Questions relating to Dungeons & Dragons as a whole, or to multiple versions of Dungeons & Dragons.
16
votes
2answers
565 views
What happened in the Forgotten Realms between 3.5 and 4e?
I don't remember where I heard or read this, but I seem to recall there being some sort of cataclysmic event between 3.5 and 4e.
A few (related) questions -
What exactly happened between 3.5 and ...
15
votes
5answers
842 views
How many editions of Dungeons & Dragons are there?
How many editions of Dungeons & Dragons are there?
15
votes
5answers
890 views
Where does the D&D concept of a dwarf come from?
Where does the modern D&D of a dwarf come from? I've noticed it's fairly far from the old Germanic concept of a dwarf. Where did Gary Gygax and company get the idea for the current long bearded, ...
15
votes
6answers
668 views
Can you use a Spelljammer ship to get to Ravenloft?
This is an insane question, I know. But it's one that's been bugging me for at least half my 33-year life. :)
I love both the Spelljammer and Ravenloft settings of AD&D 2nd Edition. One of the ...
15
votes
4answers
396 views
What's the origin of the term “gold piece”?
What is the literary or historical origin of the term "gold piece" to mean a gold coin? Was it used before D&D, or did D&D coin the term?
15
votes
3answers
509 views
Why do D&D Paladins Have to Be Lawful Good?
In just about every edition of D&D (save for 4e), Paladins are required to be Lawful Good. If they stray from that, they are completely stripped of their powers. This means that evil deities can't ...
15
votes
1answer
199 views
Which cultural trope(s) does the D&D cleric refer to?
On the level of game mechanics, the classic D&D cleric melds the healer, the crusader and the witch/vampire hunter in one person. Is this a genuine D&D mish-mash or is there any ...
15
votes
2answers
821 views
Were Illithids inspired by Cthulhu?
Mind Flayers seem to look a whole lot like Cthulhu. Is there any relationship/inspiration between the two?
15
votes
1answer
543 views
Where did exceptional (“percentile”) strength come from?
I run a B/X game for a few guys, most of whom have only played 3E before. It leads to a lot of talk about the change in power level between basic and 3E. One of the things that came up was the ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views
Is there a good searchable database of D&D adventures?
I have shelves and shelves of RPG books, and a lot of it's D&D. I have every Dungeon magazine from #1 on. But for some reason I can never find the right adventure for what I need.
What I'm ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
Where can I get ready-to-play characters for D&D 3.5?
The last time I played D&D was about 10 years ago. Now I've decided to show it to my university friends, who have never played it before but are pretty excited. For that first game, nobody would ...
14
votes
5answers
491 views
If you are chained to a boulder and the boulder falls off a cliff, are you pulled with it?
I'm trying to resolve a situation of characters being connected to things that are moving. If I am at the end of a 20ft chain connected to a boulder, and someone drops that boulder off a 50ft cliff, ...
14
votes
3answers
421 views
What are the “Dark Powers”?
What are the dark powers in Ravenloft?
I'm not asking for a list, but rather a description of these entities.
14
votes
4answers
2k views
What exactly is a saving throw?
Dungeons and Dragons has had the concept of a "saving throw" for a long time. What exactly is it supposed to represent in the real world? And why is it called a "saving throw"?
14
votes
9answers
848 views
Randomly-generating weather for a sandbox campaign
I'm running a sandbox campaign and I've been looking for a method of randomly determining the weather for the day.
Features I'm looking for:
Low-to-medium handling time during play. Big tables are ...
14
votes
3answers
195 views
What happens when a grabbed target of Avalanche Stomp is teleported
Avalanche Stomp is a power of the Stone Titan (all quotes are from the DDI Compendium):
Close burst 3; +21 vs Fortitude; 3d10+7 damage, and the target is grabbed by earth and stone. The stone ...
14
votes
6answers
487 views
What is a Mega Dungeon?
I've come across the expression "mega dungeon" quite a few times on the net. It seems like it's not just about the size of a den of monsters but it might imply a play style or something. What are the ...
