Poll Results: Scrolls

The other week, after a series of posts regarding the origin of thieves' potentially risky use of magic scroll spells, I asked the question: "Does it make sense to transcribe scroll-spells to book-spells?" The results are pretty decisive -- even after pointing out that somatic components (AD&D-style) would probably be missing from the magic words on the scroll, 86% of voters chose "yes, it does make sense". So apparently that's a consensus for one less thing to tinker with in classic D&D.

Super Saturday: Thor Puzzler #4

So by now you should be aware that once, Thor could transform into his mortal secret identity of Don Blake (and back) by tapping his stick/hammer on the ground. But here's a question -- Can Don/Thor make this transformation if somebody else taps the cane nearby?

Answer: Yes.



And no.



(Pages from JIM/Thor #105, 138. Plot/writer Stan Lee. Penciler Jack Kirby. Dates 1964, 1967.)

Chi is for Charisma

A common question when people see one of my short character stat-blocks: "What is the X for?" Because they're looking at something like: "S17, I10, W13, D12, C15, X10". (For example, see my cut-down character sheets here.)

And my answer is (the title probably gave it away): "That's a Greek letter 'Chi' which is standing in for Charisma". From Wikipedia: "charisma (pl. charismata, adj. charismatic; from the Greek χαρισμα, meaning 'favor given' or 'gift of grace')" This being my minimally-clever way of having a one-character abbreviation for each ability (and dodging the two-"c" issue between constitution & charisma).

This week's edition of Delta's D&D Hotspot has been brought to you by the letter Chi.

Balanced Dice in Dragon Magazine

One of the most-viewed posts on this blog (currently #3 in all-time number of views) is the article on "Testing a Balanced Die", with a simple presentation of the well-known Pearson's Chi-Square Test. What I just recently found out is that this was anticipated by D.G. Weeks in a Dragon magazine article more than 25 years before: "Be thy die ill-wrought? Only those that pass the chi-square test can play" (Dragon #78, Oct-1983, p. 62-65). Somehow this escaped my attention all these years (I don't think that I had a physical copy of this issue back in the day).

Not much of a surprise that Weeks' procedure was equivalent to the one I presented (it's very much a standardized process from circa 1900, at the advent of modern statistics). One thing he did differently: Whereas I presented chi-square values at the 5% significance level, which is sort of customary (only 5% chance that an unbiased die accidentally exceeds the given values), he gave two numbers, at the 10% and 1% significance levels (saying that if it exceeds the first, then the die is maybe-possibly biased, and if it exceeds the second, then there is overwhelming evidence that it's biased). He also presented a listing of BASIC program code you could type in (at the time, it was fairly common in Dragon magazine) that would do the tabulations and calculations for you. In addition, it could categorize the data in case you were testing a hypothesis that a specific known face or group of faces was coming up more frequently.

See below for Weeks' presentation of testing a d8 for fairness (80 total rolls, per face E=10, SSE = 76; concludes that the die is unbiased; same conclusion as from my presentation: SSE < X*E = 14.067*10 = 140.67). Compare to my scratch paper included at the bottom here.



Weeks' table of critical values for X at the 10% and 1% significance levels:

Super Saturday: Thor Puzzler #3

You should know that once-upon-a-time, if Thor lost contact with his hammer, he would transform into the mortal form of Don Blake. Clearly true on Earth (where Thor was sent to learn humility). But could this occur in Asgard?

Answer: Sometimes yes.




And sometimes no.



("Yes" pages from JIM/Thor #153, 194. "No" pages from Jim/Thor #92, 116. Plot/writer Stan Lee [except Gerry Conway #194]. Penciler Jack Kirby [except Joe Sinnott #92, John Buscema #194]. Dates 1963-1971.)

Origins of Thieves Using Scrolls — Commentary

In the last two postings, I presented archetypal scenes of thieves miscasting spells by (a) Fritz Lieber's Gray Mouser, and (b) Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever. Now for some analysis:

Commentary

The scenes of Cugel and the Mouser are obviously similar in numerous ways. Both feature roguish, self-aggrandizing characters with minimal training in magic, who with difficulty manage to cast powerful spells, and produce highly unexpected effects. The scenes were both written and published within a span of two years (1964 and 1966). Both character/stories are included by Gygax in the AD&D DMG's "Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading".

Another way in which they are similar is that they aren't using scrolls in the sense of D&D's single-use magic items. Cugel is using a "workbook", and the writing remains afterward for him to double-check and confirm exactly where his mistake was. Mouser is working from a single sheet of parchment, but again, the writing remains afterward (his companion suggests he use it a second time, and his sole counter-argument is how it failed the first time). This isn't too surprising, since to my knowledge, the D&D Magic Scroll is purely an in-game invention to provide a single-shot magical effect. I can't think of any source prior to D&D that features an item exactly like that, with disappearing writing once the magical charge is released (can you?).

