AD&D: Secret Doors

There is precious little information in the Players Handbook regarding secret doors. In fact, there is precious little information on secret doors in the entire Dungeon Masters Guide as well. What  information does exist is not entirely clear on how such things are handled. I will try to elucidate on this subject as best as I can.

The first mention of secret doors ANYWHERE in the rules is under the racial entry for Elves. These sneaky, pointy-eared devils are the best at locating secret doors, having a 2 in 6 chance of finding one when actively searching for one. Note the stress on that last part - one has to actively search to locate a secret door. The wording is poor, but the intent is clear so long as you are not glossing over the details on the page. This implies that other races have a lesser chance of finding secret doors - but this chance is never stated in the Players Handbook. Half-elves inherit this ability from their elven parent, and it applies in full, not as half a chance better. It is not until we get to the DMG that the chance is defined as 1 in 6 for non-elves (page 97).

However, the process of finding secret doors has never really been properly explained. According to the rules in the DMG, it seems that locating and using a secret door is a 2-part process. One has to first locate the door, then one must find the means of opening said door once it is found. No secret doors in the early modules gave any indication of how they were to be opened - only later modules gave any indications (pull a torch sconce, push on one edge, hidden finger-pulls on the edge, etc.). Did you know that some secret doors could be locked, might be switched to open in two different directions, or could be trapped to prevent unwelcome users? All these were options in the original games played by Gygax!

But what exactly is a secret door? Obviously, it's a door that no one knows exists (other than the builder and a few others lucky enough to have found one). The DMG defines secret doors as "portals which are made to appear to be a part of the surface they are in." They are differentiated from concealed doors in that a concealed door, once found, is obviously a door. A concealed door is simply hidden from view or easy detection. A door in a pitch black corridor without a light source could be considered a concealed door. A trap door beneath a carpet is also a concealed door. A metal hatch at the bottom of a murky pool could be a concealed door. However, a secret door is camouflaged and does not even resemble a door - it could be made to look like the floor, a wall section, or even a portion of the ceiling. Essentially, if a door looks like a door, but is hidden from view, it is a concealed door. If a door is in plain sight but disguised to look like something else, it is a secret door.

In order to find a secret door, one must be actively looking for one. They do not get a sense that there may be one in their vicinity simply by passing it by. This is different for concealed doors, which do allow elves and half-elves to detect by simply passing by (with a 1 in 6 chance). However, what about dwarves and their ability to detect sliding and shifting walls or rooms (4 in 6 chance)? Well, a door is not an entire wall or a room, and the dwarf must also be actively searching for such things. Perhaps a door is simply not on the scale a dwarf is used to looking for...? Besides, the elven ability works on all surfaces - the dwarves only get this with stone constructions. Most dungeons, however, are built of stone, so this may be permitted by some DMs. In the spirit of the rules, I prefer to only grant increased secret door detection ability to elves and half-elves. Also, detection may be made by manually tapping on walls to listen for hollow spots, but this could just indicate a passage or room/chamber on the other side of a normal wall.

Discovery of a secret door doesn't grant the means of how to open it. This requires a SECOND roll OR physical investigation of the area around the door. Devious DMs may place the means of opening the secret door away from the door itself (pulling up the arm of a nearby throne, twisting a wall sconce 20 feet away from the door, stepping on a certain flagstone in a corner of the room, etc.). Perhaps the door is timed and will only remain open for 2 turns once opened, then closes behind the party once entered, requiring searching for a means to open it from the other side (if one exists - there can be one-way secret doors, too)!

The DMG provides two possible methods for discovering the means of opening the secret door. Method 1 is to just let them roll a second time with the same chance as detection (1 in 6 for non-elves, or 2 in 6 for elves/half-elves). You can alter the die used if the secret door is easier (d4) or harder (d8, d10, etc) than normal to find the mechanism. Method 2 is more frustrating and rewarding for those players that enjoy "theater of the mind" gaming and puzzles. With a complete description of the area (and DMs being prepared to adlib if necessary), the characters are free to figure it out by describing how they intend on opening the door. A DM must provide any and all details on the spot regarding this door, and may cause a delay in play as the players try to work it out. However, truly clever players will enjoy this more than rolling a die (which they can easily fail).

The DMG also provides some guidance on how long such a process should take (page 97). To detect a secret door, checking by simple tapping of the floor or walls in a 10' x 10' area takes 1 round. However, thorough examination for means of opening the door per 10' x 10' section requires 1 turn. Remember that wandering monster rolls occur at a given interval in dungeons (as determined by the specific module or DM-written adventure). For example, in T1: The Village of Hommlet, the lower dungeons of the Moathouse have a Wandering Monster check of 1 in 6 every turn. Checking every 10' x 10' area in the dungeon for secret doors becomes tiresome for the players AND the DM, but secret doors are so easy to miss unless you have some magical means of locating them (such as a wand of secret door and trap detection). If you spend all your time looking for secret doors, you essentially could be caught by several random encounters and never progress into the dungeon. It's important to note that wandering monsters rarely (if ever) have any treasure on them and aren't worth as much experience as monsters encountered in their lairs. Also, the method of searching for secret doors (tapping) might draw undo attention from nearby encounter areas - or even alert something on the other side of a secret door! These things have to be taken into consideration.

So, if the rules support NOT looking all over for secret doors, and they can only be found by careful examination, what are the characters expected to do? Obviously, explore the areas they can easily find and enter before starting to look for secret doors! Good gaming practice for AD&D players is to make a plan before entering a dungeon, stick to the plan, and leave when the current goal is accomplished (or when the party strength has slipped below 50%). My players enter a dungeon like a SWAT team, taking precautions that most would deem unnecessary or extreme. However, my players are 40+ year veterans of AD&D and are of a mindset that survival is paramount in all situations. If the goal is to explore all that can be explored, but then they assume that there must be more, a secret door is probably involved! Secret doors in rooms and chambers are easiest to find; those in corridors, floors, or ceilings are the hardest to find. The example of a first dungeon given in the AD&D DMG shows how devious Gygax was. He has the party facing an empty room with high ceiling. There are several square holes in the back wall spaced evenly, a pair at 3' height, and another pair at 6' height. Now, I would never have jumped to the same conclusion as the players in the example - they found splinters in one and determined that a wooden construction once existed there, attached to the wall! One climbed up on the shoulders of his comrade and checked the upper portion of the wall for secret doors, and sure enough found one! All this after spending a turn or so checking out the entire south wall (at the height of a normal Man). One must think in three-dimensions when exploring a dungeon, and always ask questions and seek details. But looking EVERYWHERE for detailed information ALL the time is tiresome, and this is why Gygax warns of wasting time in the dungeon (and probably why random encounters even exist). He wanted his players to be both cautious and clever!

But how is a neophyte player to know to even look for secret doors if they aren't playing an elf or half-elf? I've taught AD&D and D&D several times to new players, and they were completely impressed upon seeing a veteran player in the group suss out the location of a secret door! Once they new such things existed, they began searching for them, too! I don't think that there are enough examples or explanations in the Players Handbook to lead to such intelligent play. A pity really, since this is the only book that players are supposed to reference throughout their gaming experience.

One thing to take away from this is that secret doors can and do exist in just about every dungeon ever written. Their very nature prevents them from being easily detected unless magic is used (and even then one must have some indication that a secret door exists in a certain location as spell ranges and item usage vary). The problem with most of the older modules is that they tended to place the bulk of the adventure behind a secret door, which the party has only a 1 or 2 in 6 chance of locating. If they never locate the secret door, they lose out on the rest of the adventure (and the experience therein)!

AD&D Magic Items: Potions

Nothing gets a new party more excited than their first magic items acquired in the game. More likely than not, that first magic item is a potion. These "liquid spells" really are a life saver and can be extremely useful, but most potions are not overly powerful items, and as such are usually found by lower level characters with more frequency than, say, name level characters. They are great for the DM in that most potions are single-use items, they have a limited duration, and the bonus gained is not absurdly powerful or overbalancing to the game.

This article will seek to clear up all the rules concerning potions and their use in an AD&D campaign. I'll also touch on the creation of potions and why these should probably be some of the few easily-accessible magic items permitted for characters to create on their own.

