Sample combat with the AD&D1 rules.

*******************

The PC:

Yrag, the Lord* [I will refer to the Player as “Gary”]
Fighter 9

Strength: 18/46 (+1 to hit, +3 damage)**
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Dexterity: 16 (+1 reaction/missile, -2 defense)
Constitution: 16 (+2 hit points)
Charisma: 17

Armor Class: -4
plate mail +2, shield +2, dexterity

Movement: 12″ (magical armor is weightless, and does not hinder movement rate)

Hit Points: 81

Attack: 3/2 rounds; +2 with longsword on level 9 column of fighter attack matrix
Longsword +1, Flame Tongue

Damage: +4 to 1d8 against Small or Medium size creatures, or 1d12 against Large size creatures
Longsword +1 Flame Tongue

Notable Equipment
Plate Mail +2
Shield +2
Longsword +1, Flame Tongue
Boots of Feather Falling
Ring of Invisibility
Scroll of Protection from Elementals (all)
Potion of Storm Giant Strength

* This is one of Gary Gygax’s old characters, taken straight from a module by EGG’s old DM.
** I’m only including the modifiers that actually affect combat.

* * *

The opponents:

8 goblins, 4 hobgoblins, 2 bugbears

Goblins x8
AC: 6
Move: 6″
HD: “1-7 hit points” – that’s technically 1-1 HD
HP: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7
Attack: 1 short sword or 1 [footman’s] military pick in 1-1 HD column of monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d6 or 1d6+1

Hobgoblins x4
AC: 5
Move: 9″
HD: 1+1
HP: 4, 4, 5, 7
Attack: 1 [long] sword or 2 composite [short] bow in 1+ HD column of monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d8 or 1d6

Bugbear x2
AC: 5
Move: 9″
HD: 3+1
HP: 14, 16
Attack: 1 spear (thrown) or 1 morning star in the 2-3+ column of the Monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d6 or 2d4

Now, the fight:

Yrag starts this encounter by entering a large chamber with a group of goblinoids about 50 feet away. [Yrag’s sword is out and ignited before entering this encounter.]

Check for surprise: DM rolls 1d6 [4] for goblinoids (not surprised), Gary rolls 1d6 [2] for Yrag (surprised for 2 segments, but Yrag has +1 surprise modifier for Dexterity 16, so he is only surprised for 1 segment).*

[According to the rules, DMG 62, if surprise occurs, the parties must be 10-30 feet apart. So, the goblinoids are not 50 feet away, they are now moved up to 30 feet away. The rules are pretty clear that this “must” and “will” happen based on the surprise, not on the original placement.]

The goblinoids have 1 surprise segment for action:
The goblins move 6 feet toward the human intruder (Movement 6″ = 6′ per segment).

The hobgoblins shoot their bows. Normally, they get a full round’s worth of attacks, but if their bows are “ready”, they get three times the normal number of attacks. Well, I’ll say half of the hobgoblins have their bows ready. So, two hobgoblins get to shoot their bows 2 times, and two get to shoot 6 times. Range is Short.
Hobgoblin#1 shot 1: roll 1d20 [3] -3 short composite bow vs. AC 2*** = 0 total attack = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#2 shot 1: roll 1d20 [14] -3 short composite bow vs. AC 2 = 11 total attack = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 1: roll [11] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 1: roll [8] = 5 = miss
Hobgoblin#1 shot 2: roll [19] = 16 = miss
Hobgoblin#2 shot 2: roll [17] = 14 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 2: roll [11] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 2: roll [15] = 12 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 3: roll [7] = 4 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 3: roll [9] = 6 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 4: roll [20] = 17 = miss (natural 20s are not autohits)
— Well, we see here that the hobgoblins can’t possibly hit AC -4 with their bows, so I’m not going to roll the remaining 5 attacks.

The bugbear wait for the pipsqueaks to test the human.

The surprise segment is over. The goblins are 24 feet away from Yrag and closing; the hobgoblins are 30 feet away and shooting, and the bugbears are 30 feet away and standing their ground.

Round One

Time for initiative. Gary must declare “precisely and without delay” his intended actions for this round, and the DM must decide on the goblinoids’ actions. Gary says he will attack the goblins. The DM decides the goblins will attack, the hobgoblins will change weapons, the bugbears will hold.

