D&D 1E Stupid 1e AD&D Question - Item Saves

[Calico_Jack73]

Maybe I am just blind and overlooked it but last night for the life of me I couldn't find any ruling in the 1e AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide to dictate when a character must make saving throws for the items they are carrying.

 

[Delta]

Well, the answer is basically "all the time". Yes, 3E has the funky rule that all your carried stuff is safe unless you roll a "1" on a saving throw. No such distnction or safety lock in 1E -- everything engulfed by a fireball (you, all your carried stuff, all the treasure on the ground) is all treated the same and needs to start saving against it.

Yes, it's mechanically kind of overwhelming (if realistic). Hence the new 3E rule limiting those effects.

 

[Delta]

Back home now with 1E DMG, p. 80 says:

Non-Magical Items: Those items which do not exactly conform to item descriptions above can be interpolated. It is assumed that the item in question is actually exposed to the form of attack, i.e. the blow falls on the item, the fall is such as to not cushion the item, the fire actually contacts the item, etc.

So as long as those criteria are met ("the blow falls on the item, the fall is such as to not cushion the item, the fire actually contacts the item, etc."), the save must be made, regardless of whether it's in a character's possession or not.

 

[dagger]

We only did it on rolls of 1, but it did come up a lot. It was actually good training for new players, they learned that your character is more than a collection of magic items.

I have seen players get very pissed at other players because they had been caught in a friendly fire blast and lost gear. Good times!


Since the DM screens have the material saves on them, we would just have the players read off gear, and the DM could give the save really quick.

So if your bag of holding saves, you get to skip all of the stuff in the bag. We had one guy who was obsessed about his portable hole. He would have it in a leather bag, inside another bag, under his full plate mail. So that is 3 saves before the magic item even has to save.

 

[Thurbane]

I like the progression:

1E - Automatic save for items each time you're hit by an area attack

2E - Items only need to dave if you fail your save

3E - Items only damaged if you roll a 1

...in 4E, I predict items will be totally indestructable!

 

[Lanefan]

How I've done it for a very long time is that if you fail your save against an area-effect that does at least 10 points damage, your items have to save. (exceptions apply)

I'm not sure where or if an original rule appears in the 1e DMG other than the one quoted above that refers to non-magic items.

Lanefan