Author: Bryan Fazekas

Weapons of Change

June 2013

This article was originally published in & Magazine Issue 5 in May 2013. Please note that the fiction section is the author’s original version. The version published in the magazine was shortened for editorials reasons.

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Magic weapons are not always what they seem to be

Wisl of Coomb drummed his fingers on the table, visibly irritated and obviously expecting faster results. Gislhere sighed quietly. Illiterate nobles showed impatience while others searched for information they were intrinsically incapable of finding. But men like Wisl paid the fees that supported research and purchased yet more books and scrolls.

The sixth volume checked had the reference the scholar sought. He looked up brightly at his temporary employer.

“You found the information I need?”

“Yes, my lord. Your battle axe is indeed an important weapon with a long history prior to your grandfather winning it in battle.”

* * *

Kneeling with head bowed, the soldier waited while the senior priest completed the first part of the ceremony. The incense burned his sinuses and eyes, but the soldier’s patience and acceptance of suffering, lessons learned through hard experience, kept him in place.

The priest completed his chanting in the old tongue, “Rise, Irminric, soldier of Donblas!” The soldier surged smoothly to his feet, no hint of cramping caused by thirty minutes of kneeling visible on his face or in his actions.

Lifting the axe from the pillow the priest presented it to Irminric. Head bowed the soldier accepted the weapon, its weight nothing in his strong hands. “Do you swear to use this weapon for justice, to use it bravely and with good intent in your duties as a protector of the People?”

“I do swear!” The young man’s face flushed with a rush of emotion kept barely in check.

* * *

In an anteroom Irminric questioned the priest, “Oswald, you said that Donblas blessed this axe. What does that mean?”

“This axe is imbued with powerful magics, different from what wizards place on weapons, but powerful none the less. Unlike wizard-built weapons this one does not bear a single level of power. Instead its power varies with the power of its wielder.”

“When a wizard enspells a weapon he casts one or more spells upon the weapon and then binds the spells permanently to it. Priests do not wield such magics.” Oswald mentally debated a few moments on how to proceed. “We use the magics granted us by our god to perform a similar, but very different, thing.”

Irminric frowned but before he could utter a word the priest drew a breath and continued, “This weapon began when I commissioned a weapon of the highest quality. It is constructed of a star iron and mithril alloy – rust-proof, harder yet more flexible, and more accepting of spells than mere steel. We senior priests consecrated it and cast spells upon it, setting its direction and preparing it for blessing by Donblas himself!”

Noting that Irminric listened intently as if spellbound, he continued, “Then we prayed to Donblas to bless the weapon. He did so, and the result is the weapon you now hold in your hands.”

“This axe has an edge no non-magical weapon could have, and it will maintain that edge against most targets. It will strike creatures whose skin or hide are proof against mundane weapons, and will even pierce the skin of demons and other unnatural creatures! It’s powers are greatest against undead monsters. Beyond that I don’t know for sure.”

The priest spoke in a more heated tone, “Donblas’ blessing is a powerful thing, more powerful than all but a few other gods that might approach his strength. Until you use it we don’t know all it may do.” In a softer tone the priest continued, “But just as important is the wielder. The more skilled the pious one who wields it, the more powerful the blade becomes.”

* * *

Irminric’s knees buckled when the heavy sword slammed into his shield, but he kept on his feet. The necromancer’s human guards were without exception big, strong, and skilled in sword play. This one battering his shield was enough to nearly unman him.

Shunting the guard’s follow-up strike aside with the shield Irminric struck in return, his magically sharp axe splitting the guard’s shield down the middle and shattering his arm. Controlling but not slowing the motion of the axe Irminric spun it in a figure eight and decapitated his opponent.

He staggered to help his men who were losing to the necromancer’s other guards. Two of Donblas’ soldiers were dead or dying, two were badly wounded, and the remaining two bleeding from minor wounds. Irminric hit the first guard from behind, dropping him instantly and carrying the motion into the second. The remaining two guards lost focus, turning to deal with a greater danger. The lapse in focus proved fatal as the soldiers used the distraction to bloodily end the fight.

Irminric checked his downed men – both were dead. Pulling strips of clean cloth from a pouch on his belt, he quickly bound the wounds of the living. “Shock and loss of blood often kill when the wounds won’t.”

“We’re outnumbered and badly damaged. Pick up Regenhere and Samlis – we’ll not leave their bodies for the necromancer to desecrate!” The least wounded men shouldered the dead and moved to follow their leader.

Leading the way out of the building into the courtyard, Irminric stopped cold. In the moonlight stood the necromancer’s reinforcements – a dozen zombies – mindless animated bodies capable of using weapons and following simple directions such as “kill” – led by the stinking form of a wight.

Zombies reacted relatively slowly so in the open the fast moving, well trained soldiers could defeat greater numbers. But the wight changed the odds badly – it’s touch burned with cold and sucked life from its victims. Worse than death was the fate of one drained of life by the abomination!

