Don’t Ignore the Rules
Rules should be used creatively. It is important to remember that the AD&D
game rules (or whatever version of the rules you happen to be using in your
campaign) help define reality for PCs, just as the laws of physics help define
reality for real folks.
Players, especially experienced gamers, use their knowledge of the rules to
help them interpret what is going on around them and to help them decide how
their characters react when it’s time to take action. If the DM interprets the
rules inconsistently, or applies one set of rules to the player characters and
another set to the monsters and NPCs, players often have no firm basis for making
decisions about their characters. Uninformed decisions aren’t terribly
meaningful. The players’ inability to make meaningful decisions ultimately robs them of
control over their characters, and frustration quickly sets in.
The rules themselves can provide a creative springboard for designing
adventures and describing NPCs. For example, suppose the PCs are searching a vast
dungeon complex to locate a lich. The group discovers a block of prison cells and
frees the inmates, which include a sharp-eyed woman who seems to have fairly good
knowledge of the complex. The woman offers to guide the party as far into the
complex as she can take them. The woman, in fact, is the lich, using a polymorph self spell.
Assuming that the PCs don’t immediately detect the masquerading lich with a
true seeing spell, the “woman” might display a few quirks that clever PCs can
detect. From a rules standpoint, polymorph self lasts only two turns per caster level, 60 turns (10 hours) if the lich is
30th level. So, if the lich has spent several days in the cells, her neighbors
might have noticed her renewing the spell from time to time. A particularly
sharp-eared neighbor might note that the woman is in the habit of mumbling to herself
once in awhile.
If the party allows the woman to accompany them, she must find an excuse to be
by herself at least once every 10 hours or her ruse is revealed. If you’re
already in the habit of requiring moving characters to take regular rest periods,
this shouldn’t be hard to arrange, but it should provide the PCs an opportunity
to notice the spellcasting. If rest periods aren’t part of your normal game
routine, you need to find some other way to regularly separate the polymorphed
lich from the party. Perhaps she just moves on ahead while the PCs talk among
themselves, or periodically makes an excuse for leaving the party. Such ruses can
make for lively role-playing.
A polymorph self spell also does nothing to eliminate the aura of magical power and cold that
surrounds the lich (as the DM, you can rule otherwise, but remember to use your
rule consistently for the remainder of the campaign). High-level characters
are unaffected by the magical aura and might not even notice it, but the
polymorphed lich must be careful to stay out of lesser creatures’ sight lest they flee
in fear. In addition, the lich’s chilling touch continues to function as well,
and the creature would have to avoid touching and paralyzing anyone. Thick
gloves might do the trick. Of course, sharp players might wonder what a prisoner is
doing with a set of gloves, but that is exactly what they should be doing.
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