POTIONS
Potions are one of the most common magic items found. There is a full 20% chance of finding one or more potions using the random Magic Item generation tables in the DMG on page 121. Most potions can be used by any character, with the only notable exceptions being giant strength, heroism, invulnerability, and super-heroism which can only be used by fighters. The accessibility and usefulness of potions cannot be understated. There are few potions that have little or no use in most situations. Only those potions which are overly specific - mostly the control-type potions - have limited usefulness based on the surrounding monster ecosystem.

Potions are typically found in ceramic, crystal, glass or metal flasks in sufficient quantity to provide one person with one complete dose to achieve the magical effects listed (DMG, p.125). Therefore, potions can look like something unexpected, and the DM can describe their containers in any way he chooses - from a metal, engraved boot flask to a corked pottery jug marked with three "X's". Gygax suggests that no identifying marks be placed on the containers to prevent characters from instantly knowing the contents. He suggests making them sample from each container they find to determine the contents. Apparently, even a minor sip should be able to give a hint of some sort as to what the potion does - even if just an urge. Gygax goes even further, suggesting that a DM create a list of a few different sorts of potions (not on the list in the DMG) in order to cause difficulties in identification. Also, the same types of potions derived from different sources are likely to smell, taste, and look differently. In essence, Gygax wanted to make the identification of potions non-trivial, and also wanted to set the bait for the use of the "cursed" potions (delusion, poison). After all, how do you get someone to drink a poison potion if they can identify it easily by common means?

The use of potions is rather generally explained. Most potions/oils without a stated duration will last 4 + 1d4 turns (that's 5-8 turns, or 50-80 minutes). It may seem like a long time, but if the characters are not in combat (or the combat only lasts a few rounds), then that potion will be used up before you know it! Clairaudience potions only last 2 turns. Clairvoyance potions last only 1 turn. Diminution potions last 6 + 2-5 turns, ESP potions last 5-40 rounds, fire resistance 1 turn, giant control 5-30 rounds, human control 5-30 rounds, invulnerability 5-20 rounds, oil of slipperiness 8 hours, speed 5-20 rounds, super-heroism 5-30 rounds, treasure finding 5-20 rounds, undead control 5-20 rounds, and water breathing 6 turns + 1-10 rounds.

One can see from the above that those potions meant to be used in encounters are of shorter duration than those of general use. It should also be noted that some potions without a listed duration do NOT function for 4 + 1-4 turns but have a permanent effect on the drinker instead: healing, extra-healing, longevity, and the aging effect of a speed potion. One does not simply take back all their damage 8 turns after consuming a healing potion! Some potions can be taken in lesser doses to achieve lesser results. For example, consuming 1/3 of a potion of extra-healing only heals 1-8 points of damage per dose, but consuming the entire potion restores 6-27 (3d8+3) points of damage. Sipping 1/8 of a potion of invisibility grants invisibility for only 3-6 turns. Drinking half a potion of fire resistance confers only half the bonuses against non-normal fires for half the duration. In fact, most potions of non-specified duration can be half-drunk for half-duration effects.

Most of the control potions grant the targets of their effects a saving throw, so these are not guaranteed to work! Control potions are quite powerful in encounters with the given creature and could potentially unbalance an encounter in favor of the party if only one or two such creatures are encountered. Such potions are marked with an asterisk (*) on the random potions table (DMG, pg. 121). However, control potions can be very limited in what they can specifically control. For example, a potion of dragon control could be limited to green dragons only, copper dragons only, or evil dragons only. A potion of human control might be limited to only affecting elves/half-elves, or only humanoids, or maybe only humans. The specific creature type controlled must be rolled for on a random table (or decided by the DM). A potion of vampire control would be useless to most adventurers if they never encounter such an undead creature! Or it could be a godsend if they are adventuring in Ravenloft! Most control potions are non-generic, with the exception being plant control. Coincidentally, this is the only control potion with a listed range of effect (9"). The others state that they function as a charm monster spell (which has a static range of 6") or a charm person spell (which has a static range of 12"). Specifics as to how this works are for the DM to know and the players to find out (but all details are listed in the DMG under the specific listings)!

Potions in Combat
Of great importance to players, is how potions are used in combat situations. It is stated (DMG, p.125) that potions take effect 2-5 segments after they are imbibed. But just how long does it take to drink a potion? This question is answered in another section entirely! On page 71 of the DMG, there is a sections entitled Actions During Combat and Similar Time-Important Situations. Halfway through the section is a bold-faced reference to DRINKING POTIONS, which, curiously enough, is not listed in the index, but can be found on page 119 of the DMG as a sub-section under USE OF MAGIC ITEMS. Here the rules state:

"It takes but a segment (6 seconds) to open and consume the typical potion. Thereafter, however, a certain delay will occur while the contents are ingested and the magical properties of the potion take effect. The delay will be from 2-5 segments as a rule. When a potion is imbibed, simply roll d4, add +1 to the result, and in that number of segments the effects of the dose will take full effect. You may establish specific times for various potions if you so desire, but this is a complication which is not generally recommended."

Turning back to page 71 where this rule is referenced, is an example of declared actions for a character and their resolution by the DM.

"In a similar vein, some players will state that they are going to do several actions, which, if allowed, would be likely to occupy their time for many rounds. For example: "I'll hurl oil at the monster, ignite it, drink my potion of invisibility, sneak up behind it, and then stab it in the back!" How ambitious indeed. Where is the oil? In a pouch, of course, so that will take at least 1, possibly 2 segments to locate and hurl. If the potion is in the character's back pack, 3 or 4 segments will be taken up just finding it, and another 1 segment will be required to consume its contents. (See DRINKING POTIONS.) Now comes the tricky part, sneaking up. Assuming that the potion has taken effect, and that our dauntless character has managed to transfer his or her weapon back into his or her hand (for certainly all the other activity required the character to at least put the weapon in the off hand), he or she is now ready to creep around the fringe of the combat and steal up behind the foe to smite it in the back."

Some potions state that it takes much longer for them to be consumed. For example, the healing potion states that "An entire potion must be consumed in a single drinking (round) in order for this liquor to restore 4-10 (2d4 + 2) hit points of damage." This implies that the potion drinking takes an entire round to do. I simply assume that a character can do nothing else in a round that a healing potion is consumed. Some people interpret this line differently. Either way, it seems that the effects are immediately gained by the end of the round at the latest and the duration of the potion ends. This is important when considering potion miscibility; see below).

Using Oils
There are two oils listed in the DMG: etherealness and slipperiness. Unlike potions, they are applied externally to the character and his or her gear, but the effects are generally the same. The contents are poured out over hands and body and smeared appropriately. The normal time of 1 segment is used for opening and pouring, with the same time delay of 2-5 segments for the oil to take effect. Really, there is little difference.

Potion Miscibility
This rule appears to exist to discourage characters from drinking more than one potion at a time to gain multiple benefits. I can see the reasoning behind the rule, but it rarely comes up in a single combat, and most combat potions last only rounds, not turns. However, it is a real consideration when a character is under the effects of a potion and wants to drink a healing potion! In desperation, a character could also take two potion flasks and mix them before consumption in the hopes of getting a cool new result, creating a vile poison to use against a monster, or simply to cause an explosion (a rare result at best)!

In any case, mixing two or more potions together requires a roll on the Potion Miscibility table (DMG, p. 119). Results could be an explosion, creation of a poison, cancellation of both potions, limited miscibility, both function normally, or a new potion is created from the mixture of the two. As a DM, one has to be on the look-out for when a PC makes that fatal error of forgetting about the dangers of mixing potions. Obviously, this is only a problem if one potion is still in effect on a character and another is consumed, and most frequently happens when in danger of death and healing potions are the only saving grace.

Potion Brewing
Most fantasy settings I have ever dabbled in have some type of class or character type involved in the making of potions. These could be apothecaries that brew healing potions and herbal remedies or alchemists changing the elements and brewing magical draughts, to the witches stirring their cauldrons to brew poisons and love potions. In AD&D, Gygax permitted the creation of potions, probably because they were such limited items and required the character to adventure in order to procure the components necessary. For instance, when the stock of extra-healing potions in the city of Selenica were depleted, the clerics there offered to brew more potions for the characters if they could secure troll blood in specially prepared sacred vials. The characters agreed and, the next time they encountered trolls, collected what blood they could and returned to the clerics where they were rewarded with potions at a discounted price. Such interaction makes the party part of their world, where they realize that components of monsters may have value (beyond experience), and increases interaction with NPCs in gaining something either for their own use, or for the promise of assistance or additional work in the near future.

