Old School Role Playing

As a long time Dungeon Master I have long pondered the possibilities of using chess puzzles in my games. Puzzles are always a nice change of pace in a dungeon. Obviously my players enjoy murdering monsters and stealing their treasures as much as the next group. That is an essential part of any Dungeons and Dragons game regardless of edition. Dungeon masters that do not understand this often find that their games die from lack of interest. But even the most bloodthirsty groups still like to do other things once in a while. Puzzles are often a favorite. As long as there is a chance to solve them…..

Just about nothing is worse in a game than to create some great puzzle that no one in group has any possibility of solving. This is especially true if the puzzle must be solved in order to complete the mission (if there is one) or to advance further in the dungeon. Do this and your adventure may come to an abrupt end as the players all decide they really have something better to do on Dungeons and Dragons night.

I have used Chess in Dungeons and Dragons myself in more than a few campaigns

I am not an expert on chess. My father was. He was from a different generation than me. His generation played games like chess because video games did not exist during his youth. People like me had better options growing up. I grew up in the seventies and eighties with video games like Defender and Robotron at the arcades and Playstations and X-Boxes in my home in later years. Chess was not much of a consideration.

But I did play the game a little growing up. With my father mostly. But I did play a few tournaments. My older brother played a lot of those tournaments growing up. It was fun then. And to be perfectly honest…… the guys who ran those chess clubs of the sixties and seventies were running the war gaming clubs a few years later. Many of these same people would become the Dungeons and Dragons players of the next generation.

In my own games I placed these encounters more as a “trick” encounter as defined in the 1st Edition DMG on page 216. I have always been fascinated by that portion of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. So I suppose it is natural that I would use chess in such a way.

In one such encounter I placed a chess board type of room in the dungeon in which black and white tiles on the floor corresponded to the number of rows and columns of a chess board. There were but a few pieces on the board. Each player character could only move across this board as the type of class that they were. Fighters moved as knights. Clerics as bishops. Magic users as queens. And thieves as rooks.

To be safe the parties always started with fighters and never thought about using the thieves which could have easily moved across the board. There was no way to get to the other side of the room without moving as a chess piece. Any attempt resulted in teleportation out of the room. The enemy pieces were similar in class and abilities. And they used these abilities to prevent the players from moving across the board with impunity. Once these pieces were slain moving across the board was simple….until they wanted to move back across the board again and found the pieces were reset on the other side…….

In another encounter I placed an expensive chessboard made of gold with pieces carved out of gems. The pieces were set up as a chess puzzle……and may players just looted the thing and gave no consideration at all that they might be missing a puzzle….. they did not even detect magic. Sometimes your puzzle ideas will just go over the heads of your players…. I think I picked a chess problem off of the net and if the characters had moved the pieces the set would have disappeared and a valuable magic item would have appeared in it’s place.

Chess ideas that I stole from the web

When I began this article I started scouring the internet for the ideas of other people. After all…..I couldn’t be the only person wanting to use chess puzzles in their dungeons right? As a dungeon master I am totally not above stealing ideas from others. I use whatever I think will work in my games.

As I suspected….I found a number of discussions on this subject. There are a lot of dungeon masters out there looking for ways to use chess puzzles in their games. And not just for Dungeons and Dragons. I found some references to Pathfinder chess puzzles as well.

Some of these ideas include:

