More of thief abilities and surprise, a question
Re: More of thief abilities and surprise, a question
Six segments of surprise is crazy. Even a high level party is going to have a hard time recovering from that. Four can be killer, but six could very easily be a TPK with a typical drow party.
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Matthew
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Re: More of thief abilities and surprise, a question
Assuming a party like that in D1-3 it seems very unlikely that six segments would ever really come to fruition. Of the nine sample characters, three have 18 dexterity and so negate 3 segments of surprise, three have 17 dexterity and negate 3 segments of surprise, and one has 16 dexterity negating 1 segment of surprise.
That said the suggestion of 6-in-8 would only really apply if you wanted to keep the literal text and apply it to AD&D. It could just as easily be viewed as an exception to the regular rule and be 75% of one surprise segment, though that would be a poor comparison with elves. A 5-in-6 chance of surprise is not unheard of even in the Monster Manual. On the other hand, perhaps surprise should never extend beyond "complete surprise" [i.e. 2 segments], anything over and above that is ignored.
That said the suggestion of 6-in-8 would only really apply if you wanted to keep the literal text and apply it to AD&D. It could just as easily be viewed as an exception to the regular rule and be 75% of one surprise segment, though that would be a poor comparison with elves. A 5-in-6 chance of surprise is not unheard of even in the Monster Manual. On the other hand, perhaps surprise should never extend beyond "complete surprise" [i.e. 2 segments], anything over and above that is ignored.
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Re: More of thief abilities and surprise, a question
Matthew wrote:
I am not unsettled in that drow might broaden the range of surprise, but I am wondering at the 'rule mechanism'...have I overlooked something all this time, or should one be reading the thief percentages in the very same way?I think we always have to bear in mind the context of G1-3, in that AD&D was itself not entirely complete when they were written...so it is unsurprising to find different takes on rule mechanisms than we might ordinarily expect...Given that elves surprise 4-in-6, I should think drow surprise 6-in-8.
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He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
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“Superstitions are religious forms surviving the loss of ideas. Some truth no longer known or a truth which has changed its aspect is the origin and explanation of all. The name from the Latin, superstes, signfies that which survives, they are the dead remnants of old knowledge or opinion” - Eliphas Levi (138 The History of Magic).
“Let no one wake a man brusquely for it is a matter difficult of cure if the soul find not its way back to him”, the Upanishads of ancient India ( 58 Our Oriental Heritage, Durant).
"Life is intrinsically, well, boring and dangerous at the same time. At any given moment the floor may open up. Of course, it almost never does; that's what makes it so boring" – Edward Gorey.
"The bright day is done and we are for the dark" - Shakespeare
"No lamp burns till morning" - Persian proverb.
“The living close the eyes of the dead, but it is the dead that open the eyes of the living”— Old Slavic saying.
'The best place to hide a light is in the sun' – old Arab proverb.
'To thee, thou wedding-guest!
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best,
All things both great and small:
For the dear God, who loveth us,
He made and loveth all' - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (VII Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner).