Lord Haliaeetus's page

We were playing 2nd Ed. Forgotten Realms. Our party had garnered quite a bit of fame, and were traveling along when we entered a small kingdom where the ruler had apparently been passing oppressive and often downright strange laws with increasing frequency, calling his sanity into question.

Our party had arrived in two groups. The first had been arrested outside the gates when attempting entry and the wizard (me) had thrown a flashy spell to impress the guards. Apparently, magic had been outlawed.

The second, which had arrived first and was already in town, was still picking up information on the various laws. (Which included banning prostitution, which had put a cramp in the two barbarians' fun.) However, those characters had not heard about the ban on magic.

As they were sitting in a local tavern, a detachment of guards came in. One of them cast a spell (detect magic) and then headed over to the table and announced to the party: "You're under arrest."

To which one of the barbarians immediately replied: "But I've had no whores!"

The DM lost it, followed by the rest of us. We had to take a short break before getting back to the game.

Adamantine Dragon wrote:

OK, time to play the grognard card...

I played original D&D and every version up to and including 4e.

When I first started playing killing off characters seemed to be far more prevalent than it is today. Expecially wizards. Getting a wizard past level four to level five was back then deemed to be a REAL accomplishment. Plus now you got FIREBALL and so you were actually a real wizard....

In the campaigns I played in characters died left and right. My second ever created character died at level 3.

That makes me wonder if the game just have gotten less lethal or people who play now just have a different mindset regarding player death.

Well, consider the following from early versions of D&D:

1. Wizards had a d4 hit die and gained no con bonus if their con was less than 16. It was not uncommon to have a wizard with ONE hit point. My first character was a wizard with ONE hit point.

2. Characters did not die at -10 or -con hit points. Characters died at ZERO hit points. That meant my wizard could have literally been killed by a rat bite. To reach level 2 my wizard had to literally take ZERO DAMAGE at level 1. The entire party was dedicated to keeping the wizard as far from combat as possible.

3. There were many literal "save or die" spells. Not the figurative ones of today. A high enough enemy spellcaster could kill you with a glance.

4. Traps used to be a big, big deal. And most traps were lethal, not inconveniences. Fireball traps were a favorite back then.

5. Certain spells used to attract psionic enemies by rule. If your spellcaster used those spells and did not have psionics themselves, they could be killed without being able to defend themselves.

Just a few examples of the lethality of the old game...

My first level one hit point wizard is still "alive" today... He's a thirteenth level wizard that I've converted to the new rules each time a new version has come out. Although I converted him to Pathfinder, not 4e this time.