James Gasik
We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Errata is so hard to get for older editions!
D&D 1E How do you play an illusionist?
- Thread starter Shades of Eternity
- Start date
Technically, it's not errata. The Wild Hunt was a fanzine (similar, if not quite as influential, as Alarums and Excursions). The Wild Hunt #19 (apparently from August 1977) predates AD&D, as it mentions "The new D&D (referring to Holmes Basic) ..."
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h/t @zenopus
That means that it predates both the "final" version in Dragon as well as the "official" version in the PHB, released the following year (June 1978).
Put another way, I would say that this is the final Aronson version of the class, but it predates the official adoption by TSR.
I have never actually seen that Aronson version, and I would love to compare the final version Aronson released with the version that TSR ended up using- @ilgatto ... can you share the full article, or give us a synopsis?
ilgatto
How inconvenient
Well..., technically..., that isn't entirely what Peter Aronson thought.
Source: Peter Aronson, The Strategic Review Vol. 1, No. 4 (TSR, 1975)
OK. All kidding aside, I agree, of course, that Illusionists aren't allowed to use wands of magic missile because, well..., Gygax rules!
So I guess it's goodbye Gwoin III after all.
Gladly! But will take a bit of work, so coming up.
Color Bomb!
ilgatto
How inconvenient
Et voilà!
Fascinating piece.
Unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember where I got this from. 't Was fairly recent and I must have it bookmarked somewhere but there you go.
Also, this rather seems to be some sort of original manuscript rather than how it appeared in The Wild Hunt? Or did it in this form? Maybe only the yellow bit appeared in that zine?
Fascinating piece.
Unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember where I got this from. 't Was fairly recent and I must have it bookmarked somewhere but there you go.
Also, this rather seems to be some sort of original manuscript rather than how it appeared in The Wild Hunt? Or did it in this form? Maybe only the yellow bit appeared in that zine?
One intriguing takeaway would be that the version of Create Specters (!) in this document may indicate even more how it may have been intended to allow the party to take dead PCs with them until they got out of the dungeon and to the nearby village—where high-level NPCs (obviously put there solely for this purpose) waited to restore them to life.
“Specters get no experience”!
And then, of course, there’s Dreams () and Phantoms!
Mysterious things, phantoms. Never quite got to grips with how to deal with these monster-wise.
“Specters get no experience”!
And then, of course, there’s Dreams (
) and Phantoms!Mysterious things, phantoms. Never quite got to grips with how to deal with these monster-wise.
James Gasik
We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Lot of typos in this document, lol. Interesting that it talks about Lawful and Chaotic Clerics- that would pin this as being made before AD&D?
Fortunate Son
Villager
Interesting, I've not seen this document. The Phantoms spell is a weird one. Giving a fragile non-melee class a melee spell that damages the caster is an odd design choice.
The Illusionist first shows up in The Strategic Review v. 1 #4, Dragon Magazine #1 & #12, and then in PHB 1e.
The Illusionist first appeared as an article in The Strategic Review by Peter Aronson. Basically, Aronson was a fan who really, really liked illusions, and made it a class. He made some errata (very brief) in Dragon #1, and then someone else expanded on it in #12 (Rafael Ovalle). And then it was put into 1e in the PHB by Gygax.
....Never to come back.
That said, I didn't know that Aronson published a version in (zine for fans) The Wild Hunt. And I haven't seen the manuscript you just posted before. I'd love to get more details!!!!
(The illusionist was one of my favorite classes in 1e, no matter how much Gygax tried to nerf it. I was much more on Aronson's wavelength.)
Also- THAT DREAMS SPELL!
Three comments-
First, WOAH!
Second, I think the saves for illusionists and MUs should be reversed.
Third, this would make the illusionist a kinda/sorta Incantrix (anti-MU), and would provide a reason for enmity between MUs and illusionists.
(ETA- a while back, a did a brief run down on the origin of all classes in AD&D, including any controversy over who created or appropriated the class.)
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ilgatto
How inconvenient
I did some digging and found where I got the file from, so a shout out to Jon Peterson for posting it.
Playing at the World
Vette sjit, wat?*
Agreed, though I suppose I can see why Aronson did it the other way round in a weird kind of way.
*) Which properly translates to "It rather is, isn't it?"
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