Since the DMG was the last published work by Gygax in the three core books, the rules here trump those of the previous Player's Handbook. According to the section, Manufacture of Potions (DMG, p. 116), potions may be made by any magic-user of 7th level or above, if he or she enlists the aid of an alchemist. An alchemist is an NPC hireling found only in cities unless one is specifically located elsewhere by the DM, requiring an offer of 10-100 gp bonus money, plus a well-stocked laboratory and the assurance of not less than a full year of employment to even attract one to service. The magic-user must then support the alchemist at a rate of 300 gp per month salary. That's a large outlay of money for a 7th level character, especially given the by-the-book training costs for player characters and the cost of spell books, inks, and other spell research components!

At 11th level, the magic-user no longer requires the assistance of an alchemist, although having one in your employ can reduce the money and time required to make a potion by 50%.

Potions can only be made one at a time, and the magic-user must have a proper laboratory with fireplace, workbench, brazier, and several alchemical implements of specialized nature before work can begin. These are only found in cities that support alchemists or can be specially made by craftsmen at a cost of 200-1,000 gp. Upkeep of the lab requires 10% of the base cost/month to replace used/broken equipment and restock supplies. The place is always considered to be in use when an alchemist is employed, as they continue to research when not busy in the manufacturing process.

The cost and time needed to brew a potion is derived from the XP Value of the potion on the charts. If no XP value is given, the potion has a 200 gp base for cost and time determination. The XP value is the amount of gold that must be spent to brew the potion. The number of days required to brew the potion is the same figure divided by 100. Each hundred or fraction thereof indicates a full day of time. Thus, in order to create a potion of invisibility with 250 XP value will cost 250 gp in components and take 3 full days to complete (250 / 100 = 2.5 rounded to 3). Each potion also requires one or more special ingredients to empower the magic. These special ingredients are listed for those potions in the DMG on pages 116-117. These are suggestions only, but show how rare the components should be for such magical items. For example, an invisibility potion would require invisible stalker ichor - not something that a 3rd or lower level character could come by easily. A DM could state that skulk blood or slithering tracker plasma could also be substituted if desired (or the DM could hint that other ingredients could substitute and the result being that the potion only confers blending or chameleon powers with the same duration as an invisibility potion). Obviously, the more powerful the ingredients, the more potent the brew should be. One might need only a drop of pixie dust to empower an invisibility potion, and such a component would be much easier to come by.

The brewing process has no failure percentage associated with it - the only cost is time and money. However, a DM could state that there is a 5-20% chance of failure to all potion manufacturing, and that any failure results in a delusion potion of the same type as that attempted. Assuming that this rule is used, a magic-user attempts to brew an invisibility potion and fails the roll. They now have a delusion potion that makes them think it is an invisibility potion! Their associates may look at them funny when they drink such a potion and boldly step into a chamber full of monsters thinking that nothing can see them...

Poison potions can be manufactured only by assassins of 9th level or higher, using the rules found in the DMG and PHB under POISON. Assassins need no labs or alchemists, but cost and time are found as if a normal potion was being prepared.

House Rules
My players are a very cautious lot. They would never sip from any unknown flask to determine the contents of a potion. So we developed rules for an alchemist to identify potions. The time required is 1-3 days and the base cost is 40 gp (modified by haggling with Charisma being a prime determinant). I roll a 5-15% chance for each alchemist to check how good they are at doing their job for each potion, or once to determine their base skill as an alchemist. If this percentage chance is rolled when an identification is taking place, a mishap occurs and the potion can be ruined, an explosion can occur, or some other mishap (refer to the Potion Miscibility table for possibilities). Alchemists must make a saving throw vs. spells as a 0-level human to correctly identify a potion of delusion. Failure makes them declare it as another type of potion.

This seemingly prevents the instant death or problems of the cursed potions. However, such potions can be misidentified if the skill level of the alchemist is too low (indicated by a high chance of failure). As stated, only cities support alchemists, so this option may not be available for lower level characters unless they base themselves in a major city, and even so, the cost of identification is high enough to cause lower-level characters pause.

This house rule has served us well for almost 20 years now and is integrated into the fabric of our campaign setting. We have seen many potions identified truly as they were, with some misidentified, and one spectacular explosion that decimated an alchemist shop (ending with the temporary incarceration of the party ranger who was accused as purposefully bringing in dangerous contraband to the town). Feel free to use this in your own campaigns if desired, adjusting the cost and time accordingly My price estimate came from 10% of the GP sale value of a potion of healing, with the 1-3 day variable based off the average brewing times of the most common potions. We have since integrated the lists from Unearthed Arcana without much problem and no adjustment to the time or costs listed here.

So What is a Philter?
Gygax loved using extravagant and Medieval-flavored words in the DMG. A philter is a potion specifically designed to arouse sexual feelings towards another - in essence, a love potion. Thus the philter of love and philter of persuasiveness are so named because they have a specific purpose: namely the influence and desire of someone of the opposite (or same) sex. He could have just called these Charisma potions and Love potions, but this gives it more flavor and makes it sound exotic. In OD&D, witches were known to cast spells on men to lure them into sexual relations. This is derived from Greek Mythology and sword & sorcery fantasy of the Conan caliber. These effects of charming and persuading men to do something they would not normally do made witches a powerful force for evil in the original D&D game. They actually created these love potions for use on their subjects (and you thought they were just cooking dinner in those cauldrons?).

Why differentiate between these and control-potions? Well, for one thing, the enamoring effect of a philter of love is permanent until dispelled! The philter of persuasiveness is essentially a Charisma booster that could be useful in any number of different interactions with NPCs or even monsters! Imagine a paladin with 18 Charisma and +35% reaction adjustment with a philter of persuasiveness (granting an additional +25% to reactions). That's a guaranteed +60% to reaction rolls on any creature encountered, practically guaranteeing a peaceful and possibly profitable arrangement for the PCs. This potion also allows the use of a suggestion once per turn on any creature within 3" for as long as the potion lasts. This is like the greatest Jedi mind trick ever! One should never underestimate the value of good NPC relations in AD&D.

Final Thoughts
Potions are great one-use magic items that a DM can insert into an adventure to aid the players, foil them, or provide a lead to new adventures. Stumbling across the notes of an alchemist in an old ruin might have profound effects on the campaign if a new potion type is developed therein. I've used alchemical substances like potions and oils to have effects not listed in the DMG. For example, one of the modules had a cure poison potion which doesn't exist (but should). I've inserted anti-toxins that can be brewed by apothecaries or alchemists, allowed clerics and druids to also create basically curative potions, and allowed the creation of a balm that, when rubbed on a stoned creature, will return them to flesh. Such a balm obviously does not exist in the original AD&D DMG and was never added in Unearthed Arcana. These are just some of the suggestions that could be added to a list of new potions and oils.

We've also dabbled with modifying potion effects based on the potency of components. If troll blood is good for extra-healing potions, what would ogre-magi blood do to affect it? What about using extra-planar components, like demon blood, devil horn, or angel feathers? Coming up with interesting components or brewing recipes can be used as possible treasure of the non-obvious sort. When players ask what's in the books at the local magic university or personal library in town, the DM can insert one of these tidbits into the information and let the players deal with the information as they see fit. Good players will realize it for what it really is - treasure of a sort. Others may shrug and toss it aside. The value of such information is for the DM and players to work out in character interactions.

Call Lightning: Not as Good as You Think

Druids. They're an odd choice for a player character. Made to stay Neutral while everyone else worries about the battles between Good and Evil, Law and Chaos. Druid are worshippers of Nature who revere trees above all else; people who would rather remain in their groves and mete out subtle justice in a karmic fashion to those who sin against Nature. It just seems an odd class to choose for a game that focuses on dungeon delving and looting treasure. These are not the goals of druids. They are wilderness clerics, who excel in the wilds, but have little or no influence over those things found in the typical dungeon adventure.

The spell selections of the druid are great....so long as you are in a forest or natural setting. Their armor and weapon selections really don't make them a martial choice. What they excel at is elemental manipulation and interactions between Nature and the party. That being said, they really lack many of the typical attack spells that a spell caster needs to feel "useful" to a typical party.

One of their "attack" spells is the 3rd level spell Call Lightning. While Magic-Users are slinging fireballs and lightning bolts, and Clerics are animating dead and praying for their party's success, the druid can only cast his one direct attack spell if there's a storm raging nearby...

