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Post by tavis on Mar 18, 2011 20:12:10 GMT -6
When determining the value of gems, how do you interpret the instructions to "roll a six-sided die for every gem... each roll of 1 indicates the gem is of the next higher category"?
Let's say I have a class C treasure and determine it has three gems. Do I roll percentile for each gem's base value, or roll once for the base value of all three gems?
So then I roll 3d6 and look for ones. If each d6 represents each gem's base value, how do I get to the larger category increases?
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Post by talysman on Mar 18, 2011 21:29:55 GMT -6
Roll percentile for the *base* value, roll 3d6 to see if any are above the base. That's the way I'd interpret it.
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Post by coffee on Mar 19, 2011 3:47:27 GMT -6
Roll percentile for the *base* value, roll 3d6 to see if any are above the base. That's the way I'd interpret it. Yeah, that's how it looks to me, too. |
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Post by aldarron on Mar 19, 2011 6:48:37 GMT -6
Usually, it seems to me, when Gygax reworks something of Arnesons, he improves it, but Gygax often had problems with expressing himself clearly. In this particular case, Arneson's approach seems better to me, and is certainly easier to grasp. Here's the quote from his playtest manuscript.
"Gems:
For base value of gems roll one die.
1 = base 1000gp,
2 = base 500GP,
and 3- 6 = base 100GP.
RIoll next for each stone, with all 1's moving the stone to the next higher category (100's become 500's, etc.) Finally,re-roll all 1's to see if any further increase upward takes place (further die rolls of 1). Do this until there are no more 1's . Gems increase in levels of 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 20000, and 50000."
In any case. the method seems to be the same, roll for base, then roll for increase.
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Post by tavis on Mar 19, 2011 6:58:42 GMT -6
Ah, that does make more sense - both by specifying that the first roll is for gems (meaning all those you've got in the treasure), and also by clarifying that the second roll for individual stones is repeated each time you roll a one (otherwise you can't get to the very high levels of stone value).
A clue to the iterative nature of the rolling appears in the AD&D DMG procedure, which has you re-roll on a chart whenever you roll a 1 so that you can get these ongoing strings of bumped-up value. (Here Gygax expresses himself more clearly but adds the characteristic over-complication of AD&D.)
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