14
votes
4answers
583 views
What are the literary influences of the D&D Bard?
Can anyone tell me what sources, in literature, film, etc. inspired the Bard class for Dungeons & Dragons? I'm familiar with the Celtic Bards of history and legend, but the modern D&D Bard ...
14
votes
2answers
318 views
Do I lose access to a feat if ability drain results in no longer meeting the prerequisite?
Do curses or ability damage/drain cause a character to be unable to use his feats?
For example, a Ranger with 20 Dex who has two-weapon-fighting feats and is using two weapons gets cursed or ability ...
14
votes
11answers
7k views
What software can be useful for a DM running D&D?
I DM'd a lot in a time before software could do anything more than let you type up your scenarios and roll a dice. What kind of software is out there now for DM's running a game.
Are any of them any ...
14
votes
1answer
212 views
Where did the Chromatic/Metallic Dragons come from?
In the AD&D Monster Manual, the Chromatic (evil) and Metallic (good) dragons are introduced. Each color of dragon has a different habitat, personality and breath weapon. (Or two breath weapons, in ...
13
votes
5answers
422 views
Memory After Death
A recent campaign started with the death of the party and reincarnation of the party with the premise of "we brought you back to find those who killed you". One player was concerned that these people ...
13
votes
14answers
520 views
Magocracies and theocracies in Dnd?
Anyone has (links to) well thought-out, logical explanations for why magocracies and theocracies are not the dominant governmental forms of DnD worlds? I'd also be really interested in similarly deep ...
13
votes
2answers
637 views
What is the reason for introducing the rule for Attacks of Opportunity in D&D?
The Attacks of Opportunity are an important part in D&D and spinoffs of the game like Pathfinder. What does this rule for the game-system? How does it affect the fun of the players? Why was this ...
13
votes
6answers
685 views
How do you interpret the charm spell?
In a campaign I've been playing in, we've been having a real tough time deciding how powerful to make the first level Charm Person spell for Magic Users. Some background, we are playing Swords & ...
13
votes
7answers
577 views
What qualifies exploration gaming?
In the run up to DnD Next the designers seem to have categorised gamers and/or classes that focus on Combat, Roleplay and Exploration. See this quote from Mike Mearls:
"Setting aside mechanics, I ...
13
votes
9answers
1k views
What adventures are there out there that would fit in this campaign?
In a few weeks I'm starting a game of old school D&D for a group of fairly new players, and I'd like to be able to have a few published modules to drop on my hex map, so I can mix it up a bit and ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
How to reduce minis dependence in d20-based games?
In Pathfinder and similar versions of D&D, there is a lot more miniatures/tactical map dependence than in earlier versions (and in most other RPGs). I am interested in reducing the dependence on ...
13
votes
4answers
698 views
What kind of rulings predated ability or skill checks in old school D&D?
As I grow more weary of 4E and more nostalgic for my days playing 2E, I'm spending more and more time reading the old rules and the retroclones. I'm having a great time.
One of the things that I ...
13
votes
6answers
198 views
Clocking the round. Tools?
Chess players use a special clock to keep timings of each move within a reasonable amount, or they lose. During fighting session, I'd like to introduce a similar technique to prevent excessive ...
13
votes
5answers
613 views
What did you do for a Tarasque adventure? [closed]
What did you do for a Tarasque adventure?
When you ran it, did you wait for the players to be epic level?
Did having such an overpowered enemy detract from anything?
Or did your players - on the ...
13
votes
3answers
417 views
How should one-word “commands” work in languages other than English?
In various versions of D&D, there's a cleric spell called "Command" where the cleric compels an enemy to obey a one-word command. Typical commands might be "sleep", "flee", "surrender", ...
13
votes
6answers
572 views
What is the full list of official Wizards of the Coast D&D settings?
The ones I know of off hand are the following, also would be good to know what rule edition they initially started in and if they are no longer updated as of what edition:
Forgotten Realms
...
12
votes
7answers
1k views
In early D&D, why would chainmail ever be preferred over plate armor?