Let's face it, the spell is practically useless UNLESS the DM arbitrarily decides that the conditions are "just right" every time the druid wants to cast this spell. Then there's the casting time...1 TURN. Most combats are over in one turn, unless there are a ton of combatants. The druid could be attacked before the spell is completed, thus disrupting the spell - by ANY attack that succeeds in the 10 rounds he or she spends casting. Then, he can release ONE bolt of lightning each TURN of continued combat with a saving throw allowed for each bolt! If he's lucky, he'll get off one bolt, maybe two, during a combat.

The worst part of the spell is that the druid has to be the epicenter of the effect (range: 0), so he can't just hang back in the woods and attack his opponents in a clearing or something. This MUST be a strange carryover from original D&D where the spellcasters were on the battlefield and exposed to attack. The area of effect is only a 360-foot radius (remember, areas of effect are always in feet; only ranges translate to yards outdoors) and this is not nearly distant enough to prevent opponents from attacking you before you are done casting. Let's face it, the instant a spellcaster begins casting ANY spell, they become a target to intelligent opponents. I've seen multiple PCs drop EVERYTHING they are currently doing to attack a spellcaster who declared a spell for that round. It's just the way players have been conditioned. So any spell that takes 10 ROUNDS to complete, is pretty much utterly useless unless the druid can first entangle his opponents or otherwise immobilize them.

Now, I'm a bit of a prick for making our party druid suffer through the Desert of Desolation trilogy, then head into the mountains to fight giants, but he's still been in the natural world, and I've taught him that nature means more than trees and forests. Still, it would be nice if just ONCE he could cast the Call Lightning spell; after all, he's been waiting to do so for nearly 20 years! Of course, now that he might be entering the Underworld to chase drow, he will likely never get a chance to cast this spell...ever!

AD&D: When to Just Say No

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. In truth, my AD&D campaign has been going well and work has otherwise kept me busy. We've finished off the first two levels of G3: The Halls of the Fire Giant King and now the players wanted to give their characters a much-deserved break to train henchmen, write scrolls, do some spell research, etc. So the party carted all their ill-gotten gains in one form or another from their safe base some distance from the Halls to their base in Quasqueton on the other side of the mountains.

We've debated for many sessions about how the players are supposed to actually get all that treasure home. We struck upon a solution that I think has merit and might have precedent in the earlier games in Lake Geneva. Our resident wizard has the teleport spell - a tricky thing when cast upon oneself as there is always a risk of transporting too high or too low. This risk is minimized by teleporting to a known location. The party has a djinni servant who can make soft goods (like sacks) by the armload each day. So, as the party gets its treasures, they pack them into large sacks and get them ready for transport. The teleport spell has a weight limit and a range of touch, so I deemed that it could be used on treasures so long as the container can be touched. The wizard prepares 3 teleport spells (her max) and, when the party comes back with a large haul, she spends some time teleporting these treasures to their "vault" room in Quasqueton. In this instance I said "yes" to the solution of treasure transport.

Our resident druid, always looking for a way to weaponize spells, has been experimenting with his high-level spells (he can cast spells of any level now) and keeps trying to make the utility spells more offensive. I tried explaining to him that not every spell needs to cause damage - and druids are not wizards. He disagrees. He pushes the boundaries on what he thinks the spells should be able to do, and I have to pull back on the reins to keep the druid from dominating the campaign or breaking it altogether. He has the "win at all costs" mentality, so when something doesn't work as he wants it to, he stops casting the spell and thinks it's useless. We've also changed a few druid spells based on his analysis of level and damage output or usefulness in combat situations. For example, we changed call lightning to allow him to call a bolt each ROUND instead of each TURN, but he must maintain concentration and do nothing else while the spell lasts (duration changed to 1 round/level). We also changed produce fire from causing 1d4 points of damage for 1 round, to lasting for 1 round/level. It is, after all, a 4th level spell and should be more than a 1 minute deterrent to pursuers. The problem is that he keeps trying to set creatures aflame with the spell. At what point does this happen? What are the results of being set on fire? The rules say nothing. I keep coming up with ways to say no to this, but eventually I cave in and allow it.

Our resident ranger, now a Ranger Lord, has reached the level of acquiring followers. We rolled and he got the max number (24), unfortunately locking him into only getting humans and demi-human followers (he was so hoping for a pegasus mount). The rules imply that he gets the followers when he builds a fortress. But the party is living together in Quasqueton - their own jointly-owned fortress. Rumors of their adventures have spread far and wide in the area of Selenica, so I had the followers begin to turn up. Since they all have levels determined ahead of time (and most were higher than 1st level), I assumed that these followers could gain experience as a form of henchman. They are NOT restricted as henchmen in the number he can have at any time based on Charisma, and he already has a henchman (a PC demoted to henchman status when the player could no longer participate). So he now has an army of 25 henchmen at his disposal. What does he want to do with them? Nothing. He dislikes the idea of followers that just show up and become a monetary drain for him to house, feed, and train. He has accepted the ones that have already showed up - we decided to nix the others for now until he retires and establishes a place to settle down permanently. He might change his mind later, who knows. He also does not want to support them monetarily. He wanted them to "get jobs" in town and keep their eyes and ears open for "trouble" in the region, and then wants them to "handle it." I tried telling him that these are HIS followers and he has to support them or they will leave. He doesn't understand what use they are since the party wants to keep the existence of Quasqueton a guarded secret, despite inviting guards from Fort Hobart to use the outer works as a forward base for their scouts and troops against the orcs in the region. I had to say "no" to the ranger's solution of what to do with the followers. He was not pleased, and is still confused as to why followers are even in the game. I keep trying to explain that D&D grew out of wargaming - armies and wars. Men and followers were a measurement of the strength of one's forces: the more you had, the stronger your army. The higher the quality, the better your chances of success. Rangers had high-quality (higher-level) followers, and thus were great skirmishers in the woodlands where they could fight lesser-quality, more numerous foes better.

I like to run my games as close to the book as possible. However, we've discovered some flaws in the game that have been solved in later editions, or completely omitted in later versions of the game because they don't fit the style of play or the rules of a non-wargaming campaign. I like to use the rules as the basis for all my decisions to prevent my decisions from becoming arbitrary. I allow the players to try just about anything but I also counsel them that the game has predetermined assumptions of how things are supposed to work and bypassing them has effects on other aspects of the game. For example, if a magic-user is rolled without using the rules in the DMG on beginning spellbooks, then they all become carbon-copy magic missile blasters. We modified the spells cast/day based on Intelligence to allow 1st-level magic-users more than 1 spell cast per day. But now that the magic-user has reached Wizard level, the number of spells she can cast is becoming somewhat overwhelming in the encounters. She also found a 1st-level pearl of power, so she memorizes only magic missiles for her 1st level spells, and all slow spells for third level. In fact, I find that magic-users tend to select only those spells that are useful in all situations. My former DM used to keep this to a minimum by stating that no spell may be prepared more than once per day - this gave more value to spell scrolls that had spells the character's already possessed, and made wands more useful as well. I personally found this restricting, especially for clerics who could memorize only one cure light wounds spell for a party of 7-9 characters! It's also not in the rules, as can be seen by anyone who has ever run an AD&D module. Followers are a part of AD&D in that there is an endgame, a point at which the characters have accomplished enough and seek to retire. Their followers then serve to protect their lord and his holdings, when he is present or when he is away. Since none of my players want to follow the usual paradigm, they are becoming frustrated dealing with these rules.

My final word is to touch on when the characters just say "no" to the next adventure. For example, the party I have has spent several long years in real life battling the giants in the G-series of modules. They assume that this is the last adventure in the series (not realizing that the D-series is next, culminating in Q1). They assume that beating back the dark elves is enough to accomplish their goals. This is OK. I'm not going to push them into participating in an adventure that they clearly do not want to enter. They don't like the idea of facing the dark elves on their "home turf" or being so far from an escape route back to the surface. I've already placed some hooks to entice them into the Underdark and the druid flat out stated that he had no interest in going underground for any extended period of time. They'd rather spend hours of time beating up on orcs and goblinoids in their home region, despite the fact that I told them that they would likely never make another level! However, it is their right to say no to the adventure if they don't want to pursue an obviously deadly path into the unknown. They've achieved levels higher than any other characters we've played in a campaign that has been ongoing for nearly 20 years now. They have a vested interested in keeping these characters alive and want to see the endgame, whatever that may be. My problem now is how to challenge the players if they are unwilling to take risks!

