Perusals & Progressions: Detect Magic

Continuing through through the 1st-level cleric spells, we come to detect magic.  I don't expect that this spell will present too many problems or revelations as I go through its history, but you never know.

ORIGINAL D&D (1974)

Detect Magic: A spell to determine if there has been some enchantment laid on a person, place or thing. It has a limited range and short duration. It is useful, for example, to discover if some item is magical, a door has been "held" or "wizard locked", etc.

This is about as basic and uncomplicated as this spell can get.  It's the first spell described in OD&D, and note that the range and duration aren't defined with specific numbers.  It seems odd, given the game's origins in wargaming, that these categories wouldn't be numerically defined, but perhaps Dave and Gary didn't think that this spell required it.  They must have changed their minds pretty quickly, because a year later in Supplement I: Greyhawk it's given a range of 6" and a duration of 2 turns.

The cleric and magic-user versions of the spell are identical.

HOLMES D&D (1977)

Detect Magic — Level: 1; Range: 60 feet; Duration: 2 turns
A spell to determine if there has been some enchantment laid on a person, place or thing. It has a limited range and short duration. It is useful, for example, to discover if some item is magical, a door has been "held" or "wizard locked," etc.

This is the exact same wording as in OD&D, and the range and duration from Supplement I have been incorporated.

B/X (1981)

Detect Magic
Range: 60'
Duration: 2 turns
This spell determines if there has been an enchantment laid upon a person, place, or thing, causing any magic item within 60' to glow. Several items may be tested until the spell's duration has ended. It is useful, for example, to discover if some item is magical, if a door has been magically "held" or "wizard locked" (see Magic-user and Elf Spells), and so forth.

There are two minor changes here: the magic that is detected now glows, and there are very rough guidelines as to how many items can be "tested" during the spell's duration.  What this means is unclear; if everything magical within the range glows, why would items need to be tested at all?  There shouldn't be a limit on the number of items detected, as long as they're all within 60 feet.

BECMI (1983)

Detect Magic
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: Everything within 60'
When this spell is cast, the cleric will see magical objects, creatures, and places within range glow. It will not last very long, and should be saved until the cleric wants to see if something found during an adventure is, in fact, magical. For example, a door may be held shut magically, or a treasure found might be enchanted; in either case, the magic item, creature, or effect will glow when it is within the effect.

The glow caused by this spell is clarified to be something that only the caster can see. To reflect that, the range of the spell has been changed to 0, to indicate that it affects the caster rather than the magic being detected.

The magic-user version of the spell ends with a different example: "Shortly after casting this spell, a magic-user walks into a room containing a door locked by magic, a magical potion laying nearby, and a treasure chest containing a magic wand. All the magic will glow, but only the door and potion will be seen: the light of the glowing wand is hidden by the treasure chest."  This clarification that the spell is a line-of-sight effect, and doesn't work through solid objects, is a direct contradiction of AD&D.

RULES CYCLOPEDIA (1991)

Detect Magic
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: Everything within 60'
When this spell is cast, the cleric will see a glow surround magical objects, creatures, and places within the spell's effect. The glow will not last very long; clerics should normally use the spell only when they want to know if particular objects already within sight are, in fact, magical. For example, a door may be held shut magically, a stranger might actually be an enchanted monster, or a treasure might be enchanted.

This spell is pretty much exactly from BECMI, and just as in BECMI the magic-user version of the spell clarifies that the caster can only detect magic on things that are in plain sight.  It seems like a bit of an editorial oversight not to include that in both versions.

That's the Basic line done, and as usual it's all very consistent.  Now let's move to AD&D.

AD&D 1st EDITION (1978)

Detect Magic (Divination)
Level: 1
Range: 3"
Duration: 1 turn
Area of Effect: 1" path, 3" long
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Explanation/Description: When the detect magic spell is cast, the cleric detects magical radiations in a path 1" wide, and up to 3" long, in the direction he or she is facing. The caster can turn 60 degrees per round. Note that stone walls of 1' or more thickness, solid metal of but 1/12' thickness, or 3' or more of solid wood will block the spell. The spell requires the use of the cleric’s holy (or unholy) symbol.

The range, duration, and area of effect are all changed, and the spell can detect things through solid objects (to a point).  I always find it odd how different Gary went with some things in AD&D, and that Moldvay and Mentzer didn't follow his lead on the Basic line for consistency.  There's also some trademark Gygaxian overcomplication here, with the spell being blocked by 1/12' of metal; just call it an inch, Gary!

The magic-user version of the spell has a duration of 2 rounds/level, an area of effect that stretches to 6", and a casting time of 1 segment.  It also doesn't require a holy symbol, obviously.

Druids can cast this spell, and their version has a duration of 4 rounds/level, an area of effect 4" long, and a casting time of 3 segments.  Illusionists cast it as a 2nd level spell, but their version is otherwise the same as that for magic-users.

AD&D 2nd EDITION (1989)

Detect Magic (Divination)
Sphere: Divination
Range: 30 yards
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 turn
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: 10-foot path
Saving Throw: None
When the detect magic spell is cast, the priest detects magical radiations in a path 10 feet wide and up to 30 yards long, in the direction he is facing.  The intensity of the magic can be detected (dim, faint, moderate, strong, overwhelming). The caster has a 10% chance per level to determine the sphere of the magic, but unlike the wizard version of the spell, the type of magic (alteration, conjuration, etc.) cannot be divined. The caster can turn, scanning a 60-degree arc per round. A stone wall of 1 foot or more thickness, solid metal of one-inch thickness, or a yard or more of solid wood blocks the spell.
The spell requires the use of the priest's holy symbol.

The magic-user version of the spell has different range and duration as in 1e, and as noted above can detect the type/school of magic.  It also ends with the following paragraph that's not in the cleric version.

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may confuse or conceal weaker radiations. Note that this spell does not reveal the presence of good or evil, or reveal alignment. Other-planar creatures are not necessarily magical.

It's interesting that the cleric version of the spell has had its range converted to yards, whereas the magic-user version is still using feet.  In previous editions the magic-user spell had more range, but now they've been swapped.  Just as it did with detect evil, 2e introduces the idea of different aura intensities, but doesn't show how they are actually determined.

AD&D 2nd EDITION REVISED (1995)

No need to reproduce these versions of the spell, because they're identical to those in 2e except for some minor formatting changes.

D&D 3rd EDITION (2000)

Detect Magic
Universal
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: Quarter circle emanating from you to the extreme of the range
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No 

You detect magical auras. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject: 

1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras. 

2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the strength of the strongest aura. 

3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Spellcraft skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + half caster level for a non-spell effect.) 

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may confuse or conceal weaker auras. 

Aura Strength: An aura’s magical power and strength depend on a spell’s functioning spell level or an item’s caster level. 

Strength	Functioning Spell Level	Item Caster Level
Dim	0-level or lingering aura	Lingering aura
Faint	1st-3rd	1st-5th
Moderate	4th-6th	6th-11th
Strong	7th-9th	12th-20th
Overwhelming	Artifact or deity-level magic	Beyond mortal caster

If an aura falls into more than one category, detect magic indicates the stronger of the two. 

Length Aura Lingers: How long the aura lingers depends on its original strength: 

Original Strength	Duration
Faint	1d6 minutes
Moderate	1d6 x 10 minutes
Strong	1d6 hours
Overwhelming	1d6 days

Note: Each round, you can turn to detect things in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.  Outsiders and elementals are not magical in themselves, but if they are conjured, the conjuration spell registers.

Just as detect evil did, 3rd edition adds a lot in terms of determining the strength of an aura.  The area of effect, which started as a sphere in OD&D and became a narrow line in AD&D, is now a quarter circle.  The only simplification that's been done is that the cleric and magic-user versions of the spell are the same, rather than having their own arbitrarily different ranges and durations.  I should also mention that it's become a 0-level spell, effectively a cantrip, which means that it's much more likely to see use during a game.  The school has also changed from divination to universal, probably so that there won't be any specialist wizards who don't have access to it.

