A peculiarity of AD&D is that players can only play human, half-elf and half-orc clerics. Only humans have no limits on levels they achieve as Clerics; half elves are limited to 5th level and half-orcs are limited to 4th level. Players aren’t allowed to play elf (max 7th level), dwarf (max 8th level) and gnome (max 7th level) clerics. Players cannot play halfling clerics at all, and halfling druids can only reach up to 5th level. Continue reading Non-Human Cleric Limits in AD&D 1st Edition
Category: The First Age
Related to The First Age project.
The First Age Mythologies
It would be easy to just jump to the obvious book to come up with the mythologies that should be available in The First Age – we aren’t going to do that. I only want to look at what the PB, MM and perhaps what the DMG provides. With Titans, Medusa, Minotaur, Triton, Satyr, Pegasus, Nymph, Merman, Hydra, Harpy and Centaur – its clear we have a strong Greek presence. But there are many, many creatures taken from mythologies from around the world. Continue reading The First Age Mythologies
The First Age: Familiars for Clerics
Sage Advice was a Q&A column in Dragon Magazine, and often provided very useful interpretations of the 1st edition Core Books. Dragon Issue #46 (February 1981) has two nuggets useful for The First Age – the question of familiars for clerics and deity selection for Paladins and Rangers. Continue reading The First Age: Familiars for Clerics
Cleric Weapon Prohibitions Makes Sense
A perennial topic around the Cleric class is the prohibition against edged and pointed weapons. As the story goes, this prohibition came from legends that Archbishop Turpin used a mace based on the notion that they who live by the sword will die by the sword. Wikipedia tells us though that Archbishop Turpin was depicted in art as bearing both a sword and spear, and the origin could be from Bishop Odo, also Earl of Kent who bore a club into battle. Even with an error of origin, the prohibition makes sense. Continue reading Cleric Weapon Prohibitions Makes Sense
Introducing The First Age Project
After reading some thoughtful posts over on The RPG Site about implied game settings, I have decided to try to develop a campaign setting based on the 1st Edition rules. This setting, which is called The First Age, will be based on core rules consisting of the 1st edition PHB, DMG and MM. Other books in that generation, DDG, FF and UA will be considered secondarily.