AD&D 2nd Edition: Surprise Rules Comparison

In order to understand how the game has changed from its original concept, one has to research the rules of later systems and the changes made. It sometimes reveals interesting things about the original version that may or may not be obvious when seen only through the rules as they are initially interpreted without a comparison. I'll use the 2nd Edition rules (originally printed in 1989) to show how the rules evolved from confusion towards clarity.

I expected to find the surprise rules in the combat chapter of the Player's Handbook, but instead found them in Chapter 11: Encounters, two chapters AFTER the combat rules. There are also a few paragraphs and a chart in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The important thing to remember through all this is that the round structure changed from 1st to 2nd Edition. In AD&D 1E, the one minute round was broken down into 10 segments of 6 seconds each. Casting times, speed factors, and segment movement were all tied to this structure in some way. In AD&D 2E, there is no breakdown of the round at all. A melee round is still 1 minute long, but it is now the smallest unit of time in the game. The next important thing to know is that the die used for surprise changed from a d6 (which were easier to locate for AD&D 1E players) to a d10 (which, by the time 2E came along, polyhedral dice could be found virtually anywhere). I have learned that Gygax also used a d10 for Initiative in his own campaigns, but that has no bearing on this discussion (it's simply interesting to note that the game was evolving even after the AD&D rules were developed).

OK, so the rules begin on page 111 in my copy of the PHB. Not all printings have the same page structure so it may be different in your book. Mine is a 1st printing, so if your page structure differs, or the rules were amended at some point with corrections, then you can disregard any statements that may differ from your rulebook.

The very first line seems to indicate exactly what I've been stressing in my other surprise articles: surprise is usually unilateral. In this version, the chance is 3 in 10 (or 30%) which is also very close to the 33-1/3% of rolling a 2 in 6 (probably intentionally done). So far the rules for both editions support each other. It then gives examples as to how surprise can or cannot be avoided. Again, it stresses that it's the DM's call as to whether surprise conditions exist, and it depends entirely on the situation. Curiously, it says that the DM can have the group check or require individual checks. If no one is paying particular attention to something, saying they are alert for danger, or are otherwise  distracted, then they can roll as a group. But say that 2 characters are standing watch at night while the others are asleep, then only those 2 watchmen roll for surprise, and in this case it would be each individual (thus the more watchmen that are alert, the less chance that the entire party is taken by surprise).

Now the surprise roll can be modified by Dexterity (reaction adjustment), race (elves and halflings), class (rangers and thieves), cleverness, and situation. The modifiers are given in the DMG, p. 102 (mine is a 10th printing to replace a badly damage 1st printing). Here it explains that surprise may be possible for BOTH sides. Light, excessive noise, and other types of prior warning can negate the need for a surprise roll, and surprise is not usually possible when no form of concealment is present (such as two ships at sea), but darkness, storms, fog, and the like can act as concealment.

It is important to note that the modifiers listed in the DMG apply to the DIE ROLL, not the chance to surprise. Thus, if a monster is silent (-2) and invisible (-2), the party's die roll is reduced by 4. If they rolled a 6 on a d10 they would be surprised since 6 - 4 = 2 (normal surprise chance is 3 in 10, remember?). If the party comes near a patrol of 12 troglodytes (+1 per 10 in group) who are camouflaged (-3) in a dimly lit tunnel (-1), the DM is within reason to give the party a bonus for the distinctive stench of the trogs (+2) and an additional +2 because a small band of fleeing, wounded orcs encountered earlier warned the party of the presence of trogs ahead. Yes, this can become very convoluted! However, the 3 in 10 chance remains the same regardless, and the die roll is modified by (+1 - 3 - 1 + 2 + 2 =) +1. So long as the party rolls a 3 or above they will not be surprised. Now, if the same party had never encountered the wounded orcs, and the trogs had not previously battled the orcs and released their stench, then they would have a modifier of -3 to their surprise roll, thus doubling the chance of being surprised! [NOTE: I'm using stats for monsters from the Monstrous Compendium binder pages printed in 1989. Those using the 2E Monstrous Manual might see that the chameleon power of trogs actually grants a stated -4 to their opponents' surprise rolls.]

The decision to roll group vs. individual surprise is the DM's call. I would just adjust the group roll for each individual's modifiers. Say that the group surprise roll was a 4 with no other modifiers to the roll. A character with a 5 Dexterity (-1 Reaction Adj.) would be surprised, while a character with an average Dexterity or more would not be surprised. Elves, when alone or well in advance of a party and not in metal armor,  impose a penalty of -4 to their opponent's surprise rolls (or -2 if they have to open a door or screen to attack). This is different than 1E where elves surprise 66-2/3% (4 in 6) or standard chances (33-1/3% or 2 in 6) when opening a door. Granted, 70% and 66.6666% is close, but 50% chance is much more than 33.3333%. Elves also tend to have better Dex scores, so they would be less likely to be surprised by others. Halflings have the same modifiers as Elves. Half-elves do not share this ability in either edition of the game. Rangers in 2E no longer have surprise modifiers built into the class. However, they do gain access to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently (as do Thieves), so they benefit from the modifiers to the roll given in the DMG for being silent (-2) or invisible (-2). However, unlike elves and halflings, they cannot do both at the same time. A halfling thief probably DOESN'T gain the benefit of both his racial sneakiness AND his Move Silently check as these are both similarly explained in the rules. Therefore a halfling thief CANNOT surprise opponents 9 in 10, but CAN surprise 7 in 10! A human thief using his Move Silently successfully can only surprise 5 in 10 by comparison (which is equal to the 3 in 6 chance for a 1E human thief). And, of course, surprise is a requirement for a backstab attack to get the multiplier to damage and bonus to hit.

The other modifiers listed in the DMG seem to be more situational and deal with party size, lighting conditions, morale, concealing weather conditions, and anticipation of attack. These are all common sense rules. However, many creatures in the 1E AD&D Monster Manual had increased chances for surprise. Let's see about 2E monsters. Troglodytes are camouflage attackers, so one would think a modifier would be nailed down on these creatures, but the Monstrous Compendium only states that they have camouflage ability, and in the DMG camouflage is given a range of -1 to -3 (which oddly enough can equal or EXCEED being invisible, which is only -2). Bugbears, another traditionally stealthy monster, are specifically listed as surprising with a -3 penalty to their opponent's surprise roll (which is better than simply silent movement at -2). This is an improvement over 1E AD&D. Finally, the accursed Drow are STILL listed as surprising 75% of the time (can't be rolled on a d10 guys) and also move silently (which is apparently already factored into their elven cloak and boots). It states that they are only themselves surprised 1 in 10 (to which standard modifiers are likely to be added). Unfortunately, instead of converting from 1E AD&D percentages to d10 increments, the authors kept the weird, non-standard surprise chance of the dark elves. But this doesn't matter much (as will be seen) and each +/-1 of modifiers adjust the chance by 10% so it's just a math exercise.

There is a distinction drawn between surprise and an ambush in the last paragraph of PHB, p. 111. Here it states that an ambush is prepared by one group to make an unexpected attack on another group but ONLY if the DM decides that the other group CANNOT detect the ambush. A properly set ambush allows the use of spells and attacks before the other side reacts. If the ambush succeeds, the ambushing group gets its initial attack AND the other group must roll for surprise as well in the following round, so an ambushing group may gain TWO rounds of attacks before the other group can reply. This sounds suspiciously like SURPRISE and COMPLETE SURPRISE from Original D&D and AD&D 1E to me...

Now, what are the effects of surprise in 2E? We all know the confusing rules in 1E may result in one or more segments of surprise actions for the surprising group. However, there are no segments in 2E. Instead, all surprised opponents suffer the same penalty -- one round of attacks by melee, missile, or magical items only (no spells can be cast during a surprise round!). This means that all the fiddly surprise rules are basically out the window in 2E! You don't have to worry about movement rates in segments, casting times for spells, or anything else. If you can do it in a round, then you can do it in a surprise round, with the only exception being that spells cannot be cast. Although one would see this as being very unfair for magic-users, they can still use magic items (if available) and prevents instant-cast  magic missiles and charm person spells from overtaking the party. It also allows fighters their multiple attacks with melee weapons, and any class to make use of standard rates of fire for missile weapons. Surprise also means that the surprised characters lose their Dex bonus to AC (and the term "flat-footed" here would be used later in 3rd edition for any character before they act in the 1st round of a combat). Mutual surprise conditions simply mean that one round is wasted for both sides -- since there isn't a segment comparison, all those rules from 1E are essentially unnecessary.