D&D 3.5th EDITION (2003)

Detect Magic
Divination
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: Cone-shaped emanation
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No 

You detect magical auras. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject: 

1st Round: Presence or absence of magical auras. 

2nd Round: Number of different magical auras and the power of the most potent aura. 

3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Spellcraft skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + half caster level for a nonspell effect.) 

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras. 

Aura Strength: An aura’s power depends on a spell’s functioning spell level or an item’s caster level. If an aura falls into more than one category, detect magic indicates the stronger of the two.

Spell or Object	Faint	Moderate	Strong	Overwhelming
Functioning spell (spell level)	3rd or lower	4th-6th	7th-9th	10th+ (deity-level)
Magic item (caster level)	5th or lower	6th-11th	12th-20th	21st+ (artifact)

Lingering Aura: A magical aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a magic item). If detect magic is cast and directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power. 

Original Strength	Duration of Lingering Aura
Faint	1d6 rounds
Moderate	1d6 minutes
Strong	1d6x10 minutes
Overwhelming	1d6 days

Outsiders and elementals are not magical in themselves, but if they are summoned, the conjuration spell registers. 

Each round, you can turn to detect magic in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it. 

Detect magic can be made permanent with a permanency spell.

There have been some formatting changes, and a switch back to the divination school, but the 3.5e spell is much the same as that from 3e.  The major difference is that the durations for lingering auras have been greatly reduced, except for those of overwhelming power.

D&D 4th EDITION

Detect Magic (Trained Only)
Your knowledge of magic allows you to identify magical effects and sense the presence of magic. 

Identify Conjuration or Zone: Minor action.
✦ DC: DC 15 + one-half the power’s level. You must be able to see the effect of the conjuration or zone.
✦ Success: You identify the power used to create the effect and its power source and keywords.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the effect again during this encounter. 

Identify Ritual: Standard action.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the ritual’s level. You must be able to see or otherwise detect the ritual’s effects.
✦ Success: You identify the ritual and its category.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the ritual again until after an extended rest. 

Identify Magical Effect: Standard action.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the effect’s level, if any. You must be able to see or otherwise detect the effect.
✦ Not a Power or a Ritual: The magical effect must be neither from a magic item nor the product of a power or a ritual.
✦ Success: You learn the effect’s name, power source, and keywords, if any of those apply.
✦ Failure: You can’t try to identify the effect again until after an extended rest. 

Sense the Presence of Magic: 1 minute.
✦ DC: DC 20 + one-half the level of a magic item, power (conjuration or zone), ritual, or magical phenomenon within range.
✦ Area of Detection: You can detect magic within a number of squares equal to 5 + your level in every direction, and you can ignore any sources of magical energy you’re already aware of. Ignore all barriers; you can detect magic through walls, doors, and such.
✦ Success: You detect each source of magical energy whose DC you meet. You learn the magic’s power source, if any. If the source of magical energy is within line of sight, you pinpoint its location. If it’s not within line of sight, you know the direction from which the magical energy emanates, but you don’t know the distance to it.
✦ Failure: Either you detected nothing or there was nothing in range to detect. You can’t try again in this area until after an extended rest.

In 4th edition, detect magic is no longer a spell, and has become an application of the Arcana skill.  "Sense the Presence of Magic" is the use that's closest to the old spell, but its implementation is so different that there's not much point in comparing it to other editions.

D&D 5th EDITION (2014)

Detect Magic
1st-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic, and you learn its school of magic. if any.
The spell can penetrate most barriers, but it is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.

5th edition pares things back, getting rid of the differing power levels and lingering auras.  The area of effect has returned to being a radius.

D&D Nth EDITION

This spell is fairly consistent in its basics across editions, with only two major contradiction.  The first of these is whether it can detect magic through barriers.  As I'll do in most instances, I'm going with the majority here, and ruling that it can.  The second is the spell's area of effect; is it a radius, a line, or a cone?  I prefer detect magic to be a fairly wide-ranging spell, so I'm going to go with a radius effect.

I've kept the detection of lingering auras, but have gone my own way with the durations, having them progress as rounds/turns/hours/days.  It's an easier progression to remember than either of the two used for 3e and 3.5e.

For aura strength, I considered consolidating the ranges used for spells and magic items, but I'm not yet sure how I'm dealing with things like caster level for magic items.  For now I'll stick with the 3e method until I've looked into things more closely.

Detect Magic
Divination
Level: Cleric 1, Magic-User 1
Components: V,S,(Clr M)
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: 30 ft. radius
Target: Self
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 turn
Saving Throw: None
Magic Resistance: No 

When the detect magic spell is cast, the caster detects the presence and location of all magical items, creatures, places and effects around them to a range of 30 feet. Those that can be seen will appear  to the caster to glow with a faint light. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject: 

1st Round: Presence and location of each magical aura. 

Subsequent rounds: The caster can determine the strength and school of one magical aura within range.  It takes 1 round to determine an aura's strength, and another to determine its school. 

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras. Extraplanar creatures are not magical in themselves, but if they are summoned, the conjuration spell registers. 

Aura Strength: An aura’s power depends on a spell’s functioning spell level or an item’s caster level. If an aura falls into more than one category, detect magic indicates the stronger of the two. 

Strength	Functioning Spell (Spell Level)	Magic Item (Caster Level)
Faint	3rd or lower	1st-5th
Moderate	4th-6th	6th-11th
Strong	7th-9th	12th-20th
Overwhelming	10th+ (deity level)	21st+ (artifact)

Lingering Aura: A magical aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a magic item). If detect magic is cast and directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura).  How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power. 

Original Strength	Duration of Lingering Aura
Faint	1d6 rounds
Moderate	1d6 turns
Strong	1d6 hours
Overwhelming	1d6 days

The spell can penetrate barriers, but it is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. 

Detect magic can be made permanent with a permanency spell. 

Components: When cast by a cleric, this spell requires the use of a holy symbol.

The above version is for the Nth Edition emulation of AD&D and Modern D&D.  For Origjnal and Basic, it will be as below.

Detect Magic
Divination
Level: Cleric 1, Magic-User 1
Components: V,S,(Clr M)
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: 30 ft. radius
Target: Self
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 turn
Saving Throw: None
Magic Resistance: No 

When the detect magic spell is cast, the caster detects the presence and location of all magical items, creatures, places and effects around them to a range of 30 feet. Those that can be seen will appear  to the caster to glow with a faint light.

Magical areas, multiple types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort or conceal weaker auras. Extraplanar creatures are not magical in themselves, but if they are summoned, the conjuration spell registers. 

The spell can penetrate barriers, but it is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. 

Components: When cast by a cleric, this spell requires the use of a holy symbol.

Perusals & Progressions: Cure Light Wounds

Ever since the advent of 4th edition D&D, I've been thinking about designing a version of the game that's more to my liking.  I'd become disillusioned with 3rd edition at the time, not so much because of how it plays at the table, but because of how taxing it can be to prepare material for.  If 4th edition had been mostly the same as 3e but with a streamlining on the DM side of things, I'd probably still be engaged with the current game.  5th edition was a step in the right direction, but it has far too many breaks with D&D tradition for me to get on board with it.  What I really want, and have wanted for some time now, is a stable version of the game that mixes the traditional elements of TSR D&D with the mechanics of 3rd and 5th edition, and does so in a way that I find easy to prep for.  I've known for a long time that the only way that was ever going to happen was if I knuckled down and did the work.  I've been thinking about it for a long time, but it's only recently that I've had time to properly work on it.

As I've mentioned before, I'm calling this project D&D Nth Edition.  My main goal for Nth Edition is to create a version of the game that I'm happy with, and a big part of that is making it scale backwards and forwards to emulate different eras of the game.  Those eras would be Original, Basic D&D, Advanced D&D, and "Modern" D&D (3rd through 5th edition).

