This will be a quick one today. I've been looking at the equipment list for original Dungeons & Dragons, and there are a bunch of items on there whose usefulness is not immediately apparent. Some of them do have rules attached, and some don't. I'm going to run through them all, and discuss how I plan to make them all worth buying in my game. Here goes!
Iron Spikes
This one isn't too difficult, because there are two instances where usage for iron spikes is given in the rules. The first is for holding doors open, so that players won't have to force them open when they return. The other is for climbing out of pits when a character has no associates to pull them out.
Stakes & Mallet
Again, this item's purpose is called out in the rules: it's for killing vampires by impaling them through the heart.
Cross (Wooden and Silver)
D&D veterans could be forgiven for thinking that the crosses on the equipment list are supposed to be holy symbols for clerics. Nothing is said about holy symbols in this edition, though. The only mention of crosses in the rules is that vampires cannot abide the sight of a cross, and they will fall back if one is strongly presented. This can seemingly be done by any character, not just a cleric.
I'm not sure what the practical difference is between a wooden and silver cross (aside from the latter costing 23 gold pieces more). The rules provide nothing, so it's purely up to the referee. It's tempting to make the silver cross more effective, or to make the wooden cross only good for a single use. Perhaps the wooden cross will burst asunder, or burn away to cinders after exerting its influence for a short time.
Garlic
The purpose of garlic is similar to that of a cross, in that vampires will fall back at its smell. As with the wooden cross, I'm tempted to make each bud of limited use. Each bud costs more than a wooden cross, so it should last longer.
Rations (Standard and Iron)
The purpose of rations is self-evident, of course, but it's not entirely clear why there's a distinction between standard rations and iron rations. The rules do specify that iron rations are for dungeon expeditions, and I guess that's a good enough answer if we assume that regular food spoils really quickly in the dungeon. I do wonder why iron rations are sold in weekly amounts, though; how many dungeon expeditions are going for that long?
Holy Water
Nothing is said in original D&D about holy water, but we know from mythology and pop culture that it can be used to burn vampires, and we know from later editions of D&D that it does the same to other types of undead. I want to be consistent in my rulings with at least Advanced D&D, so I'll go with that. I feel like it should maybe do more damage than the 1d6 of a regular attack, but I'm not decided about that yet,
Mirrors (Steel and Silver)
As with garlic and crosses, a mirror can be used to hold vampires at bay. More importantly, mirrors can be used to reflect the gaze of a basilisk or a medusa. This is all well and good... but why the distinction between steel mirrors and silver mirrors? Obviously the more expensive silver mirror should be more effective than the steel one, but how?
For me, the answer comes from some rules that already exist in Chainmail and original D&D. The distinction is made in several places between light that is equal to full daylight, and light that is not. I'd say that the steel mirror will only be effective in full daylight, while a silver mirror will work in any light conditions other than darkness.
Belladonna
There's nothing in the rules about belladonna. In the real world, it's a strong poison that can cause illness through contact and death if ingested. So that's a practical use right there.
In D&D terms, it looks like it's often used as a potential cure for lycanthropy. That works for me: a player can ingest it to cure lycanthropy, with a chance that doing so will kill them outright if they fail a saving throw vs. poison.
Wolvesbane
Wolvesbane, like belladonna, is also highly toxic. In folklore and pop culture it's also deadly to werewolves. I'd probably have it kill a werewolf outright with no saving throw, provided the PCs can somehow get the werewolf to eat it. I'd also allow it to be used to keep werewolves at bay, in the same way that garlic does to vampires. I'm still undecided if it will work on lycanthropes other than werewolves, but given the name I'm leaning towards the answer being no. Or if it is, it will be less effective.
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