Check for initiative: DM rolls 1d6 [5] for the goblinoids, Gary rolls 1d6 [6] for Yrag. Yrag has the initiative, on, technically, the 2nd segment of the round.

1st – Yrag actions:

Since the goblins are more than 10 feet away, Yrag must charge to engage them this round. [A strict DM could say that since Gary didn’t “precisely” say he was going to charge, that he can’t. I’m going to be lenient and say he can include a charge as part of his declaration to “attack the goblins”.]

Yrag charges 24 feet and attacks the goblins. As a fighter, Yrag can make one attack per opponent if they are less than one hit die — and goblins are so. But as the goblins are arrayed in a front line, and looking at the grid chart**, Yrag can only attack 3 this round.

Yrag attacks goblin#1: roll 1d20 [10] +2 from character sheet, +0 long sword vs. AC 6 = 12 total attack = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll 1d8 [2] +4 from character sheet = 6 total damage = kills goblin#1
Yrag attacks goblin#2: roll 1d20 [18] +2 from character sheet, +0 long sword vs. AC 6 = 20 total attack = hit
Yrag damage: roll 1d8 [6] +4 from character sheet = 10 total damage = kills goblin#2
Yrag attacks goblin#3: roll [8] = 10 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#3

2nd – Goblinoids’ actions:

Remaining goblins close and surround Yrag and attack him with their military picks. Since Yrag killed the 3 originally in his front squares**, the remaining goblins close on his 2 front flank squares and his 3 rear squares. Goblins #4 and #5 are in Yrag’s flank, and so Yrag doesn’t get his shield for his AC (making him AC -1). Goblins #6, #7, and #8 are on Yrag’s rear, and so Yrag doesn’t get his shield, nor his Dexterity bonus, and the goblins also get a +2 for the rear attack (against AC 1).
Goblin#4 attack: roll 1d20 [6] (against AC -1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3 = 8 total attack = miss (needs 20)
Goblin#5 attack: roll [18] (against AC -1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3 = 20 = hit
Goblin#5 damage: roll 1d6+1 [4] = Yrag takes 4 damage (puts him at 77 hit points)
Goblin#6 attack: roll [13] (against AC 1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 17 = miss (needs 19)
Goblin#7 attack: roll [12] (against AC 1) = 16 = miss
Goblin#8 attack: roll [8] (against AC 1) = 12 = miss

If the hobgoblins fire into the melee, they have a chance of hitting the goblins — 5 goblins count as 2.5 targets, and Yrag counts as 1. The hobgoblins already know they can’t possibly hurt the human with their bows, so no need to bother trying. They draw their swords and hold their ground.

The bugbears continue to hold their ground (getting a kick out of seeing the little pipsqueaks get quisinarted).

Round Two

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will turn around and continue to attack the goblins. The DM decides what the goblinoids will do. Technically, the DM should check for the goblinoids’ morale, but 1) that is more rules to learn for this sample, and 2) it wouldn’t be much fun to have the fight end or turn into a pursuit — so fight on! The DM decides the goblins will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will hold their ground, and the bugbears will still hold.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [1], Gary rolls [6]. Yrag has initiative, again.

1st – Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns to put his front on the 3 rear goblins. (This puts his back to the hobgoblins.)
Yrag attacks goblin#4: roll [12] = 14 = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll [8] = 12 = kills goblin#4
Yrag attacks goblin#5: roll [1] = 3 = miss (natural 1s are not auto misses)
Yrag attacks goblin#6: roll [4] = 6 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [5] = 9 = kills goblin#6
Yrag attacks goblin#7: roll [10] = 12 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#7
Yrag attacks goblin#8: roll [13] = 15 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#8

2nd – Goblinoids actions:

The remaining goblin (#5) attacks. (I can’t find anything that says you can’t move around an opponent to attack his flank, but for this fight, the goblin will stay were he is — Yrag’s front flank.

Goblin#5 attack: roll [14] = 16 = miss (needs 20)

Hobgoblins are disappointed they didn’t declare shooting at the human’s now exposed rear.

Bugbears smile at the carnage.

Round Three

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will leave the sole remaining goblin and move to the hobgoblins (6 feet away). The DM decides that the goblin will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will attack, and the bugbears will still hold.

Check for initiative. DM rolls [2], Gary rolls [1]. Goblinoids have the initiative.