Irminric lunged forward and hacked downward on the closest zombie, striking the joint between neck and shoulder. The super-sharp blade sliced through the leather armor cladding the undead thing, hacking through undead flesh and bone. Light flashed from the axe blade, bright to the human soldiers, blinding to the undead. The stink of the rotting bodies mixed with the stench of burned flesh – the flash burned the undead and staggered them.

“AT THEM!” Irminric stepped past the nearest two zombies and hacked at the third. Its sword arm now gone at the elbow the zombie tried to hug the young soldier. Gagging at the stench Irminric stepped under the lunge and swung back to sever a leg at mid-thigh.

Moving on he battered the next in line with his shield, ducked a slash, spun, and decapitated the fifth that moved in on his left. Another burst of light illuminated the area and burned the zombies. Eight of the dozen were down and the remaining four reeled from the damage. The three surviving soldiers didn’t hesitate to attack while chance favored them.

The second flash left the wight staggering in circles, stunned to insensibility. The magical axe’s third flash scorched the remaining zombies.

* * *

“Your axe was handed down from father to son for twelve generations in the Willic family, until Irminric V lost it, along with his life, in battle against your grandfather.”

“I know that, I know that!” howled the nobleman, hammering on the small table with both hands. “Why did it work so well for my father but not for me!”.

“Yes, I’m getting to that. This axe is very potent against the living dead, capable of slashing and hacking through their flesh, such as it is, with more facility than against the living. On a killing stroke it emits a burst of pure light that burns all nearby undead while any undead possessing a mind may be stunned.”

“That is the powers of this weapon. Why it worked better for your father than for you? This weapon is blessed by Donblas. Devout followers of Donblas, as well as followers of Osiris and Heironeous his allies, are granted use of its powers. If you don’t follow Donblas, Osiris, or Heironeous the powers against undead won’t work.”

The Baron of Coomb was uncharacteristically silent as he digested that information.

Eyeing the nobleman, Gislhere continued, “Just as importantly weapons of this nature gain a portion of their power from the wielder. The more powerful and skillful the wielder, the greater the powers of the axe. Your father was both a great axeman and a faithful follower of Osiris. My understanding is that you are neither, so until both conditions change you will never master this weapon.”

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The Problem

Early in my DM career I found it easy to use the treasure tables in the Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide, blithely putting in whatever the dice rolls indicated. As the members of my first campaign gained levels they amassed a mess of +1 and +2 weapons and armor. Around 7th level when they were seeking henchmen this proved useful as they had spare weapons to sweeten the employment agreements. But a few levels later the backlog of +1 and +2 items returned and some characters had enough magical weapons and armor to literally equip a small army.

Learning from experience I switched tactics, putting in less magic items. Those I chose were targeted specifically for the party, not necessarily according to dice roll. This solved that problem but one remained: a character acquires a +1 weapon. What happens to it in a few more levels when that character acquires a +2 weapon? The typical answer is that it gets written down on a “stored items” sheet and forgotten. Targeting magic items reduces the problem of excess weapons but doesn’t eliminate it.

One Solution

One solution is to design weapons that increase in power as the user gains levels. There’s no need to design a replacement weapon as the weapon effectively replaces itself over time.

This idea addresses another problem common to virtually any role playing game: the game may eventually become just more of the same, over and over again. Here’s a typical situation: Fighter acquires magic weapon. Magic user casts Identify and says, “This is a +1 weapon”. Fighter uses it until he acquires a +2 weapon then shelves the +1. Later on history repeats itself when the fighter acquires a +3 weapon. No mystery, no wondering, just routine “stuff”. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Instead make the +1 weapon a Weapon of Change. Fighter uses weapon previously identified as +1. Fighter gains a level or three and discovers the weapon is now +2! He also discovers (by accident) that a previously unknown power functions. Goes to another magic user who identifies it and says “+1 weapon”. Fighter gains more levels and discovers weapon now hits at +3 and displays even more powers! Another Identify again indicates “+1”. [Note: This is not the by-the-book usage of Identify.]

Even a player with decades of playing experience wonders, “What the …?”

The fighter finally takes the weapon to a temple of the deity whose symbols are etched on the weapon. A senior cleric researches it (for a fee!) and tells the fighter that the weapon was created by clerics of that deity centuries ago. To anyone other than a follower of that deity (or optionally that deity’s allies or the same alignment) it’s a +1 weapon, which is what Identify says it is. But to the select few it’s a Weapon of Change that increases in power and ability as its wielder does.

So the player now has something new to look forward to with each level change — checking the weapon to see if any new powers activate. Identify doesn’t work — and sages, legend lore, commune, etc. may — or may not — reveal details, hints, or riddles at the DM’s discretion.

Following are a few items, including the axe described in the story.

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Axe of Donblas

The weapon in the story is a Battle Axe +1, usable by anyone. For followers of Donblas or his allies it becomes far more powerful. As the wielder’s level increases the “normal plus” of the weapon increases when used against all types of opponents. Against undead it becomes more potent as the Plus Against Undead column indicates (see table).

