Monday, April 2, 2012

In OD&D It Takes 1 Turn to Cast Cure Wounds Spells...

...another example of how, for me, OD&D comes across as more literary than any other edition.

When I played Pool of Radiance on the PC in the 80s, I was shocked that you could cast Cure spells in combat; somehow, despite never being exposed to OD&D, I had just assumed that you couldn't use Cure spells in the middle of a fight.

Also, why are there so many blospot D&D blogs despite the fact that the ampersand is a forbidden character to use in tags?

12 comments:

  1. Jeff RientsApril 2, 2012 at 2:18 PM

    Tags weren't implemented yet when I started on blogspot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 2, 2012 at 2:53 PM

    I switched from Wordpress to Blogger because all you miscreants were using it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stefan PoagApril 2, 2012 at 3:21 PM

    What about "cause light wounds"? Does that take a turn to cast, too? Cause then that evil priest is going to have to say, "Stand there and do nothing for a turn while I cast this here spell on you."

    ReplyDelete
  4. BlairApril 2, 2012 at 3:35 PM

    @ Limpley: First I was bummed, but than I imagined the possibilities, "You need healing stranger?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stefan PoagApril 2, 2012 at 5:14 PM

      "You need healing stranger?"
      Thanks, I'm good...

      Delete
  5. AnonymousApril 2, 2012 at 3:49 PM

    There is some debate about the terminology of "turn" and "round" in OD&D circles, with some believing that a "combat turn" is actually a round.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greg GorgonmilkApril 2, 2012 at 4:16 PM

    @Blair: I like it. 1-in-6 healers should be disguised, wandering psychotic necromancers who worship malevolent death gods.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 2, 2012 at 6:18 PM

    Actually if you read the Cure Light Wounds spell in Men and Magic, it cures over the course of one full turn, it does not take one turn to cast. So it takes one turn to fully heal 2-7 points of damage.

    Incidentally, this is a movement turn of ten minutes, not a combat turn of one minute or a combat round of six seconds. It corresponds to the one turn every hour of required rest for exploration requirement in the rules. You use Cure Wounds during the rest for ten minutes.

    All Cures spells work in this same manner.

    The common misuse of this spell lead to its change in later editions.

    An additional use that comes up is that you can preemptively cast the spell on a fighter in anticipation of him taking damages during the next turn and they heal back up according to the dice roll.

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  8. JohnstoneApril 2, 2012 at 10:22 PM

    Obviously you need to modify the depiction of clerics in your OD&D game, because "please, good sir, allow me to lay my hands on you for about ten minutes, after which you will feel much better" only works for certain people.

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  9. UnknownApril 5, 2012 at 7:38 AM

    because blogspot is old school!

    ReplyDelete