1st – Goblinoids actions:

Goblin#5 attack: roll [12] = 14 = miss (needs 20 for AC -1)

Hobgoblins move up the 6 feet and take up Yrag’s 3 rear squares (for hobgoblins #1, #2, and #3, Yrag has AC 1) and the one vacant flank square (for hobgoblin #4Yrag has AC -1).

Hobgoblin#1 attack: roll 1d20 [17] -1 long sword vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 18 = hit (needs 17)
Hobgoblin#1 damage: roll 1d8 [6] = Yrag takes 6 damage (puts him at 71 hit points)
Hobgoblin#2 attack: roll [7] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 attack: roll [11] = 12 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 attack: roll 1d20 [19] -1 long sword vs. AC 3 = 18 = miss (needs 19)

Bugbears wait.

2nd – Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns to the face the hobgoblins.
Yrag attacks hobgoblin#1: roll 1d20 [14] +2, +0 vs. AC 5 = 16 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [5] = 9 = kill hobgoblin#1
Yrag attacks goblin#5: roll [16] = 18 = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll [8] = 12 = kills goblin#5

Round Four

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will turn around and face the hobgoblins and attack them and the goblin. The DM decides that the goblin will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will continue attacking, and the bugbears will continue watching.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [3], Gary rolls [4]. Yrag has the initiative. (But even if Yrag had lost initiative, he’d still get his extra attack at the beginning of the round, before the goblinoids who don’t have extra attacks.)

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#2: roll [5] = 7 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills hobgoblin#2

1st – Yrag’s actions:

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [3] = 5 = miss

2nd – Goblinoids’ actions:

Goblins are now all dead.

Hobgoblin#3 attack: roll [15] -2 long sword vs.AC 2 (this hob is now on Yrag’s front) = 13 = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#4 attack: roll [20] -1 long sword vs. AC 3 = 19 = miss (natural 20s are not auto hits)

Bugbears figure they will have to fight in another round or two.

Round Five

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the remaining hobgoblins (unfortunately, they are arranged such that no matter how he turns, one will be on his flank). The DM decides that the hobgoblins will continue to fight, and the bugbears will wait their turn.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [6], Gary rolls [6]. (The DM considers checking Gary’s d6 for a load, because he’s getting a lot of 6s on his initiative rolls :-) Tied initiative. So they check weapon speed factors. Both Yrag and the hobgoblins are using long swords (speed factor 5), so the initiative is truly tied. The DM lets Gary roll for Yrag’s actions first, but any damage will only be applied after the hobgoblins attack too. (Although, it is apparent, now, that the hobgoblins can’t actually hit Yrag, at all, anyway.)

1st – Yrag’s actions:

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [1] = 3 = miss (needs 7, and natural 1s are not auto misses)

2nd – Goblinoids’ actions:

Hobgoblin#3 attacks: roll [16] = 14 = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#4 attacks: roll [3] = 2 = miss

Bugbears stop smiling.

Round Six

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the remaining hobgoblins. The DM decides that the hobgoblins will continue to fight, and the bugbears will throw their spears.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [4], Gary rolls [2]. The goblinoids have the initiative. But this is an even numbered round, so Yrag gets his extra attack at the beginning.

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [7] = 9 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills hobgoblin#3

1st – Goblinoids’ actions:

Hobgoblin#4 attacks: roll [13] -1 vs. AC 3 = 12 = miss

The bugbears throw their spears at Yrag’s front. Since there is one medium sized hobgoblin and one medium sized human in the melee, the ratio of hitting an ally is 1:1. By the book, the DM should determine where the missiles go by decision (determining by random die roll is a secondary option). So the first thrown spear will roll on Yrag, and the second will roll on hobgoblin#4.
Bugbear#1 attacks Yrag: roll [15] -3 thrown spear vs. AC 2 (as a thrown weapon — is different adjustment than used as melee) = 13 = miss (needs 20)
Bugbear#2 attacks hobgoblin#4: roll [11] -2 thrown spear vs. AC 5 = 9 = miss (needs 11)

2nd – Yrag’s action:

Yrag gets his regular attack now, and he turns to face the hobgoblin.
Yrag attacks hobgoblin#4: roll [19] = 21 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [6] = 10 = kills hobgoblin#4

Round Seven

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will engage the two bugbears. The DM decides that the bugbears will engage Yrag.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [5], Gary rolls [3]. Goblinoids have the initiative.

