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{{quote|''Roll for initiative.''}}
The original [[Tabletop RPG]], '''''Dungeons & Dragons''''' was first published in 1974 by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules). TSR founder [[Gary Gygax]] based the system of the game on TSR's miniatures combat system, ''Chainmail''. The game revolves around the now-classic set-up of a [[Game Master]] (known in official D&D terms as the Dungeon Master), who controls all the non-player characters, and the players, who each control a Player Character and deal with the challenges provided by the Dungeon Master.
D&D has been through many huge rule changes, provoking some variety of fan outrage at every turn.
The newest edition is known as 5E (Fifth), replacing 4e and 3.x. Free versions of 3.5 and 5.0 mechanics are available at [http://www.d20srd.org/ The Hypertext d20 SRD] site.
The core rule books contain no "official" background setting material. Dungeon Masters are invited to either make up their own setting, or use one of a number of published campaign settings. Of course, stuff from some settings leaked in anyway—after all, one cannot roleplay in vacuum. Basic D&D and AD&D has elements of Gygax's own [[Greyhawk]] as the implied setting (the wizards whose names attached to spells of the core list are classical [[Greyhawk]] characters), 3.0 even included the top of [[Greyhawk]]'s pantheon and 4th edition books' assumptions unofficially form a vague setting called "[[Points of Light]]".
The history of ''D&D'' is a bit twisty. It started as a companion book to a miniature-based tabletop wargame called ''[
By 1989, enough official rules tweaks and unofficial suggestions had been made to re-codify them all as ''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition'', which was intended to be less complicated and more flexible, but still managed to include things like the THAC0 system (lower THAC0 makes it easier to hit in combat, but other bonuses are ''positive'', meaning higher is better), less than straight skill checks, not even ''trying'' to make the level advancement smoother (eg, level 10 rangers suddenly have [[media:ToMeMyBears!.jpg|hordes of bears]] following them around) and leaks of the default setting into the core rules (such as druid organisations appearing in game mechanics and tied to levels in-world).
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After TSR was bought by [[Wizards of the Coast]] (makers of ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', and a subsidiary of Hasbro), they published ''Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition'' using the [[d20 System]]. A major overhaul of the entire rules set, 3rd edition cleared off the crust that had accumulated around 2nd, added much more customizability in the form of the feat system and [[Prestige Class]]es (including making them a named and common mechanic), dropped the racial restrictions, and made it easier to get into the game from a novice player's level. Then came an incremental edition known as "3.5", which was largely concerned with fixing a few very obvious [[Game Breaker]]s and [[Spoony Bard]]s in 3rd Edition.
The fifth edition of D&D was made under the production alias of "D&D Next", as Wizards of the Coast seeks to revitalize the brand. In an effort to try and heal the divisions in the player community, they were actively soliciting players for ideas about the new edition, with plans for an open playtest (the problem here is that the crowd dissatisfied with 4e mostly long have left the 4e oriented areas, so it's an attempt to bring it back relying on it already somehow being back... not only they didn't exactly tried to meet it halfway, but rather removed more and more bits of the web community support). The system focused on extreme simplicity. Due to a "bonded accuracy" system where it became nigh-impossible to beat the intended sub-linear power curve for accuracy increase, but spells continued progressing in potency each spell level, the old [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]] effect returned in an even more extreme manner.
In 2022, a new edition called "''One D&D''" was announced, promising compatibility with 5th edition (though never using the term "5.5" or "6th") with a few backported rules put up for playtest. In January of 2023, Wizards of the Coast attempted to force through an ''absurdly'' bad "revision" to the Open Gaming License, which in its very unprofessional and unlegalistic writing claimed to revoke the prior license (a claim the company had previously [https://web.archive.org/web/20211127200600/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f spent ''decades'' explicitly stating was impossible]) alongside provisions that users "agree to give [Hasbro] a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license to use [your] content for any purpose" <ref>A clause ripped directly from social media terms of use and very out of place for a product sales contract.</ref> as well as giving Hasbro 25% royalties, and the ability to kill off any product without appeal by claiming it was in some way offensive. Naturally, this was not well received and united what seemed to be the the entire tabletop RPG industry, bar Wizards of the Coast and ''[[Critical Role]]'', in condemnation. Wizards of the Coast would respond in an unsigned "apology" by claiming it to be a draft (despite the document having explicit dates of enactment, and it leaking from an attempt to force companies to sign it, claiming they'd be even worse off in the general release version) and claimed that the clause granting them an unlimited license to use your work for any purpose wasn't an attempt to steal work. The "apology"'s refusal to actually back down on anything beyond the royalties and usurping ownership did little to calm things down. After facing mass subscription cancellations, Wizards of the Coast issued a second apology, nominally signed by a low ranking and extremely junior executive who had just created an account, which ''also'' refused to back down from its positions and promised a survey for the new draft document.