So 2E surprise tried to become normalized and streamlined for all monsters and characters (except, of course, those drow troublemakers). The 3 in 10 chance equates to the 1E chance for normal surprise, and complete surprise in Original D&D (2 segments) is now reserved only for ambush situations (which are DM arbitrated and not left to random roll). Removing spells from the surprise equation and making surprise last a full round eliminates all the headaches of segment calculations. Of course, there is still complexity involved in the amount of modifiers that have to be remembered for each circumstance, but as long as the DM and players have a grasp on their characters' abilities it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. It's also interesting to note the slow transition of the surprise roll into the Perception check of 3rd and later editions.

AD&D: No-Save Magic

As a player, I prefer the lower levels of play. There is an uncertainty to the way the system works. Sure, you can do many things to try and ensure victory, but in a game that uses random number generators to resolve outcomes it really is more of a gamble when the dice are rolled. There are few, if any, certainties in the game. Oh sure, some spells have no saving throws (magic missile, for example), but there are limits on how many spells can be cast at the lower levels.

The premise of high-level magic (including magic items) is that your castings are more of a certainty. Fewer and fewer spells have a saving throw and the magic items become brutally efficient in their usage. As a Dungeon Master, I hate it when the players use magic exclusively without a saving throw to achieve a guaranteed result. To me it seems like cheating. I also refrain from using magic with no saving throws as the players seem to balk and complain when it is perpetrated on them. Last night's session of AD&D was no exception.

I had rolled a wandering monster encounter 2 weeks ago on the 2nd level of the Halls of the Fire Giant King as the party was transporting giant adamantite morningstars to a safe location for later retrieval. It was late and we stopped here on a cliffhanger - the players knew something was about to occur but had no idea what that was. I happened to roll up an encounter with a drow fighter/magic-user of 7th/7th level and his were-rat accomplices (6 to be exact). We packed it in for the night and waited until last night to play it out.

All Saturday afternoon I crafted the encounter. Since the drow surprises 75% of the time and the were-rats surprise 4 in 6, it was almost certainly going to be a surprise encounter. Half the party was hefting the huge morningstars, while the weaker members were waiting in the ettins' guard room along with all the gold they had ransacked from the giants in this section of the dungeon. Without looking at my notes from the previous session, I sat down to craft the random encounter.

In order to remain fair and neutral, I used other drow magic-users in the module and from module D1 as a basis for spell selection. Also, we use a house rule that gives bonus spells to magic-users based on high Intelligence in much the same manner as clerics get from high Wisdom. Therefore, since I rolled a 17 Intelligence for the drow F/MU, he was getting 2 bonus first level, 2 bonus second level, and 1 bonus third level spell. He already had 4 first, 3 second, 2 third and 1 fourth level spell. High-level Drow also gain access to darkness, faerie fire, dancing lights, levitate, know alignment, and detect magic. I ended up giving this drow 3 magic missile spells and a slow spell, the few low-level spells without a saving throw. The drow F/MU I was basing this one on also had a rope of entanglement. I figured what the heck, and wrote it in. Then I read the item in order to become more familiar with it. Here is where I drew the line and quickly removed it from the write-up.

You see, the rope of entanglement belongs to a category of magic items that I refer to as "ultra" items. It isn't cursed; quite the opposite! It is one of those ultra-powerful items that completely negates the party with a simple command word. There is no required to-hit roll against the target(s) and there is no saving throw against the effect. There are a number of items in the DMG that function this way - most are almost never found or used by player characters.

The party currently consists of the main characters (Druid 12th, Magic-user 11th, Ranger 10th), their henchmen (Fighter 8th, Fighter 8th, Cleric 9th, and Fighter 6th), and followers (two Druid 3rd). That's nine characters of small to medium size. The rope of entanglement can entrap up to 8 man-sized creatures with a single command from a distance of 20', with no hit roll or saving throw required. That means I could have immobilized the entire party with no hope for them to escape! That's no fun and no fair! And I'm certain that the party would have complained loudly if I simply stated that they were all now prisoners of the drow, who could enslave or slay them at his leisure.

So the rope was removed from the encounter. My fear was that it would either cause the players to hate the game, or worse, that it would fall into their possession! They already select spells based on 100% chance of success (i.e. no saving throw or impossible to avoid), and this item would have become unbalancing.

Still, I left the spell selection for the drow as it was and we began the session. First off I webbed the fighters and the djinni servant into the crypt and sent half the were-rats after the weaker party members. The fighters were surprised for 2 segments thanks to the ranger's ability, but the others were surprised for 4 segments! It didn't take long for the ranger to light a torch and bring it to bear on the webbed entrance, but by that time the drow (who I deemed had already cast strength on himself that day) was casting protection from good on himself, increasing his AC from -3 to -5 against attacks from good-aligned creatures. The players were already suspicious when I had them roll percentile dice for surprise...

The were-rats attacked the weaker members immediately, gaining 2 segments worth of attacks once they had moved into position on the dwarf and halfling fighter henchmen left to guard the others. The party is so well-armored by now that I barely scratched them. The three were-rats could not withstand the onslaught of the two henchmen's enchanted blades or the magic-user's magic missiles and fell within 2 rounds of combat. Meanwhile, the webs were burnt away in 1 round and the were-rats waiting in ambush outside were revealed in the flickering torchlight of the level. The drow was still slinking in the shadows waiting for a shot with his poisoned hand crossbow bolts.

Everything went south from there. The three other were-rats were being trounced by the fighters. The drow got a shot off on the druid, but he made his saving throw (even at -4!). The druid immediately transformed into a mountain lion as the drow cast his monster summoning I spell to call forth 5 manes to attack the party (geez, 1 HD sub-demons against 8th and 10th level fighter-types?). The ranger started destroying the were-rats while the fighter took on the manes. The druid leaped over the small manes and was charging the drow when he got plugged by a volley of magic missiles (which barely dented his 70+ hit points). The rest of the party, fearing for the safety of the others came around the bend in the corridor to see the mountain lion leaping for someone and several demonic creatures shambling forth to attack their fighter friend. The dwarf fighter charged the nearest manes and that's when the combat went wacky. The drow, in combat with the mountain lion, dropped a darkness globe on the middle of the corridor intersection and started to flee slowly. The ranger had dimension-doored behind the drow, but was unaware of the darkness coming into play when he did so (it's an innate ability he wished for long ago). He was not only disoriented from the spell, but also blind in the darkness. The party magic-user and her halfling fighter henchmen had approached the battle scene and were also caught in the darkness along with the demons and the dwarf fighter.

The drow then levitated up and out of the darkness to escape along the ceiling. The others soon wandered out of the darkness and the ranger removed a pebble from a neck-pouch with a continual light spell cast upon it. The darkness was negated and regular lighting resumed in the corridor. As the drow continued to escape 30' up, the party attempted some ranged attacks. The drow faced off in a wizard-duel with the party magic-user; shield spells, magic missiles, hold monster spells, and finally a slow spell cast upon the party. Nothing seemed to affect either of them - they both are magic resistant! So the drow stopped wasting spells and sought to flee up the stairs to the north where the druid had run to await the drow, thinking that his levitate spell had to end at some point. When he saw the drow was escaping, the druid turned back to his half-elven form.

We ended just as the druid cast his heat metal spell on the drow's weapons and armor. Now, the spell affects the metal, not the drow, so magic resistance does not come into play. The armor is not truly magical, so it gets no saving throw despite being considered +4 chain mail; it also specifically states in the monster description that the armor is an iron-adamantite alloy. So once again, the party will cook another drow in its own armor, with no hope of escape or avoidance. I'm OK with this; but if the tables were turned, I think the party would all be dressed in leather armor and using wooden weapons to avoid ever having to deal with this situation! I have a means of negating the spell (with the sleet version of ice storm), but I don't think I can cast in burning armor while levitating...

