the large number of guards protecting Lareth. Without an elf, their chance of locating secret doors just became that much harder. Without Unearthed Arcana, they lack some spells common to illusionists and clerics. The fighter/illusionist is going to have a hard time of it - his strength is not too good although his Dex is a 17. I suggested he remain at range and support the others instead of wading into combat - at least until he can increase his level and hit points. The cleric has 10% xp bonus, and so does the half-orc, but the gnome has no bonus and will be lagging behind the others in power.

So far we have seen that character creation takes much longer. The gnome player is creating another character in anticipation of his gnome meeting an untimely end. He has decided to do this with me during the week. Multi-class options in AD&D, given the same amount of XP, leads to a lag in power that more than makes up for the increase in ability options. For the benefit of gaining a single utilitarian spell, the gnome sacrificed a whole level of fighter and lost out on hit points as well. The player with the human cleric only chose that class because she could not decide what she wanted to be. Instead she took the scores in the order rolled and this led her to be a cleric! So more options does not mean a better character unless you know what you want ahead of time. Our first stumbling block was encumbrance, which was never clearly explained in the PHB, and not at all in the DMG. We are following the rules as written but I reserve the right to make a ruling based on common sense when necessary. We also had a problem with the equipment in some cases. The game is written with an understanding that adventuring is the only thing the characters will be doing. Clothing, for example, is not listed for sale, although accessories such as boots, cloaks, belts, etc, are listed. Helms are important when the "braining rule" is included and the details of the armor types are vague as to what type of head covering is provided! It's going to be interesting running with the old initiative rules again. It might end with me ditching the system early in favor of 2nd edition rules! We'll have to see how twitchy I get after the first combat session....