Special Powers: On a killing stroke (hit that reduces an undead to 0 hit points or less) that is at least 5 points above the minimum necessary to hit (including all bonuses), the blade emits a flash of light. This light illuminates a radius from the wielder and is bright but not blinding to mortal creatures. All undead within the radius suffer burn damage and possible stunning.

For example, a 1st level fighter uses this axe. For her the weapon is +3 vs. undead and she requires a 13 to hit a skeleton. Any adjusted to-hit roll of 18 or greater that inflicts enough damage to destroy the skeleton triggers the special power and inflicts 1d4 damage against all undead within 10′. Adjusted rolls of 13 to 17 will hit but not trigger the power.

GP value 2,000-10,000; XP value 800-4,000

Why variable XP and GP values? The axe’s power varies by the wielder’s level, so award XP according to that. At the DM’s discretion additional XP can be awarded as the PC discovers additional powers.

Wielder’s Level	Normal Plus	Plus Against Undead	Special Powers Against Undead
1	+1	+3	Flash illuminates 10′ radius, and inflicts 1d4 points of damage to all undead within flash.
5	+2	+4	Flash illuminates 10′ radius, and inflicts 1d4 points of damage to all undead within flash. Intelligent undead in range save vs. Spell at +3 or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.
9	+3	+5	Flash illuminates 15′ radius, and inflicts 2d4 points of damage to all undead within flash. Intelligent undead in range save vs. Spell at +2 or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.
13	+4	+6	Flash illuminates 15′ radius, and inflicts 2d4 points of damage to all undead within flash. Intelligent undead in range save vs. Spell at +1 or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.
17	+5	+7	Flash illuminates 20′ radius, and inflicts 3d4 points of damage to all undead within flash. Intelligent undead in range save vs. Spell or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.

Why Cleric Made Items?

According to the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) (page 116) all magic items excepting a few usable only by clerics and those specific to certain races (like Hammer of the Dwarven Thrower) are made by magic users. So by-the-book clerics can make some magic items. If a DM chooses to allow clerics to make magic items that is simply an extension of an existing rule. Given the mysticism typically inherent in any religion, it makes sense that a cleric made item may not work out exactly as the maker plans, since the deity is supplying the power that makes it work. It’s even possible that, depending on the deity, the deity may not know (or remember or care) exactly what powers an item possesses.

Can PC clerics make such items? That’s up to each DM — this article doesn’t contain rules for item creation, merely a new dimension that can be added to any campaign.

Especially for players who have been playing for decades, this brings a new concept to the game. They have to work to find out what an item does. It’s something out of the ordinary and brings freshness to the table.

More Ideas

This same concept can be applied to other weapons, armor, even miscellaneous magic items. Consider a ring that performs detection spells (Detect Magic, Poison, Traps, etc). Increases in level could enable more castings per day and broaden the type of Detect spells available. The Detect spells could be invoked at a level equal to the wearer’s level.

Powers can be automatic or they can require command words or special gestures (let the player figure out what gesture just caused a power to activate!). Finding information may require an extended adventure, or series of adventures. With a bit of ingenuity the DM can entertain the entire group for months or even years with a single item.

Author’s note: While proofing this article I realized there was more to say on the subject. So while assembling quesadillas with my sons we dreamed up the following items.

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Moa’s Bracers of Defense

These magical bracers appear to be typical Bracers of Defense AC7, providing armor class 7 protection to any who wear it. However, magic users who worship Aarth discover these bracers provide additional abilities to the faithful. At first level the bracers do, indeed, provide AC7 protection, which improves as the magic user increases in level.

At higher levels the magic user will discover another bonus – the bracers provide a bonus on saving throws identical to that provided by a Ring of Protection. The following table summarizes the armor class and saving throws by level.

Level	AC	Save Bonus
1	7	–
3	6	+1
5	5	+1
7	4	+2
9	3	+2
11	2	+3

GP value 9,000-24,000; XP value 2,400-7,200

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Ring of Shadows

Szürkeegér the Bold first wore this ring, which he stole from the clerics of Zagyg. They had prepared it for a high-ranking member of the faithful, but Zagyg was so pleased with Szürkeegér’s boldness that he obscured the knowledge of who stole the ring from his clergy.

The Ring identifies as a Ring of Protection +1, and it does indeed provide that ability to all who wear it.

Thief followers of Zagyg who tithe regularly discover a number of improvements in their thieving skills. They receive a bonus of 3% per level in their skills of Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Hear Noise, and Climb Walls.

At 7th level the faithful may discover that they can detect a non-magical trap merely by examining an item without touching it. If the roll is successful they will know for sure if a trap does or does not exist. Removing or disarming the trap requires yet another roll.

At 10th level the faithful may discover the ability to climb walls as if a Spider Climb spell is in effect. This ability can be used 3 times per day and each usage has a duration of 3 rounds per level.

Should the faithful fail to properly tithe the god, the former benefits will be reversed, with a 3% per level penalty on all thieving skills. Attempts to examine a trap will always be wrong, and the Spider Climb ability will terminate after 1d6+2 rounds.

