Dungeons & Dragons: Master Rules (1985) Quiz

Answer: Adept

The four higher levels of mastery after basic are skilled, expert, master, and grand master. Basic mastery is not automatically assumed in this system, so a character who has not trained in a particular weapon would be unskilled. Successful mastery of a weapon gives the wielder a greater chance of striking an opponent and allows them to inflict more damage when using it. Additionally, weapon mastery improves defensive use of the weapon in question, making it easier for the wielder to avoid attacks with it.

The Master Set also provides very detailed rules for using the many kinds of weapons in the game, including descriptions of a large number of historic medieval pole arms and their special uses, such as halberds, glaives, and so on. Each level of mastery must be attained one at a time, and attaining each level of mastery requires training with a teacher who has the necessary knowledge (i.e., at least the desired level of mastery).

The higher the level, the longer and more costly is the required training.

For example, achieving basic mastery requires a week of training at a cost of 100 gold pieces a week, while achieving grand master level requires 12 weeks of training at a cost of 1000 gold pieces a week. Furthermore, there is a chance that the training will fail, depending on the student's prior knowledge and the expertise of the teacher.

Answer: Blackjack

The blackjack was introduced in the Companion Set and is a kind of handheld leather bag filled with sand or metal shot that can be used to club someone unconscious. This sort of thing might be too up close and personal for a magic-user's style. A staff on the other hand, seems like a natural, as wizards in folklore are often shown carrying staffs.

A whip seems a more surprising choice although it would give a magic-user a dash of style (kind of like if Indiana Jones knew how to cast spells). A blowgun seems reasonable as it does not require much physical strength to use.

The optional rules also allow a magic-user to use a net, which can be used to entangle an opponent. Seems like an odd choice, but if they can use a whip, then why not a net? Like Weapons Mastery, this optional rule is applicable to magic-users of all levels, not just those of 25th level and beyond; it may be applied whether or not Weapons Mastery is also used.

Answer: Charisma

I suppose by the time you actually need to make a saving throw, having a winning personality won't do you much good. However, all the other character abilities affect applicable saving throws. For example, strength affects saving throws against turning to stone, intelligence helps against mind attacks, dexterity against dragon breath, and constitution against poison.

Answer: Liege

The rules for undead control are quite detailed and note that an undead creature does not need to be a spellcaster to attempt to become a liege. If successful, the liege becomes telepathically linked to its pawns and can see and hear through their eyes and ears. Additionally, the liege has total control of the pawn and can even force it to obey suicidal orders which it will carry out without question. Furthermore, a high enough level liege can create a chain of pawns by instructing its pawns to also become lieges.

For example, a spectre could control several wights, as these are less powerful creatures, which could in turn each control several skeletons. By this means a liege can coordinate attacks by its pawns and a liege with 10 or more pawns in the chain may be considered the leader of an undead army.

Moreover, if a cleric attempts to use their Turn Undead ability against a pawn, the attempt is treated as if it was made against the liege rather than the pawn. Hence, clerics who would normally be able to turn low-level undead creatures automatically, may not be able to do so against pawns with a sufficiently powerful liege.

Answer: The victim becomes a free-willed undead creature

Energy-draining undead creatures include wights, wraiths, spectres, and vampires. Typically, a slain victim will rise in 1-3 days, although this can be prevented if a cleric performs the appropriate spells. The victim usually becomes a pawn of their slayer, who can telepathically command them to do their bidding. An undead pawn will have half the hit points they had in life, but if their controller is slain, they not only gain free will, they will begin to regain hit points until they have the same amount they had in life. Additionally, if the victim was a spell-caster while alive, once they gain free will, they will recover all the spell-casting abilities they had while alive.

Answer: Anti-magic effects cancel magic only while the effect is in operation; dispel magic can cancel magic permanently.

The rules for each of these are somewhat complicated but as an example, if a magic item that has only a temporary effect, such as a potion or scroll, is subject to an anti-magic effect it will become temporarily non-magical and will regain its magic when removed from the area of the anti-magic effect.

However, if such an item were subject to a successful dispel magic spell, it would permanently lose its magic and become useless. For example, if a character takes a potion that has a magical effect lasting 12 turns and then comes into contact with an anti-magic field, the effect of the potion would be suppressed.

However, if they left this field before the end of the 12 turns, the potion would resume its effect. The Master Rules note that Immortals radiate an anti-magic effect field at will with a radius of 5 feet.

However, use of anti-magic is not limited to Immortals; a creature known as a beholder, which was detailed in the Companion Set, radiates a continuous anti-magic ray from its large central eye. Beholders are also capable of casting a range of spells, although these can only take effect outside the area of effect of its anti-magic ray.