• A chess board room with a pile of ash in the center of it and a poem written on it (or somewhere in the room). The poem suggests the chess theme and describes the pieces. It also hints that flying is not advised. In this puzzle if you move as a knight moves then you will get across safely. Move in any other way and you will wish that you didn’t. I personally do not like this one. I think players should move as something representative of their class rather than all as knights. But I did not come up with this particular version
• Another suggestion was to use murals on the walls to suggest a “peasants taking down the king” theme. The players move as pawns. This puzzle consists of some glowing objects in these murals suggesting the next move.
• Another author talked about using a puzzle with eight queens and a riddle that suggests that the queens are all in competition with each other. The object is to move the eight queens so that they do not threaten each other any longer. The puzzle has a time limit which is indicated by an hourglass in the room. I kind of like this idea. I would have to check out on a chess board how to move the eight pieces so that none could take another. If you moved the queen incorrectly they would become constructs and fight the players.
• Another author suggested a puzzle involving “the Knight’s Tour.” Apparently a knight can be moved around the chess board in a manner in which it visits every square on the board only one time. This, of course, would be a rather lengthy puzzle. A link to an article discussing this is at Knights Tour
• Another author suggested looking up chess puzzles and then formulating Dungeons and Dragons puzzles accordingly. I think that this is probably a good idea if you want to make something truly original.
• Another author suggested that every player should be treated as a pawn in a puzzle. Once they reach the far side they would be crowned as a queen and could move in any direction afterwards.
• One author suggested a chess puzzle in which the objective is to lose and not win. One must trick the opponent into taking important pieces by placing them in positions where they must take them.
• Another author suggested that a party might find a game in progress in a chess board room. The players would move as pieces corresponding to their classes. If they failed to move appropriately then pieces would animate and attack them. And the number of pieces would escalate.
• One author mentioned that the 4th Edition sample dungeon had a chess encounter room in it. Obviously I will go back and look for this if I want to do another such puzzle in my own games.
• One author suggested making certain squares pit traps…..I suspect this idea would be less popular with my players…..
• A few authors suggested using animated pieces and using check mate problems. This stuff is kind of obvious to everyone who thinks about doing this kind of puzzle in Dungeons and Dragons
• A few authors talked about doing a series of rooms with different sets of problems to solve. Upon solving one you could advance to the next. Once you get to the end of the series you get to the reward or treasure. The puzzles would, of course, get harder as you advance.
• One author suggested a chess themed dungeon level in which the white pieces were fighting the black (or red) pieces. And the players would therefore have to navigate between the two sides. Each side led by a powerful fighter (king), witch (queen) and cleric (bishop).
• One author had the idea that one player (that understands chess rules) should be trapped in a room with a chess board and a ghostly opponent. The other players are in a room set up as a chess board and find that pieces start animating and moving on their own to other squares. The goal is not to win but to get the enemy king to move from it’s position which blocks the door to the player characters (prisoner) cell door.
• Another author suggested setting the characters as pieces depending upon which square they stepped on first. For example if they stepped on a corner square first they would move as rooks, the next one in as knights, the next one in as bishops…..etc.. I think that this makes a great deal of sense for a chess puzzle as it does not make the characters class specific.

Be careful with puzzles in Dungeons and Dragons

As a dungeon master it is essential to understand that there are risks in using puzzle encounters in games. While it might seem clear and solvable to you it might seem impossible to the players. One just cannot predict, with total accuracy, how an adventurer group will react when they encounter any puzzle. If they do not understand chess then they may not advance very far. And this can be frustrating.

Any puzzle…chess or other puzzles….can cause a game to come to a standstill. Be careful not to place difficult puzzles at key entry points and exit points of your dungeon. If you do so you may find that the players never get inside of your dungeon….or are trapped there forever…..

Likewise it is advisable not to place puzzles in places that will block the adventurers from:

• Getting to important mission objectives
• Getting to important NPCs that you need (or at least want) them to meet
• Keep them from gaining important magic items or treasures that they will need in order to succeed later in your adventure

It is easy to make a mistake like this. Assume that your players will not solve any puzzle that you place in a dungeon. It is far better to have the puzzle block access to some minor area of the dungeon or some minor treasure than to have the campaign stall completely because the party gets stumped and then gets bored.

Dragon Chess!

Yes. It was an official game created by Gary Gygax. Gygax, as you probably know, was one of the two people responsible for creation of Dungeons and Dragons. In issue 100 of “The Dragon” he wrote an article presenting rules for a three dimensional game called “Dragon Chess.” The pieces were a variety of D&D monsters such as unicorns, griffons and dragons. I will not go into the rules but I mention this because it demonstrate clearly that even Gary understood that dungeon masters would likely want to use chess puzzles and chess itself in their campaigns and adventures. It is only natural that they would.