Non-thieves and thieves who do not tithe Zagyg regularly discover that the ring acts as cursed, with a 1% cumulative chance per day that the wearer will be overcome with the desire to pick someone’s pocket. Accursed thieves will gain a bonus of 30% in picking pockets, while non-thieves will discover they have basic thief ability while wearing the ring, a 30% chance of success. The wearer will not realize their growing obsession with thievery until they actually pick someone’s pocket. Until this time they may easily remove the ring, but after the first attempt a Remove Curse from a cleric of 7th level or higher is required to discard the ring. Once the curse is activated the victim will randomly pick someone’s pocket each day until the curse is removed or the hapless thief is hanged, at which time the ring can easily be removed.

GP value 4,500-13,500; XP value 1,500-4,500

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Diadem of Thoth

The Diadem of Thoth is a distinctive item, a mesh of the finest platinum set with a large golden beryl in the front with three smaller stones on either side. As a piece of jewelry it has fetched a price in excess of 25,000 gp.

This item does not radiate magic. However, if a cleric of Thoth places the diadem upon their head, they will immediately realize it contains powerful magic.

For 1st level clerics the Diadem acts a Ring of Protection +1, providing a bonus to armor class and to all saving throws.

Any detection spell cast by a cleric of Thoth while wearing the diadem is cast as if the cleric were three levels higher. Furthermore, spell ranges are doubled and any applicable saving throws are at -3.

At 3rd level the cleric may take Detect Invisibility as a 1st level spell, casting it as would a magic user. At 5th level the cleric may take Detect Illusion as a 2nd level spell. At 7th level the cleric may take as a 3rd level spell a form of Detect Traps which function precisely as a Wand of Trap Detection. Note that these are not additional spells – the cleric must use an existing spell slot for the spell. Also note that the diadem must be worn while praying/meditating for the spells and must be worn while casting. It may be removed in between.

For non-clerical faithful followers of Thoth the diadem acts as a Ring of Protection +1, and for non-followers it is completely inert.

GP value 4,500-13,500; XP value 1,500-4,500

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This page last updated: 05 June 2013

Copyright 2013 Bryan Fazekas

June 2013

This article was originally published in & Magazine, Issue 4 in February 2013. Recorded by Bryan Fazekas.

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Tim Kask, one of the people who helped create OD&D and AD&D, posts frequently to a Q&A forum on Dragonsfoot. Tim is kind enough to answer a lot of questions and has graciously permitted & Magazine to reprint select portions from his forum.

Tim Kask is one of the proprietors of Eldritch Enterprises (now defunct), a new company formed by some of the great minds that produced D&D.

 

BF: Tim — got another one for the Wayback Machine. Do you recall the rationale for placing a cap on the levels for the druid, assassin, and monk? They stand out oddly (IMO) and I’ve been wondering about this.

TK: To answer that question we must, indeed, utilize the Wayback Machine (with a nod to Rocky & Bullwinkle), and set it on Original Mid-Set. So grab your hot chocolate and settle back for a strange tale, a tale of times when RPG’s actually had end-game goals.

End-game goals? What a novel idea, at least for what seems to be a majority of contemporary players. Just what were those novel ideas? Same as you and me in real life: make a stack of cash, buy or build the home/castle of our dreams on our own substantial property where nobody is likely to mess with us and retire to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

Yes, Virginia, we really did play like that. All of us had PC’s that were “retired” or “semi-retired”; we did not use them except for special circumstances. Learning at Gary’s knee, so to speak, as I did, I had a whole stable of PC’s because he did, as well as the rest of the original players. It seems today that too many players get way too involved in just one PC; to say that some seem to obsess over their PC’s is fair, I think. When you had a stable of PC’s, as we did, you could view the PC’s as you might a pack of fine hunting dogs. Each dog in the pack had its strong and weak points, but you seldom develop a deep attachment with more than one or two of the pack. Certainly it hurts to lose any of them, but the pack endures.

Part of the reason we had multiple PC’s had to do with injury, healing and timelines; if my currently-favorite Fighting Man was laid up recuperating (I hated those original healing rules and argued with Gary about them several times.) but word had just come at the tavern that a new menace was in the offing with a promise of loot, I “played” my next-best-for-the-situation character. We were gathered together to play, after all.

Having tried to explain the prevailing mindset, the following answers may make a little more sense.

The Druid class actually had a bit of historical research behind it so setting a level limit that corresponded to historical thought about druids (we really know very little outside of the Roman propaganda) seemed a logical thing to do. After all, years and years of study working their way through the druidic and bardic ranks meant that most high level druids would be fairly old men. Gary had done a prodigious amount of research and had planned on a druid of his own, well before Dennis sent his excellent take on it to us. The mists of time make it a big foggy, but I do not recall making much alteration to the druid to meet Gary’s OK to publish. (One of the very few cases of running anything past him first was anything that might become construed as canon, and that only in the beginning.)

