(From the retracted 1986 Chick Tract “Satan’s Master”. The character is a “White Witch” infiltrating a Sunday school run by a former member of the coven who converted to Christianity,)image Hannah the Witch: “You see, Jesus was a great teacher and was called a prophet of God. We are all children of God, we all yourself , lady.”Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Master’s Guide by Gygax, published by TSR Inc., page 40 | See Colossians 1:12-19″
16 comments
Was this 1st Edition?
“Student 1, thinking: “You’re hanging yourself, lady.””
1986
Hasbro owns "D&D" just over a decade since. I guess in Soviet America, game owns you .
Gary Gygax's legacy lives on: he is to RPGs what His Excelsior!ness Stan Lee is to superheroes.
You're just dead , Jack Shit.
<@Dr.Weird > #152456
All things considered I kind of wonder why WIS is the cleric's main stat. CHA would be more appropriate as the main function of clerics are to be the public face of their deities, sway followers, possibly change the views of others and convert them. Clerics are given power based explicitly on how much they can convince the recipient of their prayers that they can influence mortals. Until 5e turning undead and channeling energy relied directly on CHA as well.
In a more mechanical sense WIS also governs perception and clerics are typically meant to be less in tune with their physical surroundings and mortal concerns or even take pains to distance themselves from such i.e. seclusive cloisters. WIS is also supposed to be associated with self examination and common sense which would be even less fitting to a cleric whose domain might be chaos, madness, or trickery. In regards to roleplay I think it gives an interesting caveat and hard limit to the power of a CHA based Cleric acting as the party Face if the tenets of their faith - and favour of their deity in regards to representing that faith with fitting leeway for ideologies that allow for deception - limit their persuasion attempts as even gods of similar moral alignment and sphere of influence have rivalries reflected by their followers and religion is a massive influence on the D&D world.
Conversely I think the CHA based Paladin should rely on WIS instead as while they are meant to be inspiring leaders to common soldiers and whose personal conviction is the source of their powers their main function is martial rather than affecting society and it's up to their personal sensibilities and unyielding conviction to serve their deity and/or oath to the fullest in extreme situations even in the face of psychological or outright psychic attack (resisted by WIS) with less direct divine counsel if gods are even involved in their oath. They'd be considering the implications of their actions quite often if they're not playing lawful stupid right to the hilt.
No, kid, it’s a long time since they DID hang witches in England, then also after the Salem Witch Trials. I guess if they had to have witch-hunts, it was a little less barbaric than burning them alive.
Aroint thee, Jack Chick!
@Passerby #152476
Conversely, I think Wisdom would fit the Sorcerer better than Charisma - drawing upon instinct, willpower and self-discovery to master the strange power you have found yourself endowed with.
Or, perhaps even better: Go against the formula and make it Constitution.
@Bastethotep #152488
Well since in 5e a sorcerer's magic comes specifically from biological inheritance (and the origins for selection tend to be creatures naturally far hardier than what most players can top out at) constitution does make a bit of sense and would offset having their low hit die. Though that would be giving them one more advantage over wizards who actually put in the work for their magic and seem to be getting less in return in 5e. They're the ones who should be getting the sorcery point mechanics, to me that's indicative of a deeper understanding of a spell rather than winging on instinct. And bards can just pick any spell from any list at certain levels I mean come on is study and hard work worth nothing even in fantasy?
And hey, as long as we're tossing around ideas about making D&D classes better what do you think about instead of having a limited number of favoured terrains rangers should instead have a period of acclimation to environment types that shortens as they grow? Pick one terrain at creation that is your favoured terrain (preferably something that makes sense to your backstory) and needs very limited adjustment when stepping into similar environs for the first time but when entering a new terrain require some months before gaining the same benefits and losing them a short time out of that environment necessitating reacclimation. Then instead of gaining a second terrain the acclimation period shortens considerably and the grace period before losing the acclimation bonus extends.
@JeanP #152529
If they haven't figured that out in the last 36 years, I don't hold out much hope.
Edited to add: When my cousin was concerned about her son becoming a DM, I told her, "Mostly D&D players argue. Pizza is involved, but it's 70% arguing." Just like people here discussing the proper stats for D&D characters.
@JeanP #152529
And i think all wizards should have an upper limit to Wisdom, actually. But that’s from reading Discworld, where the wizards are the smartest people in the world, but also if they see a button marked ‘Do not press, it will destroy the world!’ they’ll push it to see what happens. Many times, my wizard stated an action and the DM asked the party, “Who all can teleport away from this?”
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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