So how do you come up with chess puzzles of your own?

You could use the links I provided above and look for chess and checkmate problems. These could easily be the basis for a puzzle. The puzzle could involve a room or, as i suggested earlier, a chess board in a room. Either way works. And the result of solving the problem could:

• Provide a specific boon to the problem solver
• Remove some curse
• Open a passage to a new area
• Open up a treasure room
• Allow the party to advance further into this part of a dungeon

Regardless of what you choose to do it could provide an interesting diversion to hacking and slashing the residents of your dungeon.

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Encumbrance. What a dirty word right? In Dungeons and Dragons it is kind of an important point to consider. We all know that our players want to raid the dungeon and haul away the goodies. They want to leave nothing behind. But if you look at the picture above you have to think to yourself. How exactly would a bunch of armored folks in an underground catacomb manage to get all this stuff out of the dungeon and safely to town? There is a ton of treasure in that picture. And gold is heavy right?

Encumbrance is even more important in the early editions of the game where experience was gained on a basis of one point for one gold piece taken. The early editions of the game had a bit of a different feel to them than the later editions. This is because the game was more about successfully taking treasure out of the dungeon than it was about killing things. If one could raid the dungeon and steal all of the gold without ever fighting anything at all they would still gain a whole lot of experience and take fewer risks.

The game has evolved over the years because the developers discovered what most Dungeon Masters already knew. Their players enjoy killing things. They often prefer to kill things and then take the treasure even if they could obtain it without combat.

Encumbrance in Dungeons and Dragons Original Edition

Page 15 of Men and Magic is the first place in which encumbrance is discussed. A short list of items and their weights is provided. Then movement rates for different levels of encumbrance is offered. If you are carrying 1500 gold pieces in weight then you can move at 6′. If you are carrying 1000 gold pieces in weight then you can move 9′ And if you are carrying 750 gold pieces in weight then you can move up to 12′. The maximum a man could carry would be 3000 gold pieces. Presumably after this amount of weight the person could no longer move at all. At 3000 gold pieces of weight the person could only move at half the normal rate.

Notice a couple of things about these rules. Strength is not a consideration in Original Dungeons and Dragons. That came into play with 1st edition. Coins all weigh the same. Copper, silver platinum and gold are all treated as “coins” for purposes of weight. Weight is given in terms of a specific number of coins in weight. This is for obvious reasons of course. If experience is being given on a basis of one gold piece per one point of experience then we are only interested in how many gold pieces (worth) of treasure that the adventurers can extract from the dungeon.

The one gold piece equals one experience point is discussed on page 18 of Men and Magic. There is a discussion there about, perhaps, offering less than a one gold piece per one experience point in the situations where the characters take the treasure from monsters that are not particularly challenging to the adventurers.

Encumbrance in Dungeons and Dragons 1st and 2nd Editions

In First Edition Encumbrance is discussed in several places. On page 101 of the Player’s Handbook the subject is again discussed in terms of movement rate. But it also adds the elements of reaction and initiative. Instead of coins it discussed weight in terms of pounds. One carrying normal gear (under 35 pounds) would move at 12″. One wearing heavy gear or carrying heavy weight (up to 70 pounds) would move at 9″ but would gain no initiative or reaction bonuses. One carrying very heavy gear (up to 105 pounds) would move at 6″ and would have slowed reactions and initiative. Very heavy gear includes anyone wearing plate armor. And one heavily encumbered (over 105 pounds) would move at a maximum of 3 to 4″ and would be greatly slowed in reaction and initiative.

For purposes of 1st Edition 10 gold pieces equals one pound. Strength bonuses apply to these movement rates (and reaction times). Naturally this means one needs to look at the strength table on page 9. This table gives weight allowances (bonuses) due to strength. These bonuses are used for determining how much or how much less that a person can carry and still qualify for the different movement rates above. For example a person with 18/00 strength can carry an additional 3000 coins worth of weight. Notice how this table goes back to using coins again as weight measurement?