1st – Goblinoids’ actions:

The bugbears move the 6 feet up to Yrag, but they take up opposite sides. This means bugbear#1 is on Yrag’s current front (AC -4), and bugbear#2 is on his current rear (AC 1).
Bugbear#1 attacks: roll 1d20 [14] +0 morning star vs. AC 2 = 14 = miss (needs 20)
Bugbear#2 attacks: roll 1d20 [1] +1 morning star vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 4 = miss (natual 1s are not auto misses)

2nd – Yrag’s action:

Yrag attacks bugbear#1: roll 1d20 [17] +0 long sword vs. AC 5, +1 Strength, +1 magic sword = 19 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 (bugbears are large size creatures) [4] +3 Strength, +1 magic sword = 8 = bugbear#1 now at 6 hit points

Round Eight

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the bugbears. The DM decides that the bugbears will continue to fight Yrag.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [3], Gary rolls [3]. Tied initiative. So check weapon speed factors. Long sword has speed factor 5, morning stars have speed factor 7: Yrag gets initiative. But this is an even numbered round, so he gets his extra attack first.

Yrag attacks bugbear#1: roll [14] = 16 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 [9] = 13 = kills bugbear#1

1st – Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns and attacks bugbear#2.
Yrag attacks bugbear#2: roll [5] = 7 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 [7] = 11 = bugbear#2 now at 5 hit points

2nd – Goblinoids’ actions:

Bugbear#2 attacks: roll [16] +0 morning star vs. AC 2 = 16 = miss (needs 20)

Round Nine

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue fighting the bugbear. The DM decides the bugbear will continue to fight Yrag.

Check for initiative: The DM roll [1], Gary rolls [5]. Yrag has the initiative.

1st – Yrag’s actions

Yrag attacks bugbear#2: roll [15] = 17 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [7] = 11 = kills bugbear

End of this combat.

At the end, Yrag killed 8 goblins, 4 hobgoblins, and 2 bugbears, and he stands well at 71 hit points (lost 10). The fight took 9 rounds. Did I miss any rules?

* 10 six-second segments to the one-minute round. Combat normally happens in rounds, but some special situations (like surprise and spell casting) break down into segments.
** Contrary to some claims, even AD&D1 used battlegrids (squares or hexes) for combat — check the DMG page 69, and the DMG screen third, back panel.
*** The weapon vs. AC chart listed ACs by number, not by type. Plate +2 and shield +2 and Dexterity bonus +2 may give a total AC of -4, but for this chart, it still counts as AC 2 (standard plate and shield) or AC 3 (plate only) for flank/rear attacks.

Bullgrit

Over the years I’ve read several references and stories about people’s first experiences with early editions of D&D – OD&D, AD&D1, B/XD&D. The thing that surprises me with these tales is that the PCs don’t die.

My first experiences with BD&D and AD&D had PCs dying all over the place. My very first experience with the game, delving into the module In Search of the Unknown, had a character die in the very first area and encounter of the dungeon. My first DMing experiences had several PC deaths in the module Keep on the Borderland. The ogre alone easily killed half a dozen 1st-level, beginning PCs. Two PCs died in the pit trap at the beginning of the kobold cave.

It was not uncommon at all (could even be said to be very common) to have PCs with 1-4 hit points (even fighters could roll that with their 1d8 hit points) die from the first goblin or kobold hitting for 1d6 damage. In the first couple years of my playing this game, I don’t think any group completed any dungeon without no deaths at all. Hell, it might have taken 20 PCs to enter (in several 3-6-man forays) for 4 to complete a dungeon.

A couple years after we started playing D&D, my group agreed to always start new PCs at around 3rd level (5,001 xp), because lower-levels were a crap shoot to survive.

Just recently I read a tale of the adventures of a group playing their very first D&D characters in an old-school adventure with the old-school rules, and the PCs ended up gaining a couple levels without a single death in the party. These Players were new to the game, with 1st-level PCs, in an environment where they had no base town of any kind. Yet they made their way through encounters that were often of equal number and levels.

This kind of thing blows my mind. In my experience, old-school, 1st-level D&D was brutally random. A group of six 1st-level PCs against a group of six goblins could easily end with a couple of PC deaths, possibly even a TPK. In fact, my experiences with the game at that stage makes me think these stories I read where the novice, low-level party succeeds with their first try makes me think either the DM is going *very* easy on them, or the stories are not “accurate.”

