What year is this?

I moved to Germany last week and today made a trip to the Ramstein Base Exchange... inside was a bookstore called the "Bookmark". I strolled over the Dungeons & Dragons section and was very surprised to find several rows of 3rd edition Forgotten Realms books, all in new condition, sitting on a shelf with only a few 4th edition products next to it (in fact, there were no 4th edition hardcovers to be found with the exception of a single copy of the Draconomicon book).

There were several Pathfinder books to choose from and a section with some of the new Gamma World material but that was it. At first, I thought I had traveled back in time since the 3rd edition realms books haven't been in print for five years or so.  I immediately grabbed a copy of Champions of Valor and rushed to the register to pay for it... it will almost certainly be the last D&D hardcover book that I purchase... ever.  I find that particularly fitting since it was here at Ramstein that I rediscovered Dungeons & Dragons back in 1998 and 1999 through online stores.

I'm still not sure how the store came to carry these books.  Perhaps they were shipped here from nearby military warehouses (recently discovered) because it's one of the biggest base exchange stores in Europe.  I don't know... but I'm glad I stumbled onto them nonetheless.

Ability Checks

Ability checks appeared both in 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D. Standard ability checks work by trying to roll less than or equal to the characters relevant ability score with a d20. Since AD&D doesn't have a built in skill system, ability checks can be a handy way to determine the outcome of some actions.

For example, say a PC wants to haggle with a blacksmith over the price of a sword, the DM can have the player roleplay the scene and then roll dice to see if he's successful at the attempt (perhaps add a -2 modifier if the DM thinks the player was especially persuasive). Likewise, if a character is trying to balance on a slippery surface, a dexterity check might be in order to see if he can remain standing without falling down.

I do ability checks in my game slightly differently. I have the player roll a number of six sided dice based on the difficulty of the task that their character is attempting. For easy tasks, I have them roll 2d6, 3d6 for average tasks, 4d6 for hard tasks and 5d6 for challenging tasks. If they roll equal to or less than their characters relevant ability score, they succeed at whatever they're trying to do.

I don't roll dice for everything... if what the player is attempting is relatively easy, I just allow for immediate success (I adjudicate this on a case by case basis). I also allow for higher level characters to have slightly better chances of success at whatever they're attempting by factoring in their level divided by 2, rounded down. So, a 4th level character would gain a -2 bonus after all dice have been rolled.

Charisma becomes more important when using ability checks because it comes into play whenever characters attempt negociations with NPCs or when they try to persuade them to do something. This prevents charisma from becomming a dump stat and really makes players think about where they want to assign numbers when creating 1st level characters.

In the game I just started with my daughter, she tried to get the blacksmith in the city to lower the cost of the armor she wanted to buy at the beginning of the game. We roleplayed this out (briefly, since I was anxious to get the game underway) and then I let the dice decide the outcome of the haggling by letting her roll four six sided dice (I determined that what she was attempting was a hard task). She rolled under her charisma, which I think was 13, and the deal was struck.

Of course, all the ability scores become more important if you use ability checks to help determine the outcome of the players actions. Some DMs may think this places too much emphasis on them since the game wasn't really designed with ability checks in mind. Personally, I think they're a great addition to the game and plan to keep using them for the forseeable future.

A New Campaign Begins

My daughter and I began a new game today and the first session, which ran about 3 - 4 hours, was one of our best games yet. She created four 1st level characters... a Fighter, a Magic-User, a Cleric and a Thief. When we first started our games, she was initallly against running more than one character but she's definitely got used to playing this way and does an excellent of job of managing all of her PCs at the same time (unfortunately, it's kind of a necessity since it's just me and her at the game table).

I've learned through previous game sessions that dungeons really aren't her thing. She much prefers social interaction with NPCs with some danger and combats thrown in to keep things exciting. While the occasional small dungeon is ok (as long as there's a clear reason to delve into it), she's definitely not into repeated forays into some multi-level megadungeon. Knowing your audience as a DM is key to having a good campaign so I planned on running something more city based this time around with her characters having a lot more interaction with the NPCs in the game world and actually starting play in a medium-sized city (our previous games always began in small villages) that her characters grew up in.

For source material, I based our beginning session on the Pathfinder adventure path module Edge of Anarchy.

The first session was broken up into three parts... rescue a bunch of orphans from a local crime lord, gather information from charismatic thug who lives on a ship down by the docks and recover the dead body of a barbarian chief's son.

One of the highlights of the game was the information gathering mission where the Captain of the Royal Guard hired her PCs to dig up some dirt on a visiting diplomat named Carl Star. Her PCs visited a mob boss named Brad Fletcher who lives on a ship down by the docks and tried to pursuade him to spill the beans on Carl, which he did but only after a hefty bribe was placed before him. I used ability checks and role playing for this encounter... for each bribe attempt, I had her roll four six sided dice with the goal being to roll equal to or less than her charisma. Also, part of what helped get Fletcher into a talkative mood was my daughters willingness to have one of her PCs participate in a game of "knives".

Knives works like this... two unarmed people stand on each end of a large rectangular table. A dagger is placed in the middle of the table an equal distance from each opponent. The goal of the game is to get your opponent off the table by any means... the person left standing wins.

