| Ref | Ouvrage | Question | | Reponse |
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211. | DR064 | Dragon #64 | Are all of the attributes having required minimums to be
construed as “principal attributes” for that class with regard to
two-classed characters? | | Yes, with two exceptions. For the purpose of determining
whether a character is eligible to take up a second class, principal
attributes for each class are considered to be these: cleric,
wisdom only; druid, wisdom and charisma; fighter, strength
only; paladin, everything but dexterity; ranger, everything but
dexterity and charisma; magic-user, intelligence only; illusionist,
dexterity and intelligence; thief, dexterity only; assassin,
dexterity, intelligence, and strength; and monk, everything but
charisma and intelligence.
This includes every ability for which a required minimum is
given, except for the fighter’s constitution, which must be at
least 7, and the magic-user’s dexterity, which the Players
Handbook says must be at least 6. The first exception is made
because “The principal attribute of a fighter is strength,” but
constitution isn’t mentioned in the same sentence (PH, page
22). A “minimum dexterity of 6” is required for magic-users
(page 25), but this is superfluous, since a character with a
dexterity of 5 or lower is always a cleric (page 11).
Note that the principal attribute(s) for each class may include
abilities in addition to those that apply toward a bonus to
earned experience. To limit the definition of “principal attributes”
to only those abilities that pertain to the experience bonus
would make the system unbalanced and unplayable — unbalanced
because then it would be easier to become a two-classed
paladin than a two-classed ranger, and unplayable because the
assassin and monk never get an experience bonus, and so by
this definition would not have any “principal attributes.”
|
212. | DR064 | Dragon #64 | If a follower gains a higher level than his master, does the
follower continue to serve? Can a follower who has reached the
proper level gain followers of his own? If so, are they under the
control of the master or the master’s follower? | | The relationship between followers and their master is, on a
smaller scale, similar to the relationship between clerics and
their deities: So much depends on how the roles are played, and
on the particulars of each campaign, that it's impossible to
dictate in a set of rules how one side of the relationship will
interact with the other.
With regard to followers and when (if ever) they stop being
followers, a few general statements may be risked:
If a follower ever gains an experience level equal to or higher
than the master’s — and the DM has been fair about awarding
experience when it is deserved — then the master probably
brought about the “role reversal” by not actively adventuring or
in some way causing a delay in his or her level advancement.
Human (and humanoid) nature is such that a follower who gets
close or equal to his master in powers and abilities will think
about striking out on his own, and sooner or later he’ll try to do
something about fulfilling that desire.
Maybe the master will opt for a pre-emptive strike, hoping to
subjugate or vanquish a follower who looms as a threat to the
master’s power and authority.
If a follower remains subservient to his master while both the
master and follower keep rising in levels, it’s possible to develop
a hierarchy of followers beneath other followers, all of them
ultimately beholding to the master who originally became eligible
to have followers.
In any sort of master-follower relationship, it isn’t possible for
the boss to “control” his followers the way you control an
undead (or vice versa). A follower’s allegiance to his master
may be strong, but it can’t be expected to remain unshakeable
for an indefinite length of time unless those who aid their
master’s cause are given credit (power and/or other rewards)
when credit is due. And followers are just like you and me: the
more they get, the more they want. . . . |
213. | DR064 | Dragon #64 | How can the level of spell use be determined for a paladin or a
ranger? Is a ranger required to carry a spell book? Do druids,
bards, paladins, or rangers gain bonus spells for high wisdom? | | An 8th-level ranger or a 9th-level paladin begins using spells
as a caster of the 1st experience level in the appropriate class.
When a ranger reaches 9th level, he or she will operate for
spell-casting purposes as a 1st-level magic-user or a 2nd-level
druid, depending on which category of magic is employed. The
“level of casting” for paladins and rangers increases by one
each time the character gains a new experience level, so that a
20th-level paladin would cast spells as a 12th-level cleric and a
17th-level ranger would have the spell-casting ability of a 10thlevel
druid and a 9th-level magic-user.
