Notes on OD&D - Part 15

Another step forward on my journey through Men & Magic... an ongoing study of the Original D&D rules books, because ... well, I finally got around to it, and it's really pretty interesting!

Men & Magic

• p22 - Spells Table for Clerics





• First thing to notice is that there are some Cleric "Spells" (should they really be called that?) which have the same names as their Magical compatriots.  Interesting.  I wonder if they will prove to be any different in character or not.
• Also note that there are far fewer Clerical Spells than Magic User Spells.  But of course Clerics are also Fighters, whereas Magic Users are not (unless they are Elven).  The total number of Clerical Spells is 26 as compared with 70 Magic User Spells.
• Here's the Spell list broken down as best I can think of by Category:
• Healing / Harming
• Cure / Cause Light Wounds (1)
• Cure / Cause Disease (3)
• Neutralize Poison (4)
• Cure / Cause Serious Wounds (4)
• Raise Dead / Cause Death (5)
• Insect Plague (5)
• Detections
• Detect Magic (1)
• Detect Evil / Good (1)
• Find Traps (2)
• Locate Object (3)
• Protections
• Protection vs Evil / Good (1)
• Protection vs Evil / Good 10' Radius (4)
• Transmutations
• Purify / Poison Food & Water (1)
• Light (1)
• Continual Light (3)
• Turn Sticks to Snakes (4)
• Create Water (4)
• Create Food (5)
• Mind Control
• Hold Person (2)
• Speak with Animals (2)
• Speak with Plants (4)
• Holy / Unholy
• Bless / Curse (2) 
• Remove Curse (3)
• Dispel Evil / Good (5)
• Commune (5)
• Quest (5)
• The Yellow Highlighted Cleric Spells are those that are shared with Magic Users.
• Obviously the tenor of the Cleric Spells are, for Good Clerics, non-combat oriented, while for Evil Clerics there is a good deal of harm they can do with their Harming Spells. And whether Good or Evil, Insect Plague sounds like something that would be rather unpleasant I should say.
• I will circle back around on this Spell list when the book gets back to them.  At the moment all we get on p22 is the raw list.
• p22 - Clerics vs Undead Monsters
  
  
• This chart lists the various kinds of Undead and how the various Levels of Cleric are able to handle them.  
• T = Monster turned away, up to two dice in number
• D = Dispelled / Dissolved, up to two dice in number
• N = No Effect
• This chart is so far the first one I think that is actually balanced straight across the chart without variation.  The number for the Roll goes from 7, to 9, to 11, and there are always two T's before the rolls start, and then Ds' while after the 11 there is always an N. Balanced is good.  Clearly the life of the Cleric is an orderly one.  :)
• Note that this chart is entirely useless for Evil Clerics, the "entire effect being lost", and so Evil Clerics, regardless of the circumstances can not turn, or dispel Undead.  I would imagine based on this, that it is not unlikely that the Evil might come to regret their choice of Alignment one day, somehow.  Just a guess.

Well as there is not much I can think of to say further on this page, I will leave it at that.  The interesting stuff will come next time as I analyse the Spells lists, and compare the Magic User and Clerical Spells.  I'm particularly interested to see how the overlapping Spells compare.  

Ok, until next time... ciao, ciao, bella vita.  :)