My daughter had her Fighter take up the challenge and ended up facing off against a rather large, strong, overweight, unwashed man named Flynn who taunted her by saying "come on girl, you think you can win against me? Well, if you insist... I'll try not to leave a scar". I'd never seen my daughter more excited to play out an encounter and it almost killed her that she lost the initiative to Flynn who managed to grab the dagger first and then turn to face her PC. She tried to body slam him off the table with her weight but she rolled bad and went right past him, Flynn used the dagger on her and scored a hit for 3hp of damage. She retaliated by punching him hard in the face (her fighter has a 18/78 strength) which nearly did him in but Flynn was still on his feet and took another swing with the dagger... and missed (much to my daughters relief). She then punched him again with a solid hit and brought him down.

I tried to play the mob boss Fletcher as kind of swave and worldly and even dropped a few hints that he might be interested in having her characters work for him in the future. I'm not sure she'll visit him again though.

Back at the palace, her characters tell the captain of the guard that Carl Star is supposedly a high ranking member of a demonic cult known as the Order of the Silver Serpent. Shortly afterwards, the king dies and the streets of the city are plunged into chaos... "poison" and "assassination" are on everyone's lips.

Next session, a plague will begin in the city (secretly masterminded by the queen herself) and sweep through it like wildfire. Can anything be done to stop it from destroying the city? My daughters characters will also be hired to bring the kings assassin to justice... only, will she be capturing a scapegoat or the real killer?

Pickpocketing

What's a DM to do when a thief makes a successful pickpocket attempt on some random person in the game world? Since there are no charts or guidance to cover this in the Dungeon Masters Guide, DMs are often forced to adjudicate this on the spot... I've done this in the past myself with some success but afterwards I've always wished I could have had something more concrete to consult in order to help with my decision. To that end, I finally got off my butt and came up with a chart that I can use in conjunction with random pickpocketing attempts. My daughter and I are planning a new game in the near future (we may even play later today) and I have a feeling that this will come in quite handy since one of her characters is a Rogue.

Regular Items, Roll 1d20

1. 1d6 copper pieces
2. 1d4 silver pieces
3. 1d8 buttons
4. wooden pipe with tobacco
5. silver necklace worth 15sp
6. 50/50 chance of 1d3 carrots or one small turnip
7. smooth black rock that looks interesting but is valueless
8. small piece of cloth (1-5 sweaty and gritty, 6 fancy and made of silk)
9. 1d4 marbles
10. 1d8+2 copper pieces
11. 1d6+2 silver pieces
12. 50/50 chance of 1d4 gold pieces or a small candle
13. wooden spoon
14. roll 1d8 (1-6 metal fork, 7-8 piece of dung)
15. crumpled piece of paper w/ directions to nearby tavern
16. piece of bone with string wrapped around it at one end
17. 1d8 nails of various sizes
18. small cloth bag full of herbs and spices
19 - 20. Special (see special chart below)

Special Chart, Roll 1d12

1. 1d10 gold pieces
2. silver bracelet worth 1d6gp
3. miniature ivory animal worth 5gp
4. 1d4 jewels worth 1d20+4gp total
5. small leather pouch containing a glass eye
6. 1d3 wooden sticks
7. 1d6+1gp and 1d6+2sp
8. pair of mittens worth 3sp
9. handful of raisins
10. piece of chalk
11. vial of perfume worth 3d10gp
12. extra special item (see really special chart below)

Extra special items, Roll 1d6

1. gold ring worth 20-60gp
2. small silver broach inlaid w/ rubies worth 140gp
3. 50/50 chance of 1d12+2 platinum pieces or 1 potion bottle (DMs choice)
4. scroll w/ one spell (DMs choice)
5. plain gold necklace worth 2d20+12gp
6. Roll 1d10 (1-8 tiny metal box containing 1d4 teeth, 9-10 human finger)

Zero Level Spells

I always thought 0-level spells were a cool idea but the ones that appeared in Dragon Magazine in the early 1980s and then later in Unearthed Arcana were unfortunately a bit on the lame side. None of them seemed particularly useful, especially to the adventuring magic-user, and what low level magic-user in their right mind would opt to memorize a handful of almost useless 0-level spells when he could memorize one potentially life-saving 1st level spell instead?

To remedy this, I decided to come up with my own 0-level spells, not so much to supplement those that have already been published but more to replace them... I tried to keep the power level relatively low (below that of 1st level spells) while still making them interesting and useful. I would allow 1st level magic-users three zero level spell slots at first level (they can pick which ones they want from the below list) in addition to the usual 1st level spell that they receive at the beginning of their careers.

Spark; creates a purple spark that can be used to start a campfire, light a torch, etc...

Slumber; puts to sleep one zero level person or humanoid, range is touch, save negates

Kilgore's Apple; turns an ordinary apple into a projectile weapon that will cause metal armor to be degraded by one category if it strikes true (magic-user must make normal attack roll to score a hit), range is 30 feet plus 10 feet per level of the caster

Darts of Fury; allows caster to randomly enchant 1d3 darts for one round. Darts will be at +1 to hit

Trick Voice; allows caster to impersonate the voice of anyone he has heard with 90% accuracy for one round

Reveal; this spells helps the caster discover the location of secret doors, although it does not assist with determining how they are opened (If the chance to discover a secret door is 1 in 6, this spell increases the chances of discovery to 3 in 6)

Flash; creates a brief, bright, flash of light in a 40ft radius, one person or creature of the casters choice is significantly affected (-1 to hit for one round), save negates

Scribble; caster can write on surfaces with his or her finger for one round. The writing will remain visible for one day per level of the caster

Candlelight; sheds light in a five foot radius for one round per level of the caster, range is 5 feet