Good Dragons, considered

In the 1e MM, the metal dragons all have good alignments.  I am skeptical.   Can there really be such a thing as a "good" dragon? 

 

Here is my definition of a "good" dragon: one that is happy to bully and rob you of your treasure, but won't kill you for fun.   They will still attack you, steal your stuff, and beat you down thoroughly, but with a "good" dragon, you are more likely to be left alive.

 

I get the impression dragons look at us the way we look at chickens.  You don't have to be evil to eat chickens.  We simply view them as a lesser form of life, a resource to be exploited to our advantage.   Dragons look at humans that way.  

 

The "evil" ones will kill us and torture us for sport.  The "good" ones will only kill us if we make them, by, for example, failing to turn over all the treasure which they view as theirs.  "Look here, little fellow, I don't want to have to hurt you, just be a good little pet and hand over your treasure..."  

 

Gygax clearly has a similar concept, hedging his bets on their alignment, mentioning their "neutral tendencies".   For some reason, he elevates the Silver, Gold, and Platinum Dragons as full good and noble beasts. 

 

I think dragons are, as a rule, selfish, voracious, narcissistic, and pompous.     They aren't like "big pets", who would respect us or think of us as equals in any way.  They think of us as a lesser lifeform, one which has an odd obsession with acquiring their food source (metals and gems). 

 

In other words, they treat us exactly as we treat bees.  They tolerate our hives because we produce honey for them.  We don't think of the feelings of the bees as we steal their hard-earned honey, nor do dragons consider our feelings as they steal our hard-earned treasure. 

 

This tendency is especially amplified by AZ Adventures being a dawn of civ milieu, with the land being largely untamed.  The Gygaxian world of 1e MM is a human-dominated world, everything else hanging on at the edges, or surviving far underground.  A certain percentage of dragons there have learned to communicate with humans because humans are the dominant life form in that milieu.

 

The world of AZ Adventures is not human-dominated at all, except for a few "points of light".   Thus, dragons go about their lives in their wilderness domains hardly ever encountering humans, certainly having very few opportunities to interact with them.    Thus, in AZ, very few dragons speak our language or have the experience to think of us as equals or superiors. 

No Dump Stats - the Importance of INT and WIS for all classes

Great analysis over at the Jovial Priest (here: http://jovialpriest.blogspot.com/2010/12/no-dump-stats-every-ability-score.html)  about making all stats important, especially regarding INT and WIS, which usually become dump stats for everyone but magic users and clerics.

 

His brilliant concepts:

 

INT score is the only thing which provides an XP bonus, for all classes.  Makes sense to me, as the smart learn faster.  His rule:

 

Only intelligence gives XP bonuses, not prime requisites.

Intelligence

3-5                   (-20% earned experience)

6-8                   (-10% earned experience)

9-12                 (no bonus)

13-15               (+5% earned experience)

16 +                 (+10% earned experience)

 

 

 

WIS score provides savings throw bonuses against all magical attacks, not just those affecting the mind.  This is justified because WIS encompasses intuition and judgement, which would be critical components of overcoming magical attacks, even purely physical ones.  Again, makes perfect sense to me. 

 

The "combat effect" of high WIS is like a character's "spidey sense", providing him with vague foreboding of danger, putting him on the alert, helping him make the right choices in those crucial split seconds when a deadly attack is being launched. 

 

After all, let's say you are being targeted with a death ray...  Your physical speed will not help you here, the ray is too fast.  What matters is, what were you doing BEFORE the ray was launched???  Were you already ducking for cover, pulling your shield up, etc? 

 

That is the bonus effect of high WIS: quantifying the benefit of things you did before the attack was launched, subtle actions which your intuition and judgement lead you to take, as well as the positive effect of your willpower in overcoming the ill effects as you are being effected. 

 

With these slight tweaks, INT and WIS become potentially useful to EVERY class, and character creation becomes a much more interesting and thoughtful event.  

 

Magic Users - a concise treatise

Magic Users are many things to many people.  Here is how I handle them, for what I perceive as highest in-game enjoyment by players, as well as most theoretical consistency within the campaign framework.