Probably the most time-consuming part of the whole process will be working out the details for spells and monsters.  I feel like I've nailed the core rules down at this point, and I'm currently working on the spell list, starting with the spells from Original D&D.  To do this I've been looking at each spell edition by edition, seeing how they progressed and developed over the years, and then taking the elements I like to create a version of the spell that works how I want it to.  And I figured if I'm doing the work, I might as well blog about it.  (At this point I should shout out to deltasdnd.blogspot.com and www.paulsgameblog.com, both of whom have done a series of "Spells Through the Ages" posts.  Those guys are a definite inspiration, and I've used a bunch of their ideas in my own games and designs.)

I'm starting this series with cure light wounds, the staple of the cleric spell list.  There are 12 editions of D&D that I'll be looking at for this series: the 1974 Original D&D boxed set, Holmes Basic, Moldvay Basic (B/X), Mentzer Basic (BECMI), the Rules Cyclopedia, AD&D 1st edition, AD&D 2nd edition, the revised 2nd edition books from the mid-90s, D&D 3rd edition, D&D 3.5, D&D 4th edition, and D&D 5th edition.  At the end of this process, I aim to distill the elements from all those editions into versions of the spell that are broadly compatible but fit  in with the four eras of D&D that I'm trying to emulate with Nth Edition.  Aside from that, it's an excuse to see how these things developed over the years, which is something I'm always fascinated by.

So, with that excessive preamble out of the way, let's look at the history of cure light wounds.

ORIGINAL D&D (1974)

Cure Light Wounds: During the course of one full turn this spell will remove hits from a wounded character (including elves, dwarves, etc.). A die is rolled, one pip added, and the resultant total subtracted from the hits points the character has taken. Thus from 2-7 hit points of damage can be removed.

This is pretty self-explanatory, although the talk of it removing hits rather than restoring hit points is odd from a modern perspective.  It should also be noted that the use of turns (spanning 10 minutes) and rounds (spanning 1 minute) was a bit muddled in OD&D, and that most of the time when turns are mentioned in the spell descriptions it probably should read as 1 minute rounds.

Cure light wounds is noted as having a reverse effect when cast by clerics of chaotic alignment, but the specifics are left pretty vague.

HOLMES BASIC (1977)

Cure Light Wounds — Level: clerical 1; Range: 0
During the course of one melee round this spell will heal damage done to a character, including elves, dwarves and hobbits. A die is rolled and 1 is added to it; the result is the number of hit points restored (2-7). The zero range means the cleric must touch the wounded person to heal him.

Holmes Basic clarifies the rounds/turns issue, specifies that hobbits can be healed with the spell, and adds the requirement that the cleric must touch the recipient.  It also names the reversed version of the spell as cause light wounds, but gives no further details.

B/X (1981)

Cure Light Wounds*
Range: 0
Duration: permanent 

This spell will heal 2-7 points (1d6+1) of damage done to any living creature (character or monster) when the cleric touches the individual. This spell may also be used to cure paralysis, but will not then cure any points of damage. The spell may be cast on the cleric's own body. The spell's effect will not, in any case, increase a creature's hit point total to more than the normal amount. EXAMPLE: Tars the fighter normally has 6 hp. In a battle with goblins, he takes 5 points of damage. Gantry the cleric casts a cure light wounds spell on him during the battle, and rolls a 6 on the die, which cures up to 7 points of damage. Tars is restored to his original total of 6 hp, but the 2 extra points are wasted.

Aside from the obvious clarifications that the cleric can cast the spell on themselves, and that healing can never exceed the recipient's max hp, the main addition here is the ability to cure paralysis.  The spell is still reversed by chaotic clerics, but the explanation for that has been punted off to the Expert rules.  Here's what they say on the matter:

Cure Light Wounds: When reversed, this spell (cause light wounds) will do 2-7 points of damage to any creature or character touched. The cleric must roll to hit the opponent in normal combat.

It's pretty much what's implied by reversing cure light wounds, with the required attack roll being the only part that might not be obvious.

BECMI (1983)

Cure Light Wounds*
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Effect: Any one living creature 

This spell will either heal damage or remove paralysis. If used to heal, it will cure 2-7 (1d6+1) points of damage. It will not heal any damage if used to cure paralysis. The cleric may cast it on himself (or herself) if desired. 

This spell will never increase a creature's total hit points above the original amount. 

EXAMPLE: Your first fighter started with 8 hit points. You were damaged in the battle with the snake, down to 4 hit points. Aleena cast a Cure Light Wounds spell and touched you. She rolled a 6, curing a total of 7 points of damage, but your hit points returned to 8, the amount you started with. The "extra" 3 points were not counted.

No changes here. As in B/X, cause light wounds is dealt with in the Expert rules.

Cure Light Wounds*
When reversed, this spell, cause light wounds, causes 2-7 points of damage to any creature touched (no Saving Throw). The cleric must make a normal Hit roll.

Again, no changes, but it's clarified that the spell doesn't have a saving throw.

RULES CYCLOPEDIA (1991)

Cure Light Wounds*
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Effect: Any one living creature 

This spell either heals damage or removes paralysis. If used to heal, it can cure 2-7 (1d6 + l) points of damage. It cannot heal damage if used to cure paralysis. The cleric may cast it on himself if desired. 

This spell cannot increase a creature's total hit points above the original amount. 

When reversed, this spell, cause light wounds, causes 1d6 + l (2-7) points of damage to any creature or character touched (no saving throw is allowed). The cleric must make a normal attack roll to inflict this damage.

This is the end of the Basic line's development of cure light wounds, and it's remarkably consistent.  In general, the Basic line tends to build on Original D&D without making huge changes, in contrast to the sweeping changes of the AD&D lineage (and the scorched earth policies of modern D&D).  Aside from clarifications, the only change made to the spell from OD&D was the addition of the ability to cure paralysis.

That's the Basic line done, pretty much.  I'm aware that there were revisions of the line in the mid-90s, but I kind of consider the Rules Cyclopedia to be its culmination.  Now let's take a look at how  the AD&D line handled it.

AD&D 1st EDITION (1978)

Cure Light Wounds (Necromantic) Reversible
Level: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: Character touched
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 5 segments
Saving Throw: None 

Explanation/Description: Upon laying his or her hand upon a creature, the cleric causes from 1 to 8 hit points of wound or other injury damage to the creature's body to be healed. This healing will not affect creatures without corporeal bodies, nor will it cure wounds of creatures not living or those which can be harmed only by iron, silver, and/or magical weapons. Its reverse, cause light wounds, operates in the same manner; and if a person is avoiding this touch, a melee combat "to hit" die is rolled to determine if the cleric's hand strikes the opponent and causes such a wound. Note that cured wounds are permanent only insofar as the creature does not sustain further damage, and that caused wounds will heal - or can be cured - just as any normal injury will. Caused light wounds are 1 to 8 hit points of damage.

There's plenty of added complexity to unpack here.  The first thing is that magic is now divided into schools, and cure light wounds is grouped under necromancy.  This makes a certain logical sense if you define necromancy as being magic that plays around with life force, but it doesn't feel quite right to lump healing in with traditionally evil magic.

Casting time is a thing now, in segments no less, and spells now have spell components divided into (V)erbal, (S)omatic and (M)aterial: V and S mean that the caster must be free to speak and make gestures to cast the spell.

The main change here is that the spell now heals 1d8 damage rather than 1d6+1. It's also interesting to note what was deemed important to clarify in Basic and in AD&D.  Basic deals with a lot of things that are probably common sense but should still be spelled out for the sake of rules clarity, whereas AD&D gets into things such as specific creature types that can't be affected by the spell.  I was especially surprised by the note that it doesn't work on creatures that are immune to normal weapons; I've read the PHB multiple times, but I'd forgotten this bit.

AD&D 2nd EDITION (1989)

Cure Light Wounds (Necromancy)
Reversible 

Sphere: Healing
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Creature touched
Saving Throw: None 

When casting this spell and laying his hand upon a creature, the priest causes 1d8
points of wound or other injury damage  to the creature’s body to be healed. This healing
cannot affect creatures without corporeal bodies, nor can it cure wounds of creatures not living or of extraplanar origin. 