Bullgrit

Dragon Magazine #137, September 1988, the “Forum” section:

Would any gamers agree that ever since the publication of the WATCHMEN series, campaigns and gaming generally have become “Watchmanized”? In other words, real role-playing interaction and character psyche development are seen as more important and, vitally, more “fun” than bickering over who gets to trash the most kobolds? I for one am not sorry to retire Otto von Hackenslash, the archetypcal no-personality fighter whose only concern was to use his +3/+7 strength bonuses on the next hapless goblin, and wheel out a character who will be more subtle, more willing to interplay, and more real.

Bullgrit

I want to talk about, reminisce, and maybe slightly rag on this example of combat from the old 1981 Basic Dungeons & Dragons rule book. It starts thusly:

Four player characters, Morgan Ironwolf (1st level fighter), Silverleaf (2nd level Elf), Fredrik (1st level dwarf), and Sister Rebecca (2nd level cleric) enter a room through a secret door which was detected and opened by Silverleaf.

First thing that jumps out at me here, is the 2nd level elf. Silverleaf must have at least 4,000 xp; Morgan has less than 2,000 and Fredrik has less than 2,200. Even Sister Rebecca, as a 2nd level cleric, must have less than 3,000 xp. So we can see here that Silverleaf has survived a few game sessions, at least. Maybe he was the lone survivor and therefore got all the xp for the previous adventure just by himself – that would bump him up a level in short time.

When I was playing BD&D, we learned pretty quick that magic-users died easily (hell, all classes died pretty easy). In the first few months of playing, we never got any character to 2nd level. So when we made new characters, we started making elves – they could fight like fighters and use spells like magic-users. The fact that they required nearly double the xp to make the next level didn’t matter, since we never saw the next level anyway.

The room appears to be empty. While they are searching it, a second secret door opens (which Silverleaf did not find) and the first pair of 12 hobgoblins walks in.

Twelve hobgoblins? That’s twice the maximum possible listed in their stat block! That’s twice the maximum listed for them on the second level wandering monster chart! Some might think my pointing this out is a complaint about the number showing up in this encounter, but my thought is why did the designer even put a “number appearing” line in the stat block. Didn’t all DMs just put however many they wanted in an encounter?

Twelve hobgoblins against a party of four PCs (two 1st-level characters, two 2nd-level characters) is a pretty damn tough encounter. A smart party in this situation should immediately try to escape.

The DM checks for surprise: the party rolls a 2, the hobgoblins a 1; both sides are surprised. The two groups stare at each other while changing their order into better defensive positions. Since Silverleaf is the only member of the party who speaks Hobgoblin, the other characters elect him as their spokesman. The player who runs Silverleaf becomes the caller. He quickly warns the others that he may have to use his sleep spell.

Ah, the days of “callers” – a single player who served as the party mouthpiece to the DM (as opposed to everyone, individually, speaking to the DM at the same time). Although this concept was part of both Basic D&D and Advanced D&D, I never played or DMed with any group who ever used a single caller.

Silverleaf steps forward with both hands empty in a token of friendship, and says “Greetings, noble dwellers of deep caverns; can we help you?”. Just in case, Silverleaf is thinking of the words he must chant to cast his spell.

Instead of immediately attacking like dumb players, or trying to escape like cautious players, these guys are going to actually try parley with the hobgoblins. When’s the last time you’ve seen PCs try talking to monsters before combat? Good thinking, Silverleaf.

The DM decides that Silverleaf’s open hands and words in the hobgoblins’ language are worth +1 when checking for reaction. Unfortunately the DM rolls a 4 (on 2d6) which, even adjusted to 5, is not a good reaction. The hobgoblins draw their weapons, but do not attack. They do move aside as two more hobgoblins enter the room.

The largest of the hobgoblins shouts, in his language, “Go away! You’re not allowed in this room!”

“It’s okay; Gary sent us,” Silverleaf answers.

“Gary sent us.” I assume this is an inside joke reference to Gygax, and that makes me smile.

“Huh?” the hobgoblin wittily responds.

The DM rolls a new reaction with no adjustments. The roll is a 3; the hobgoblins charge.

Uh oh. And yay!