So these are really just "regular" spells in each case, in that the rogues are forced to memorize them prior to casting -- Cugel has "established the activating sounds carefully within his mind" (in the canonical Vancian sense), and the Mouser must keep "eyes tightly shut while the last sentences of the rune were being recited and the great forbidden words spoken; even the tiniest blink would nullify the Great Spell."

A difference: In Cugel's case, the story is explicit in that the surprise magical effects (imprisonment reversed to freedom; transporting enemies reversed to transport of self) are definitely due to misspeaking syllables on the caster's part ("Cugel hastily consulted the workbook and saw that in error he had transposed a pair of pervulsions, thereby reversing the quality of the spell."). But in Vance's Gray Mouser story, the truth is left ambiguous. Possible causes suggested in the text are that (a) the Mouser may be "doing the spell backwards", (b) the sorcerers of Gwaay were lying about being of the "First Rank", or (c) "Sheelba had underestimated its power". Option (a), a miscast by the Mouser may in fact be the most reasonable (destruction of sorcerers other than the First Rank, reversed to destruction of sorcerers only of the First Rank) -- even though the text goes so far as to directly state that "he finished without flaw" [p. 729], this may be understood as coming from an untrustworthy narrator, directly on the heels of "He almost stuttered midway through the word 'slewerisophnak'". It seems unlikely that Gwaay's less-numerous sorcerers are weaker, lying, and that simultaneously the Mouser is himself an undiscovered sorcerer of the First Rank (as he tries to rationalize at one point) -- although it seems equally unlikely that Sheelba would give him a spell expected to cause his own destruction when normally cast. In summary: the situation with the Mouser is left murky.

Personally, I would prefer to simulate these scenarios via multi-classing (as opposed to a unique thief ability with scrolls), saying that Cugel and the Mouser had some low levels in magic-use/wizardry, and that low-level wizards could try to use high-level spellbooks with some significant chance of failure. That seems a truer representation of what's really happening in these cases; although admittedly it's not a mechanic that otherwise exists in classic D&D (excepting the kernel of a system in Chainmail itself for delayed or non-effective spells).

Note that in the history of D&D, scrolls came first (in the OD&D little brown books, Vol-2), and thieves appeared second (in OD&D Supplement I, Greyhawk). So in some sense the thief ability could be grafted onto the pre-existing one-shot magic item, without giving them possibly unbalancing access to any wizard's full spellbook (and the same goes for other low-level wizards). If the timing of the development had been reversed, I doubt we'd see this mechanic exactly as we do.

Finally, one thing that always bothered me about scrolls in AD&D (and truthfully, drove this particular investigation) is the question: If scrolls are purely magical words on paper, and lack any somatic (gestural) or material components, then how can wizards transcribe scroll-spells into fully memorizable book-spells? (That is, presumably they would lack the usual hand-gestures, et. al.) But one solution I can see is to roll back to the OD&D understanding (as is often the case). OD&D has no requirements for somatic or material components. Likewise, in neither Vance nor Leiber are arcane gestures emphasized -- in each case, it is the words of power alone that are highlighted, the supernatural syllables that must be carefully formed and do the work (even with the caster's eyes closed; possibly with an exception of simply naming and pointing at the target). So if we synthesize these trio of observations and say that magic spells are spoken words only, then whatever is read from a magic scroll is the same as the full spell formula itself (again, possibly substituting a target's name, etc.), and it makes sense to transfer from one to the other, in both directions. We would have to discard the Gygaxian elaborations in AD&D as being an unnecessary and possibly contradictory development, but then it wouldn't be the only case of that.

Poll question -- Does it make sense to transcribe scroll-spells to book-spells? (Results here.)

Origins of Thieves Using Scrolls - Cugel the Clever

Continuing the investigation of the origins of D&D thieves being able to use magic spells from scrolls. Monday: Fritz Leiber's Gray Mouser. Today: Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever.

Cugel the Clever's Spell

This occurs at the very conclusion of the book The Eyes of the Overworld (also known as Cugel the Clever), published in 1966, by Jack Vance. [Even more SPOILERS below -- this is basically the "punch line" to the entire novel!] This book began with Cugel unsuccessfully trying to rob the mansion of the wizard Iucounu, being caught, and then being banished by a spell of transport to a far distant land. Over the course of the book, Cugel has quested all the way back and finally turned the tables on Iucounu, capturing him and taking over his mansion. (More info at Wikipedia.) Pages below are from the Orb Edition: Tales of the Dying Earth (2000).

Days went by and Iucounu's trap, if such existed, remained unsprung, and Cugel at last came to believe that none existed. During this time he applied himself to Iucounu's tomes and folios, but with disapppinting results. Certain of the tomes were written in archaic tongues, indecipherable script or arcane terminology; others described phenomena beyond his comprehension; others exuded a waft of such urgent danger that Cugel instantly clamped shut the covers.