The assassin was, in my opinion, an experiment that went wrong. In those early days of negative publicity and much of the public misunderstanding exactly what we were doing, we were careful to downplay the fact that yes, you could do some pretty evil or wicked things in the game if you were of a mind to. We seldom published maleficent spells. The spells were what they were; how they were used and against whom and what was more important. We did state that a good number of spells could be reversed, with pretty nasty consequences. But honestly, we never saw the hired killer as much more than an exotic NPC to be hired to do “wet work”. (Gary never understood how Thieves could be tolerated on a daily campaign basis, or how “real thieves” would refrain from stealing from party members if the chance arose. He saw them as the true N/N alignment: “me first”.)

Being a subset of thieves, assassins become Hollywood killing machines at high levels; all those adds and boni (“from behind” or “backstab”, etc.) meant that they had the capability to take out rather high-level PC’s and NPC’s willy-nilly. We saw that as too much of a campaign “un-balancer” and did not wish to inflict it on the already long-suffering DM’s. We actually made a lot of decisions in the early days from a perspective of not burdening the DM’s with more than they needed or could assimilate. Yes, we felt very paternalistic.

TSR was more or less forced to come out with a monk class. We fended off everyone with a mimeo machine that thought we had screwed it up and that they could do it better. David Carradine’s Kung Fu resonated with a lot of gamers and particularly RPG’ers who all saw themselves as Caine, kicking butt across the Western US. Sadly, one of the principals (not Gary) was so in love with the whole fighting monk crapola that it was inevitable that we would do one. I have made no bones about the fact that I hate the class. As written, these guys cling to walls and ceilings like Peter Parker and kick butt like Bruce Lee taking on the local toughs and bullies. The D&D monk is a joke in a historical sense. Yes, there were monasteries full of warrior monks in several periods of Japanese history; they were spear-carriers like infantry, not squads of death- and gravity-defying hyper-efficient killers.

So, having elucidated on our mind-set of retirement as the ultimate and totally honorable goal of the game, it comes to this admission: we could not see any good reason why players would not retire old PC’s and then foster other PC’s to greatness and retirement. This was pre-MM; there just was not that much stuff to kill and it should have gotten boring. We naively thought that most players enjoyed the struggle to survive and thrive as we did. We should have seen that greed would prevail; it always does.

Hope that answers your question. It was a different gaming climate then. That was over 35 years ago, man. A lot of you were not even born then. You had to be there …

 

BF: Why did magic users have 9 levels of spells while the other classes only have 7?

TK: Over a period of time the conceptualization of clerical “spells” morphed into prayers, rites, and rituals. We reasoned that there was a relatively finite number of ways to pray or otherwise invoke divine favor.

Magic, on the other hand, was infinitely mutable and malleable, limitless in what it might achieve. When those mega-spells came out in GH, we had a couple of different motives. First, we were ramping up the lethality of the potential foe. Second, we were introducing mega-magic in the form of scrolls that might be possibly used by lower levels, though sometimes with unfortunate or unforeseen results.

As a DM I have always entertained and encouraged original spell research. I once had a player that had researched fire so thoroughly that he had six legitimate variations on the common fireball spell, for which he paid dearly in research costs and times.

That is another argument in favor of multiple PC’s; you can burn months of game time researching while out adventuring as someone else.

 

BF: Do you recall where the term “module” came from, in reference to packaged dungeons/ adventures?

TK: “Scenario” was linked to boards, with a little reference to minis. “Modular” was a hot buzzword; modular this, modular that, modular design, spacecraft modules etc. As to which of us, Gary, Brian [Blume] or me, came up with it? Probably consensus.

June 2013

This article was originally published in & Magazine, Issue 2 in August 2012. Written by Bryan Fazekas.

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Most adults have seen at least one of the plethora of zombie movies that have spawned like blowflies on a corpse since Night of the Living Dead premiered in 1968. In most of the movies the undead multiply as the people who are wounded – or killed but not eaten – all rise as zombies. They multiply without bounds, threatening to overrun the world, and wiping out all uninfected humans. One version of The Apocalypse.

Now consider undead in AD&D. Undead such as skeletons and zombies don’t multiply, they have to be created. Liches and mummies are also constructed, so they don’t multiply either. But ghouls, ghasts, and level draining undead reproduce by killing or draining mortals. The following excerpts are from the AD&D Monster Manual (MM):

Ghoul, page 43: Any human killed by a ghoulish attack will become a ghoul unless blessed (or blessed and then resurrected).

Spectre, page 89: Any human totally drained of life energy by a spectre becomes a half-strength spectre under the control of the spectre which drained him.

Vampire, page 99: Any human or humanoid drained of all life energy by a vampire becomes an appropriately strengthened vampire under control of its slayer.

Wight, page 100: Any human totally drained of life energy by a wight will become a half-strength wight under control of its slayer.

What stops these undead from proliferating like the heavies in a George Romero movie, eventually obliterating the campaign world? Practically speaking, nothing. The average zero level human, or one HD dwarf or elf, has little chance in dealing with the least of these monsters and absolutely no chance of survival against the most powerful.