Issues with wildly different editions prompted the development of third-party adaptations. E.g. ''Castles & Crusades'' as D&D 2.99 without D&D 3 specific elements, or ''[[Pathfinder]]'' as "D&D 3.75".
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'''''Dungeons and Dragons''''' is one of the [[Trope Codifier]]s of the modern era, having single-handedly mashed swords and sorcery and epic high fantasy into the fantasy genre as we know it today, and having been the source of more than a few of the [[Role Playing Game Terms]] and [[RPG Elements]] that the influential [[Role-Playing Game|computer RPG]] genre was founded on. Many, many excellent computer games (especially RPGs) have also been made directly off the ''D&D'' license.
Though a number of D&D-based [[MUD]]s and other online games existed prior, most notably the original ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', in 2006, Wizards of the Coast and Atari released the [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] ''Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach'', set on the fictional continent of Xen'drik in the campaign world of [[Eberron]]. The game has since been renamed ''Dungeons & Dragons Online: [[Eberron]] Unlimited'', and uses a free-to-play model with optional microtransactions. ''[[Temple of Elemental Evil]]'' received a computer game adaptation via the late Troika Games, and is notable for being the only "proper" use of the 3.5 rules (fully turn based, all special options, bar grapple and counter spell, intact), ''[[Knights Of The Chalice]]'' is an unofficial indie successor to this adaptation built by using the OGL license, with a sequel coming eventually.
Two companion magazines - ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' and ''[[Dungeon (magazine)|Dungeon]]'' - have been published since 1976 and 1986 respectively, offering additional content, articles and resources for D&D. Since 2007, the magazines have ceased paper publication and can now be found in digital format on the ''Wizards Of The Coast'' website. AD&D has "Core Rules" toolset sold on CD. With the release of 4E, a set of virtual tabletop software called ''D&D Insider'' was set to be released that will give gamers a official way to play D&D over the Internet, but [[Vaporware|now the idea seems dead, as a new edition is in the works]].
Whole libraries of novels have been published with D&D tie-ins, most of them linked to specific game settings such as the [[Forgotten Realms]]. While writing quality is inconsistent at best, and [[Executive Meddling]] is incessant, sheer quantity testifies to these novel lines' profitability. The best known novels are R.A. Salvatore's ''Legend of Drizz't'' series. In addition, IDW Publishing, famous for their ''[[Transformers]]'' and ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics, have obtained the license to [[Dungeons and Dragons (comics)|an ongoing series]] based on D&D - which have been [http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/04/20/dungeons-dragons-comic-idw/ well-received], mainly due to being written by the writer for [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Blue Beetle]]''.
For the animated series based on the game, see ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons And Dragons]]''. There are also
Please note that, since this is a very open-ended game, with ''millions'' of people playing it in one form or another, you can find ''any'' trope if you look hard enough.
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{{tropenamer}}
* [[Always Lawful Good]]
* [[Bag of Holding]]
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* [[Detect Evil]]
* [[Dracolich]]
* [[Elemental Plane]]
* [[Exclusively Evil]]<ref>Formerly; the Trope name was originally Always Chaotic Evil.</ref>
* [[Failed a Spot Check]]
* [[The Face]]
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* Blackmoor: The first setting. Later tied to both Greyhawk and Mystara. It's complicated. (See [[wikipedia:Blackmoor|here]] for more.) Dave Arneson's original campaign setting.
* ''Council of Wyrms'': Dragons are feudals ruling everyone else. They retain [[Character Alignment]] inclinations, but those are less important than matters of honor and politics. If the Council send a party with a Gold dragon as a substitute of paladin and a Black dragon as a substitute of thief on a mission, they'll fly. Dragon slayers (created by Io to punish his errant offspring) don't see much difference either.
* [[Dark Sun]]: [[Desert Punk]]
* [[Dragonlance]]: The purest [[High Fantasy]] setting of them all and hews closest to [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s works, arguably. The most major difference would probably be Tolkien preferred to imply the influence of Providence, while in [[Dragonlance]] the intervention of deities tends to be much more explicit. More popular for its series of novels, which have come out non-stop for years, than for its sporadically-published game products.
* [[Eberron]]: [[Magitek]] and [[Dungeon Punk]]. Magic is a part of everyday life, to the point that airships and magic-powered locomotives are a common sight. A world war has devastated the globe, and an uneasy peace reigns—for now. The world is in the grips of an age of exploration, with new treasures to be found around every corner.
** Supposedly, the creator of the setting and others who have worked on it specifically deny that magic was supposed to replace technology in this way. You can imagine [[Implausible Deniability|the response]] of some people to this...