Page 225 of the Dungeon Master Guide provides a slightly longer list of items and their normal encumbrances. But this list is hardly comprehensive. After all there are many different types of treasure to be found in a dungeon. How much does a statue weigh? What if it is made of gold? Marble? Platinum? How much does a framed painting weigh? Or a bolt of silk? None of these are answered. The dungeon master is left to determine these things on their own.

Now for Second Edition is important to note that the one gold piece per one experience point rule was now no longer mandatory. It was an optional rule. This might well come into play in determining just how much a Dungeon Master wanted to keep track of this. If we no longer care how much treasure they are taking (in terms of experience) then it no longer seems quite as important. This optional rule is discussed on page 69 of the Dungeon Master Guide (Revised).

Page 76 of the Player’s Handbook for Second Edition presents Encumbrance as an optional rule. Presumably this is because without the experience for treasure rules it no longer mattered that much. But for sake of reality some dungeon masters might not want players reaching into their backpacks and pulling out another set of armor when the rust monster eats their plate mail. Or to prevent some similar occurrence.

Encumbrance in the Second Edition optional rule is set up strictly by a strength table. If you are this strong and are carrying this much then you are this encumbered. And movement is affected accordingly.

This edition also offered two other optional rules for encumbrance. One is for tournament play. And the other is a slightly more fine tuned version of the rule called the “Special Encumbrance Rule.” All of these rules are optional in Second Edition. This edition also discussed rules for encumbrance of pack animals.

Encumbrance in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Encumbrance in Fifth Edition is simplified a bit. Your carrying capacity is equal to your strength score multiplied by 15. This is the number of total pounds that you can carry. This is stated on page 176 of the Player’s Handbook.

There is a variant rule stated in the next paragraph regarding Encumbrance. This is for people who want more than the simple rule set out above. If you are more into realism then perhaps this rule will fit your needs. If you carry more than 5 times your strength score then you are encumbered. This drops your movement rate by 10 feet. If you carry more than 10 times your strength score then you are heavily encumbered and your movement rate drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls and saving throws that depend upon strength, dexterity or constitution. Still pretty simple isn’t it?

Why is encumbrance important in the early editions?

In the early editions if you are gaining an experience point for every gold piece (or equivalent value of treasure) then you are going to grab every piece of loot that you can. But if there are restrictions because of encumbrance then the players have to make choices. Do I carry out the statue of Bahamut made of copper or do I take the sack of 500 gold pieces? Which one do I leave behind? And that extra suit of plate mail I just found is getting left in the hallway because I cannot carry it and the golden bust of the king I found in the last room.

Ultimately if you are not keeping track of encumbrance in early editions and are using the 1 gold piece equals 1 experience point rule then the characters are going to level up much faster than they should be able to. They are just going to grab everything that they find and take it with them. And then sort out whether it is valuable or not. But if you are following the rules then the players have to make tough choices. Sometimes very tough choices. It is hard to part with that ancient mandolin that you just found. You do not know for sure that it is valuable but it might be extremely valuable. But if you have to choose between carrying it out of the dungeon or the 500 gold pieces in the sack you are probably going to choose the sack. After all….you know it is worth 500 gold pieces.

Why is encumbrance important in 5th edition?

It isn’t very important really. Not if you are hardly limited at all in terms of weight. If you are following just the primary rule then there are few drawbacks to carrying as much as you can. But those of you who play Fifth Edition already know that you tend to find quite a bit less treasure in this edition than in earlier ones. Money is no longer tied to experience gain. Encumbrance in daily play is something that rarely comes up. Sure…there may be creatures with treasure hoards. But the average creature is not carrying 5000 gold pieces in a sack.

But it is important if you consider some bit of realism to be important. Having people carrying five suits of back up armor and five back up weapons is kind of ridiculous. But it could easily happen if your player’s characters do not have to worry about Encumbrance.

To my mind at least the optional rule should be used. This would, at least, impose some sense of reality to the game.

Is reality important in a fantasy game?