The reversed spell, cause light wounds, operates in the same manner, inflicting 1d8 points of damage. If a creature is avoiding this touch, an attack roll is needed to determine if the priest’s hand strikes that opponent and causes such a wound. 

Curing is permanent only insofar as the creature does not sustain further damage; caused wounds will heal - or can be cured - just as any normal injury.

In addition to magical schools, cleric spells are now sorted into spheres.  The only other change is that the bit from 1st edition about the spell not affecting creatures immune to normal weapons has been simplified, and now applies to creatures of extraplanar origin.

AD&D 2nd EDITION REVISED (1995)

I won't reproduce this version, because it's pretty much identical except for some very minor changes to wording.

D&D 3rd EDITION (2000)

Cure Light Wounds  

Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Brd 1, Clr 1, Drd 1, Healing 1, Pal 1, Rgr 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will half (harmless) (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless) 

When laying your hand upon a living creature, you channel positive energy that cures 1d8 points of damage +1 point per caster level (up to +5). 

Since undead are powered by negative energy, this spell deals damage to them instead of curing their wounds. An undead creature can attempt a Will save to take half damage.

The basics of the spell are the same, although the +1 additional healing per level is new, as is the wrinkle about the spell damaging undead.  It looks like extraplanar creatures can once more be healed with this spell, however.  It's also been taken out of the necromancy school, and shifted over to conjuration.  It's also no longer reversible by evil/chaotic clerics, and the two effects have been split into separate spells.

It should also be noted that in 3rd edition, good clerics can swap out any prepared spell for cure light wounds, and evil clerics can do the same with inflict light wounds.

Inflict Light Wounds 

Necromancy
Level: Clr 1, Destruction 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will half
Spell Resistance: Yes 

When laying your hand upon a creature, you channel negative energy that deals 1d8 points of damage +1 point per caster level (up to +5). 

Since undead are powered by negative energy, this spell cures them of a like amount of damage, rather than harming them.

Cause light wounds has become inflict light wounds. This one remains in the necromancy school, which is appropriate, and is otherwise the opposite of cure light wounds.

D&D 3.5th EDITION (2003)

Aside from some minor wording changes and a clarification that undead get to use their spell resistance against cure light wounds in addition to saving throws, this version is the same as in 3rd edition.

D&D 4th EDITION (2008)

Cure Light Wounds Cleric Utility 2 

You utter a simple prayer and gain the power to instantly heal wounds, and your touch momentarily suffuses you or a wounded creature with a dim silver light. 

Daily ✦ Divine, Healing
Standard Action
Melee touch
Target: You or one creature 

Effect: The target regains hit points as if it had spent a healing surge.

A complete overhaul. It's the same spell in name and in spirit, but the specifics are completely different.  If I understand correctly, a healing surge restores a quarter of the recipient's hit points, so this one's a lot more effective than the standard 1d6+1 that this spell began as.  I don't think that cause/inflict light wounds got converted to 4e, unless I've missed something.

D&D 5th EDITION (2014)

Cure Wounds
1st-level evocation 

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V,S
Duration: Instantaneous 

A creature you touch regains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs. 

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the healing increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.

Despite the name change, we're back to something more closely resembling the older versions of the spell.  As with most spells in 5e it's been made so that it can scale upwards when cast at a higher level.  Undead are back to being unaffected, as are constructs (although I guess they were previously covered by the "living" requirement).  Having previously been in the necromancy and conjuration schools, cure wounds is now classed as an evocation spell.

Inflict Wounds
1st level necromancy 

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous 

Make a melee spell attack against a creature you can reach. On a hit, the target takes 3d10 necrotic damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 1st.

In terms of damage dealt, this has very much moved away from being the opposite to cure wounds.

D&D Nth EDITION

The first thing I can definitely say is that I'm keeping the name as cure light wounds; when names conflict across editions, you can generally assume that I'll go with the one that was used in the versions of D&D that I grew up with.  That also means that I'm going with cause light wounds rather than inflict light wounds.  To me it rolls off the tongue better, and I like the alliteration between cure light wounds and cause light wounds.

Basic D&D gave this spell the ability to cure paralysis, but I'm going to ditch that.  Remove paralysis is its own spell in 2nd and 3rd edition, and I don't want to step on that spell's toes.

Over the years, cure light wounds has been in three schools of magic: necromancy, conjuration and evocation.  I'm ruling necromancy out right away for thematic reasons.  Conjuration always seemed more to me about summoning creatures and objects rather than forms of energy, so it doesn't strike me as appropriate either.  Evocation is about the manipulation of energy, so it seems like the best fit.

I'm not going to split cure and cause light wounds into separate spells, as I'm using the reversed spells for good and evil clerics.  I also like the bit about the spells having the opposite effect on the undead.  As for other creatures that aren't affected by the spell, I'm going to go by creature type rather than using the 1st edition bit about creatures only affected by silver and magical weapons.  The types I'd exclude are constructs, extraplanar creatures, and incorporeal creatures.

3rd edition gives a saving throw against cause light wounds, which lowers the damage, but I'm going to leave that out.  It already requires an attack roll from the caster, so the target's AC is already it's saving throw, really.

Casting time ranges from 5 segments in 1e and 2e, to 1 action in more modern versions of D&D.  I'm taking a much more simplified approach to casting times: unless a spell takes more than a round to cast, the casting time will be the level of the spell.  I tend to prefer rules that I can instantly recall at the table, without looking at a book. So cure light wounds will have a casting time of 1.

As for the 5th edition system of scaling the spell upwards by using higher level slots, I don't have enough experience with it to have a concrete opinion.  I'm erring away from using it, because it  appears to swing D&D's Vancian system a little closer to a spell point system.  I could be swayed if I played some more 5e, though, assuming the system works well.

With the above in mind, here's what the Nth edition cure light wounds entry will look like.

Cure Light Wounds / Cause Light Wounds
Evocation / Necromancy 

Level: Cleric 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Magic Resistance: Yes 

When laying hands upon a living creature, the cleric channels positive energy that cures 1d8 points of damage, +1 per caster level (maximum +5). This healing will not affect incorporeal creatures, extraplanar creatures, or constructs, nor will it cure the wounds of those that are not living.  The cleric can cast this spell upon their own body if desired. 

The reverse, cause light wounds, operates in the same manner, inflicting 1d8 points of damage to the creature touched, +1 per caster level (maximum +5). If the target is avoiding this touch, a melee attack roll is required by the cleric to inflict the damage. Creatures immune to cure light wounds are also unaffected by cause light wounds. Cause light wounds is a necromancy spell, whereas cure light wounds is an evocation spell. 

Since undead are powered by negative energy, this spell operates in reverse against them: cure light wounds damages them, and cause light wounds cures them.

EDIT: I had a look at remove paralysis, and that spell is an area effect that removes paralysis from multiple creatures.  I'm trying to keep the functionality from as many different versions of the spells as possible, so I'm actually going to allow this spell to remove paralysis from one creature touched, in lieu of restoring hit points.  I don't think that steps on the toes of remove paralysis at all, as that's still a far more effective spell.

The above would be the entry for the Nth Edition emulations of AD&D and Modern D&D; for Original and Basic, it would be the same, except that the range healed/inflicted would be 1d6+1, without the extra +1 per level.  It makes the entry a little more complex than I'd like for OD&D and Basic, but I'll sacrifice a little simplicity for consistency across versions.

NEXT: For my next post on this series I'm going to tackle detect evil, which has always been a problematic one for me.  I expect I'll be changing things up a bit more extensively for that one.

Non-Play Report: Upkeep and Carousing

Well, I didn't get to play D&D this weekend.  I was on Zoom, and raring to go, but none of my crew showed up.  I guess that's the trouble with trying to keep things casual for this campaign: I've said that I'm willing to be there every Saturday, but it doesn't mean I'm always going to draw a crowd.  It's depressing, but on the scale of problems I have going on right now, a week without D&D is small potatoes.  I'll just show up again next week, and hopefully some of the guys feel like playing too.  If there's a silver lining to missing a week, it's that I'll be even more prepped when the next game comes around.