Is this fair? Sure — a whole lot more fair than the other
obvious alternative, which would be to let a 9th-level paladin
(for example) cast spells as a 9th-level cleric, by equating actual
level with spell-casting level. This just doesn’t make sense, in
terms of game balance or for so-called realistic reasons. The
Players Handbook describes the spell ability of both rangers
and paladins as “limited,” and the charts on pages 24 and 25
illustrate many of the ways in which that ability is so limited.
One restriction not specifically mentioned is the one suggested
above, “limiting” the effective level of a spell-casting paladin or
ranger to the number of “spell-casting levels” the character has
attained. This certainly follows the intent of the rules, and is
logical and playable.
Yes, a ranger needs a spell book to cast magic-user spells,
and mistletoe to make effective use of his or her druid spell
ability. And a paladin won’t get far as a caster of cleric spells
without a holy symbol. The rules and regulations on how (and
whether) spells are acquired and cast must be met for the
spelt-caster, regardless of class, to make the magic work.
The druid class should be allowed bonus spells for high
wisdom, because it is a sub-class of cleric and thereby entitled
to the bonus, the same way that the ranger and paladin can
have exceptional strength since they are fighter sub-classes.
But, bards should not be allowed bonus spells for high wisdom,
first and foremost they are never truly members of that class.
Second, nothing in the Players Handbook indicates that a bard
was intended to get this bonus. Any bard needs a wisdom score
of at least 15, so if the wisdom bonus were meant to be taken
into account, every bard would start off with three druid spells
— more than some 1st-level druids are capable of having.
Because they’re not actually druids or clerics, rangers and
paladins don’t get bonus spells for high wisdom. As with the
bard, their wisdom requirements are so high that any paladin or
ranger would automatically get bonus spells upon acquiring
spell ability, making those characters much more magically
powerful than they deserve to be. Paladins, rangers, and bards
should be allowed to cast their spells with a 0% chance of
failure, just as a cleric or druid of equally high wisdom would
— but that should be the only way in which wisdom affects
spell-casting for those three classes.
The ranger’s intelligence does, however, have an effect on
how many magic-user spells he or she can learn. High intelligence
doesn’t give any direct benefit in the number of spells a
character can use at one time; that ability, even for magic-users
and illusionists, is tied to level of experience and not intelligence.
Instead, intelligence is a measure of the character’s
capacity to learn a certain spell and store a certain number of
such spells for future reference.
The rules state that a ranger “must check as to which spells
he or she can learn, just as if he or she were a magic-user” (PH,
page 25), and it follows that rangers would also abide by the
minimums and maximums regarding how many spells can be
learned. A 9th-level ranger with minimal (13) intelligence will
have a 55% chance to know any particular 1st-level magic-user
spell, and will be able to compile a repertoire of no fewer than
six and no more than nine 1st-level spells — but the character
can still only memorize (and later employ) one spell at a time.
|
214. | DR064 | Dragon #64 | How do racial limits apply to multi-classed characters? | | The same way they apply to everybody else: absolutely. Experience
points are always divided evenly between all the professions
of a multi-classed character, even if the character is
not able to attain a higher level in one or more of those classes
because of race. A half-orc cleric/assassin could become a
high-level assassin, but would never achieve clerical expertise
of higher than 4th level. A single-classed assassin needs 6,000
experience points to rise from 4th to 5th level, but this half-orc
actually has to earn 12,000 experience points to get credit for
5th level, because half of everything he gets must go toward
paying his dues to the cleric class. (Only a half-orc can be smart
enough to be an assassin and still dumb enough to want to be a
cleric at the same time.) |
215. | DR064 | Dragon #64 | When a character has one ability score low enough to be
“forced” into a class, what happens if the character’s other
ability scores are not high enough to qualify for that class? | | Either you’re rolling cursed dice, or the DM is using a strange,
special system for generating ability scores. In either case, the
most obvious solution is to crumple up the piece of paper with
those six terrible numbers on it, take a fresh sheet, and pretend
that character never happened.