We are talking about a game in which people become heroes and travel to dungeons (or even other planes) to slay monsters and take their treasures. Is it really important to impose some reality rules like Encumbrance on the game? i leave that decision to you. Obviously you know your players better than I do. Do they care? Do you? If not then ignore the rules. Do what works for your own campaign.

So how do I handle encumbrance in my own 1st Edition AD&D games?

For a very long time I just ignored the rules entirely. It never occurred to me how important that the rules can be.

But in recent years I began calculating what the party members could carry by virtue of their strength scores. I then added up the total amount of coins that the party could carry and still move at certain rates of speed. The players have a treasure sheet which they list what they are taking with them during an expedition. This list is made in terms of coins. I assign coin weight values to individual treasures that are not coins. The party can carry this amount without taking a movement rate and initiative penalty. If they want to carry more then they can….if they pay the price for it in slow speed and slow reactions.

Is this “By the Book?” Probably not. But it is workable. For me anyway. Of course characters ability scores can change. And group members die and get replaced. So I have to modify my numbers each time one of these things happens.

Does this change my games? Yes it does. Now the party leaves the copper and silver coins behind every time they take things out of the dungeon. They take the gold and the platinum and the gems and jewelry. They take the magic items that they find (or recognize as such). And when they find that solid gold statue that weighs 5000 pounds they have to figure out just how to get it out of the dungeon or they leave it behind. It slows things down. And that frustrates the players a little bit. But it also adds an element to the game that was missing. For now they have to worry about the logistics of taking large treasures out of a hostile environment. And that is not always an easy thing.

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Kobolds in Dungeons and Dragons are one of the original creatures in the game. They are short humanoids only rising about three feet tall. They have scaly hides that range in color from almost black to rusty brown. They have small horns on their heads which are typically white in color but are sometimes tan. They have red eyes. Kobolds have rat like tails. They are fond of wearing clothing that is red or orange.

Many other creatures do not take Kobolds seriously. Their language is like a yapping dog. Kobolds often appear to be cowardly.

Kobolds in Dungeons and Dragons various editions

The Kobold began in original Dungeons and Dragons in 1974. They have been included in just about every edition since. A number of variant kobolds have been offered over the years as well as a kobold player race in some editions. Some of the variant kobolds include:

• Dragon Mountain Kobold in a Second Edition published adventure by the same name
• Aquatic Kobold in Third Edition
• Arctic Kobold in Third Edition
• Kobold Minion in Fourth Edition
• Kobold Skirmisher in Fourth Edition
• Desert Kobold in Third Edition
• Earth Kobold in Third Edition
• Jungle Kobold in Third Edition
• Kobold Slinger in Fourth Edition
• Armored Kobold Dragon shield in Fourth Edition
• Kobold Skyblade in Fourth Edition
• Winged Kobold in Fifth Edition

Some of the specifics of kobolds are different from edition to edition. In Fifth Edition the kobold is weaker when in sunlight but is at an advantage when they gang up together against a single target.

Kobolds in Dungeons and Dragons are related to dragons!

At least this is true in Third Edition. In the earliest editions they were described more as being dog like and were not associated with dragons. But in Third Edition the lore changed and Kobolds were to be found as minions of dragons and could speak the dragon languages.

What does a Kobold eat? Where does it live?

In virtually all of the editions the kobold is an omnivore. It can eat all kinds of things. And it pretty much does. Kobolds lay eggs. And they lay a whole lot of them when they do. They are not a monogamous species. Their life span is in the range of 135 years.

Kobolds live in any climate. They prefer dark and damp places like caves but also often live in overgrown forests. They often like to dig extensive mines. Their lairs often used giant weasels and/or giant boars as guards.

Kobolds in Dungeons and Dragons appearance has evolved a bit over the years

But most editions have them with lizard like skin. This skin sheds and is replaced similar to a snake or lizard. They are cold blooded creatures. And they never wear shoes. They frequently lose teeth which are replaced during the cycle of their lives. They are usually lawful evil. But some have been known to be neutral. They are more likely to be lawful neutral than evil but not lawful. Lawfulness seems to be a trait common to just about all of them.