AD&D 1st Edition Surprise Revisited

The guidelines and examples for Surprise in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE are very basic. They only really explain in detail the results when two sides with typical surprise chances meet. They really don't stress enough the facts of how surprise might be run during actual game play when players are taking precautions (like having an advance scout, not using light, moving silently due to spell or ability, etc.) to avoid being detected. In fact, I'm not really sure how Moving Silently is supposed to be treated, since in most circumstances, it would be used by an assassin or thief to sneak up on a victim and surprise them. So then, is the thief penalized by having to make two rolls in order to surprise? Is the Move Silently check merely to see if they gain an extra 1 in 6 chance to surprise? Why then would an elf or halfling gain a 4 in 6 chance to surprise simply by moving silently? Should the Move Silently check be used in place of the surprise roll? None of these questions are answered anywhere. If the surprise roll is basically meant as a detection roll, then shouldn't a thief of 1st level have a better chance than a fighter or cleric of the same level in gaining surprise?

Normal chances to surprise are 2 in 6. That roughly translates to 33-1/3% chance of surprising an opponent. A look at the Thief Function Table in the PLAYERS HANDBOOK reveals that Move Silently is below 33% until they reach 4th level. So Moving Silently in and of itself does not make sense as a "replacement" for surprise chance. So what benefit does it provide? A lowly human thief in leather armor should probably have the same chance as an elf or halfling in non-metallic armor for surprising an opponent. After all, their very class functions include this stealth. But the rules as written do not support this. Additionally, it appears on the chart that Moving Silently for an elven thief is only 5% better than a human, and for a halfling thief is 10% better. So, the percentage does not really equate to surprise at all, but rather an increased chance of surprise.

In fact, looking at the PLAYERS HANDBOOK description of the Move Silently ability, it even states that:

"Moving Silently can be attempted each time the thief moves. It can be used to approach an area where some creature is expected, thus increasing chances for surprise (q.v.), or to approach to back stab, or simply done to pass some guard or watchman. Failure (a dice score in excess of the adjusted base chance) means that movement was not silent (see SURPRISE). Success means movement was silent."

The DMG defines silent and invisible movement as an increase to 4 in 6 chances of surprise. Now, looking at some of the monsters in the MONSTER MANUAL (again, a book designed at the end of the Original D&D era), one can see that most ambush predators only have a 3 in 6 chance of surprise, and most invisible opponents have a 4 in 6 or 5 in 6 chance of surprise. Does this mean that elves and halflings are unseen while moving? Does this mean that the lowly human thief has only a 3 in 6 chance to surprise? The Hide in Shadows ability strictly disallows the use of this ability while moving, so one can never Move Silently while Hiding in Shadows. So why do the elves and halflings who aren't even thieves get the 4 in 6 chance to surprise? Again, this harkens back to the days of Original D&D when elves were the masters of camouflage in the forest, able to move without sound and be considered invisible when in foliage. Halflings also had a similar ability in natural surroundings, mainly due to their size and natural stealth. So how does this translate to AD&D? Well, Gygax obviously allowed this traditionally outdoor ability to be used indoors, thus increasing chances for surprise for elves and halflings. But there is a caveat here. The ability first off does not apply to half-elves, only full-blooded elves. It stipulates that the elf or halfling must be alone and not in metal armor (or well in advance (90'+) of a party not consisting entirely of elves and/or halflings) in order to gain the 4 in 6 chance for surprise. If a door has to be opened to proceed, the chance drops to normal 2 in 6. Again, what if the character is an elven or halfling thief? Should this further increase their chance of surprise to 5 in 6? After all, the elf or halfling is being granted this extra ability due to moving silently. The rules are silent on this...

It is my belief that normal Move Silently successes merely increase the chance to surprise to the same as an ambush predator that also moves silently (like some monsters, especially the bugbear, whose 3 in 6 chance to surprise is directly stated as being due to silent movement). Elves and halflings somehow are able to move so stealthily that they have increased chances of surprise as if they were silent and invisible (4 in 6). Thus, any elf not wearing metal armor, is essentially better at sneaking around than a non-elven thief when it comes to surprising in combat situations only. It does not, however, mean that an elf can simply sneak past a guard or tip-toe near a dragon, since they have no Move Silently ability as a thief does. However, if the surprise roll simply means it is a detection roll, then it could mean that an elf or halfling might have the ability to do so even though they don't possess the class ability (but they must be alone and not in metal armor). If you are a halfling or elf, and not wearing metal armor, you are giving up protection for the increase in stealth, so it is somewhat balanced. Should an elven magic-user be sneaking up on a monster for surprise? Probably not. But most leather-wearing elves and halflings would likely be thieves anyway. In any case, it doesn't work unless they are alone, and ambushing a creature alone in a dungeon is a very risky proposition!

Okay, so if moving silently normally grants a character 3 in 6 to surprise, and moving silently and invisibly grants 4 in 6 to surprise, how does one achieve 5 in 6 to surprise? A few basic monsters actually have this chance, including huge spiders, the giant lynx, giant owls, xorn, and invisible stalkers. What does it represent? Well, the huge spiders represent a class of hunting spiders that ambush by leaping or lurking, such as wolf spiders or trapdoor spiders. Giant owls are said to glide to the attack on silent wings, so the attack is coming unexpectedly from above I suppose. Xorn can emerge from the solid rock to attack, so there really is no hint that anything is even there. Invisible stalkers are naturally invisible but also fly, so there is nothing to even warn the target before they are attacked. And the giant lynx? Who knows, that's a weird one. Maybe Gygax had a soft spot for this creature since there is nothing else to distinguish it from any other great cat (which typically have 3 in 6 or 4 in 6 chances of surprise). I don't see any reason to give a giant lynx that kind of advantage, but how often does one encounter this creature anyway?

Right off the bat, you can see that there are better chances for monsters to surprise characters than for characters to surprise monsters. Also, there is no automatic surprise for any creatures. However, this is where we get into that gray area in the rules. Some monsters are stated as being 90-95% undetectable before they attack (shadows in dim lighting, mimics, piercers, etc.). Their entire existence and mode of attack is dependent upon surprise. Does this percentage represent their ability to surprise opponents? It is a detection roll, after all, and what is a surprise roll if not a detection roll? A piercer is 95% likely to attack by surprise. How many segments of surprise does 95% represent? Since the roll is not being made on a d6, can one even use the segments rule of surprise?

An article was written in the May 1988 issue of DRAGON Magazine ("Surprise!" by Leigh L. Krehmeyer) that tried to resolve this conflict by equating non-standard surprise percentages to a number of segments depending on the die roll. I suggest that this may be unnecessary. As I stated in my original surprise article, I believe that surprise can only result in two conditions - surprise or complete surprise. These terms are used in the books themselves (although they are never defined), and I later found their definition in Original D&D (so they are a carry-over from those rules). You can still use the segment rule just fine for normal surprise chances (2 in 6), but if one side has a higher chance to surprise, you run into some issues. Say a hunting spider (5 in 6) surprises a party who had no chance to surprise the spider (using light, armored in metal armor, not really trying to be quiet, etc.). If the roll to surprise was a 5, then according to the DMG, those poor characters will now suffer 5 rounds worth of attacks as the spider mercilessly decimates (and likely poisons) them. Is this fair? Not from the players' perspective. On the other hand, per the rules, an elven archer dressed in leather armor alone in the woods comes across a camp of orcs. He can surprise them 4 in 6. Per the rules, if the surprise roll was a 4, that's 4 segments of attacks with a bow that attacks at 3x the normal rate of fire! Basically, that elf just emptied his quiver before those orcs even knew what was happening! A surprise attack is basically a flank attack, since the attack is coming at you from an undetermined/unexpected direction, so no shield or Dex bonuses for those orcs (if the DM even has this information). Most elves have higher than normal Dexterity, have +1 to hit with bows, and this elf is likely a higher level than the orcs, so his chance to hit them is pretty good. Should a lone spider be able to decimate a party, or a lone elf decimate a dozen orcs? The rules seem to support this.

Where this really gets crazy is when almost ALL the monsters encountered have non-standard chances of surprise. Consider the first time the module D1 was run at GENCON. The rules were still new, the DMG I think was not available yet, and the players were going on the word of the DMs when it came to running combat. Suddenly they were faced with drow, jermlaine, and svirfneblin, all sorts of ambush creatures in the underworld, and most of the PCs used in the tournament adventure were elves! Right there, that's a nightmare for a DM to determine all the variables involved with the surprise roll. The solution - use a second roll to determine the number of segments of a surprise. Keeping it simple allows the combat to run smoothly and still gives the benefit of surprise without an overwhelming advantage to those creatures with increased chance of surprise.

