Monstrous Compendium
Q. After purchasing the first two volumes of the Monstrous Compendium,
I cannot help but have the sneaking suspicion that devils and demons
are not going to appear in any of the new monster tomes. I, for one,
would be disappointed if these most villainous of villains are to be
excluded from the AD&D game. In short, are devils and demons going to
appear in any AD&D 2nd Edition reference books, or has society reared
its ugly head once more to thwart creativity and enjoyment?
A. The answer, in short, is at present there are no plans to include
devils, demons, and similar creatures in the AD&D 2nd Edition game.
Society has not reared its "ugly head". In fact, society is the source
of creativity and enjoyment, gamers, game producers, and game
columnists are part of society. Society as a whole is not down on
gamers; some people I know who make it a hobby to study the
anti-role-playing movement tell me the whole brouhaha is the work of
less than a dozen people, most of them in the United States, who were
well known for their questionable religious dogmas long before the D&D
and AD&D games came on the scene. No major religious sect or
denomination officially opposes the D&D game or any other role-playing
game. These few individuals have been able to fool a lot of people
into believing their propaganda by pointing to a few items in the old
AD&D game books and saying, "This is a satanic game". The unsuspecting
public, being uninformed about role-playing and disinclined to
actually read the books themselves, started buying this vituperation.
The demons and devils in the old Monster Manuals were a prime weapon
in the campaign of misinformation directed against gaming, so they
were dropped from the new edition. It's possible that demons and
devils will be revised into a format that preserves their usefulness
in adventure design and does not give the game's detractors cheap
ammunition, but that format hasn't been found yet. In the meantime,
the revamped dragons and giants, which have been given a tremendous
boost in the Monstrous Compendium, should do a nice job of filling the
role of ultimate adversary.
Q. Do monster shamans who cast clerical spells get bonus spells for
high wisdom? How does one calculate a monster's wisdom score?
A. This answer is up to the DM, but only true clerics should get bonus
spells. For example, creatures such as dragons that have the ability
to cast clerical spells do not receive bonus spells due to high wisdom
because they are not members of the cleric class. Generally, a
creature's wisdom score falls into the same range as its intelligence
score; see the introductory section of the Monstrous Compendium,
Volume I.
Q. May I have permission to photocopy the sheets in my Monstrous
Compendium, volume I, because they are badly misdrilled? Also, aren't
there supposed to be two different pages in the vampire's description?
A. You can photocopy TSR's game products if you are doing it for your
own use and not for sale. You can also get a replacement booklet by
returning the misdrilled copy and requesting a new one. Send it to:
The Mail Order Hobby Shop, c/o TSR, Inc., P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva WI
53147, U.S.A. Put the words "defective product" somewhere on the
package. Enclose a letter giving your name and address, and state
where and when you bought the product. Note that a replacement
"vampire " page was run in Dragon #150; you can also get one by
writing the address above.
Q. There seem to be several problems with the new dragon descriptions.
Does the combat modifier really apply to both attack and damage rolls?
If so, how can a really big dragon ever miss? How much damage do black
dragons really do with their breath weapons? What does the "MT" column
mean on the black dragon's statistics table? Why are separate body and
tail lengths given for each dragon type? What is the correct tail
length entry for great wyrm bronze dragons? How many times can a
dragon use its breath weapon each day? The text on dragons seems to
imply that dragons have no limit on how often they can use breath
weapons, but the dragon turtle's description strongly implies that the
limit is three times per day.
A. A dragon's combat modifier applies only to its damage rolls; the
reference to attack rolls is left over from an earlier version of the
manuscript. From age category five on, one digit has been dropped from
the black dragon's breath weapon rating; starting from age category
one, the column should read: 2d4+1, 4d4+2, 6d4+3, 8d4+4, 10d4+5,
12d4+6, 14d4+7, 16d4+8, 18d4+9, 20d4+10, 22d4+11, and 24d4+12. The
"MT" is a typo; it should read "MR" for magic resistance. Only a
dragon's body length is considered when calculating a dragon's size
rating, since the tail is very thin. Also, damage to a dragon's tail
does not really harm the dragon; only hits on the body and wings are
telling enough to reduce the dragon's hit points. This makes dragons a
little less vulnerable to mob tactics. A great wyrm bronze dragon's
tail is 100- 110' long. In the core AD&D 2nd Edition rules, a dragon
can use its breath weapon three times a day, once every three rounds.
To make fighting dragons less of a certain thing, however, I suggest
you make the interval between breath weapons variable (roll 1d3 for
the number of interval rounds). An alternate method for determining
the number of a dragon's breath weapons used each day is discussed in
"The New Ecology of the Dragons", in Dragon #146.
