My Life As A Gamer: AD&D1e Character Generation, Part Four (Commentary)

(Citations of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition (AD&D1e) Player's Handbook (PHB) and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) as needed.)

(This is part of a series. It begins here, continues here, and yesterday's post is here. This post concludes this series.)

From the start, AD&D1e makes it clear that there is a standard for the new player to rely upon that transcends the Dungeon Master (DM). The discretion afforded to the DM in this process is limited, but where it is allowed is where it actually matters. The result is a framework that establishes a norm--a base model, if you will--within it useful variation is allowed. What is not useful is not allowed.

A lot of the gamer mythology about AD&D1e's character generation procedure is without merit now that one can, as an adult, revisit what Gygax wrote and see for himself how it all works. There is sufficient variation within this framework to handle what is necessary for a fantasy adventure campaign.

Attributes

That no default method is specified will surprise people used to the myth. The four recommended methods in the DMG are sufficient for all but the outliers in campaigns, and Unearthed Arcana (UA) handles them.

However, what is not said--but is apparent when comparing these methods to what is required for various Classes--is that most characters are meant to be one of the four core Classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User (MU), Thief) and the other Classes are not intended to be commonplace in a campaign. This will expand to include the new and revised Classes in UA.

(Note that Oriental Adventures (OA) is not addressed here. That requires a post or series thereof of its own to address.)

While high scores are good to have, and do confer signficant benefits, they are not mandatory to function as intended. If you're coming from D&D3.X or later, this is a hard mindset to break because that is the case, and it is reinforced by social proof and the pressure that brings in a team-oriented environment.

This will become more obvious as I progress through the rules.

Race/Class

It is clear that the game relies on the aforementioned Core Four to work at all; you need to do significant work to change this (e.g. OA).

The Cleric is Van Hellsing as a Templar, not a generic priest, and doesn't make sense outside of a Christian context. "Generic Priest" fits better under MU. This sets up serious cognitive dissonance, which will be addressed later when I get to Deites & Demigods (DDG). This is the third Class added to the game.

The Fighter is John Carter at its core, upon which other warrior heroes of history, myth, and fantasy are grafted upon. He, more than the other three, is the load-bearing pillar of the game, the medium, and the hobby. Without the Fighting Man adventurer, you do not have fantasy adventure at all, so this is the first Class.

The Magic-User is Radagast the Brown, and then extended and iterated upon into its generic form. All of your good and evil magicians, sorcerers, cult priests, shaman, etc. belong here because of the inherently transactional nature of their relationship with the supernatural- including such figures as Elric of Melnibone. This class came second.

The Thief is The Gray Mouser, came last of the four, and because of its roots is oddly specific in what it can do and how. A generic "rogue" it is not, and more cognitive dissonance is apparent here as we shall see.

All four of these classes focus on a core gameplay activity, both in the personal Man-To-Man scale and the larger realm of Domain and Patron play. The Cleric sees to the security of the soul and the body, aiming at smiting supernatural threats. The Fighter seeks to slay threats to the Realm at-large, and in time become Warlord of the Realm. The Magic-User is all about mastery of secrets hidden from ordinary men and exploiting the power differential this gives to him; the spellcasting is the practical end of this pursuit, but it includes lore of all sorts. The Thief is the scout, the seeker, and the retriever; if he is seen and noticed, he screwed up.

The other classes have similar specialities that manifest in being very good in specific circumstances. The Ranger is an expert pathfinder and skirmisher. The Paladin is a crusader and champion without peer. The Druid is the master of the wilderness. The Illusionist takes the mastery of secrets and turns it into an offensive weapon. The Monk focuses on the Unarmed Combat options, which is far more effective than many believe.

As for the Races, all of them are niched to focus on commonplace archetypes, but none of them are necessary (other than Human, of course). Between the descriptions in the PHB, DMG, and the Monster Manual (MM) it's easy to see how each race organizes itself. There is no need for extensive supplementary materials on any of these as a result; go with the implications and you'll be fine.

The other thing to become clear is that, while demihumans are good to have early on, their long-term utility is limited without top-end attribute scores. Couple this with the full suite of procedures governing Experience Point (XP) gains and leveling up--those Grading and Training rules are strict--and you'll see that Gygax's promise of Humans outstripping demihumans come to pass in any competently-run campaign.

Details

So many miss that character age not only changes attribute scores, but does so before play begins. For certain Classes, like Bard, this is a big deal because it means that some requirements need not be met right away; spell-casters in particular benefit from aging over time due the gains in Wisdom (WIS) and Intelligence (INT).

This means that a Human Fighter routinely enters play as a Young Adult (i.e. a teenager) and thus has yet to reach full maturity of the body. While he does have to worry about age-related declines when he hits 41 years of age, that's still a lot of time (barring magical effects) to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

If you think that's unlikely, history laughs at you; go look up the Silver Shields of Alexander, and remember the adage of bewaring of old men playing a young man's game.

A lot of people also miss that some weapons have height requirements; you roll too low and your Elf or Dwarf won't be using that longsword. Weight of your character matters when it's time for someone or something to carry him, be it a cart or a mount or your party because you're down and out. Your character's weight also matters in triggering traps, causing weak floors or walls to give way, or if that length of rope can bear your weight. Add in what you're carrying, and you really will care.

Appearance--hair, eyes, skin--matters in play as it does in real life. Carry yourself as a slovely boor and even with that Charisma (CHA) of 18 you're unnecessarily gimping yourself- and your party, something they may not be keen to overlook.

Alignment being open to determination other than player choice is also overlooked, yet I see the merits in requiring it be randomly determined if there can be options at all; you may not want to have played a Magic-User, but the dice said otherwise, so why not see if you're playing one of an Alignment you usually don't play?

Hit Points not being maxed out is well-known as the default for AD&D1e. The not-well-known part here will come later.

Combined you see lots of gameplay implications here that too many overlook because it is not obviously something that says "ME IMPORTANT GAME THING!" Gygax did not assume that you are stupid or lacking in reading comprehension. The manuals reflect this.

We'll see more of this as I continue.

(PS: I'll pick this up on Monday, where I get into Manuever and Travel; the weekend's posts will be about something else.