* [[Forgotten Realms]]: A world of many [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]s, partially [[Lost Colony|shanghaied from Earth]], prominent features are constant (if [[Divine Chessboard|often covert]]) conflicts between [[Odd Job Gods|numerous and very active deities]], the world being one big [[Gambit Pileup]] between dozens of mortal factions, and [[Always a Bigger Fish|scads of high-powered NPCs]] (mostly the stars of the setting's popular novel lines) running around<ref>it ''is'' an intended feature, as [[Mugging the Monster|introduction]] of Shaan the Serpent Queen to the Company of Crazed adventurers in Ed's home campaign shows; among the other things, together with fog of war it makes throwing much weight around too risky -- and caution among those who ''could'' stabilizes the state of affairs</ref>. The most popular setting, and the most developed. Also got several subsetting - some integral part of FR, some developed as extensions, and some glued to it as an afterthought:
** Arcane Age: The same, but half a thousand to several thousands of years before "contemporary" version, with a lot of [[Magitek]] on top.
** Al-Qadim: ''[[Arabian Nights]]'' style fantasy mixed with slightly tweaked<ref>Such as the limitation to 4 spouses is explained by the first Sha'ir having 4 genie wives - one per element.</ref> Muslim Arab culture. [[Our Genies Are Different|Genies]], [[Magic Carpet|magic carpets]], [[Evil Vizier]]s, secret societies, [[Sacred Hospitality]], haggling and fame. Peculiar magic (tied to genies, astrology, magical weaving, and so on - ''Complete Sha'ir's Handbook'' is a whole sourcebook dedicated to variants of magic and practitioners thereof). The Land of Fate is placed on the continent Zakhara.
** Kara-Tur / [
** Living City: Ravens Bluff, city-state on the north-east side of the Sea of Fallen Stars, just shy of becoming a new nascent civilization, built on the place riddled with planar portals (mostly closed), above two long abandoned (for good reasons) underground settlements. One of RPGA campaign settings. Later published in a series of FR sourcebooks.
** Living Jungle: a little [[Lost World]] area somewhere closer to Kara-Tur. One of RPGA campaign settings.
** Maztica: Central & South American style setting. ''Very'' peculiar magic (feather vs. fang), utility- and artifice- oriented; [[Magic Knight]]s for
** The Sea of Fallen Stars (Serōs): Described mostly in the sourcebooks ''Sea of Fallen Stars'' and ''Pirates of the Fallen Stars'' and trilogy ''The Threat from the Sea''.
* [[Gamma World]]: While ''technically'' a different game line, uses identical mechanics and is often seen as a subset of vanilla DD. [[Scavenger World]] [[After the End]] inhabited by [[Mutants]] constantly trying to win the [[Superpower Lottery]] and usually either [[Cursed with Awesome]] or [[Blessed with Suck]].
* Ghostwalk: Souls have to physically walk to the afterlife, which allowed players to exist as a ghost and still do stuff in-setting after death. The first campaign setting released for 3e. Nobody gave a crap about it, despite some experimental features, likely because it came juuuuuust before 3.5th edition came.
* [[
** ''Tomes'' [
* ''Historical Reference'': The Earth of myths and legends. Was done as one-off series for AD&D2, with some elements reused elsewhere. Focused on culture of the involved peoples - including mythology, of course - and adaptation of rules to particular mythology.
** 1: ''Vikings'': Also covers rune magic (which later was adapted and reused elsewhere, at least up to 3.x).
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* Jakandor: two clashing peoples with vastly different culture - Charonti wizards vs. Knorr barbarians. With [[Grey and Gray Morality]] in that both had their good sides, but "believed they were the epitome of humanity" and gone a bit over the top, thus both were equally playable. Jakandor being an island, the setting is a self-contained "campaign arena". It had some interesting developments, and one of the books won an award, but the novel got buried and this line didn't restart. [http://grubbstreet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/j-is-for-jakandor.html "A small world which hoped to be so much more"].
* [[Mystara]]/The Known World: [[Wooden Ships and Iron Men]] on the surface of a [[Hollow World]] full of [[Lost World|lost worlds inside of it]]. Notable for the Immortals, incredibly powerful beings which stand in for gods in this setting, and which player characters could [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|become]] if they got to the highest levels. The default setting of BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia-era D&D (and the setting of the [[Capcom]] [[Beat'Em Up]] [[Dungeons and Dragons Shadow Over Mystara|games]]). Lots of [[Cool Airship|airships]] ranging from a floating island/city [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier|carrying a fleet]] of WWI style planes powered by gnomish [[Magitek]] to big wooden birds of prey kept in the air by sacred relics and armed with long-range [[Disintegrator Ray]]s to a flying icosahedron (i.e. d20) plated with one-side mirrors.