Answer: Create food

One of the major factors that affects how long a siege can be defended against is the supply of food and other resources. From tenth level onwards, clerics gain the incredibly useful ability to cast the create food spell, and with each higher level, the amount of food they can create increases, and they eventually are able to cast the spell several times per day.

For example, a tenth level cleric can create enough food for 36 men once a day, whereas at very high levels they can create food for hundreds of people multiple times a day! Furthermore, clerics also gain the ability to cast the create water spell from eight level onwards, with the amount they can create each time increasing as they rise in levels.

Hence, a defender with powerful clerics working for them may be able to resist a siege for quite a long time without running out of rations! The survival spell, which allows the recipient to survive in adverse conditions (such as heat, cold, vacuum, etc.) for several hours is probably not that useful in a long-term siege situation. Wall of Iron and Move Earth are actually magic-user spells and so cannot be cast by clerics; these spells might be useful in defending against a siege but would not help with maintaining resources.

Answer: Wicca

"Wicca" is an Anglo-Saxon word that can be translated as "sorcerer" and is the root of the modern English word "witch." Curiously, it is also the term used by adherents of a modern pagan religion that purports to be a revival of traditional witchcraft. Whether the usage of this name in Dungeons & Dragons is simply a coincidence is unknown.

The rules provide a list of what types of spells (i.e., cleric, druid, or magic-user) are available to various non-human races and what levels of spellcasting they can reach.

For example, dolphins in Dungeons & Dragons are an intelligent race and their shamans may reach the equivalent of a tenth level cleric and wiccas that of a fourth level magic-user, suggesting they naturally have more of an affinity with the former than the latter class. On the other hand, among gnomes, both shamans and wiccas can reach the equivalent of their twelfth level human counterparts, suggesting an equal affinity for each class.

The rules further note that shamans and wiccas cannot read spells on magic scrolls, but they can each use other kinds of magic items, regardless of whether they are designed for clerics or magic-users. Furthermore, some individuals may be both shamans and wiccas, although the maximum level for each class that can be obtained is half normal.

Answer: Entropy

The five Spheres of Power are Energy (associated with fire), Thought (air), Time (water), Matter (earth), and Entropy (death). It is explained that everything in the multiverse is made up of components from each of these Spheres to varying degrees. An Immortal can serve only one of these Spheres each, and they seek to advance the interests of their own Sphere while recognizing that a balance must be maintained among them for the multiverse to continue to exist. Each Sphere has its own purpose: Matter seeks to preserve things, Energy promotes activity and transformation, Time promotes change and flow, while Thought promotes understanding. Entropy opposes all the other Spheres and seeks their ultimate destruction, although it cannot exist without the other powers.

Despite this, the other Spheres recognize that Entropy is required for balance, as without it, the power of the other Spheres would grow unchecked until they became unsustainable and destroyed themselves.

Answer: Polymath

For a character to seek immortality, they must identify and find an Immortal who will agree to sponsor them on one of the four paths. (The rules do not allow player characters to seek to become Immortals of Entropy.) The path of the Polymath requires the character to search for an artifact in three additional lives as a character class it has never been before.

Hence, a fighter would have three new lives as a cleric, magic-user, and a thief, questing for the same artifact each time. Demi-human races in this version of Dungeons & Dragons are treated as classes unto themselves, so they do not have the flexibility of human characters, which is probably why they are unsuitable for this path.

Answer: Travel to another planet in the prime material plane and successfully found a colony.

None of the pathways require travelling to another planet - they all involve tasks that are much harder than that! Each of the pathways has complicated and arduous requirements involving epic deeds that are supposed to take several years of in-game adventure. Even if one completes all of the requirements successfully, there is a 1 in 10 chance that the sponsoring Immortal will refuse to grant the character immortality after all! Regarding the other answers, travelling in time is a requirement of the path of the Dynast, as this is associated with the Sphere of Time. Finding and defeating an artifact of the Sphere of Entropy is a requirement of the path of the Epic Hero. Creating an entirely new magic item is required in the path of the Paragon, which particularly favors magic-users although it is open to other classes.

Answer: Unarmed combat

Mystics are dedicated to a disciplined way of life involving meditation, study, and physical training. Although trained to use all manner of weapons, they generally prefer to use unarmed combat and the Master Rules describe a number of combat styles they may use.

