Thalantyr, 15th level magic-user, specializes in Conjuration/Summoning spells. ( + 1 on all his saving throws, - 1 on saving throws against his Conjuration/Summoning attacks).Does anyone know if this is something Ed used in his games, or were the TSR designers already tossing around ideas for 2e? I can't recall any other 1e supplements, which mentioned MU specialization. It's an obvious enough idea, of course. Just curious, as to whether or not this might be the first use of it in an official TSR product.
I am, of course, reading the Grey Box in preparation for running it. I'm interested in seeing if the idea comes up again, as well as what other, similar tid-bits, I might find.
I don't have any evidence, but I'm guessing it was just a bit of color, not a "rule" about specialists. Though I suppose Ed's game could have had some custom rules for that kind of detail and they decided to include it in the set.
ReplyDeleteHave you checked out the Candlekeep website? There's a lot there that won't be useful for a pure Grey Box game, but they have a lot of Q&A type things with Ed, and he has revealed some details of his home Realms game that were not used by TSR. Might answer some of these types of things...
Gygax was intending to include magic-user specialization in his aborted 2nd edition, but I have no idea if that was related to what was in that FR piece. I got the impression Gygax's scheme was going to be a bit more involved than simple saving throw adjustments.
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction when I was re-reading the set recently. The +1/-1 save adjustment is simple enough that it COULD be a house rule, yet since 2E was released the following year, the possibility that this was a slight testing of the specialist magic-user waters remains a distinct possibility.
ReplyDeleteRather than go through Candlekeep's Q&A (as it might take some time to get a response from Ed that way), you could try asking Jeff Grubb directly if he remembers how it came about. He has a blog Grubb Street with a contact link there.
Cool! Thanks for the input, guys!
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteCheck your email and if you don't see something from me, drop me a line at poleandrope@gmail.com.