 

The world is full of magical power and magical creatures. Humans, however, are considered mundane creatures, not magical by nature. Thus, human magic users are not themselves magical, they simply learn the correct methods of harnessing the magic power of the natural world.  

 

Magic Users are like scientists, who use formulas to tap into the power of that magic world.    These formulaic methods involve especially the use of magical chemistry, harnessing the magical energy in magical creatures and objects.   Another important method involves magical power words, and a third method involves magical symbols.    Through magical ingredients, magical power words, and magical symbols, magic users release and channel magical power.  

 

I reject the mechanism of "memorize, fire, and forget".  Not only does it render our magic users drastically underpowered, it conflicts with our general cultural expectation of how magic works, as defined by such characters as Harry Potter.  The hard part of D&D magic is that there is NO popular culture depictions of magic that function that way.  And frankly, it is a bit lame to any young person who wants to play a magic user, based on their enjoyment of Harry Potter, for example, to discover they can only use one spell a day. 

 

In slightly reformulating the magic user mechanic, we can build on the basic logic of D&D magic.  As Gygax says, the power of the magic does not come from within the magician, he is just a conduit.  However, the act of casting and being a conduit for the energy does take a toll on the wizard's own energy level. 

 

Thus, rather then the spell slot structure, we can postulate that the natural limit to a wizard's spell casting is his constitution score.    Think of it like this: a pipe can pass a powerful jet of water through it, but the pipe itself can only take so much pressure before it breaks.   A thin pipe can only handle so much pressure, while a thicker pipe can handle more.  If the magic user is the pipe conduit, his CON measures the thickness of those pipe walls. 

 

The end result is similar to traditional 1e limitations, in that a magic user has only a certain number of spells he can cast per day, and he must get restful sleep before he can regain more spells.  However, now he has more spells to cast, at least at the lower level, rendering the magic user more useful on an adventure, more able to use magic, and therefore, more fun to play.  A higher level magic user would be punished by the CON limit, but he overcomes this natural limit on spell casting by becoming an expert in channeling the magic through other objects, such as scrolls, potions, wands, staffs, etc. 

  

In game play, for fun and ease of play, a magic user can fire off his spells more or less instantly, needing only as much time as it takes to say the power words, draw the symbols, or employ the material components.  Thus, a magic user is prevented from wearing armor, because he needs easy access to his material components (in the many pockets and folds of his robe, hat, boots, etc) and ability to smoothly and unerringly weave symbols in the air, on his body, or on the ground. 

 

Magic in Other Races

 

Humans are the only race that can become powerful magic users, because the other races are themselves magical creatures.  In other words, elves are not just thin humans with pointed ears who live in forests.  There is a qualitative difference, because Elves are a magical race.  Likewise, Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes are not just midget humans, they are magical races of their own, with their own special dweomer.  

 

Magic use by humans is a form of technology, and humans developed the scientific knowledge of magic because they are otherwise non-magical.  Thus, the other races have racial limitations on their advancement as magic users.  The origin and practice of human magic is alien to them, and they can never truly master it's usage.   The case is much like humans and silent movement.  With much training and practice, humans can learn to move silently with more and more skill, but they will never attain the native mastery of the elven race.  

 

The closest thing approaching a "naturally magical human" occurs in the case of psionics.  Psionically endowed people attain powers that are similar to magic, but they are inborn, not dependent upon power words, symbols, or magical ingredients.  Thus, psionic powers appear to be more related to divine power than magical power, and are probably a vestige of the divine lineage of some human families.  

 

 

Cosmology Considerations and the role of Elementals

I think I understand why Gygax and the guys went with the "infinite universe" cosmology of the modern scientifically-informed world. Basically, they wanted to integrate science fiction, as indicated by notes in the 1e DMG on merging Gamma World stats with D&D stats. In this "infinite universe" paradigm, they could easily integrate various science fiction hooks into their adventures.

I get that impulse, it makes sense, but there are some implications that I do not like, and I am going back to the default pre-modern "closed universe" cosmology in my Arizona Adventures campaign. For example, with the "infinite universe" cosmology, heaven is no longer above us, and hell is no longer below us. They are on other "planes".