The DM rolls a 2 for the hobgoblins’ initiative; Silverleaf rolls a 4 for the party, so the party has the initiative. Silverleaf has already warned the others that he is going to throw a sleep spell if the hobgoblins attack, so the party moves to form a defensive line across the room (making sure that they do not get caught in the spell’s area of effect). Morgan has a short bow ready to fire, Fredrik is getting his throwing axe ready, and Sister Rebecca is pulling out her mace and bracing her shield.

Cool. Look at that: the frontline fighters know not to get up and in the mage’s spell area. I’ve seen experienced gamers completely forget that tactic, much to the annoyance of the mage (or their own annoyance when they get caught in the area of effect).

Since Morgan has her bow ready and Fredrik has his axe, they choose their targets and fire. First level characters need a roll of 13 or better to hit the hobgoblins’ Armor Class of 6. Since both attacks are at short range, Morgan and Fredrik each add +1 to their rolls. In addition, Morgan has a Dexterity score of 13, so she gains another +1 bonus. Therefore, Fredrik needs a roll of 12 (or greater) to hit, and Morgan needs a roll of 11.

Morgan rolls a 12 and Fredrik rolls a 16 – both hit! The DM rolls 1d6 for arrow damage and 1d6 for axe damage. Morgan’s arrow does 4 points of damage, and the hobgoblin she hit (who only had 4 hit points) falls; the DM announces “Hobgoblin #2 is dead” (counting from the first to enter the room). Fredrik’s axe is found to do 5 points of damage, but the first hobgoblin had 7 hit points. The 5 points are deducted from the hobgoblin’s total, leaving him with 2 hit points.

Back in the day, monster hit points were all, individually, rolled up randomly. Even published modules listed different hit points for a group of monsters. For instance, these hobgoblins might have been statted out like this: (AC: 6, HD: 1+1, hp: 7, 4, 5, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 2, 5, 6, 3, Att: 1, Dam: 1d8, Saves: F1). I quickly found this rather a pain to keep track of, so I started using the hit die average rounded up (1d8 = 5). In the case of these 1+1 HD hobgoblins, I would have written down that they all have 6 hit points.

Morgan kills on her first attack in the battle, but poor Fredrik only wounds his opponent. We’re going to see, reading the rest of this battle tale, that Morgan just rocks, and Fredrik just sucks.

Silverleaf casts his spell and finds that 13 levels of monsters fall asleep. Since hobgoblins have 1 + 1 hit dice, they are treated as 2 hit die monsters for this purpose. Therefore, six hobgoblins fall asleep: the 3 who are charging, the two coming through the door this round, and one standing just beyond the doorway.

Sleep: the tactical nuke of Basic D&D. When you absolutely, positively have to drop every mamma jamma in the room. Any elf or magic-user with any knowledge or experience in the low levels of D&D knew that you always took sleep or charm person as your first spells.

At least half of the monsters are out of action, so the DM decides to check the hobgoblins’ morale. Normal hobgoblins morale is 9, temporarily lowered to 8 in this situation. The DM rolls a 6, so the hobgoblins will fight on.

I miss having a core, standard morale check mechanic.

In the second round of combat, the party loses the initiative roll. Another two hobgoblins charge through the doorway. Since Morgan still has her bow out, she may shoot at the charging monsters. These start moving from 20’ away from her, so the party has time to get their weapons out. The DM warns Silverleaf that if he wants to cast any spells this round, the hobgoblins will be able to attack him before he can do so. Silverleaf decides to get out a weapon. Morgan rolls a 4 (a miss), and the hobgoblins decide to attack Fredrik and Morgan.

Why does Morgan get a shot at the charging hobgoblins on their turn? There’s no rule, that I can find, that says you get to attack when your opponent charges (there’s no “charge” mechanic – it’s just a description of their movement). This action/allowance seems to break the rules, and I can’t figure out why.

Regarding Silverleaf wanting to cast a spell, but the hobgoblins will get to attack him before he can do so: oddly, I can’t find any rule in the basic set that says being attacked and/or hit messes up spell casting. Until right now, being unable to find the rule, I had thought this was a core rule in BD&D. Have I been wrong in thinking this all these years? Is this just an AD&D rule that I backward added to my memory of BD&D?

The hobgoblin attacking Fredrik rolls a 17, hitting Fredrik’s Armor Class of 2, and scores 8 points of damage! Poor Fredrik had only 6 hit points, so his is killed.

“Poor Fredrik” is right. The dwarf failed to kill with his first attack, and then gets killed in the second round of the fight. Silverleaf will be getting even further ahead in xp. Damn lucky elves.