If a vampire kills one person per week, that adds up to 52 people at the end of a year, 5,200 at the end of a century. If each kills rises as a vampire? Vampire Apocalypse. Now add in the spectres, wights, and the like. The living don’t have a chance.

Why Does Anyone Care?

Is this a real problem? The Dungeon Master (DM) can hand wave (e.g., ignore it) and the problem doesn’t even exist. So why worry about it if it’s a non-issue?

Some people want “realism” in their game, they want things to make sense. For those that don’t care about realism and things making logical sense? This ruling on how undead spawn is a gold mine of ideas for the DM to use. Following are ideas for limiting the spawning of level draining and carnivorous undead, and how the DM can use the rules to manufacture interesting role playing scenarios.

Level Draining Undead

Spectre and wight victims become a half strength undead of the appropriate type under the control of their killer. Vampire victims become an appropriately strengthened vampire under the control of their killer. [Note: the vampire reference indicates that the victim retains their original class, augmented by vampire powers, but this isn’t explained.]

One way to limit undead proliferation is to limit the number of undead which can be created. One choice is to set the limit equal to each monster’s hit dice, which means a vampire can create and control eight thralls, a spectre can control seven, and a wight can control four. If that’s too much for the campaign, cut the numbers in half to 4, 3, and 2 for vampires, spectres, and wights (respectively).

What is the rationale for this limit? Undead have a connection to the Negative Material Plane (NMP). The connection is through the master and there is a limit to the amount of energy that can be channeled to the thralls.

Ghouls and Ghasts

While the description of ghasts does not indicate they reproduce as do ghouls, the author treats ghasts as “super” ghouls and uses the same rules for both.

What is the limiting factor for ghouls?

While hit dice could be easily used the same way as described for level draining undead, it doesn’t “feel” like a good fit. Some other mechanism should be used.

Time can be used as a limiting factor. What if ghouls have a limited un-life span? They last for a finite period of time, a week, a month, a year? At the end they collapse and molder. Alternately that time limit could start from their last meal of humans, especially if the time span is short, say one week.

Ghouls could completely destroy the humans in an area, run out of food, and all molder. Or the DM can choose that when ghouls make a kill they immediately begin feasting, which will strictly limit the number of kills made.

Role Playing Ideas

Wights are of average intelligence and lawful evil. They are smart enough to understand how to cooperate … and intelligent enough to resent and envy their master.

Scenario #1:

A wight has plagued a town, killing all caught outside after dark. The party arrives to deal with the problem, and finds easy clues to track the wight back to its lair, where they dispatch it. Unknown to the party, the thralls of the master wight have been making indiscriminate kills and leaving trails back to the master’s lair. The first night after the party destroys the master, the former thralls go on a killing spree, each producing 4 thralls of its own. The number of wights goes from 5 to 20 in one night!

Scenario #2:

Rooting around in an old tomb while looking for valuables, a young adventurer-wannabe was “infected” by the moldering remains of an ancient ghoul. It appeared that a cut got infected and the infection rapidly spread and killed him within a day. Three nights later he rose as a ghoul, broke into the home of his closest friend, and slaughtered him and his family. The ghoul devoured the father but left the bodies of the friend, friend’s mother, and two younger siblings. Three nights later they all arose and raided a friend’s home, slaughtering and devouring all within. The ghouls kill everyone they find, each devour a person, and any others rise three nights later. Within a few weeks the terrified survivors of a once thriving town are badly outnumbered by ravenous ghouls. The party wanders into town and find themselves badly outnumbered.

Campaign Choices

In the author’s campaign, when any player character killed by an undead (of any type) the chance of that character rising as undead is 100% unless measures are taken. Do the players know this? Of course not! For new players this will cause consternation and horror. More experienced players should expect something bad to happen and take appropriate measures to avoid problems.

A parting thought – why would anyone in a D&D world use any treatment for their dead that did not include burning or some other method to ensure the dead will not rise?

Not Enough Undead?

What if it’s not enough? What if the DM needs more undead of a given type?

The classic method is the strongest undead rules the others. Numerous types of undead could be welded together by a strong vampire, mummy, or lich. Or the DM could use multiple levels of thralls of a single undead type.

One choice is for each thrall have its own thralls, say each can create half as many as its master, e.g., a vampire thrall can create four sub-thralls. Or the DM can produce something like a family tree, where each thrall can have half the number of thralls its master has. Thus a master vampire can have 8 thralls which we can refer to as “children”. Each “child” can have 4 “grandchildren”, each “grandchild” can have of 2 “great grandchildren”, and each “great grandchild” can have 1 “great great grandchild”. Any people killed beyond these numbers are simply dead.

That’s a lot of vampires!

Another choice is that when a master vampire is killed its thralls all become master vampires, and each sub-thrall level is bumped up. The party kills the master vampire only to discover they just made things worse, now they have 8 master vampires to deal with. And people previously killed may now rise as vampires now that there are openings in the ranks.