This is in sharp contrast to the pre-modern view, which saw the place of the afterlife as somewhere down below. The idea that the hells are literally down below us is compelling, and is a never-ending font for adventuring hooks, based on demonic threat.

I think the worst idea of the Gygaxian extra-planar structure is the Elemental Planes. I much prefer the idea that the Elemental powers are embedded in our material world. Our world is pregnant with magical power, full of "spirit" elemental personalities which manifest in surprising and dangerous ways.

Water Elementals

That big lake over there, yeah, that is where the 16HD Water Elemental lives. Every big lake will have some intelligence in it, what we would stat out as a Water Elemental. Smaller lakes would have smaller/lesser-powered Elementals. It would be a very rare natural body of water that was completely mundane, lacking any spiritual power or presence.

Naturally, such elemental powers demand sacrifice. Lacking voluntary sacrifice to keep them appeased, they would be "hungry", and would seek the unwilling sacrifice of any unfortunates who wandered into their domain.

Fire Elementals

Fire Elementals would be less regularly placed, having a permanent location mainly in volcanoes. Terrifyingly, they could also arise spontaneously from any large fire. Fire, is this magically pregnant world, would have a mind of its own, seeking to spread itself and consume everything possible. Perhaps ANY fire, no matter how small, would stand a chance of "going sentient", as the latent Fire Elemental intelligence seeks to manifest itself.

Air Elementals

Air Elementals would be more "airy", less concerned with the details of the earth-bound world. At higher elevations, contact with them would be more regular, providing glimpses of their playful but tempestuous personalities. Any flying creature would come into contact with them regularly.

Earth Elementals

Earth Elementals would be located at specific locations. Places of regular quakes, fissures, grinding and turning of the earth, with the rocks occasionally assembling themselves into giant bipedal forms. Less demanding of sacrifice than Water or Fire Elementals, but more "hungry" than Air Elementals, the Earth Elementals would occasionally, seemingly randomly, seek to consume living creatures.

Psionic Roles in the City

Keeping in mind the rule that 100 psionics will be found in a population of 45,000, the question then arises, where will these psionics be? Given the logic of psionic power, it seems clear that psionics will NOT be randomly distributed through the population. Rather, psionics will become concentrated in powerful and leadership positions, and thus, PCs will be even more likely to encounter them than the "simple percentages" indicate.

Remember, psionics are found only among people with high (16+) INT, WIS, or CHA scores. In other words, these are your natural leaders to begin with. Adding to their natural abilities are their psionic gifts, which they would use to leverage themselves even higher on the social ladder.

Imagine some random person who naturally had the psionic devotion of Invisibility. Do you think that person would stay a field hand their whole life? Of course not! I mean, just imagine the possibilities if you discovered as a young teen that you could go invisible... What sort of adventures you would have, what sort of trouble you would get in...

I am thinking someone with the natural ability of invisibility would gravitate towards espionage, thievery, assassination... Perhaps some would enter the field of law enforcement, and what a detective they would make! Clearly, no one is going to remain an "average citizen" for long with the natural gift of invisibility combined with a high INT/WIS/CHA score.

Just as a thought experiment, what would you do with the natural ability of shrinking size (Reduction)? Or walking on water/feather falling (Body Equilibrium)? Phase shifting (Etherealness)? Levitation? Changing appearance (Shape Alteration)? Teleportation?

Is it just me, or do you get the impression the Thieves and Assassin's Guild would be crawling with these guys???

Or, conversely, they'll be "the Supers", the heroes with superpowers hired by the government to combat these super-powered bad guys. People with Clairaudience or Clairvoyance? Detection of Good/Evil? Object Reading? Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions? These people are tailor made for law enforcement!

And what about Telempathic/Telepathic Projection? Empathy? Precognition? ESP? Hypnosis? Domination? Or even Mass Domination??? These people are born to rule! You are practically guaranteed to find these powers among the ruling elite, either in the rulers themselves (high CHA) or in their "handlers" (high WIS).

A quick glance at the 1e Monster Manual entry on "Men" confirms this logic. Under each subheading, it states repeatedly, "leader types will have the normal potential for psionics." In other words, it is practically axiomatic: psionics will rise to leadership positions.