The monster attacking Morgan needs a 15 to hit her Armor Class of 3 (since she had her bow out, which required two hands, her shield was not included in the Armor Class). The DM rolls a 15, and Morgan takes 4 points of damage – not quite enough to kill her.

Shields were only 1 point of AC in BD&D, regardless of their size. The only reason they weren’t discarded by fighters in favor of big, two-handed weapons was that wielding a 2H meant you automatically lost initiative each round.

Morgan has already attacked this round, so she may not do so again. The DM does allow her to drop her bow and draw a sword, so that she may attack in melee combat in the next round.

Yeah, she got to shoot her bow on the hobgoblins’ turn. Cheater.

Both Sister Rebecca and Silverleaf can attack, however, and together they kill one hobgoblin.

The party gets the initiative for the third round. All of them choose to attack the only monster in the room. Rebecca and Silverleaf both miss, but Morgan hits (with her sword). She rolls a 4 for damage. The hobgoblin has 5 hit points. But Morgan’s great Strength gives her a bonus of +2 on damage, so she scores a total of 6 points of damage, killing the hobgoblin.

So, Morgan has a 13 Dexterity and a 16 or 17 Strength. She’s lucky, munchkiny, and cheaty. I wonder if she’s the DM’s girlfriend?

The DM decides to check the hobgoblin’s morale again. They began with a morale score of 9, adjust to 8 before, and further adjusted this time down to 7. The DM rolls an 8; the last three hobgoblins drop their weapons, and shout (in hobgoblin, of course), “We surrender! We’ll tell you all about this room if you don’t kill us!” If the hobgoblins had made their morale check they would not have to check again and would fight to the death.

Aren’t the last three hobgoblins still in the other room? This is why we quickly started using minis on a battlegrid, so no one got confused about where anyone or anything was in a battle.

Silverleaf tells the party what the hobgoblins have said. The characters accept the surrender, and tie up all the hobgoblins and remove their weapons. The helpful hobgoblins not only tell the party where the treasure is, but how to avoid the poison needle trap which guards the lock on the chest.

I like the way these hobgoblins are actually helpful when taken prisoner. So many times I’ve seen defeated enemies act like asses with contempt for the victors, refusing to give up any information without a hard debate.

Before the party leaves they gag the hobgoblins, to make sure that no alarm will be raised. Morgan is Neutral in alignment, and argues that it is not safe to leave a sure enemy behind them, even if that enemy is temporarily helpless. Silverleaf is also Neutral, but he believes that the hobgoblins are too terrified to be of any further threat. If Morgan wants to kill the prisoners he won’t help her, but he won’t stop her, either.

Don’t forget there are six sleeping hobgoblins in this room. They’ll wake up soon.

Sister Rebecca, a Lawful cleric, is shocked by Morgan’s suggestion. She tells Morgan that a Lawful person keeps her word, and that she promised the hobgoblins that they would be spared. Her god would never allow her to heal someone who killed helpless prisoners . . . .

Nice role playing Sister Rebecca.

Morgan agrees that killing captives is wrong, and that it was only the great pain from her wound which caused her to say such things.

Nice role playing Morgan. And this is played out without a big intraparty argument about alignment.

Sister Rebecca casts her cure light wounds spell on Morgan. It does 5 points of healing, bringing Morgan back to her normal 6 hit points.

Note: This is Sister Rebecca’s one and only spell for the adventuring day. Clerics get their first 1st-level spell at their 2nd character level. Without that spell, it would take Morgan at least two full days (48 hours) of rest to recover those 4 points of damage. BD&D healing rules say 1d3 hit points healed naturally per full day of complete rest.

On this note, let’s think about how this one fight affects the PCs and their adventuring day.

They were outnumbered 3-to-1 by roughly equal powered enemies.

The sleep spell took out half the hobgoblins in one shot. But that one spell was half of the spell allotment for Silverleaf – a 2nd-level elf has only two 1st-level spells per day. That’s all. That’s it.

The single cure light wounds was the full allotment of Sister Rebecca’s spells per day.

One PC is dead, so the party is down to just 3, now. And how will they get the new PC into the group? Should they pull out of the dungeon now, or continue ahead? Fredrik’s poor player will be ready with a new PC in a minute, but will he have to just wait – sit over there and play Breakout on the 2600?

Bullgrit