Another thought is that a group of vampires may not all have the same master. Killing one vampire may have no effect upon the others. Ideas are limitless, bounded only by a DM’s inventiveness. Too complicated? Stick with the original idea of one level of thralls …

Author’s Note: This article was spawned by a discussion in the August 2010 thread “alternative 1e undead (no energy drain)” started by GengisDon on the Dragonsfoot forums.

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Sidebar: Old School Undead

Tim Kask – TSR employee #1, editor of the The Dragon magazine, and editor/author for several OD&D supplements and AD&D – has a Q&A thread on the Dragonsfoot forums where he answers a lot of inane questions, including mine. (http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=23223) I posed the following question which he kindly answered.

BF: I’d like you to make another trip in the Wayback Machine! In reading the descriptions of level draining undead, the MM descriptions typically indicate that victims become half strength monsters under the control of their killer. I always assumed this to mean that they were half hit dice, e.g., a wight’s victim became a 2 HD wight. Is this what was intended, or am I interpreting it incorrectly?

TK: As I recall, and the memories from back then are very dusty, we (contemporary DM’s) made them half their original HP, or a 2 HD wight, whichever was greater. It was more about turning on their former fellows than any other consideration. As an example, from my old campaign: a fighter-type with 35 HP gets totally drained; he becomes an 18HP, 2HD monster (an oxymoron of sorts). HD were used on one combat table and had to do with ST back then. In the example above, if the afflicted survives (the players flee or drive it off), then the next time encountered, if there is a next time, the former PC-turned-wight is now a 4 HD wight with max HP. But that is just the way I handled it.

I also ruled that a fresh wight could not immediately know how to drain a full level per touch; during the melee in which they were “created” they can only drain half a level per touch. If, as happened above, it survives to encounter another day, it has full powers.

Very early on, I seem to recall that an entire low-level party was “wighted”; the original drained a 2nd level, which then drained a 1st level, and so on until the entire party were wights. What fun!

June 2013

This article was originally published in & Magazine, Issue 2 in August 2012. Written by Bryan Fazekas.

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This is certainly an inflammatory title for an article. Next to alignment, level draining is possibly the most argued and divisive topic in Dungeons and Dragons. Many players express a horror of level draining that transcends character death – they’d rather have their character killed than level drained.

What is level draining? In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) level draining is an attack form used by some undead, plus an effect connected to a few magic items and one spell. The effect upon a player character (PC) is to remove one or more levels of experience, including loss of hit points and skills gained at those level(s), plus the loss of the experience points (xp) used to attain those level(s). According to the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) on page 119, a PC’s xp total is reduced to the mid-point of the next lower level.

The problem is with the last part – experience points. For illustration, we have a pair of 2nd level fighters, one has 4,001 xp and the other has 7,801 xp. Each faces a wight. If both are drained of one level each now has 3,001 xp. Fighter #1 lost 1,000 xp while #2 lost 4,800 xp. For further illustration fighter #3 is 10th level with 740,001 xp – having one level drained reduces her to 375,001 xp, a total loss of 365,000 xp!

Let’s contrast that. Instead of a wight, the foe is a fighter armed with a long sword. A successful hit on any of the above fighters inflicts 1d8 points of damage regardless of their level or amount of xp.

Hence the contention that level draining is a form of metagaming, which is using out of game knowledge to dramatically affect the game.

Replacing Level Draining

Whether players like level draining or not, level draining undead scare the bejeebers out of everyone. Any replacement mechanism must inspire a similar sense of dread. Hence Mind and Body Draining, which is just as nasty, maybe more so:

Some undead – notably wights, wraiths, spectres, and vampires – have the ability to drain the mind and/or body when striking a victim. These horrible undead are difficult for even the bravest to approach, and being within touching distance invites long lasting harm.

Draining undead possess a fear aura – all non-supernatural creatures coming within 30′ of such an undead must save vs. Wand or flee as per the Fear spell, e.g., flee for one round per hit die of the undead. Note that characters making their saving throw will have to save again if that same undead is met during a separate encounter, and characters failing their saving throw must save again when coming within 30′ of that undead.

The physical attack of these monsters is vampiric in nature, e.g., the number of points inflicted is added to the monster’s hit point total, up to a maximum of double the monster’s normal maximum. Hit points above the normal maximum begin draining away after 6 turns at a rate of one hp/round.

Far worse, however, is the chilling touch of these monsters which drains the mind and/or body of the victim in addition to inflicting bodily damage. Draining undead leech 1d3 points of strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, or charisma from their victims on a successful hit! There is equal chance for which attribute a given undead drains – roll 1d6 to determine which. A group of similar undead, e.g., wights, may all drain different attributes.

Some rare draining undead will drain multiple attributes with a single strike. Roll on the Attributes Drained Table on the next page to determine how many attributes are affected.

