Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site shark.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!tektronix!orca!shark!hutch From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: command spell Message-ID: <1477@shark.UUCP> Date: Tue, 23-Jul-85 00:42:24 EDT Article-I.D.: shark.1477 Posted: Tue Jul 23 00:42:24 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 08:23:25 EDT References: <3059@pur-ee.UUCP> <2044@genat.UUCP> Reply-To: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 81 In article <2044@genat.UUCP> mike@genat.UUCP (Mike Stephenson) writes: >> >> I would like to know what everyone thinks about the first level >> clerical spell command. I personally think that it is absurd for a >> first level spell to cause certain doom for characters and monsters >> unfortunate enough to not have a saving throw against it. This means >> that a first level cleric can go up to a fifth level fighter and >> command him to "die" and then chop him to little pieces while he is >> defenseless. > >The spell "Command" should not be used this way. Commanding someone to >"Die" will cause the character fall to the floor as if dead FOR ONLY ONE >ROUND. At the end of this time, he/she will get up and do his/her best to >bash your head in. > >Now, on the other hand, this spell has an incredible variety of uses which >lend themselves to enjoyment (especially for a Chaotic cleric). For example: > > "Command word *** regurgitate ***" > >This gets real messy, especially if you use it against a fighter wearing >a helmet with a closed faceplate! Of course, you have to watch it, lest >your freshly pressed clerical garb become soiled. > > Mike Stephenson I suppose this is as good a time as any to bring up my personal variation on the Clerical spell "Command", recalling of course that I do NOT play AD&D (tm) rules at all. The English language is definitely NOT structured so that you can give an unambiguous imperative as a single word. Example, "vomit" "I see none" Other languages simply do not allow anything more than the simplest of imperatives to be expressed as a single word. Some, like German, allow extremely complex phrases to be expressed as "single words". Romance languages like Spanish allow a single-word command to indicate not only direct object but to a limited extent, when or how to do something. So, the "one word command" is a crock. However, you COULD construct it so that you give an imperative phrase. An imperative phrase is constructed thus:
where article of address disambiguates WHO you are commanding, and is optional if unrequired. verb is any old verb, but it better be one which the critter understands. adverb directly modifies the verb, as "stop BREATHING"; breathing is the adverb here. direct object, as in "swallow that SWORD"; sword is the direct object. adjective directly disambiguates the direct object; "kiss my brown horse" specifies WHICH of the various possibilities is selected. Now, this is presented as an alternative to the more realistic, but uglier, method of requiring the players to actually LEARN (and the Ref to actually CONCOCT, heaven forfend!) the various languages. In this case, the command would have to be expressed IN a victim's language, but the deities have taken the difficulty out of the operation by making it possible for the cleric to issue a command! Admittedly, the Ref must still determine whether there is any ambiguity left, as in "die, stupid orc!" where it could be argued that "stupid orc" doesn't disambiguate, and "die" could be mistaken for a command to change the color of something (in proper context!) ... Also, there is the problem of making sure that the command wasn't idiomatically incorrect, (Pepe', get your sister!) and the command cannot directly cause damage. So, the probability that the cleric phrases a command incorrectly can be set as a function of level, say, 25-level% with a reduction based on how well the cleric (and victim!) know the language, and on how well practiced this particular application of the command is, and on how rushed or hurried the situation is. This, and idiom, and the ability demonstrated on this very net (maybe in this very article) of how poorly people are able to say what they mean, all conspire together to allow the potentially humorous backfire of the Command. Also, I'd make the save vs command based on wisdom, not intelligence. Hutch