How and why would a player get in this kind of predicament
to begin with? The player decides (in most character-generation
systems) which ability to assign to which number — so why
would anyone knowingly saddle a character with a super-low
score (one of those “here or lower” numbers) and thereby
commit that character to a class it is not qualified for? If you’re
unlucky enough to roll a 3, 4, or 5 for an ability score, your
choices become a lot more limited — but there still are choices.
Assign the lowest of your six scores after you’ve figured out
what to do with the highest rolls, not the other way around. |
216. | DR066 | Dragon #66 | Are demi-humans able to manufacture magical items? | | Yes, of a wide variety of types, though not as many as humans
are able to make because of the demi-humans’ limited ability to
climb in class levels. Halfling, gnomish, half-elven, elven, and
dwarven clerics of 5th level and above may make holy water
with the proper materials, as outlined in the Dungeon Masters
Guide. Gnomish, elven, and dwarven clerics of 7th level or
above may inscribe scrolls of clerical spells of up to the 4th level
in power. Half-elven and elven magic-users, with the aid of an
alchemist, may make magic potions of many sorts at 7th level
and above; they may also inscribe magic scrolls with spells of
up to the 4th level (for 7th or 8th level half-elven magic-users) or
5th level (for elves of 9th-11th level in magic-user ability). Protection
scrolls may also be inscribed. Half-elven Archdruids
can, of course, make any druidical magic item.
Beyond this, what can be done? Dungeon Masters might
wish to consider the following possibilities. Grey elves (faerie)
are supposed to get a +1 on their intelligence scores, bringing
their maximum intelligence up to 19. Could these elves perhaps
also reach the 12th level of magic-user ability with a 19 intelligence?
At that point, they could manufacture a number of other
magic items, particularly those with a number of charges that
are expended with each use of the item but may be replenished
later (wands, staves, spell-storing rings, and so forth).
Yet it would appear, from some comments in the DMG (p.
116), that demi-humans are sometimes capable of making
items with permanent dweomers. A Dungeon Master could
declare that a demi-human cleric who reaches the highest
possible level is able to invoke the favor of his or her deity to
permanently enchant certain items, in the same way as normal
clerics of 11th level or above, or druids of 13th level and above.
The range of the items that could be so enchanted might be
limited so that the items would be oriented toward the needs
and capabilities of that race (as the Cloak of Elvenkind and
Boots of Elvenkind are appropriate to elves, and the Dwarven
Thrower +3 Warhammer is appropriate to dwarves). Elven
cleric/magic-users might be able to make a wide variety of
items in this way, such as magic swords, bows, spears, arrows,
armor, shields, daggers, helms, and any other such item as
appropriate to the use of elvenkind. Dungeon Masters could
declare some items as not being the sort elves would want to
make, either because of cultural concerns (elves do not generally
use axes or tridents) or because those items are beyond
their ability to make (Wish rings, for example).
Gnomish cleric/illusionists might make and enchant items of
illusionist nature (daggers, rings charged with illusionist spells,
certain wands and amulets) of temporary or lasting nature;
other gnomish clerics or fighter/clerics might make magical
axes, hammers, armor, shields, daggers, short swords, and
missile weapons. Dwarven clerics or fighter/clerics would
make the same sorts of things gnomish clerics make. Halfling
clerics and druids do not achieve as high a level at their maximums
as do the other demi-human races, so it may be conjectured
that their magic items would not be as powerful, but DM’s
might want to investigate the possibility of some minor magicitem
creation appropriate to halflings in general.