Kobolds may be cowardly but they are not stupid

Kobolds are not a highly intelligent species. But they are not without any intelligence at all. They are clever and ruthless. And they love to set cruel traps for their enemies. They are also not lazy. They often work very hard at their pursuits. Especially at mining.

Kobolds are quite capable of using strategy to win against more powerful foes.

I once used a small band of kobolds against a fairly powerful group of adventurers in the 10th to 14th level range in one of my campaigns. The adventurers came across a couple of dozen kobolds in a large room. The room was not dark but it was not well lit either. Several of the kobolds were holding torches. A few of them were scattered in different parts of the room. They were not bunched up but there were a few on one side of the room with an obvious leader type wearing jewelry.

The high level adventurers decided to get their swords wet. The fighters just charged in swinging figuring that they could just hack them to pieces quickly and save spells. There would be little risk right? But they soon found themselves at the bottom of a deep pit with oil about six inches deep at the bottom of it. With the kobolds above dropping their torches into the pit. Another group of kobolds then appeared behind the magic users and cleric and proceeded to work on them. There were several fatalities in the adventuring party. From a small group of kobolds!

Kobolds are capable of laying traps like this. They know their strengths and they know their weaknesses. While they might appear cowardly it is not because they are just afraid to fight. It is because they know that they do not possess the physical strength and stamina of other dungeon dwellers. They know that they must use tactics to win. Not brawn.

Religion of Kobolds in Dungeons and Dragons

Almost every kobold lair will have a temple or shrine in it. They are very religious creatures. Their primary deity is Kurtulmak. This is the god of war and mining. Another important deity is Gaknulak. This is the god of protection, stealth, trickery and traps. Some kobold tribes are believed to worship Tiamat .

Kobolds and Gnomes hate each other

Legend has it that the origin of this hatred came from a prank played by the gnomish god Garl Glittergold on the Kobold deity Kurtulmak. According to the legend Garl collapsed the cave containing Kurtulmak to prevent kobolds from becoming the dominant species. Gnomes, of course, have a different version of this legend in which their own deity is shed in a much better light.

Kobolds are not to be taken lightly

While these creatures are not powerful fighters, alone, they can be quite formidable as a group. They have a collective genius when it comes to protection of their lairs. They set traps. Cruel traps. And when they capture enemies they are fond of torturing them. They will use nets and other such devices to try to capture opponents much more powerful than they are. And they often set their traps in such a way as to give them an advantage in combat.

Take these creatures lightly and you might find yourself at the bottom of a pit filled with oil and torches falling on you!

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The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons is what dreams are made of for wizards. It is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons first came in existence with the second installment of Dungeons and Dragons entitled “Monsters and Treasure” published in 1974.

The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons Original Edition

In the Original D&D game the Staff of Power was an awesome find. The wielder of the staff of power had the following powers at his or her disposal:

• Cold
• Fireballs
• Lightning bolts
• Striking (as per the staff of)
• Continual light
• Telekinesis

If the wielder of the staff becomes desperate enough he or she might break the staff and create a “Final Strike” effect. This effect multiplies the number of remaining charges by eight and applies these as hit points of damage to all those within a 3″ radius of the staff when it breaks including the mage wielding it. In later editions this effect was renamed “retributive strike.”

All powers of the staff are expended at the cost of magical charges. This aspect of the staff continues in all editions after this one.

The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons Advanced Editions

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons changed the Staff of Power a bit. The staff is still an incredible find for the magic user lucky enough to be present when one is discovered. The Staff of Power in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons has both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Offensive capabilities include:

• Continual light
• Darkness 5′ radius
• Levitation
• Magic missiles
• Lightning bolts
• Rays of enfeeblement
• Fireballs
• Cones of cold

Defensive capabilities include:

• Shield 5′ radius
• Globe of invulnerability
• Paralyzation
• Wielder of the staff gains +2 to armor class and saving throws

The staff may also be used as a physical weapon to strike opponents and does so at +2 to hit and to damage (3-8 damage). If one charge is used this damage is doubled. Additional charges used will not triple the damage.