As to what I did have prepped, part of that involved some new house rules I came up with for PC upkeep.  One of the bigger problems old-school D&D has is with its economy.  Giving experience points for treasure is all well and good, but it means that by the time players hit 2nd or 3rd level they're already basically rich.  They can buy pretty much anything they want from the equipment list, especially in the various forms of Basic (which is what I'm currently running in modified form).  I sometimes wonder why adventurers bother advancing to higher levels, especially thieves and fighters.  They could retire in comfort well before reaching name level.

So I'm thinking up means of divesting the PCs of their cash.  Training costs are an obvious money sink, but I feel like they go against the free-wheeling vibe of Basic D&D.  Besides, when thinking of training, the way I'd like to implement it is as a benefit rather than a necessity.  Players would still be able to level up without training, but those that did train would be at a potential advantage: better Hit Die rolls, more access to spells, that sort of thing.  To work this out I'd need to sit down and figure out the advantages for each class, and I haven't done that just yet.  And anyway, as I said, it's not something I want to do when running Basic D&D.

Another option I've seen floating around is to only award the PCs XP for gold spent.  This has potential, and would be good for encouraging that pulp-fantasy scenario where the hero strikes it rich but manages to lose everything before the next adventure.  One thing I've always wondered with this system, though, is whether this only counts for gold found through adventuring.  Could PCs work a day job and earn XP buying their daily meals?  Could a Lord just sit back after setting up his barony, and collect XP along with his taxes?  I'm inclined to say no, but then eventually you get into a situation where every PC needs to keep track of two separate treasure totals, and I'm not a huge fan of that.

Similar to the way I want to incentivise training by offering benefits, I want to do the same thing with my upkeep and carousing rules.  So I came up with the following house rules, which I was hoping to spring on my players on Saturday.  Alas, it'll have to wait until next week (hopefully).

D&D Nth EDITION UPKEEP & CAROUSING RULES

For every in-game week between game sessions, each player must decide what lifestyle their PC has been leading.  The lifestyles are as follows:

• Destitute - Costs nothing
• Poor - Costs 1 gold piece per character level per week
• Moderate - Costs 10 gold pieces per character level per week
• Wealthy - Costs 100 gold pieces per character level per week
• Extravagant - Costs 1,000 gold pieces per character level per week

I figure that a PC's expenses go up as they gain in level, as they have more equipment to maintain, and their tastes get more exotic.

Depending on what the PC choose (or are forced into due to low funds), their hit points may be affected by their lifestyle.  Each character rolls 1d20, adds their Constitution modifier, and consults the relevant table below.

Destitute:

• Roll 1-10 - Hit points unknown*
• Roll 11-20 - Hit points as normal

Poor:

• Roll 1-5 - Hit points unknown*
• Roll 6-20 - Hit points as normal

Moderate:

• No roll required.

Wealthy:

• Roll 1-2 - Hit points unknown*
• Roll 3-15 - Hit points as normal
• Roll 16-19 - Hit points as normal, plus one bonus Hit Die**
• Roll 20+ - Hit points as normal, plus one "exploding" bonus Hit Die***

Extravagant:

• Roll 1-5 - Unknown hit points*
• Roll 6-15 - Hit points as normal
• Roll 16-17 - Hit points as normal, plus one bonus Hit Die**
• Roll 18-19 - Hit points as normal, plus one "exploding" bonus Hit Die***
• Roll 20+ - Maximum possible hit points****

* Hit Points Unknown: This result means that, for whatever reason, the PC isn't feeling good.  Perhaps they're sick or undernourished (for those living poor or destitute lifestyles), or perhaps they've overindulged (for those living wealthy or extravagant lifestyles).  Whatever the reason may be, the PC is under the weather, and they begin the game not knowing how many hit points they have.  Only upon taking damage will they roll their hit point total (using their regular number of Hit Dice and Constitution modifier).  The damage they just sustained will come off the total rolled.  If the PC rolls higher than their regular hit points, they start with their regular hit point total.  (A player might try to get healing before the adventure starts, and this should be allowed, but they still don't get to roll their hit point total until they first take damage in a dangerous situation.  The healing is then added on top of that.  Also, a character can't learn their hit point total by cutting themselves with a knife or running into a wall or whatever other dumb way they come up with to circumvent the rule.)

** Bonus Hit Die: Indulging in the good life has agreed with the PC, and they're feeling great.  They begin the game with their regular hit point total, plus an extra hit die and Constitution modifier's worth of hit points.  Once those bonus hit points have been lost, the PC can only be healed back up to their regular total.

*** "Exploding" Bonus Hit Die: The PC gets their regular hit points and a bonus Hit Die as above, but if they roll the maximum on that die they get to roll another bonus Hit Die.  If that roll is the maximum, they get to roll again, and so on as long as they keep rolling the maximum.  In any event, they can't end up with more hit points than the maximum possible for their class and level, plus one extra Hit Die.  For example, a 7th level fighter with no Constitution modifier would have a maximum possible hit point total of 8 x 10, or 80.

**** Maximum Possible Hit Points: The character has had some wild nights, and is feeling invincible.  They begin with the maximum possible hit points for their class and level (as shown above).

I'm hoping this system encourages the players to spend some of their hard-earned gold.  It does a few things that I like.  First, the Moderate option allows players to completely opt out of it.  I've seen games ruined because the DM came up with some crazy house rule that they loved, and forced it on the PCs.  I don't want to do that, and I always like to give the players the choice of just not engaging with it.

Second, it gives the players a reason to go out looking for gold, and punishes unsuccessful adventures.  If you head into the dungeon and come back with nothing, there's a good chance you won't be feeling so hot after a week or two on the skids.  Obviously, this is likely to affect low-level PCs moreso than high-level ones.

Third, there's always a risk factor to living the high life.  Sure, you could come out the other side feeling fantastic, but the chance is there that you might not.  My only misgiving is with the numbers under Wealthy: as written, a high-Constitution character is in no danger of suffering drawbacks.  I might institute a rule whereby a natural 1 always results in "Hit Points Unknown", regardless of the character's Con modifier.

I have two worries about the system.  The first is that it might make the PCs a little too powerful.  I'm not all that stressed about this one; old-school D&D characters are fragile enough, and some extra hit points now and then aren't going to make a huge difference to that.  My second and larger worry is that the potential penalties outweigh the benefits, to the point that the players will opt out of the system entirely.  I mean, there's always someone who's going to be willing to take the risk, but if in the first few games the rolls come up badly, most players will avoid it from then on.  That's what play-testing is for, I guess.  If it sucks I'll get rid of it, or try to come up with something better.

Play Report: The Tower of Zenopus, Session 2

I ran D&D over Zoom again this weekend, with much more success this time.  I've cast my net pretty wide among my D&D-playing acquaintances, and managed to rope in some guys that I haven't gamed with in over 20 years.  Last week we had a bunch of connection issues, but this time around everyone who wanted to play was able to get on.  It was only three people, just one more than last week, but the game went much longer and saw the party experiencing far greater success.

The novel thing for me is that none of the players who showed up carried over from the last game.  This is the first time I've ever experienced running multiple groups through the same dungeon setting, and I'm looking forward to doing more of it.  This week's group took an entirely different path than the previous adventurers, so it didn't make much of a difference.  Plus the dungeons beneath the Tower of Zenopus are small, and I don't think I'll get more than one more session out of them.  But with my current set-up, where I run for whoever shows up on a Saturday night, the possibility is there for some proper old-school multi-party campaigning, especially when I start running some more expansive modules.  I can tell already that it's going to be a lot of fun.

