Dungeon Master's Guide
Q. What are-the size, speed factor, and other statistics for the
scythe wielded by the minor death produced by a deck of many things
(see the DMG, page 166- 167)?
A. Speed factor is irrelevant in the case of the minor death; it
always strikes first. In a character's hands, a scythe makes a
cumbersome weapon at best. I suggest the following statistics: cost 5
gp; weight 7 lbs.; size L; type P/S (the blade has both a curved
cutting edge and a sharp point); speed factor 10; damage 2d4 (S-M)/1dG
(L).
Q. Where is the table for determining what kind of coins can be found
in a Bucknard's ever-full purse? How long can the purse be empty
before it becomes non-magical? I know the book says, a few minutes,
but what does that really mean?
A. The table was accidentally printed on page 160 of the DMG, under
the heading "Bag of Transmuting". Individual DMs are free to define "a
few minutes", but I suppose 2-5 minutes is a good base value. The real
intent behind the "few minutes comment is to say that a character is
free to empty the purse and get his daily crop of coins, but must put
at least one coin back in before he goes off and does anything else.
Most DMs rule that a coin of each type must be present to get the full
effect; for example, if a purse could produce silver, electrum, and
gold, then leaving just one silver piece inside would keep it
functioning, but the next day it would produce only silver pieces.
Q. How come chain mail costs less than armour that doesn't protect as
the wearer well? Chain mail, for instance, costs 75 gp, versus 120 gp
for scale mail. This is a misprint, right?
A. No misprint. Scale mail costs more to make than chain mail, but its
older, less efficient design makes it inferior to chain mail. The same
goes for ring mail (cost 100 gp). People who know how to make chain
mail needn't bother with scale or ring mail. What kind of armour is
available in any given campaign depends on the time period in which
the game is set (see the DMG, page 35).
Q. Can a ring of spell storing containing a find familiar spell enable
a non-wizard character to summon a familiar? How long would it take to
cast find familiar from a ring of spell storing? How does the "one
attempt per year" rule apply to characters using a ring of spell
storing?
A. It is perfectly reasonable to say that only wizards have the mental
training to maintain the empathic link between master and familiar. It
also is perfectly reasonable to say that a ring of spell storing is
powerful enough to make any spell stored within it work for the ring's
owner. Individual DMs must decide on their own which is the case. Any
spell cast from a ring of spell storing has a casting time of five.
The character who puts the spell into the ring, however, must go
through the spell's normal casting procedure. In this case, the wizard
must fire up the brazier full of incense and spend up to 24 hours
casting. Note that this makes it very unlikely that find familiar will
be found in a ring of spell storing and. even more unlikely that NPC
spell casters can be hired to restore it to the ring. The "one attempt
per year" limit applies to both the ring and the owner; that is, only
one attempt can be made each year with any given ring, and a character
who has two rings cannot try to summon a familiar twice in the same
year by using each ring once.
Q. My wife and I have a continuing argument over the properties of the
vorpal blade. She insists that strength bonuses are considered when
determining whether the weapon severs a victim's neck. I point out
that the footnote on page 186 of the DMG says only the sword's +3
bonus affects the score required to sever.
A. This is probably the first time I've been asked to settle a
domestic argument. Bonuses for strength, specialization, spells (such
as bless or prayer), situation (opponent surprised, prone, etc.), or
the like do not affect the score needed to sever. Thus, it is quite
possible to solidly hit an opponent, due to a good roll and high
bonuses, but not sever his neck. In fact, the table could, and
probably should, read as follows (the same table can be used for the
sword of sharpness):
Opponent Unmodified to-hit roll
needed to sever head/neck
Normal/Armoured
17-20
Larger than man-size
18-20
Solid metal or stone
19-20
Q. The PHB says that rogues can have a maximum score of 95% in each of
their special abilities, but the DMG has a table on page 23 that shows
scores of 99%. However, the same table in the Dungeon Master's Screen
shows no score above 95%.
corrects Table 19 in the DMG.
Q. Will a girdle of dwarvenkind allow a non-dwarf to get full benefits
from a hammer, +3 dwarven thrower?