If the undead drains more than one attribute, roll randomly for which attributes are affected (as above). Note that it is possible for a draining undead to drain an attribute doubly or triply. Roll 2d3 or 3d3 for points drained in this case. The most potent draining undead, spectres and vampires, always drain two attributes and may possibly drain three, four, or even six! [Roll twice on the table.]

Attributes Drained Table

d100	# Attributes Affected
01-90	any one attribute affected
91-99	any two attributes affected
00	any three attributes affected

The attribute drains are permanent unless the draining undead is slain by the following dawn. Should that happy event occur the victim may make a saving throw vs. Death Magic for each point lost, with success indicating that a week of bed rest will restore the point. Alternately, a Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Alter Reality, Limited Wish, or Wish will restore the lost attributes, although all but Alter Reality and Wish will require one week of bed rest for each point regained. Restoration, Alter Reality, and Wish will restore the lost attributes even if the undead is not slain within the time limit; Lesser Restoration and Limited Wish will not.

The worst effect, however, is the Curse of the Damned. Each hit on a victim inflicts a cumulative -1 penalty per die on all “to hit”, damage, saving throw, and other rolls, although all die rolls will be a minimum of 1 per die. Also, any spells or spell-like effects cast by the victim are cast as if the victim were that many levels lower with respect to range, area of effect, and damage. For example, a 5th level magic user struck twice by a wraith would have a -2 on all die rolls and cast spells as if 3rd level. This does not prevent spells from being cast, e.g., this character can still cast a Fireball, but the effects are determined as if the character were 3rd level, and each die of damage is at -2 with a minimum of one point per die. Note that the more powerful draining undead (spectres and vampires) inflict a cumulative -2 penalty. Each application of Remove Curse, cast at a level equal to or higher than the hit dice of the attacking undead, will remove a “-1” of the curse, e.g., the above magic user will require two applications of Remove Curse.

Note that the effects occur only with the monster’s natural attacks. Should the undead use a weapon there is no draining or curse inflicted, nor do effect occur simply by touching the undead.

If the character dies while suffering the Curse of the Damned, she will rise again in three days as the type of undead that afflicted her. Should the character be unlucky enough to be cursed by more than one type of draining undead, roll randomly for which she will rise as. Note: If the character is raised from the dead before rising as undead the transformation will still take place. Remove Curse cast upon a dead or newly raised character will prevent her from rising, although it must be cast at a level twice the hit dice of the attacking undead to prevent the transformation.

Fixing Level Draining

Many DMs like level draining but think it’s too hard to fix – one of the problems of level draining is that a cleric of 16th level must be available to cast Restoration. In contrast a dead character only needs a cleric of 9th level to cast Raise Dead. The following spell offers a correction for this oddity, a lower level version of Restoration.

Lesser Restoration

by David Stairs

Type:	Necromantic
Level:	Cleric 5
Components:	V, S, M
Range:	touch
Casting Time:	2 rounds
Duration:	Perm
Saving Throw:	none
Area of Effect:	1 Person

This is a lesser form of Restoration which has a time limit: it must be cast on the recipient within 1 hour per level of the caster, from the time of the victim’s LAST energy drain. As part of the material components, the recipient must sacrifice a gem worth at least 5,000 GP gem to the god(ess) granting the spell.

After the preparations are made, which requires a prayer by both the caster and recipient, the recipient makes a saving throw vs. Spells. If the save is successful the most recent level draining is now only temporary, and the lost level(s) will return after 24 hours. If failed, then the level(s) can only be restored with the 7th level Restoration spell, or gaining more experience.

If the drain was a single level, the save versus Death is at -1. Each casting of the spell allows the regaining of one draining from most recent, to first gained. If being used on a dual drain, the above spell can be used, but the victim makes the save at a -4 penalty.

Example: Jurgen the paladin was drained four times from 11th level down to 5th level, by two wraiths (2 levels each) and two wights (1 level each). The 2 wights were last in the combat to hit him. Phillius the cleric accepts the sacrifice of a valuable gem for his god and casts Lesser Restoration within 10 hours of the last draining.

Jurgen’s first save is a 19, and so will gain that level back (from 5th to 6th) after 24 hrs. The second save (for 6th to 7th) unfortunately is a 3 and fails. The third and fourth are both natural 20’s (now why could he not have had those in combat!), and will regain those four levels. At the end of the day he is back to 10th level, but has to wait until Sir Hecktric the High Priest shows up, for a chance at the regular Restoration.

Note: The level draining for the above spell, refers only to levels lost to undead or other creatures who remove life levels, NOT to age, ability stat reductions, nor to spells/magic items that remove levels.

Sidebar: What is Metagaming?

Taken from Wikipedia:

Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

In simple terms, it is the use of out-of-game information or resources to affect one’s in-game decisions.

In role-playing games, a player is metagaming when they use knowledge that is not available to their character in order to change the way they play their character (usually to give them an advantage within the game), such as knowledge of the mathematical nature of character statistics, or the statistics of a creature that the player is familiar with but the character has never encountered. In general, it refers to any gaps between player knowledge and character knowledge which the player acts upon.