This week's group consisted of a halfling, a cleric and a thief.  They played things smart by hiring a man-at-arms, which they were clued into by one of the rumours from Zach Howard's excellent Ruined Tower of Zenopus.  I called the man-at-arms Hew off the cuff, and had a lot of fun investing him with the persona of a simple everyman slightly overwhelmed by the situations he was finding himself in.  The players took to him pretty quickly.

The party headed east from the entry stairs, and fought a fairly easy battle against the five goblins in room A.  I used the morale rules from Basic D&D, and the goblins rolled well and ended up fighting to the death.  This went somewhat against the module text, which states that they surrender once half of their number is dead.  Ah well, you can't remember everything.  Unfortunately, what I also forgot was some of the loot: the goblins are meant to have two bags with 500 silver pieces, but I only gave the PCs one.  I think I'll move the second bag somewhere else in the dungeon, so that they can still find it.  I don't want to cheat them out of the treasure completely.

From there they went south, and it didn't take them long to figure out the trick with the doors and the statue.  Continuing south to the base of the thaumaturgist's tower, they fought and killed a giant snake.  The cleric got constricted a bit, but a single monster like this rarely fares well against a full party, and the snake didn't last long.

From there they headed west, to the room with the sundial and the bronze mask.  The mask will answer any question asked of it, but only if the party figures out its clue: "I will not speak til it be four".  The cleric player figured this out with suspicious quickness; I'd suspect him of having read the module beforehand, but he's always been a sharp dude.  I'll have to keep on my toes, it's going to be hard having a player who is obviously more intelligent than I am.

They kept their eyes on the prize, and asked the mask where they could find the most valuable treasure.  I didn't have this info readily at hand, so I had the mask direct them to the sea cave and the smugglers.  In retrospect I should have directed them north to the catacombs, but I didn't want to bog the game down while I scoured my notes.

They followed the directions south, west, and then north, having a fight with a giant crab along the way.  It lasted a few rounds due to a tough AC, but my rolling for the crab was abysmal, and it didn't score a single hit.  My rolls for Hew, on the other hand, were on fire, and he was undoubtedly the MVP of the session.  He might have made things a little too easy, but then again it could all have gone very differently if the dice had swung the other way.  One bad roll and Hew would have been dead.  Still, an easy game for the players isn't such a bad thing now and then.

From there they headed north, where they fought four smugglers.  This was the final encounter of the session, and it ended in a real anti-climax.  The smugglers failed their morale check after the first of them fell, and two more of them were cut down as they fled.  One of them escaped, fleeing north into the dungeon tunnels.  I suppose he'll still be there next session, if he's still alive.

The party found the treasure chests in the smugglers' boats, as well as a kidnapped Lemunda the Lovely, daughter of the local lord.  There was serious discussion about them taking one of the boats and rowing out of the sea tunnel, but that would almost certainly have resulted in disaster at the hands of the giant octopus lurking at the bottom.  I figured that Lemunda would have heard the pirates talking about the octopus, so I had her warn the party against it.  Sometimes the DM must be kind.

The rest of the session was spent lugging the two treasure chests out of the dungeon.  I probably should have made more of a big deal about them carrying them across a 3-foot-deep river, but it was getting late so I fudged it.  What I didn't fudge were the half-dozen or so wandering monster checks I made while they were struggling to get the chests out of the dungeon.  Not a single one came up.  I probably made about 20 wandering monster checks for the whole game, and none of those came up either.  Sometimes all the luck just runs the way of the PCs I guess.

All told, a fun and quite successful game.  The PCs played well (lots of sharp decisions, listening at doors, not lingering too much), the dice rolls went their way, and they managed to win a few fights and make off with some decent loot at little cost to themselves.  They also had some luck with the paths they chose, and avoided the most difficult encounters, any one of which could have resulted in a TPK.  Those encounters are still down there, of course, and it just makes it more likely that the party will encounter them next time.

ENCUMBRANCE HOUSE RULES

I'm still using my encumbrance house rules, and this time I actually got to put them into practice.  They worked about as well as I was hoping, and we were able to easily keep track of what the PCs were carrying and how it would affect their movement.  They even had to leave some treasure behind: 2,000 copper pieces in a chest that they found after defeating the goblins.  Copper pieces are a proper encumbrance trap for dumb PCs, being of such low value, and I was pretty pleased to see this party making the smart decision to leave them behind.  The system I've come up with isn't precise, but it's close enough that it made the PCs question whether to take that chest with them, and that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.

One thing I need to come up with is a rule for  characters carrying things between them.  As it is, nobody in my current rules is capable of carrying a chest with 2,000 coins in it.  I allowed them to carry the chests with one character lifting each side, and dropped all of their movement rates to 30'/turn as they struggled their way out of the dungeon.  It would be nice to have concrete rules to fall back on for this kind of thing though.

I also need to know how much weight a character can carry over the amount that drops their movement rate to 1.  I'll look into how the various editions have handled this and work something out.

LIGHT SOURCES

I was tracking light sources pretty rigorously, which I've never really done before.  The party were using torches, which burn for one hour.  Combined with ten minute turns, and D&D's frightfully slow dungeon movement rates, those torches run out really quickly.  A little too quickly, I felt, but then again I have no practical experience with burning torches.  The players didn't complain, and they were smart enough to take and use the torches that I mentioned the goblins had burning on the wall.  So I had some misgivings, but I'll stick with the rules as written for now.

COMBAT SEQUENCE

I've been using a combat sequence with group initiative and phases: spell phase, missile phase, movement phase and melee phase.  Last week I toyed with the idea of adding a second melee phase that would happen right at the start of the round, but I decided against it on the grounds of over-complication.

I'm not entirely thrilled with what I've come up with.  The main problem I'm having is that it's a bit arbitrary as to which players go first during their turn in melee.  It doesn't really matter, and didn't cause any issues during this game, but I know that there are players that are territorial about  getting their "kills".  I think I'll start using Dexterity scores, and just running down the characters in order based on that.

EXCEL GRID MAP

I mentioned last week that I was using screen-sharing and Excel to show the players the room dimensions, and to track things during battle.  So far, all of this has worked surprisingly well.  My main concern was that it's only good for square and rectangular rooms, but I've solved that problem as well, as you can see below.

Rooms K and S2 of the Tower of Zenopus adventure.

You can set background images in an Excel worksheet, and doing that I was able to mock up the sea caves and the round rooms in the thaumaturgist's tower.  It's a little time-consuming - especially getting the grids lines up correctly, but it does the job if you're not into using things like Roll20.

I expect to get one more session out of the Tower of Zenopus, possibly one more in Portown if the players decide that they really want to go hunting for smugglers.  After that, I think I'll send them to a certain Keep on the Borderlands, and the Caverns of Quasqueton nearby.  Beyond those, I'm not sure, although I'm leaning towards Caverns of Thracia and Jeff Sparks' version of the Holmes' Skull Mountain dungeon as a bridge to get them strong enough for some of the mid-level TSR modules.

Play Report: Zoom Conferencing in the Tower of Zenopus

Holy crap, it feels good to be playing D&D again.

With everyone in lockdown, I've been having a lot of Zoom conferences for work, and while I was zoning out in the middle of one I had the thought that it would be a really good way to play on-line D&D.  I've looked into Roll20, but I'm not all that interested in the fancy mapping tools and the dice rollers and all that.  What I really wanted was an easy way to set up video chat with a whole bunch of people, and Zoom fit that bill.

I'm not all that tech-savvy though, and I figured that running my first ever on-line game would be complicated enough, so I opted to run a simple system: Moldvay's D&D Basic Rules.  Of course, I spent a week drilling down into them, house-ruling a bunch of stuff, bringing in things from other editions, and filling in gaps in the rules, so it's not quite Moldvay Basic.  It's still pretty simple at the table though, especially in comparison to 3rd edition onwards.