A. No; nor will the wearer suffer magical item malfunctions as dwarves
do (see the PHB, page 21).
Q. What is the correct formula for a fighter's individual experience
awards, as listed in the DMG, page 48? Does the fighter's level change
the award? Is the award given for every monster the party defeats?
A. The formula is the monster's hit dice multiplied by 10. The word
"level" is a misprint. All individual awards are just that; they are
awarded to characters who do things without help from other
characters. For fighters, the individual award for defeating a monster
is made after a one-on-one contest.
Monstrous Compendium
Q. How come red dragons in the Monstrous Compendium have fewer hit
dice than blue dragons and no more hit dice than green dragons? What
does the red dragon's THAC0 entry, "7 (at 9 HD)", mean? Also, the
example in the general information section says that a black dragon's
base hit dice is 10, but the black dragon's description says the base
is 12 HD.
A. There is a typo in the red dragon's statistics. A red dragon's base
hit dice is 15; a black dragon's base hit dice is 12 (the example is
wrong). All dragons' THAC0s are determined by their adjusted hit dice,
so a hatchling red dragon (9 HD) has a THAC0 of 11.
Q. Is there some mistake in the horse listing in the Monstrous
Compendium? I mean, simple riding horses have more hit dice and a
better THAC0 than light or medium war horses, and they move a lot
faster than medium war horses.
A. There sure seems to be an error. If you want to cut riding horses
down to size, just treat them as light war horses with one attack (a
bite) for 1-2 hit points damage. Regardless of statistics, non-war
horses are nervous creatures that are more likely to flee than to
fight.
Q. What do the "juvenile" entries in the Monstrous Compendium's giant
experience-point value entries mean? Why are young giants treated like
adult giants of different species? Shouldn't young giants have
abilities that reflect those of adults of their own race? If young
giants are treated as adult members of other races, shouldn't you use
those races' experience values? Just how tall are young giants?
A. Those mysterious experience point values are part of an aborted
attempt to do just what you suggest, extrapolate juvenile abilities
from adult abilities. However, this was dropped during the editing
process to keep things simple and to keep the revised giants more
compatible with the ones in the AD&D 1st Edition game. The juvenile
experience point values were printed in error and should be ignored;
use the experience values from the appropriate race when making
experience awards for juvenile giants. If you want to derive young
giants' abilities from adult members of the race, here's the discarded
system: To determine an immature giant's age randomly, roll 1d4 A roll
of 4 indicates an infant with no combat abilities and −4 hit points
per die (minimum 1 hit point/hit die). Other rolls indicate juveniles
with penalties to hit points, attack rolls, and damage done equal to
the die roll. Juveniles in the −3 category also do one less die of
damage per blow. For example, a −1 hill giant juvenile would have
−1 hit point/hit die (with a minimum of 1 hit point/hit die) and a
THAC0 of 10, and would do 1d6−1 hit points of damage with its fists
or 2d6+6 with a club. A −3 hill giant has −3 hit points/hit die, a
THAC0 of 12, does 1d6−3 hit points of damage with its fist or 1d6+4
with a club. Juveniles can hurl rocks; their minimum range is the same
as an adult's, and the maximum range is equal to the adult maximum
minus a value equal to 10 yards times the juvenile's combat penalty;
the combat penalty also is subtracted from each die of damage that the
rock does (minimum of 1 hit point/damage die). For example, a −1
juvenile hill giant can hurl a rock from three to 190 yards for
2d8−2 hit points of damage. Infant giants are less than one-quarter
the height of an adult, but are usually not less than one-sixth adult
height. Juveniles are anywhere from one-quarter adult height to full
adult height; a −3 juvenile would be from one-quarter to one-half
adult height, a −2 juvenile would be from one-half to three-quarters
adult height, and so on.
Miscellaneous
Q, Can you play the FRE-series Avatar modules alter reading the books?
A. According to Avatar project coordinator Jim Lowder, the story as
told in the three, Avatar books "Shadowdale, Tantras, and Waterdeep"
does not compromise play of the modules at all. The books tell the
story of a group of fallen deities struggling to regain their powers.
The modules deal with the mortals who help them.
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