Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 7:49:35 GMT -6
Hello All,
In addition to this message being your standard "delurking" announcement, I'd like to share an observation and ask everyone here a question or two, as my experience with OD&D is almost nil (started with Holmes as an 8 year old, first set owned was Moldvay Basic).
I've looked at the monsters and spells in OD&D, and from what I can tell, the underlying philosophy about damage is different than later sets, especially 3.x but to some extent AD&D also.
It appears that the damage dice are more important than the modifiers. Some of you might be thinking "well, ya, of course", but for me this was one of those "zen" moments. At a certain point in 3.x it almost doesn't matter what the dice roll is, with damage modifiers creeping into double digits at low levels.
But with OD&D, stronger monsters get more dice of damage rather than have wacky modifiers. I like it! There's no reason for a bolted-on critical hit system when a giant does 2d6, an earth elemental does 3d6, and a giant croc does 4d6. There's your critical hit system right there, built into the damage dice! With the large variation in damage output, you could get a glancing blow or a devastating wallop, all without having to roll extra dice. (Which is why I quit 3.x and never picked up 4e - combats became a nightmare for me to run and took forever to resolve - one three-hour session for merely fighting the bugbears in my L1 Bone Hill conversion!)
My questions, then, follow: for those of you that use monsters with multiple attacks, what are the implications, in actual play, of using these creatures? Has anyone experimented with high-level characters getting multiple attacks? (Beyond, those, of course, gained when fighting scrubs). Has anyone experimented with higher/additional dice damage for higher-level PC's, as in EPT?
I'm going to get a OD&D (w/ house rules, of course) game going, and I'd like to draw on the experiences of those who've actually played with the system (some of you since 1974-1975, even!) rather than merely read it, like I have.
MbS
PS for the Moderator(s): If this thread isn't in the right sub-forum, my apologies. My topic didn't seem to completely fit into any of the more specific categories.
In addition to this message being your standard "delurking" announcement, I'd like to share an observation and ask everyone here a question or two, as my experience with OD&D is almost nil (started with Holmes as an 8 year old, first set owned was Moldvay Basic).
I've looked at the monsters and spells in OD&D, and from what I can tell, the underlying philosophy about damage is different than later sets, especially 3.x but to some extent AD&D also.
It appears that the damage dice are more important than the modifiers. Some of you might be thinking "well, ya, of course", but for me this was one of those "zen" moments. At a certain point in 3.x it almost doesn't matter what the dice roll is, with damage modifiers creeping into double digits at low levels.
But with OD&D, stronger monsters get more dice of damage rather than have wacky modifiers. I like it! There's no reason for a bolted-on critical hit system when a giant does 2d6, an earth elemental does 3d6, and a giant croc does 4d6. There's your critical hit system right there, built into the damage dice! With the large variation in damage output, you could get a glancing blow or a devastating wallop, all without having to roll extra dice. (Which is why I quit 3.x and never picked up 4e - combats became a nightmare for me to run and took forever to resolve - one three-hour session for merely fighting the bugbears in my L1 Bone Hill conversion!)
My questions, then, follow: for those of you that use monsters with multiple attacks, what are the implications, in actual play, of using these creatures? Has anyone experimented with high-level characters getting multiple attacks? (Beyond, those, of course, gained when fighting scrubs). Has anyone experimented with higher/additional dice damage for higher-level PC's, as in EPT?
I'm going to get a OD&D (w/ house rules, of course) game going, and I'd like to draw on the experiences of those who've actually played with the system (some of you since 1974-1975, even!) rather than merely read it, like I have.
MbS
PS for the Moderator(s): If this thread isn't in the right sub-forum, my apologies. My topic didn't seem to completely fit into any of the more specific categories.
. . . And the best part is, with such a flexible rules system, creating the stats for such a beast takes about 5 minutes, if that.