I also wanted to opt for a simple adventure.  My plan is to run a continuity-light campaign, which will consist of a series of classic D&D modules, most of which I've never played or run.  Originally I was going to do a combination of the classic modules In Search of the Unknown and Keep on the Borderlands, but there was a fair bit of prep involved with merging those, and I was concerned that Keep would eat my players' characters alive; I've never played or run it, but it looks to me like you need a decent number of PCs to survive it at 1st level.  So I went even simpler, and chose to run the sample adventure from the Holmes Basic Set: the dungeon adventure often referred to as "The Tower of Zenopus".  I combined it with some ideas from Zach Howard's excellent Ruined Tower of Zenopus, which is a conversion of the original to 5th edition.  It has some good background material though, and some ideas for additional encounters that I liked.  I've used most of those additions, including the map of the area surrounding the tower.

I was mega-excited to be running D&D again - I barely slept the night before - but we had quite a lot of problems.  One of my players couldn't connect at all, due to some bad internet at his end.  Another of my players was on long enough to create a character, but then his connection dropped out for good.  One player had a prior Zoom commitment that ran way longer than expected (and I berated him mercilessly about it afterwards).  So I was left with two players in total, to tackle a dungeon using old-school rules...

One created a thief, and the other played an elf.  The second of those was a great choice for a small party, and he had sleep memorised, so I liked their chances of getting through at least one encounter and possibly claiming some treasure.  Alas, they turned left at the first junction, and came to a room where they were attacked by four skeletons: enemies that are sadly immune to sleep.  They were also resistant to every weapon in the players' arsenal, so the skeletons were taking half damage from every blow.  The players were quickly surrounded, but did pretty well all told, managing to defeat two of the skeletons.  Then the elf went down, and the thief decided to get the hell out of there.  The remaining skeletons failed their attacks as he fled, and he made it out alive.  (He was fleeing during a round where I was supposed to check for wandering monsters, and he got lucky on that roll as well.)  So not a total TPK, but not exactly a rousing success either.  They would have done better if the elf had remembered that he had some holy water in his backpack, so it's not entirely my fault.  Still, I probably should have advised them to hire some men-at-arms.  I even had some rules for that in my notes, but it completely slipped my mind.  My bad, I'll definitely correct that for next time unless I get a lot more players.

Everyone had fun though, and the actual play went really smoothly (as it tends to do with a small group).  Playing over Zoom worked well aside from the connection issues, and I was able to use its screen sharing and private chat features to good effect.  It helped with one of the biggest issues that I was worried about, which was visualising the dungeon for mapping and combat.  It's been ages since I've played purely "theatre of the mind", and I like to have at least some kind of map.  I decided to use Excel for the purpose, as you can see below:

The site of the PCs' downfall. Most of the action happened
in front of the top left alcove.

Each of those tabs is a different room of the dungeon.  As soon as the players entered a room, I switched to the correct tab, shared my screen, read the room description, and there was an instant visual for them.  If anyone wants to map they can do it without me tediously explaining the room dimensions or drawing it myself, and in combat you can use letters, number and symbols to show where everyone is.  Excel is great, I use it for mapping old-school CRPGs as well.  The only problem with it is that it can't draw rooms with irregular walls.  There are a couple of circular rooms in this dungeon, and some caves as well, so I'll need to figures out a solution for those before the next game.

I'll do a run-down of some of the house rules that I'm trying out.

• I'm letting the players roll 4d6 for ability scores, dropping the lowest number and arranging as desired.  I hoped it might offset the numbers disadvantage.  Besides, we've been doing it that way for decades, and it generally results in good characters but not necessarily amazing ones.  Even with this system, the elf still had a Charisma of 4 (I guess nobody will mourn for him too much).
• Clerics in Basic don't get spells at 1st level, but I did a quick rejig of their class table to allow it.  Seems a bit ridiculous to me.
• I'm using ascending Armor Class and attack bonuses, as in 3rd edition, but the math is the same as Basic.  As much as I like descending AC, the 3e system has been working like a charm for so long that I can't justify not using it.  And I've never missed explaining how THAC0 works.
• I also dropped clerics, magic-users and thieves to one level below fighters in combat.  As it is, Basic starts with everyone having the same chance to hit in combat.  I changed it so the fighting classes start with a +1 bonus, and everyone else fights at +0.
• I'm using the level limits for dwarves, elves and halflings, but I'm allowing their prime requisite modifier to allow them to advance a level or three over what the book says.
• I also gave fighters their mook sweeping ability from AD&D, and I'll let them have some extra attacks as they advance.  Although I'm thinking of maybe just rolling that into the mook sweeping ability, and letting it be dependent on the monster's Hit Die and the character's level, so that a 4th level fighter could sweep two 2 HD creatures (for example).  Not sure if that would be too powerful though.  I just feel like Basic fighters are a little vanilla.  I don't know why you'd play one instead of a dwarf, except for flavour purposes.
• Oh yeah, I upped the hit points for thieves, clerics, fighters and dwarves to their AD&D equivalent.  I also let them start at full hit points at level 1.  Sorry old-schoolers, I like to give my players at least some sort of a fighting chance.  I'm certainly not fudging die rolls in their favour at the table, so they need it.
• One of my players wanted to play a dwarf wielding a two-handed pick, so I house-ruled that up.  I didn't want it to do 1d10 damage, so I gave it 1d8, but I needed a reason for it to be a worthwhile choice.  I gave it a +1 to hit armored foes, to simulate its penetrating power.
• We did some house-ruling on the fly when we saw the absurd price for a grappling hook in the Expert Rules.  25 gold pieces?  What the hell?  It's worth more than a two-handed sword!  We all agreed to knock it down to five, and while we were doing that we knocked down the crowbar from 10gp to 5gp as well.
• I've overhauled the encumbrance rules, as I detailed in this post last week.  As I suspected, it's a bit of a bitch to set up and explain, especially over video chat.  It's no worse really than calculating regular encumbrance though, and we had accurate movement rates for both players.  It was dead easy to see the effect on the elf's encumbrance when he dropped his longbow.  Unfortunately the game was too short, and they didn't find any treasure, so I didn't get to really test how it works at the table.  The jury's still out, but I'm optimistic that I've cracked it.
• I also overhauled the combat sequence, using something similar to the one from Chainmail.  I kind of got sick of the way initiative works in 3rd edition, where one player runs a full move and then a monster makes a move, and everyone can watch while this happens and react to it.  It works, but it's a bit unrealistic, so I want to try something else out. To summarise, both sides roll initiative on d6.  There's a missile phase, a spellcasting phase, a movement phase and a melee phase, and the side with the winning initiative goes first in each (although movement happens simultaneously, which I'm iffy that I can pull off with a large group).  I've already changed this slightly based on play.  We had a situation where a skeleton burst out of an alcove to attack the thief, but he didn't get surprise.  So the elf got to fire an arrow, everyone else got to move, and then the skeleton made its attack.  I'm adding in another melee phase at the start, for those who are already engaged in melee.  I think it will work a little better, but it could overcomplicate things.
• As a part of the above sequence, I've come up with a house-rule for casting times that makes it a little more unpredictable when spells go off, and gives a chance for spells to be interrupted.  Basically, the level of the spell is the chance on 1d6 that the spell won't be cast during that phase.  So if someone casts a sleep spell - 1st level - they roll a d6 during the spell-casting phase.  If they roll a 1, the spell doesn't happen yet.  Anything else, and it goes off.  If they rolled a 1, they roll again at the end of the missile fire phase (provided they don't get shot).  It goes on down the line like that until the round is ended, and if it still hasn't been cast it happens then.  It still makes low-level spells fast, and high-level spells slower on average.  I've also tied this in to the elf's ability to cast in armour: heavier armour gives a penalty to the spell-casting roll.  So the spell will still be cast in the same round, but if you're casting in plate there's a good chance that it'll happen at the end of a round.  It makes magic armour and especially elven chain more desirable (actually, the entire encumbrance system should do that).
• Basic characters die at 0 hit points, but that's too deadly for me.  I thought about just going with the AD&D "death at -10" rule, but I figured this was my chance to try something else out.  I'm using something similar to death saves in 5e, where someone dropped to 0 makes a save.  If they succeed, they're unconscious, and if they fail, they're dying.  Once dying they keep rolling saves until dead, so it's still pretty lethal.  Bandaging can save them though, as can healing magic.  I used the Death Ray/Poison saving throw category, but I think I'm going to have to change that, because Dwarves and Halfling have absurdly good saves in that category.  I quite like it that higher level character don't die as easily, but I'm not really down with a 10th level character only needing a roll of 2.  I might have to add a separate Death & Dying category to cover this.
• Of course I'm using the standard double damage on a natural 20 rule.  It ain't D&D without it.  I've gotten rid of 3rd edition's stupid confirmation roll though, it took all the excitement out of a natural 20.  I just say that if you need a natural 20 to hit, you can't score a critical.
• Unarmed combat isn't covered much in Basic.  I made unarmed strikes do 1d3 damage plus Strength bonus (with different die rolls for creatures of different sizes; Small creatures do 1d2 for example).  The damage is non-lethal, but the only difference that makes is if you drop someone below zero hit points: you can't kill someone with non-lethal damage unless you drop them to -10.  This allows a strong person to kill a weak character with a single punch, which I'm down with (or for a character to pummel an unconscious foe to death).
• I also covered grappling, which I'm doing as a hugely streamlined version of 3rd edition grappling.  It's just a series of opposed attack rolls, basically.  Monster's don't get a Strength bonus, but they get hefty size bonuses (or penalties if they're little).  A halfling, say, would be at -4, and an ogre would be at +4 (plus another 4 for Hit Dice).  The halfling might get a win here and there, but on average he's going to get creamed by that Ogre in a grappling contest, unless he's higher level.  (Actually, a halfling tops out at 8th level, with +6 to attack.  Factor in that penalty, and the maximum Strength bonus of +3, and the best bonus he's going to get is a +5.  He'll never be good enough to grapple that Ogre without magic or extra numbers, and that works for me.  After years of 3e, it's nice to go back to a system with a flatter progression.)

