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Post by geoffrey on Feb 16, 2010 11:42:04 GMT -6
Over on the K&K boards francisca wrote the following: So my 7 year old son is perusing the Labyrinth Lord manual the other day, and I hear him say, "Woah. Creeeeeepy...."
And I ask, of course, as he is reading it in my presence so I can answer any questions he may have.
He says, "Clerics can turn undead!"
I look at him, puzzled. "yep, that is one of the cool features of clerics. You roll 2d6 on that chart on the other page to see what happens."
So he's looking at the chart, with eyes bugged out, and it occurs to me that he interpreted "turn undead" as "become undead".(link: www.knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=79297#79297 ) That would be a freaking awesome, over-the-top, Arduin-ish D&D variant. (Kind of like the same misunderstanding that gave each monster a "% Is Liar".) Here's a way to try to quantify the concept: Once each day a cleric can try to become undead. He consults the charts and picks which undead to try to become. If his turn roll succeeds, then he becomes that type of undead for 3-12 turns. If his turn roll succeeds with a D, he becomes that type of undead for 2-5 hours. (Note that this REPLACES the cleric's ability to make undead run away or serve. It is NOT in addition to.)  |
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Post by Random on Feb 16, 2010 12:11:41 GMT -6
Perhaps that's how intelligent undead come about. Clerics who turn into the same type of undead repeatedly may become thus for longer periods of time, until they finally stay that way.
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Post by jcstephens on Feb 16, 2010 12:58:27 GMT -6
"He who fights too long against dragons should take care, lest he become a become a dragon himself; gaze too long into the abyss, and you will find the abyss gazing back into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche "
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Post by Zulgyan on Feb 17, 2010 2:54:48 GMT -6
;D
We need more 7 year olds playing D&D.
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Post by tavis on Feb 17, 2010 7:14:17 GMT -6
My seven year old recently took a turn DMing, which worked very well. Usually when we play D&D with me or another adult as DM there are authority issues that make it something he requests less frequently than computer games, where the computer is a neutral arbiter, giving up control to its rules doesn't get identified with doing what I or some other adult says, and he can play on his own to develop mastery and meet me on a more even playing field.
He got a real charge out of wearing the Viking hat, however, and is asking to do so right now! In this situation he is glad to have me handle how the rules work as long as he is in the position to hold the hidden knowledge about what was in the next room and menace my puny PCs with his mighty monsters. Although I think that part of the enjoyment is role reversal (just as part of his discomfort with me as DM is that it doubles up our normal parent-child roles), I was pleased to see that apparently his model for All-Father is more facilitator than tyrant. When I realized that the monsters he created for the Shadow Factory that were built on the "more is better" model, I drew on my repertoire of low-level D&D tricks for running from a 30 HD creature, and he totally went with it and even created situations (like the monsters starting to fight one another) that aided my survival and the continuation of the adventure. If anything, he probably needs support in letting the dice fall where they may: this is something he's not good at as a player, and having him kill some of my PCs would give me a chance to demonstrate how to take ill fortune in stride.
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Post by Lord Kilgore on Feb 17, 2010 9:14:23 GMT -6
How about a penalty if a (normal) turning attempt fails:
If a cleric's attempt to turn undead fails, the character must immediately roll again on the turning table and turn into the form of undead their roll specifies. (Example: if they normally need a 7 to turn a zombie and a 10 to turn a wight, a roll of 7 indicates that they have turned into a zombie and a roll of 9 indicates that they have turned into a wight.) This effect lasts for 2d6 turns. Clerics who turn into intelligent undead retain their mental capabilities but may be overcome by the undead's instincts.
A roll higher than the highest required turning number indicates that the character has saved against turning into undead (Example: if the most powerful type of undead a cleric can turn is a mummy with a roll of 17 or better and the character rolls an 18, he does not turn into undead.)
If there is a better way to explain the reversed use of the turning table, please let me know. I mean for only very high rolls to allow characters to save vs. turning into undead once they've failed their initial (normal) turning attempt.
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Post by philotomy on Feb 17, 2010 23:22:05 GMT -6
;D We need more 7 year olds playing D&D. Hell, yeah, brother. |
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Post by delta on Feb 18, 2010 15:04:23 GMT -6
We need more 7 year olds playing D&D. Actually, remember that the old D&D Basic set said "Ages 10 and Up" on the cover? When we were 9 I had a friend who'd been bought it as a gift, but kept it in the closet unopened because he wasn't old enough yet. I said, screw that, I've been playing for a while, open it and let's play. www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/setscans/basic8th.html |
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