As Mystics advance in levels, they not only gain the ability to do increasing amounts of damage with unarmed attacks, they eventually gain the ability to perform unarmed attack on creatures that can normally only be harmed with magic weapons, even though their attacks are not magical. Additionally, they gain special powers at higher levels, such as the ability to speak with animals, resist spell attacks, turn invisible, and, at the very highest level, kill with a touch. Additionally, they possess thief skills, such as finding and removing traps, moving silently, and climbing walls. Mystics live in monastic communities called cloisters, which are described in detail.

The Dungeon Masters' Book notes that these details are modeled closely on Benedictine monastic orders at the time of Charlemagne c. 800 (although I don't think they were noted for their martial abilities or fantastic powers!).

Answer: A felt cap

The Pileus is a minor artifact in the form a red felt cap, similar in design to the Phrygian or liberty cap, which became a symbol of freedom and the pursuit of liberty in both the American and French Revolutions. The word "pileus" is actually the name of a cap that was placed on the head of a slave who was being set free in a special ceremony in Ancient Rome. Fittingly the artifact of this name was said to have been created by an Immortal to bring freedom to enslaved mortals. The cap will enlarge or shrink to fit any user and its powers are activated when the wearer frees another member of their race from imprisonment. Among its several powers the wearer can mentally command it to cast both the "free person" spell to release someone affected by magically induced paralysis and the "immune to paralysis" spell. Like all artifacts, it can have certain adverse effects on mortal users, who are not constitutionally capable of completely controlling the immortal power that is used to create an artifact. In the case of the Pileus, prolonged use will cause the user to gradually develop a repulsive aura that other people find disgusting and which may cause them to flee. Additionally, when the item is used, there is a chance that the user will developing a rotting disease that causes parts of their body to drop off if the disease is not treated within an hour! If the user decides to permanently stop wearing the Pileus, the adverse effects will gradually wear off.

Regarding the other answers, the Fiery Brand of Masauwu (the Guardian of Death), which appears to be a club-like torch, is an artifact of the Sphere of Entropy that has awesome destructive powers, such as giving the wielder the power to instantly obliterate an enemy. However, there is a random chance the wielder will instantly drop dead while using it. Ortnitt's Lance of Doom, another artifact of the Sphere of Entropy, is an ornate lance that inflicts extra damage when it strikes an enemy; it can also be used to paralyze any living creature without even touching it. However, if the Lance is used to kill a creature, one-third of any treasure the user is carrying will instantly disappear. Additionally, the user will take double normal damage from attacks by a dragon. The Ivory Plume of Maat is a feather-shaped brooch created to further the cause of Law and Justice. It has many useful powers, such as granting immunity to disease and to energy drains. If it is used by someone who is not of Lawful alignment, their alignment will change to become so; if they are already Lawful, they will become even more rigid in their adherence to their alignment. Additionally, if it is touched by a creature of Chaotic alignment or who has evil intentions, there is a random chance that they will be instantly obliterated. If the user ever slays a Lawful creature, they will instantly die.

Answer: A lich cannot be Turned by a cleric

The lich is a classic monster in Dungeons & Dragons, being first introduced to the game in a supplement to the original edition in 1975. A lich is a powerful magic-user or cleric who has decided to cheat death by becoming an undead creature and has the appearance of a skeleton wearing fine garments.

They retain the ability to use all the spells they had while alive and always carry several magic items with them. They are never found wandering and their lairs are guarded by various deadly traps and other dangers. Ordinary weapons cannot affect them, and they are immune to all spell effects of less than fourth level.

They have the ability to summon a variety of powerful undead creatures, including vampires who each have a 25% chance of being spellcasters, simply by concentrating. Clerics of sufficiently high level can attempt to use their Turn Undead ability against a lich, but cannot automatically destroy them as they may be able to do with lesser undead creatures.

Answer: Jade

In addition to the three lesser rulers, each of whom is unique, the rules describe several races of "gemstone" dragons, who are basically ordinary mortal dragons with two kinds of breath weapons. Jade dragons are this latter variety; they are similar in appearance to green dragons, which are described in the Basic Set, although they have a distinct shimmering color that can be seen up close. For breath weapons they have a choice of using poison gas like a green dragon, or inflicting a rotting disease that afflicts both the victim and all non-metal items they are carrying.

The Pearl Dragon, also called the Moon Dragon, rules all chaotic dragons. The Opal (or Sun) Dragon rules all neutral dragons. The Diamond (or Star) Dragon rules all lawful dragons.

The Great One rules over them all. As the Dragon Rulers are Immortal, if their body is slain, their spirit returns to their home plane and creates a new body. All of the Dragon Rulers are also powerful spellcasters and are each attended by four of their largest, most powerful followers, all of whom can use spells.