| Ref | Ouvrage | Question | | Reponse |
---|
141. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | I am very confused about
the range of spells. Look in the Players
Handbook (page 78) at Wall of Fire or
Wall of Ice spells. 6”? Also, look at the
area of effect. The book says “radius of
the ring-shaped wall of fire is 1”+¼” per
level of experience of the magic-user
casting it.” What is this in reality? | | Under “Distance” on page 39
of the Players Handbook, it is stated that
the scale of distance is 1” = 10 feet, or 1”
= 10 yards, depending on whether the
adventure is taking place underground
or aboveground. Thus, the range of a
Wall of fire is 60 feet underground, 60
yards (180 feet) aboveground. However,
a spell’s area of effect should almost always
be translated using the 1” = 10 feet
scale, whether underground or not; the
wall of fire created by the spell has a
radius of 10 feet plus another 2½ feet for
each level of the caster, no matter where
it is cast. |
142. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | The Speak with Animals
spell allows communication only with
“basically normal, non-fantastic creatures
such as apes, bears, cats, dogs,
elephants and so on.” (Players Handbook,
page 46) Does this mean that anything
in the Monster Manual cannot be
spoken to? | | The Monster Manual includes
many examples of “non-fantastic creatures.”
Generally, they include all monsters
whose AD&D™ attributes correspond
to the abilities and characteristics
of the actual animals, and who do not
have any magical or unnatural abilities
— such as (to name just a few) elephant,
jaguar, herd animals, flightless birds,
whales and camels. Generally, Speak
with Animals cannot be employed
against creatures which are altered versions
of “real” animals, such as the Giant
Skunk or Giant Beetles, because these
are not “basically normal” creatures with
regard to the natural animals of those
types. |
143. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | Do player character gnomes
have constitutional poison resistance?
This is mentioned in the Monster Manual
but not in the Players Handbook. | | The concept of a player character
is built around the idea that such
figures are generally above average,
compared to the norm for their race. Using
that reasoning, it is permissible to
award the gnome’s special poison resistance
to player character gnomes as
well as NPC gnomes. For player characters,
assign the poison saving-throw bonus
according to constitution (as per the
Players Handbook), instead of simply allowing
a save at 4 levels higher (as noted
in the Monster Manual). |
144. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | With regard to weapon type
“to hit” adjustments, does the table on
page 38 of the Players Handbook refer to
armor types without shields? If the opponent
was wearing chain and shield
should we refer to column 5 (scale mail +
shield/chain mail) or column 4 (chain
mail + shield/splint mail/banded mail)? | | Chain mail by itself is AC 5;
with shield it is AC 4. The problem lies
with determining what the “/” marks on
the Armor Class Table (PH, page 36)
mean. Each mark separates a specific
type of combination of armor which
shares the same AC rating with the others
grouped with it. A shield, when one is
conjunction
with the type of armor which precedes
it, not the type which comes after
the “/“. |
145. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | Are player characters allowed
to be drawn from Grey Elf stock or
Drow stock? | | Each DM must decide whether
such unusual player-character types
will be allowed in his/her campaign. In
the case of unusual elf types, there
should be a possibility for a player character
to become any of the elf subspecies,
including aquatic elves and wood
elves. However, it should be apparent
that life as a player character under such
conditions would be hard — for the
character, the player, and most of all the
DM, who must be prepared to cope with
the added responsibility of trying to incorporate
such a “rare” character into
the campaign without sacrificing its balance
and flexibility. |
146. | DR047 | Dragon #47 | is it okay for a chaotic good
character to torture others? To slay heipless
opponents? To back stab? | | The act of torturing is basically
“ungood,” and even in the case of extreme
hatred for another race or creature
type a good character will not perform
such an act. But there might be times
when it is justified, if the end result is
good and it cannot be achieved any other
way. A character who can justify his
actions (to the DM) in such a manner
might expect to be able to torture an
enemy without changing his alignment
status. The “clean” slaying of helpless
opponents is acceptable, if those opponents
had previously presented a challenge
to the character and his party and
had attempted to harm the chaotic good
character. The act of back stabbing by a
chaotic good character is acceptable
when it is performed on an enemy of the
character and his party — but turning on
other party members in the middle of an
adventure is not a good act. |
147. | DR048 | Dragon #48 | Once a character drops a
class to switch to another class, can
he/she ever gain levels in his/her former
class? | | No. According to page 33 of
the Players Handbook, “...no progression
in the original class is possible” after a
character decides to switch to a different
profession. Note that this is different
from a multi-classed character, who
holds two or more professions simultaneously
and gains experience in more
than one class at the same time. Also
note that only human characters can
“drop a class” and take up a new one. |
148. | DR048 | Dragon #48 | First, can Clerics or Paladins
cure themselves by a Cure Light
Wounds spell or by “laying hands” on
themselves? Second, do Clerics or Magic-
Users get experience points for casting
spells? | | As stated in the description of
the Paladin character class (Players Handbook,
page 22), the Paladin can “lay
hands” on his/her own person or any
other character or creature. However,
the rules of the AD&D™ game do not
specify whether or not the Cure Light
Wounds spell can be used on the body of
the caster. However, the recently revised
and expanded rulebook for the DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS® game does specify
that Cure Light Wounds “may be
cast on the cleric’s own body” (D&D®
Basic Rulebook, 1980 edition, page B15).
This does not mean that the AD&D version
of the spell must be handled in the
same manner, because there is no direct
relationship between the rules for the
D&D Basic Game and the AD&D game.
Ultimately, the decision is up to the
AD&D Dungeon Master; it would certainly
be logical and reasonable to allow
the Cure spells to heal the spell caster, if
the DM wished to allow such activity.
Second, there is no provision in the
AD&D rules for awarding experience
points for the simple casting of spells.
There are, however, many unspecified
factors which the DM may take into consideration
when determining how many
points a character has gained. In a particular
campaign, it might be quite appropriate
for the DM to award experience
points for the successful casting of any
spell, or of certain spells. (For instance,
just “getting off” a spell in the manner it
was intended might be a noteworthy
accomplishment against an opponent
with a high degree of magic resistance,
and such an accomplishment might indeed
be deserving of an experiencepoint
bonus.) As with so many other
questions, the answer lies in the preference
of the DM and the conditions present
in his/her campaign. |
149. | DR048 | Dragon #48 | Should a neutral good bard
be allowed to back stab? | | Yes. Since bards have previously
acquired thieving experience,
they receive benefits on attacking from
the rear just as thieves do. A neutral
good character would be allowed to
back stab under the conditions described
above for a chaotic good character —
any time the attack is made against a
known enemy and not a helpless or
harmless victim. |
150. | DR048 | Dragon #48 | In the ninth-level Magic-
User spell Power Word, Kill the spell
description states, “The power word will
destroy a creature with up to 60 hit
points, or it will kill 2 or more creatures
with 10 or fewer hit points...” How should
the word “destroy” be interpreted, as
“blown out of existence” or “merely
killed”? | | One way to answer this question
is to refer to the description of the
sixth-level MU spell, Death Spell. That
spell’s description states that affected
creatures are slain “instantly and irrevocably,”
which means without possibility
of resurrection. Since Power Word,
Kill is a more powerful spell than Death
Spell, it is reasonable to assume that victims
of that spell are also not able to be
resurrected. Whether or not they are
literally “blown out of existence” depends
on the nature of the creatures(s) destroyed,
but in any event victims are not
“merely killed.” |