In early D&D, both chainmail and plate armor were considered metal armor, and to slow the wearer to 60' per turn. Chainmail cost 40gp, and plate armor 60gp. Their encumbrance was 400 or 500 coins ...
12
votes
7answers
2k views
What does a perception check really signify? Can they be repeated?
When a character makes a perception check, does fail indicate whether they permanently fail to see what is hidden, or just that they need to try again? So far our DM has let us repeat perception ...
12
votes
10answers
403 views
Balancing character levels
It makes sense that if you are in a group from the beginning that everyone in the group would be roughly the same level. Yes some classes level up faster than other but in general there is a balance ...
12
votes
3answers
630 views
How much greed is too much for a Chaotic Neutral character?
I have recently started GM-ing a new group of players, most of them are unexperienced. One of the players is a Chaotic Neutral Rogue.
This description of Chaotic Neutral mentions that such character ...
12
votes
6answers
244 views
How should a neutral character focused on balance be presented?
In many RPGs (or at least the ones I've heard of) the alignment system tends to have two definitions of a true-neutral character. Generally, they are something to the effect of what follows.
...
12
votes
1answer
270 views
At what point does a trap on a lock spring?
So a thief finds a chest which is trapped and locked (though he knows neither of these things at this point).
He fails his find traps roll and assumes / risks that it's not trapped. At what point ...
12
votes
3answers
266 views
Character development suggestions for a low Dexterity character?
I read in some book (forget which) that players should use a low ability score as an opportunity for character development; for example, a low Con character could have insecurities and be very ...
12
votes
3answers
612 views
Where does the distinction between “Mindflayer” and “Illithid” come from?
I know that a Mindflayer is an Illithid and visa versa. And, I know in some of the D&D fiction, like Forgotten Realms and the like, that Mindflayers refer to themselves or their race as Illithids, ...
12
votes
4answers
687 views
The Giants modules in BRP Classic Fantasy
I'm interested in playing some of the classic early AD&D adventures, like the Giants modules, with Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying using their Classic Fantasy module.
My big issue is power doesn't ...
12
votes
7answers
294 views
What would be some good monsters for Planet of the Apes D&D?
A while back I got the idea of Planet of the Apes as an classic D&D game with "ape as class". Gorillas would be fighters, Orangutan clerics, Chimpanzees magic users, and Humans thieves making ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
Relationship Mechanics for D&D/Pathfinder?
My Pathfinder/D&D games tend to involve relationships - romantic, friendly, etc. - between PCs and NPCs alike. 3.x only has the Diplomacy mechanic for any kind of relationship mechanic. I'm ...
12
votes
3answers
482 views
Why can't a Cleric use a sling?
So by the book 1st Edition AD&D, clerics can't use a sling.
Other than game balance (it essentially means that other than the odd thrown hammer clerics have no ranged weapon ability which further ...
12
votes
3answers
400 views
Limits and rules for Silent/Minor/Major Image spells
What are the limits of Image spells?
An example in the 'All about Illusions' articles on wizards.com (1, 2, 3, 4) is an illusionary guard: Can I make the guard (keeping concentration) dissolve into ...
11
votes
8answers
598 views
Inter-planar Merchants of D&D
What race best fills this role? I'm mostly looking for someone who does this in a Planescape-style setting. Neogi kinda do this, but they're a little too specialized for what I'm looking for. Ditto ...
11
votes
7answers
820 views
D&D: How to find out if someone is a spellcaster?
I know that one can use the spell "Detect magic" to find out whether any spells are being cast or active. But is it also possible, using some spell, feat or whatever, to find out whether a person is ...
11
votes
6answers
463 views
D&D 4 - does it suffer as much drift / house-ruling as previous versions? (Primarily 3 and 2)
Let me start by clarifying "drift". 'Drift' is the process by which a playgroup, consciously or unconsciously, moves away (drifts) from playing the game according to the rules as written (RAW). Other ...
11
votes
5answers
1k views
Playing as, not with, ourselves
A few of the members of our gaming have had the probably-not-unique idea of statting ourselves as if we were player characters in a campaign. Our problem is trying to find a basis of comparison for ...