One or two of the workbooks he found susceptible to his understanding. These he studied with great diligence, cramming syllable after wrenching syllable into his mind, where they rolled and pressed and distended his temples. Presently he was able to encompass a few of the most simple and primitive spells, certain of which he tested on Iucounu: notably Lugwiler's Dismal Itch. But by and large Cugel was disappointed by what seemed a lack of innate competence. Accomplished magicians could encompass three or even four of the most powerful effectuants; for Cugel, attaining even a single spell was a task of extraordinary difficulty. One day, while applying a spatial transposition upon a satin cushion, he inverted certain of the pervulsions and was himself hurled backward into the vestibule... [p. 284]

Returning to the great hall, he consumed the repast set forth by Jince and Skivvee, his two comely stewardesses, then immediately applied himself to his studies. Tonight they concerned themselves with the Spell of Forlorn Encystment, a reprisal perhaps more favored in earlier eons than the present, and the Agency of the Far Despatch, by which Iucounu had transported him to the northern wastes. Both spells were of no small power; both required a bold and absolutely precise control, which Cugel at first feared he would never be able to supply. Nevertheless he persisted, and at last felt able to encompass either the one or the other, at need. [p. 286]

Some days later, Cugel is himself the subject of an attempted robbery by a con-man named Fianosther. A struggle ensues, Iucounu is momentarily freed, but Cugel again gains the upper hand on both his opponents.

With great care he bound the arms of his enemies, then stepping into the great hall possessed himself of the work-book which he had been studying.

"And now -- both outside!" he ordered. "Move with alacrity! Events will now proceed to a definite condition!"

He forced the two to walk to a flat area behind the manse, and stood them somewhat apart. "Fianosther, your doom is well-merited. For your deceit, avarice and odious mannerisms I now visit upon you the Spell of Forlorn Encystment!"

Fianosther wailed piteously, and collapsed to his knees. Cugel took no heed. Consulting the workbook, he encompassed the spell; then, pointing and naming Fianosther, he spoke the dreadful syllables.

But Fianosther, rather than sinking into the earth, crouched as before. Cugel hastily consulted the workbook and saw that in error he had transposed a pair of pervulsions, thereby reversing the quality of the spell. Indeed, even as he understood the mistake, to all sides there were small sounds, and previous victims across the eons were now erupted from a depth of forty-five miles, and discharged upon the surface. Here they lay, blinking in glazed astonishment; though a few lay rigid, too sluggish to react. Their garments had fallen to dust, though the more recently encysted still wore a rag or two. Presently all but the most dazed and rigid made tentative motions, feeling the air, groping at the sky, marveling at the sun. [p. 287]

I'll interrupt at this point to note that the Spell of Forlorn Encystment was translated directly to AD&D's 9th-level spell Imprisonment -- reversible to a spell of Freedom, complete with "a 10% chance that 1 to 100 other creatures will be freed from imprisonment at the same time if the magic-user does not perfectly get the name and background of the creature to be freed" [AD&D PHB p. 92]. Continuing with the rest of the story:

Cugel uttered a harsh laugh. "I seem to have performed incorrectly. But no matter. I shall not do so a second time. Iucounu, your penalty shall be commensurate with your offense, no more, no less! You flung me willy-nilly to the northern wastes, to a land where the sun slants low across the south. I shall do the same for you. You inflicted me with Firx; I will inflict you with Fianosther. Together you may plod the tundras, penetrate the Great Erm, win past the Mountains of Magnatz. Do not plead; put forward no excuses: in this case I am obdurate. Stand quietly unless you wish a further infliction of blue concentrate!"

So now Cugel applied himself to the Agency of Far Despatch, and established the activating sounds carefully within his mind. "Prepare yourselves," he called, "and farewell!"

With that he sang forth the spell, hesitating at only one pervulsion where uncertainty overcame him. But all was well. From on high came a thud and a guttural out-cry, as a coursing demon was halted in mid-flight.

"Appear, appear!" called Cugel. "The destination is as before: to the shore of the northern sea, where the cargo must be delivered alive and secure! Appear! Seize the designated persons and carry them in accordance with the command!"

A great flapping buffeted the air; a black shape with a hideous visage peered down. It lowered a talon; Cugel was lifted and carried off to the north, betrayed a second time by a misplaced pervulsion.

For a day and a night the demon flew, grumbling and moaning. Somewhat after dawn Cugel was cast down on a beach and the demon thundered off through the sky.

There was silence. To right and left spread the gray beach. Behind rose the foreshore with a few clumps of salt-grass and spinifex. A few yards up the beach lay the splintered cage in which once before Cugel had been delivered to this same spot. With head bowed and arms clasped around his knees, Cugel sat looking out across the sea. [THE END; p. 287-288]

Coming Friday: Commentary and analysis.