Q. Will statistics for Tiamat and Bahamut be given in future volumes?
A. To my knowledge, Tiamat and Bahamut, the Chromatic and Platinum
Dragons, are not scheduled to appear in any volumes of the Monstrous
Compendium. They might, however, appear in the revised Legends & Lore
tome.
Q. What kinds of materials can a burrowing dragon dig through?
A. Generally, a burrowing dragon can burrow only through things found
in its home terrain. Thus, a white dragon can burrow through ice and
snow, and a brass dragon can burrow through sand. Note that all
dragons can dig, but only burrowing dragons do it fast enough to be
given a movement rating for doing so.
Q. How is the age category of a randomly encountered dragon generated?
A. I suggest rolling 2d4. This keeps hatchlings safely at home and
restricts the really powerful older dragons to set encounters placed
by the DM, probably close to their lairs, which they tend to guard
jealously.
Q. How come dragons are allowed armour classes better than −10 when
the DMG limits characters to −10?
A. Dragons aren't characters; they are among the most powerful beings
on the Prime Material plane. If your campaign allows PCs to live and
grow for more than a millennium, as dragons do, go ahead and let them
break the AC −10 barrier after they've adventured for 1,000 years.
Q. What is the spell detect gems, and why do gold dragons have it?
A. There is no such spell. The gold dragon's ability is explained in
the monster's description. Precisely why gold dragons have this
ability is unrevealed.
Q. What does an alignment of "nil" mean? Just neutral?
A. The "nil" alignment rating is a holdover from an early draft of the
Monstrous Compendium material. Originally, a rating of "nil" indicated
that a creature was not intelligent enough to have an alignment at
all. However, the "nil" rating was dropped during rewriting and should
have been replaced with the neutral alignment.
Q. Do fire balls or other heat-related attacks do any additional
damage to creatures such as frost giants or white dragons?
A. No. Unless a creature's description lists a special vulnerability,
or unless an attack form's description lists a special damage bonus,
assume the target of any magical attack is affected normally.
Q. How can a fire giant be totally immune to red dragon breath, which
can do up to 24d10+12 hit points damage, and still be vulnerable to
fire balls, which do a relatively paltry maximum of 10d6 hit points
damage?
A. This was the subject of heated discussion during the game's
production. Ultimately, the winning argument had two points. First,
dragon breath is not magical fire; the flame produced inside a dragon
is not the same as the fire in a fire ball or wall of fire spell.
Second, making fire giants immune to fire would imbalance the game
because so many attack spells are based on fire. Still, there are
plenty of non-fiery attack spells, so your campaign isn't likely to
suffer if you decide to make your fire giants completely fire
resistant.
Q. Will wolverines, whales, and sharks be included in future volumes
of the Monstrous Compendium?
A. Yes. Sharks and wolverines are included in volume 2 (TSR product
#2103), which is available now. (Sharks and wolverines are not listed
in volume 2's alphabetical index, but the information is there.)
Whales are included in volume 3 (TSR product #2104), which is also
available.
Q. What is a werebear's intelligence rating? The listing says
exceptional, but the number rating is given as (11-12) while the
introduction says the range for exceptional intelligence is 15-16.
A. The numbers in the werebear's statistics are wrong. Werebears are
exceptionally intelligent (15-16).
Q. What is the experience-point value for a noble genie? How are
experience-point values figured, anyway?
A. A noble genie is worth 6,000 xp; the number is listed but in the
wrong column. Complete experience-point tables are given in the 2nd
Q. Shouldn't liches have 10 + HD now that wizards are limited to 10
HD? Isn't 7,000 xp a bit low for a high level lich?
A. You can give a lich 10 hit dice, or you can assume it picks up an
extra hit die in the process, of becoming a lich. According to my
calculations, an 11-HD lich should be worth 12,000 xp (base 2,000; AC
0, + 1; high intelligence, +1; immunity to any spell, + 1; hit only by
magical weapons, +1; level 3 or greater spells, +2; paralysis, +2;
fear, +2). Liches that possess and use magical items against the party
are worth an extra 1,000 xp, and high-level liches should be worth an
extra 1,000 xp per level over 11th.
Q. Shouldn't soldiers have more than 1 hit point? After all, farmers
have 1-6 hit points.
A. Common soldiers are usually militiamen or part-time soldiers, so
they have 1-6 hit points, just like the farmers they actually are when
they aren't fighting. Professional and veteran soldiers have 1-10 hit
points per level.
Q. Why was the huecuva renamed? Can creatures with infravision
automatically recognize these creatures for what they are?
A. The creature was accidentally renamed "heucuva" while volume 2 was
in production. Since it is impractical to reprint most of volume 2 to
get the correctly spelled "huecuva" in proper alphabetical order, the
creature has been officially renamed. Heucuva (the name is the same in
singular and plural forms) appear to be common skeletons when viewed
with infravision, no matter what guise they have adopted using
polymorph; a party using infravision will simply not be able to
distinguish them from regular skeletons. Note that torch or lantern
light, which is necessary for making maps, spoils infravision and
keeps all characters with infravision from seeing a heucuva's skeletal
form. (The shadow cast by a polymorphed heucuva will be that of the
shape it has assumed, not that of a skeleton.)