The final awesome power of the staff is the Retributive Strike. If the staff is broken then all spell levels of energy left in the staff will be released instantly. Those who are within a certain radius of the staff when broken will take damage as a result as follows:

• Those within 1″ of the staff when it breaks take the full 8 times the spell levels as hit points of damage
• Those within 1-2″ of the staff will take 6 times the spell levels
• Those 2-3″ of the staff will take 4 times the spell levels

A saving throw versus magic reduces the damage taken by one half. The magic user wielding the staff will either be destroyed completely (50%) or sent to another plane randomly (50%).

Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5

This edition of Dungeons and Dragons modified the staff a bit from the AD&D version. The description states that the staff is typically found topped by a glistening gem. The powers of the staff are as follows:

• Magic missile
• Ray of enfeeblement
• Continual flame
• Levitate
• Lightning bolt
• Fireball
• Cone of cold
• Hold monster
• Wall of force
• Globe of invulnerability
• The staff imbues a +2 luck bonus to armor class and saving throws
• The staff may be used as a +2 weapon in combat and at a cost of one charge may do double damage
• Retributive strike similar to that of AD&D but using distance in terms of squares from the staff wielder

Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Even in the newest edition of the game the Staff of Power remains a powerful device for wizards and mages to wield. The powers of the 5th Edition version of the staff include:

• +2 attack bonus and to damage rolls
• +2 bonus to armor class
• Staff comes with 20 charges and regains 2D8+4 charges daily at dawn
• If all charges of the staff are expended the DM must roll a D20. On a roll of one the staff loses all properties other than the +2 bonus to hit and damage on a 20 the staff regains 1D8+2 charges
• Power strike – expend one charge in a melee attack with the staff and do an extra 1D6 force damage to the target

At a cost of charges the staff will do the following spell like powers:

• Cone of cold
• Fireball
• Globe of invulnerability
• Hold monster
• Levitate
• Lightning bolt
• Magic missile
• Ray of enfeeblement
• Wall of force

The staff still has it’s final devastating power….the retributive strike. If the staff is broken it releases it’s remaining magical energy in a 30 foot radius from the wielder. The wielder of the staff will either be sent to another plane (50% chance) or lose 16 times the number of charges in the staff as hit points of force damage. Everyone else in the area of effect must make a DC 17 dexterity saving throw or take force damage as follows:

• Those 10 feet away or closer take 8 times the number of charges left in the staff
• Those 11 to 20 feet away take 6 times the number of charges left in the staff
• Those 21 to 30 feet away take 4 times the number of charges left in the staff

The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons has evolved

Over the years the powers of the staff have changed a little. In the older editions the number of charges in the staff was a static number that dwindled as it was used and was then not rechargeable. The most recent version recharges itself. But regardless of the edition played this staff is an awesome weapon in the hands of a wizard or mage.

The Retributive Strike is an awesome power

The Retributive Strike is an awesome ability to have. It puts the magic user in the position of deciding the fate of everyone in the vicinity. The lives of both friends and foes alike are in the hands of the wielder of the staff. This is an awesome negotiation tool in times of extreme danger. Creatures who are intelligent enough to know what a Staff of Power is, and can do, will be terrified when they see a wizard threatening to break one over their knee. What was once a certain death situation could be salvaged completely as the wizard threatens this act.

The act itself is an awesome power as well. Certainly the mage could be destroyed. But she can take just about everyone else with her as well. And there is a chance that she might even survive the act (although finding herself all alone on a strange plane might end up being fatal anyway).

The Staff of Power in Dungeons and Dragons may be too powerful

A dungeon master would be wise to be careful about placing this device in their campaign. Regardless of edition played the staff is an incredibly powerful magical device. It will change the balance of power in a game quite easily. A magic user that was once limited to casting a certain number of spells per day will now have a large number of potential spell abilities to use at his disposal. And with the 5th Edition version recharging itself daily….this might totally unbalance a game. Clearly this should be a device found only at extremely high levels when these powers will not totally change the complexion of the game.

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