| Ref | Ouvrage | Question | | Reponse |
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71. | DR037 | Dragon #37 | A player in our campaign is a dwarf Fighter
with a Constitution of 7. When she got the Players Handbook,
she discovered that such a thing is illegal. Should the DM
simply treat this as an abnormal character, or is there
another way to solve the problem? | | There are two main alternatives. One is to let her remain
as she is, but instead of saving as a dwarf with the automatic bonuses,
she should save as a human. Or, her Constitution score could be
altered (by raising it to the legal minimum of 12 for dwarves) so that
she would conform to the rules in the Players Handbook. Specific
solutions to problems like this should always be handled by the DM,
since he/she knows the campaign better than anyone else and is best
able to determine which alternatives would fit best into the game. |
72. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Can a relatively weak magic item such as a
Potion of Gaseous Form be used to fulfill the function of a
Remove Curse? For instance, a character put a Ring of Weakness
on his finger and is now cursed. If he drinks the Potion of
Gaseous Form, would the ring slip off his finger when he
became gaseous, or would the curse be removed in some
way? | | Heavens, no! Each magic item was created to have a
special purpose to function; a Potion of Gaseous Form cannot be
used to substitute for a Remove Curse, and neither can any other
magic item. The above character would simply become a weak
character who is now in gaseous form. But the curse is still in effect,
and the ring would “return’’ to his finger once the effects of the
potion have worn off.
The only possible way to remove the effects of the curse without
a Remove Curse would be to kill the character. Then, if the DM will
permit it, the party can slip the ring off his finger. This method is more
costly than using a Remove Curse, however, since the character
would then have to be raised. |
73. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Is there such a thing as a lawful neutral Paladin?
We have a dwarf who is one. | | No, there is no such thing as a lawful neutral Paladin—
and, for that matter, there is no such thing as a dwarven Paladin. All
Paladins must be human and must be lawful good in alignment. |
74. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | If a Ranger is hired to do a job, signs a contract,
and then walks out on the agreement, is he in violation
of his lawful good alignment? | | It’s impossible to answer this question accurately, because
I don’t know what the circumstances were behind his not
fulfilling the agreement, or for him signing the contract in the first
place. In fact, I don’t even know what the agreement was. This is
something that the DM of your game must decide, based upon the
conditions of the agreement which was violated. Was it a fair
arrangement? Was the Ranger forced into signing it? If so, did he
then try to manipulate events so that the agreement would be
impossible to fulfill? All these questions, and more, are important to
deciding this issue. You can’t simply charge someone with violating
his alignment just because he failed to live up to an agreement. |
75. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Weapons like the three one-handed swords,
the footman’s and horseman’s flail, and the many pole arms
are all used in basically the same manner as the others of
that type. Are these weapons treated as separate weapons
for determining proficiency, or can a character be proficient
in all of them at once since they are forms of the same
general weapon type? | | Every weapon is different enough from every other one
to require a separate proficiency for each one. A character who can
use one of the pole arms cannot automatically know how to use all
pole arms. The same thing holds true with swords, for instance:
Imagine a halfling who is quite skilled in the use of a short sword
attempting to use a long sword or a broad sword. Obviously, the
proficiency with the short sword would not automatically transfer to
the other types. |
76. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Why can’t human, half-elf and elven Magic-
Users wear armor and still cast spells? Elves and half-elves
who are Magic-Users and Fighters can, so I don’t believe it is
because of the iron in their armor or weapons. If it is because
of training, then Magic-Users could be able to learn how to
wear armor and cast spells at the same time—and even a
human Magic-User/Fighter could train to acquire the
ability. | | This is a tough one. I would like to provide a logical
answer why M-Us can’t wear armor—but I can’t because there isn’t
one. The only reason for the restriction is game balance, giving each
character class advantages and disadvantages which will make it
comparable in power and potential with the other classes.
As part of the built-in game balance, elven and half-elf Fighter/
Magic-Users are limited as to how far they may rise in experience
levels. They also must divide their experience points between more
than one class. So, to make that type of character one which players
will desire to try, those particular spell-casters are allowed to wear
armor and cast spells.
Even though elven and half-elf Magic-Users are also limited in
how many levels they can gain, they are forbidden to wear armor
because human Magic-Users are also not allowed to be armored. If
elven and half-elf M-Us could wear armor, why would anyone want
to be a human M-U? |
77. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Please clear up an apparent rules contradiction
in the AD&D Players Handbook. On page 10 it gives a list
of how many spells a Magic-User can know, based on intelligence
and the chance for knowing them. But on page 26 it
states that the Magic-User can only cast a certain number of
spells, according to the level of the spell and the level of the
spell caster. Must the DM decide which table to use, or
what? | | The table on page 10 shows how many spells the caster
may know due to intelligence, not how many he/she can cast. These
spells are the ones which are written in the spell-caster’s spell books.
The table on page 26 indicates what levels of spells and how many
from each level may be memorized at one time (from the spell
books) for casting at a later time. As the Magic-User increases in
levels, so does his/her ability to learn and memorize more spells. The
tables are designed to be used together, not separately. |
78. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | If a character changes his alignment from
Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Neutral Good, does the character
have to lose a level? | | A character cannot be Chaotic Neutral Good, because
this violates the alignment structure. A character could, however, be
described as Chaotic Neutral, tending towards Good. If a character exhibits this tendency, he/she should not lose a level. However, if
he/she changes completely from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good,
then a loss in level becomes necessary. |
79. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Is it possible for all character races to have
psionlcs, or is that power restricted? | | As stated in the Players Handbook, page 110, the DM
may allow psionics to be used in a campaign by humans, and
possibly by dwarves and halflings of an exceptional nature. No other
character race may have psionic power. |
80. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | In TD-37’s “Sage Advice” there was a question
referring to the paralysis caused by ghouls, ghasts and
carrion crawlers. The reply stated that the duration of the
paralysis was not clearly defined in any of the rule books.
However, a duration for the paralysis inflicted by ghouls is
given on page 15 of T1, The Village of Hommlet. It states that
“Any human or demi-human must save vs. paralyzation or
become immobile for 3-12 turns.” I suppose this is the
official word. Still, what is the duration of the paralysis
caused by ghasts and carrion crawlers? | | According to Lawrence Schick, Vice-President for
Production and Design at TSR Hobbies, the paralyzation caused by
carrion crawlers is of the same duration as that caused by ghouls—
3-12 turns. Paralyzation caused by a ghast takes twice as long—6-24
turns—to wear off. |