Of course, if you would prefer running surprise by-the-book, you are more than welcome to try. It's not as nightmarish at it would seem at first. Let's take the spider example above and use the scenario from T1: The Village of Hommlet as an example. In this scenario, an abandoned tower houses a huge spider lurking in the shadows. The characters enter through a broken door on the north face of an 18' diameter round tower. The setup states that it is a wolf spider (so it leaps up to 3" (30')  to attack) and that it is lurking on a portion of the ruined floor of the collapsed upper part. So, if it gained 5 segments of surprise, it would likely leap to the attack on the 1st segment (treated as a charge attack at +2 on an unsuspecting target, so no shield or Dex bonuses to AC), if it failed to hit (not likely) it would thus have 4 more bite attacks on the target before the party could even do anything. But remember that Dex adjustments affect surprise for the individual, so if anyone in the party had an 18 Dex, that person would only be surprised for 2 segments. What happens to the other party members during the other 3 segments? Does that mean that the spider gets only 3 segments of complete surprise on the party, then has to roll for initiative with the higher Dex combatant while still conducting combat in surprise segments? This is what it seems like to me. That means that the spider and high Dex party member roll initiative for the last 3 segments of surprise, have to continue moving at segment speed, and can otherwise act as if attacking during a surprise segment. If the character were a thief, they could move to the spider (1 segment), then attack twice (2 segments); if they were an illusionist or magic-user, they could cast a 1 segment spell (1 segment), move (1 segment), then stab the spider with a dagger (1 segment); if they were a fighter they could move and attack as a thief, above; and if they were a cleric or druid they could move and attack, but spellcasting would likely be impossible since segment speed must be used, and most cleric/druid spells take 3+ segments to cast. If the high Dex character was the target of the spider's attack, then he would suffer 2 segments of attacks from the spider (one leaping charge attack, plus one normal attack), followed by 3 segments of initiative between the two combatants. In any case, the character involved in the combat above is likely level 1-3, and surviving 5 segments of poison bites is not very likely. What is more likely is that the character would be attacked successfully on the initial leap/charge attack, fail his poison save, then be dragged by the spider off into the shadows to be fed upon. The outcome would be death for that character. And considering that this is only the second encounter in the module as written, that player would be forced to spend the next few hours hating the game or rolling up another character that the DM has to somehow work into the game.

If you decide not to use the segment rule as written, you also have to modify the Reaction adjustment for Dexterity rule, otherwise characters with 17-18 Dexterity scores are NEVER surprised. If this sounds fair to you, then by all means use this. Otherwise, I would suggest that you only negate one segment of surprise if they have any Reaction bonus of +1 or higher. Thus, if the creature gains surprise, their reflexes counter it. If the creature gains complete surprise, however, then they only mitigate surprise for one segment and are able then to act before their slower companions.

Surprise can be devastating by-the-book with archers at the ready. Assume a typical adventuring party of 3 fighters, a cleric, a magic-user, and maybe two thieves enters the underworld and is ambushed by a band of 8 drow fighters of 3rd level all armed with hand crossbows hidden on an upper ledge. Assuming that there are no rangers or monks in the party, they are at the mercy of the normal surprise chances for the drow (which is 75%). Since the light sources of the party are torches, the drow are not affected by the party's light and cannot be surprised since they will see this light approach from a long distance away. Hand crossbows have a fire rate of 1, so if they gain surprise, they can each fire 3 bolts each segment (DMG, p. 62, 1st column, 3rd paragraph). So how many segments of surprise are gained?

Well, you can do this one of two ways. By the book there is no explanation; you could convert the percentage rolled to segments by dividing that number by roughly 17%. Thus if the roll was 73%, the party is surprised for 73/17 = 4.29 segments, rounded to the next nearest whole number, so 4 segments of surprise. Assuming that the crossbows are loaded and each drow has enough bolts, that would result in 4 segments x 8 drow x 3 shots/drow = 96 attacks before the party even has a chance to react. Remember that this does not count reaction adjustments for the characters, and attacks should be made as if the characters are unaware, thus they are treated as flank attacks unless some drow get rear attacks at +2 (this means no shield or Dex adjustments). Add in the -4 saves versus poison for the drow darts and you can see how devastating surprise rules are by-the-book.

It has been suggested by some on the Dragonsfoot forums that the 3x fire rate is based on the round, not the segment. So an arrow that has a fire rate of 2 normally, would have a fire rate of 6 during surprise. This would result in an arrow being shot every other segment with two shots coming back-to-back at the middle of the round (X o X o X X o X o X). So you can then determine that if you have 4 segments of surprise, an archer should get a shot on the 1st and 3rd segments. Therefore, they are NOT getting 3 shots each segment, but rather an increased fire rate that allows possibly more shots to be fired faster. Note that spells (and magic item usage) that are based on segments still require that amount of time to use! So if you have a 3 segment casting time for a spell or 2 segment activation time for a wand, you still need that time to cast or use the item regardless of whether you have surprise segments or normal rounds. In the case of the hand crossbows, 3x fire rate would result in no more than three shots per round, or roughly one shot every 3 segments of surprise. Thus they would have 1 shot on the 1st segment and another on the 4th segment. This is much more in line with the intention of the rule. Given that fire rates in the PHB range from 1/2 to 3, one can make a chart based on how many and when they go during surprise.

Fire Rate   3x Fire Rate Round (X = shot, o = delay or reload)
1/2            (X o o o o o X o o o)(o o o X o o o o o o)
1               (X o o o X o o o X o)
2               (X o X o XX o X o X)
3               (X X X X X X o X X X)

According to the above, if you are using a heavy crossbow (fire rate 1/2) you would get, at most, one shot off before requiring to reload, even at 3x rate. A troglodyte hurling a javelin (fire rate 1) would get only 1 shot off unless they somehow got 5 segments of surprise (which I don't believe is possible since they can only surprise 4 in 6 at most). An elven archer with 4 in 6 surprise and fire rate of 2 for his bow would at most get 2 shots off. And lastly, a jermlaine throwing darts fire rate 3) with 5 in 6 chance for surprise, would be able to throw a missile every segment of surprise gained! In this way, only melee attacks are treated as if it were a round. This makes sense since a round of time for melee is supposed to consist of dodging, riposting, and deflected attacks; if the surprised person cannot defend themselves, then all those thrusts and slashes are actually uncontested and have a chance of hitting and scoring damage.

Your other option is to simply use the method I've suggested in other posts. Each surprise roll has two components: the check to see if surprise exists, and then if so how many segments it lasts. If the first roll indicates surprise, the second roll of d6 means that 1-3 = one segment, and 4-6 = two segments. You might allow stealthy opponents to cause +1 or even +2 segments of surprise (or change the ranges so that 1-3 = 1 segment, 4-5 = 2 segments, and 6 = 3 segments), and if this is done Reaction adjustments should be used as normal. Otherwise, if a character gains a Reaction adjustment from high Dexterity, simply reduce the second roll by 1. In this way, complete surprise (2 segments) still has a chance of affecting a high Dexterity character and does not make them immune to surprise. Using the drow example above, the DM could roll for surprise chance - let's say he rolls 53%, thus indicating surprise. Then a roll of 2 on d6 indicates that there is 1 segment of surprise. High Dex characters would be able to negate this surprise individually. If the roll indicated there were 2 segments of surprise, even high Dex characters would be surprised. Using this method, allow the 3x fire rate per segment, as it will be far less devastating. Thus, if the drow gained 1 segment, they could fire freely on those surprised at 3 shots per segments, but only get 1 shot on those who are not surprised. If the drow scored 2 segments (complete surprise) then they get off 6 shots each (3 shots per segment for 2 segments) before the party can react. This could still lead to a bad ambush situation, but much better than being surprised for 4 segments by-the-book.

Again, interpretation of the rules and how the DM wishes to view Surprise is important and should be worked out ahead of time so that the players know the mechanics of surprise before the condition occurs. Although I favor by-the-book rules in most circumstances, this is because I have yet to use non-standard surprise creatures in my adventures. That is about to change with the characters in my AD&D campaign about to engage multiple drow in the dungeons of G3. Hopefully, the experience won't end my campaign!