Some excellent resource material for figuring out what sorts
of specialized magic items a certain demi-human race could
make may be found by looking over the description of the
particular pantheon that race worships. What sorts of weapons,
armor, and items do their deities use? One could simply develop
scaled-down versions of the gods’ major weapons and
equipment and define those as items able to be fabricated by
demi-human spellcasters. Halfling druids who worship Sheela
the Wise (issue #59 of DRAGON™ Magazine) might use permanently
enchanted shillelaghs or amulets that store Entangle
spells; dwarven clerics of Dumathoin (issue #58) might have
amulets that duplicate the functions of Wands of Metal and
Mineral Detection; Aerdrie Faenya (issue #60) could have elven
followers with rings of Feather Falling or Avian Control; and
gnomes who are clerics of Segojan Earthcaller (issue #61)
could have enchanted crystals that would summon (on a onetime
basis) a minor earth elemental for assistance. In any event,
Dungeon Masters should try to keep such magical items relatively
rare; DM’s should also note that demi-humans will not
want to sell or give away their magic items and will fight to keep
them. Only in extraordinary circumstances, such as for acts of
great heroism or deeds that greatly benefit a particular race,
will demi-humans even consider giving away a magical item.
|
217. | DR066 | Dragon #66 | How does one make or acquire “elfin chainmail”? | | Elfin chainmail is a special type of chainmail armor that is
much lighter and stronger than normal, and allows greater
freedom of movement. It is made exclusively by elven armorsmiths
of above average ability, who keep certain aspects of its
manufacture secret for a number of reasons. Even were its
manufacturing process better known, duplicating elfin armor
would prove very difficult for most armorers.
What little is known about making elfin chainmail is that the
links of the chainmail are much thinner and smaller in diameter
than usual. The metal from which elfin chainmail is made is
apparently an alloy of high-quality steel and mithral, a rare and
valuable metal of bright silvery color. In the process of making
the alloy, the elven smiths add a special substance to the
molten mixture to cause the metal to be harder; the nature of
this substance has never been identified, since it is either completely
absorbed into the metal in the smelting process, or
somehow destroyed. Not even magical devices appear to be
able to determine the nature of this substance. At any rate, the
presence or after-effects of this substance also make the alloy
impervious to enchantment, no matter how powerful the spell.
Elfin chainmail is linked together in an exceptionally intricate
fashion; the pattern of the interconnections of links changes
from place to place across the armor, so that certain general
designs may appear. One suit might seem to have a tree-like
design on the chest, another might have an abstract pattern of
criss-crossed lines, another might have sunburst designs on
front and back. The intricacy of the links is another reason
(aside from the nature of the alloy itself) for the armor’s
strength. It appears that only elves, because of their passion for
complexity and appreciation of artistic beauty, are able to
properly fashion the armor in this way.
It takes twice as long as normal to make a suit of elfin chainmail
(90 days instead of 45), and may take even longer than that
if the maker desires a particularly complex design for linking it
together. Only 25% of all elven smiths are able to fashion elfin
chainmail, the rest being occupied with making other sorts of
armor (ring mail, scale mail, etc.) or being of lesser ability.
Making elfin chainmail requires the full involvement of the
smith and many years of study as well; player character elves,
even those with exceptional characteristics and backgrounds
as smiths or armorers, are not able to make elfin chainmail
though they could make some minor repairs on it if necessary.
Player character elves could, however, obtain such armor as a
gift for extraordinary services rendered for the elven people; it
is considered a great honor to have a suit of mail made, and
some elves who own magical but human-made chainmail will
prefer to use elfin chainmail instead.
Dungeon Masters who like to start out characters with some
minor magical item could offer elven characters an elfin chainmail
suit instead, though evil elves would not be able to receive
this benefit. Non-elves are not given elfin chainmail by longestablished
tradition, and it is never sold. Elves regard it as an
artistic treasure as well as an expression of appreciation and
distinction; selling it would cheapen its social and cultural
value. Most non-elves are not able to wear elfin chainmail anyway,
since they do not have the proper build and size to fit an
already made suit, though some thin and light humans and a
few large tallfellow halflings might possibly be able to fit into it.
Elves would not appreciate seeing a non-elf wearing elfin
chainmail, however, and might believe the wearer got it by
killing or robbing the previous owner.