Natural Line Spacing in Mass Combat Lines

--Natural line spacing: spacing per soldier equal to creatures height, roughly equal to arms distance apart (i.e. one human every six feet).

--Maximum line density: 50% of creature height per soldier (exceptions to be made for especially thick-bodied creatures, such as dwarfs)

--Maximum line stretch: 200% of creature height per soldier (anything greater than that would instantly be broken once combat began)

Natural line density will always be maintained by an untrained unit. Only a professional unit, or a non-professional unit that has undergone extensive training, can maintain cohesion at maximum density or maximum stretching.

An untrained unit that is forced into battle in a condensed or stretched formation will quickly rearrange itself into multiple units at the natural line spacing (drawing together into new lines with large gaps between new lines if originally stretched, or separating into multiple stacked rows if originally condensed).

To the untrained soldier, the condensed formation is simply too dangerous, as each soldier is subject to errant swings and jostling from his neighbors, so he would step backwards into a new row behind the original. The stretched formation is too isolated, and he would naturally draw closer to his neighbor to avoid the sensation of exposure and the danger of being cut off.

Ave. HD modifiers for attacks

The average HD determines the skill of the attack, which means the likelihood of causing damage. This likelihood of causing damage is enhanced with sufficient superior numbers. In game terms this means the average HD is increased by the force multiplier to determine the enhanced average HD attack ability.

Example A: 10 trained human soldiers in a line 30 feet wide (in maximum line density) vs 15 halfling soldiers in a line 30 feet wide. Thus, in a battle line, there would be 10 humans facing 15 halflings, so the halflings would have a force multiplier of 1.5. Let's assume the average HD of the halfling unit is 2. To find their effective attacking HD level, we would multiply their average HD times their force multiplier (2 x 1.5). Thus, they would attack as 3 HD attacker.

Example B: Let us imagine that a unit of 10 human soldiers is at natural line spacing, blocking a 60 foot pass. However, a concentrated force is able to attack them, meaning, using the 3 foot width rule, the attackers can fit 20 soldiers in their line. Their force multiplier is thus x2, so they would double their average HD level during the melee attacks. So, if their average HD was normally 2, they would attack using the HD = 4 row of the attack tables.

Example C: Let us image a unit of six Hill Giants marching into the attack, according to natural spacing rules at 12 feet apart, for a total line distance of 72 feet. A well-trained human army could fit 24 soldiers into that same space (3 feet per soldier at maximum line density), providing a force multiplier of x4. This would mean that if the average HD of that human line was 2, given the x4 force multiplier, the human unit would strike as a HD = 8 attacker versus the Hill Giant unit.

The Potential of Magic Users in Mass Combat

Wizards, for the most part, are going to refuse to enter the field of mass combat. Their lack of armor, their lack of hit points, their high intelligence, all incline them against going anywhere near the battlefield.

They are loath to waste any of their precious magical resources on what they will undoubtedly see as a "petty squabble" (no matter how important the battle seems to others). They are far too busy with their magic research anyway, and they are close to making profound breakthroughs, so their time is extremely limited, not to be wasted in "foolish brawling" and "primitive head-butting".

A magic user may be persuaded to contribute some magical assistance if an extreme amount of treasure, services, and concessions are offered in exchange. His assistance would extend to preparing a few scrolls or wands, or the granting of some other magical item, and perhaps "monitoring the outcome of battle" using his crystal ball or scrying device.

Nothing short the immanent threat of extermination would get him to bodily enter the battlefield. Even then, he would expect to be stationed in the safest zone, as far from physical danger as possible, as part of the kings personal guard, on hand to render expert consultation and, perhaps, assistance (only if the direst of emergencies should require it, of course).

Certainly, there is ZERO chance of getting him to fight embedded in a combat unit. If anyone attempted to constrain his "arcane and esoteric freedom and liberty" by forcing him onto the battlefield, he would do everything in his power to escape, and would thenceforth devote all his considerable time and cunning towards plotting revenge upon whomever dared order the affront to his autonomy.