Q. How much damage does a korred do? The number range is given as 3-6
hit points damage, while the damage-dice type is given as 1d2+4.
A. A mêlée hit from a korred does 5-6 (1d2+4) hit points damage.
Q. There seem to be a few errors in the rear-claw damage ratings for
the various great cats.
A. There are. The correct (single claw) ratings are: cheetah, 1-2
(1d2); jaguar, 2-5, (1d4+1); leopard, 1-4; common lion, 2-7 (1d6+1);
mountain lion, 1-4 (1d4); spotted lion, 2-8 (2d4); giant lynx, 1-3
(1d3); tiger 2-8 (2d4); smilodon 2-8 (2d4).
Q. Aren't one leader and three assistants for every three orcs simply
too many leaders and assistants?
A. Yes. The correct number is one leader and three assistants for
every 30 orcs.
AD&D® 2nd Edition rules
Q. Can a rope trick spell be cast downward or sideways, so that the
caster has to climb down or across to get into the extra-dimensional
space? How big is the extra-dimensional space? Can the spell be cast
underwater to form an air pocket?
A. The rope must always be cast upward. The extra-dimensional space is
big enough to hold eight man-size creatures and is about 10' high, 10'
long, and 20' wide. The spell can be cast anywhere there is enough
space to allow the rope to rise the required 5-30'. However, if the
spell is cast underwater, the extra-dimensional space will fill with
water.
Q. How many pinches of dust of disappearance are commonly found at one
time?
A. Five to 50 (5d10), just like dust of appearance.
Q. Will a wish to increase an ability score subject the wizard casting
the spell to a three-point penalty to strength even if he is
increasing his strength by one point?
A. Yes. The wizard suffers the penalty if he raises an ability score
(his own or anybody else's). In the unusual case you pose, the
temporary subtraction comes from the wizards new strength score.
Q. How does spell-casting affect mêlée? Is there a bonus for
attacking a spell caster while he is casting a spell?
A. A spell caster may not attack during any round in which he casts a
spell, and he may not use his dexterity bonus to benefit his armour
class in order to avoid an attack while casting that spell (he'll ruin
his spell if he does so). The spell caster is not otherwise impaired,
however, and attacks against him are made normally.
Q. Can a spell-caster use the same spell more than once per day by
memorising it more than once?
A. Yes, but each spell memorised fills one "slot". For example, a
wizard who can memorise three first-level spells could memorise a
magic missile spell three times, but could take no other first-level
spells.
AD&D 1st Edition rules
Q. I understand that a magician can cast only the spells in his book,
but how often can a spell in a book be cast? A friend told me that a
1st level magician can cast only one spell per day, but the DMG says
that a 1st-level magician has a book of four spells.
A. You seem to be confused by the difference between the number of
spells a magician can have memorized at any given time and the number
of spells that he can have written in his spell book. The number of
spells that any magician can have memorized at any one time is given
on the "Spells Usable By Class And Level" chart in the PHB (page 26).
To use the chart, find the level of the spell caster (first column).
The total number of spells his brain can hold is given to the right of
his level. For example, the "Magicians Spell Level" line for a
4th-level magician reads: 3|2. This means that a 4th-level magician
can memorize up to three first level spells and two second-level
spells. When a magician prepares for an adventure, he studies his
books and commits spells to memory, up to his "full load". When he
casts one of these spells, the memory of it goes away (as explained on
page 40 of the PHB), and he must memorise it again before he can cast
it again. The number of spells a magician can have in his spell book
is determined by his intelligence score. There are two ways, however,
that the magician could cast a spell without memorizing it first. The
first is by using a scroll, a temporary magical writing. Any time
after a magician has studied a scroll while using a read magic spell,
he can read that scroll aloud and cast the spell written on it,
whether or not he has that spell memorised. A spell written on a
scroll can be cast once only; the writing disappears when the spell is
cast. (See pages 100-101 of the 1st Edition PHB and pages 127-128 of
the 1st Edition DMG for more information on the use of scrolls.) The
second is to read the spell directly out of the spell book. This
causes the spell to disappear from the book (so that the magician
cannot memorise it again until he can write it into the book again)
and may also cause other spells to disappear from the book (see page
80 of Unearthed Arcana for more details on casting spells directly
from books).
Q. The information on spell books on page 79 of Unearthed Arcana does
not match the information as originally presented in Dragon #62. Is
this an error or an editorial change ?
A. The information in Unearthed Arcana is correct and applies to all
spell books. This was an editorial change based on play-testing
results.
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