Elfin chainmail weighs about 15 pounds, allows movement at
normal speed (up to 12”), and is regarded as non-bulky; its
weight is very evenly distributed over the body and limbs. A thin
layer of underpadding is required, usually made of tough but
soft materials carefully woven to permit free movement and
good ventilation. Special small helms are usually worn with it,
and these take about a week each to make properly (including
decorations, engravings, and so forth).
|
218. | DR066 | Dragon #66 | Why are elves unable to become rangers? Why do half-elves
have limited ranger abilities? Shouldn’t sylvan elves have
ranger-like talents? How are certain of the elven deities able to
have ranger fighting abilities if their subjects do not? | | These questions are all interrelated to some degree, and are
some of the most-asked questions about elves in general. The
answer to all of them lies in the nature of the ranger class.
Rangers developed among humanity as a response to the
presence of the giant-class humanoids as direct competitors
for food, living space, and power within the worlds governed by
the laws of the AD&D™ game. The deities of humanity saw fit to
encourage certain persons to take up roles of guardianship, in
essence entrusted with the safety and security of the human
race. Rangers are intended to be self-reliant, strong, hardy, and
possessed of the wisdom and intelligence to fully appreciate
their roles as guardians. They operate in outdoor environments
by and large, thus being familiar with normal woodcrafts like
tracking, hunting, and camping. Rangers develop skills related
to stealthy movement, spying, and so forth, so they may better
serve as scouts, keeping tabs on local humanoid groups in the
wilderness and in so doing, keeping their home communities
and allied settlements informed of all happenings.
Tracking, however, does not a ranger make. One of the facts
of life about being a ranger is that rangers are going to be on the
hot spot, in the middle of some very savage fighting, on a fairly
frequent basis. Humanoids don’t like having humans around
them, much less having humans spy on them; furthermore,
rangers, in their roles as scouts, are somewhat more vulnerable
since they prefer travelling in smaller groups. It is forbidden for
more than three rangers to travel together, because when this
happens rangers interpret this as meaning that they are leaving
some other place undefended, and they will immediately try to
spread out and cover the widest area possible. On top of this,
rangers have (from their upbringing and studies) an intense
dislike (to put it mildly) of all evil humanoids. Rangers are not
just taught how to live off the land; they are taught to kill, and kill
efficiently and quickly. They learn the vulnerable spots giantclass
humanoids have, the ways in which they fight and wear
their armor, and the best way to do battle with them so that the
ranger, and not the humanoid, is still standing afterwards.
No bones are made about this; some rangers are fond of
describing their jobs as “going to exotic places, meeting interesting
creatures, and killing them.” However, it is understood
that the purpose of combat is not to make oneself rich, famous,
or fearsome. Combat is fought only if it cannot be avoided;
humanoids, though, offer all sorts of opportunities for combat
with their distinctly aggressive and often sadistic policies toward
humanity. Rangers are therefore “on call” at all times in
the defense of their homes, communities, and nations.
Elves, regardless of how they feel about humanoids, do not
make good rangers because their empathy for life and living
things runs counter to many of the teachings that rangers must
absorb and learn to use. Elves put a lot of emphasis in combat
on style, and cannot rid themselves of their distaste for killing
any creature, even evil ones and even when it’s necessary for
one’s own protection (though they are still perfectly capable of
fighting and killing, too). Rangers, whether lawful good, neutral
good, or chaotic good, all share a high degree of dedication to
their cause (from their loyalty to humanity as a whole, if lawful
good, or from their personal standards, if chaotic good); elves
see such intense commitment as grievous to a carefree and
cheerful spirit. But elves appreciate rangers, because rangers
regard them as allies and will usually try to help elves just as
they help humanity.
Half-elves may become rangers since they usually inherit at
least part of their human parent’s viewpoint on life, watering
down their elven attitudes considerably. They don’t gain the
high levels humans do as rangers because they are slightly
smaller and less effective in hand-to-hand fighting, and because
they still have some of their innate elven distaste for
bloodshed in them.