There's other stuff, but those rule changes are the bulk of it.  It's stuff I've been thinking over for years, while I've been digesting other D&D clones, old-school blogs, and the original D&D rulebooks.  My ultimate goal would be to have a ruleset that can be expanded or contracted  to mimic every D&D edition up to 3rd - the fabled "D&D Nth Edition" that I've written about before - but that's probably a design goal that's beyond me.  For now I'm happy enough to try out the ideas I've been working on for years, and give them a proper road test.  And more than anything, I'm happy to be playing D&D, and not just pontificating about it.

House Rules: Tinkering With Encumbrance

I've been trying to organise some quarantine D&D for the near future, because everyone being at home with nothing to do seems to me like the perfect time for some gaming.  I've never played over video chat before, so I want to run something simple and quick, and the Tom Moldvay version of Basic D&D seemed to fit the bill.  Reading it over, though, there were a number of areas that I'm not entirely satisfied with, so the inevitable red pen came out and I started house-ruling.  So much for quick and simple...

One of those areas that I've been tinkering with since forever is encumbrance.  Tracking encumbrance by coins can result in some very fiddly addition, and using pounds isn't really much better.  I've never found a system that I can keep track of at the table, or that my players can be bothered with.  What I'd like is something that uses a less granular measure of weight, and that can be gauged with a quick look at a player's character sheet.  I was playing around with it again over the weekend, and I think I might have cracked it.

Rather than using exact weights, I'm going with a system that uses encumbrance "slots", kind of like some computer RPGs.  Each character begins with a base of 15 encumbrance slots, which is modified up or down based on their Strength modifier.  For characters created using Moldvay D&D, that gives a range from 12 to 18.

Every item takes up a number of slots.  Most items take up one slot, some take up two, and there are smaller items that take up a third of a slot.  Armour takes up a number of slots based on its bonus to AC.  I'm still tinkering with these numbers, but here's a summary of what I have so far:

• 7 slots: Plate Mail Armour
• 5 slots: Chain Mail Armour
• 4 slots: Pole Arm
• 3 slots: Leather Armour, Two-Handed Sword, 10' Pole
• 2 slots: Battle Axe, Long Bow, Crossbow, Spear, Long Sword, Standard Rations
• 1 slot: Shield, Hand Axe, Short Bow, Quiver, Quarrel Case, Club, Mace, Sling and Stones, Short Sword, War Hammer, Backpack, Crowbar, Grappling Hook, Hammer, 12 Iron Spikes, Lantern, Mirror, Iron Rations, Rope, Large Sack, Thieves Tools, Tinderbox, Torches (6), Waterskin
• 1/3 slot: Dagger, Oil Flask, Holy Water, Small Sack

Very small items, such as rings, gems, cloves of garlic, etc. don't count towards encumbrance in this system.  Neither does clothing, or pretty much anything else a character is wearing aside from armour.

Backpacks are a special case: a backpack has six slots of its own, but only counts as 1 slot towards a character's encumbrance.  Obviously, only one backpack can be used in this way at a time.

Coins are also a special case.  Every 100 coins take up a slot, so theoretically an average character can carry up to 1,500 coins.  In practice, I assume that any character wearing clothes has enough pockets and pouches to hold 100 coins.  Beyond that, coins can't be carried unless you have a container, such as a sack or a backpack.  Coins placed in your primary backpack won't contribute to your encumbrance beyond the 1 slot for the backpack, but coins in sacks or a second backpack take up slots as normal - I figure dragging around a sack of coins will weigh someone down pretty quickly.  This allows me to properly try to run some logistical D&D; I really want to play one of those game where the players have to make hard decisions about what treasure they carry out of the dungeon.

(Sacks are one of the problem areas I'm still figuring out. I'm thinking of making them weigh nothing, or perhaps only having their weight count when there's nothing in them.)

The character's movement rate is based on the following chart:

Encumbrance Slots	Movement Rate:	12	9	6	3	1
12 (Str 3)		1-3	4-6	7-9	10-11	12
13 (Str 4-5)		1-3	4-6	7-10	11-12	13
14 (Str 6-8)		1-3	4-7	8-10	11-13	14
15 (Str 9-12)		1-4	5-7	8-11	12-14	15
16 (Str 13-15)		1-4	5-8	9-12	13-15	16
17 (Str-16-17)		1-4	5-8	9-13	14-16	17
18 (Str 18)		1-4	5-9	10-13	14-17	18

The encumbrance slots are on the left, and movement rates are along the top.  The cross-referenced number show how many encumbrance slots span that movement rate.  For example, a character with a 13 Strength (a +1 modifier) would have 16 encumbrance slots.  Assuming their inventory is filled completely with items that weigh one slot, they have a movement rate of 12 when carrying 1-4 items, 9 when carrying 5-8 items, 6 when carrying 9-12 items, 3 when carrying 13-15 items, and 1 when carrying 16 items.

Writing out like this feels a little complicated, so let's take a sample character with an average Strength and buy some equipment.  Rothgar the fighter has a Strength of 11, which gives him 15 encumbrance slots.  With his 110gp, he buys the following gear: a longsword, chain mail armour, a shield, a backpack, a lantern, 3 flasks of oil, some rope, a week's worth of iron rations, a waterskin, some garlic, and a large sack.  That costs 101gp in total.  Written down, it would look something like this:

So by this system, a character with an average strength and a fairly standard equipment load would have a movement rate of 6 (or 60' per turn).  The coins would normally contribute to encumbrance, but there are so few that for now they're in the section for items of negligible weight.  Rothgar could carry 100 coins in clothes pockets and pouches, and another 600 in his sack, but doing so would reduce his movement rate to 1, which is probably not desirable.

As an option, I'm thinking of making magic armour weigh less, with each "plus" taking off one encumbrance slot.  That makes magic armour desirable for much more than its protective value.  Elven chain I will probably have take up a mere 1 slot.

This system might be a little complicated to set up at the start, but it looks as though it does everything I'm looking for,  The measurements are bigger, the character's Strength is a factor, it looks like it'll be easy to use at the table, and you can see what the character's movement rate is at a glance.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays over the weekend.