There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why elves,
especially sylvan elves, shouldn’t have a knowledge of how to
track wild game. Human or elven player characters with secondary
skills of Forester, Hunter, and possibly Trapper might
reasonably be allowed a limited skill in tracking animals or
persons, around 20-50% in accuracy, in outdoor (and maybe
indoor) environments. But the other skills rangers have would
not necessarily apply.
Finally, some elven deities have ranger talents because their
ageless experience and spheres of interest make this possible.
Gods do not operate by mortal rules; they make themselves
proficient with whatever talents they deem necessary for them
to best operate according to their respective viewpoints. For
this same reason, gods may have high levels of experience in
numerous character classes, though mortals are quite limited
in the number and levels of proficiency they may achieve in
their own classes. One cannot measure a god’s power with a
mortal’s yardstick. |
219. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: Does the Astral Plane contact the Elemental Planes? | | Not as far as can be told from the literature. It was pointed out
by a questioner that if spell-users could summon walls of stone
on the Astral Plane (as well as poison gas, water, and fireballs),
then why not let them bring elementals as well? This was a hard
point to resolve; it was assumed that the former sorts of spells
do not necessarily draw power from the Elemental Planes, and
that in casting such spells as wall of stone, fireball, etc., the
spell caster is spontaneously creating material from nothing.
Others may point out that there are at least two known types
of elementals — aerial servants and invisible stalkers — known
to roam astral space. It could be conjectured that they got there
by being summoned to the Prime Material Plane and then sent
into astral space on some mission. They might also have been
gated to astral space by their respective rulers on the elemental
planes. Taking a cue from Module Q1, however, it appears that
the elemental-conjuring spells are not powerful enough to
bring elementals to the Astral Plane directly from their home
planes. A spell caster might try to develop a different type of
elemental-summoning spell that attracts elementals who happen
to be on the same plane as the summoner (this would be
good for getting aerial servants and invisible stalkers to come to
you astrally) — but the referee should consider the possibility
that such a spell would actually enrage the summoned creature
if it saved against the spell, making it very likely that the creature
would then seek out and attempt to slay the summoner.
If a spell caster just has to have an elemental on the Astral
Plane, then a magic-user could summon an invisible stalker on
the Prime Material Plane and command it to follow him into
astral space while he uses some other means (spell, psionics,
device, etc.) to get there. Or, characters could cast a gate spell,
linked directly with the Elemental Planes (and the rulers thereof),
and then could try to negotiate for the temporary use of an
elemental or two. This could obviously be very expensive, as
well as incredibly dangerous, so it isn’t recommended.
In most cases, if an elemental is to be conjured, there must be
a medium at the place of summoning in astral space appropriate
to the type summoned (a water sphere for water elementals,
stone or earth for earth elementals, or flame for fire elementals).
Only air elementals would require no special medium
to move through; they can travel naturally through astral space,
just as aerial servants and invisible stalkers do. |
220. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: How does one drink potions in a weightless condition? | | Inventive characters can come up with many ways of circumventing
the problems of weightlessness (see Gary Gygax’s
excellent suggestion for write spells in DRAGON #67.) Using
normal potion bottles can be time-consuming, since the liquid
contents will not naturally flow out of them all at once unless
one shakes the bottle like we normally shake ketchup bottles;
unfortunately, shaking a bottle makes it hard to drink the potion
at the same time, and too much liquid may flow out at once,
making the user choke. This may be simulated by stipulating
that someone using a regular potion bottle needs 1-4 rounds to
get a full dose of the fluid, and there is a 5% chance per round of
drinking (non-cumulative) that the drinker chokes and loses all
the potion’s effects.
Squeezable bottles may be invented, similar to those used by
astronauts and cosmonauts nowadays, so that the rate of flow
of the liquid within can be controlled by the drinker. Potion
drinking would take only one round, as usual, if such a bottle
was used. Other systems might be devised involving straws,
syringe-like pumps, and so forth, that would work just as well. |