** Red Steel: Personal magical powers, deforming curses. The [https://web.archive.org/web/20190911201024/http://www.tsrinfo.net/~brenfrow/rs/rs-box.htm campaign book] has "[[Power At a Price|Power has a price!]]" printed [[You Have Been Warned|right on the cover]]. Additional rules for [[Swashbuckler]]-style game, extra [[Intelligent Gerbil]] races. Firearms. Cowboys and goblins.
* [[Planescape]]: [[Walking the Earth|Walking]] [[The Multiverse]] in a setting where [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|belief and philosophy can reshape the very cosmos]]. ''[[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|Everything]]'' else exists within its framework. [[All Myths Are True]], as far as possible, even if many are [[Sadly Mythtaken|stretched a lot]].
* [[Points of Light]]: Default setting for 4th edition. [[Cataclysm Backstory|The great empires of mortals were destroyed]] [[And Man Grew Proud|in a magic war]], leaving behind scattered remnants of civilization in small pockets surrounded by dangerous monsters and abandoned and forgotten magic and technology.
* [[Ravenloft]]: Gothic fantasy and [[Hammer Horror]] in a maybe-sentient demiplane that seems to exist solely to inflict [[
** [[Masque of the Red Death]]: The same setting concept, but transplanted to Victorian-era Earth ("Gothic Earth").
*** Living Death: RPGA campaign.
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* Arduin, of ''Arduin Grimoire''. Using expansion and partial overhaul of D&D rules (not standalone), and quite "hardcore" - or, [http://grubbstreet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/is-for.html in the words] of Jeff Grub, "was [[This Is Your Premise on Drugs|D&D on drugs]]. Really, really [[Science Fantasy|good]] [[Bloodier and Gorier|drugs]]."
* ''Black Flags: Piracy in the Caribbean'': 18th Century pirates and privateers in the Caribbean by Avalanche Press. Fantasy / Pulp - arr right, it got the archetypical [[Pirate Girl|Buxom Wench]] [[Girls with Guns|With Flintlock]] right on the cover, so you know what to expect, mateys. d20
* ''Conan'': In [
* [[Dying Earth]]. Yes, people still actually play in the 'verse of [[Jack Vance]]'s books that gave us "[[Vancian Magic]]". It got a [http://www.dyingearth.com/ fan site] and even magazine (''The Excellent Prismatic Spray'').
* Kingdoms Of Kalamar: A third-party setting from Kenzer & Co. officially first released for 2nd Edition and endorsed by Wizards during the 3rd Edition era. A standard high-fantasy style setting that sells itself on its depth and verisimilitude. Though no longer an official setting, Kenzer has released an updated version for 4th Edition.
* [
* ''Midnight'' by Fantasy Flight Games is a darker (but not necessarily edgier) setting. It basically asks the question "What would happen to Middle Earth if Sauron had WON the War of the Ring?" The player characters are agents for The Rebellion against the [[Big Bad]] and his evil orcish minions. Spellcasters are rare because the bad guys actively hunt them.
* [[Legend of the Five Rings|Rokugan]]: [[Jidai Geki]] style fantasy. Licensed from the makers of the ''Legend of the Five Rings'' card game.
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* [[Thieves' World]]: The setting [[Darker and Edgier|much grittier than most]]. Has early adaptations for different systems. Later d20-isation from [[Green Ronin]] has its own magic model including rituals and mana levels present in the novels, rules for injury <ref>albeit not splattered as far and wide as PO:C&T</ref> and curses; it doesn't use an universal psionics model for abilities of Bandaran Adepts, S'Danzo Seers and northern barbarians.<ref>probably because corresponding rules in core d20 are nearly unusable for most settings</ref>
** Interestingly, essay ''On Thud and Blunder'' by [[Poul Anderson]] was reprinted as a part of the Chaosium 1981 sourcebook, to point out the setting's difference in style from Heroic Fantasy and Hack&Slash.
* ''[[Scarred Lands]]'': An [[After the End]] setting, but not as extreme of one as ''[[Dark Sun]]'', published by [[White Wolf]] under their ''Swords and Sorcery'' imprint. d20
== Editions ==
* '''"Original" Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D) - 1974-1976:''' The original set was written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and was published by TSR in 1974 as a digest-sized boxed set including three digest-sized books (the "little brown books" a.k.a. lbb): ''Men & Magic'', ''Monsters & Treasure'', ''The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures''. There was three original classes (Fighting-Man, Cleric and Magic User) -- and Hit points and damage were all rolled with 6 siders. This first set went through many printings and was supplemented with several official additions, including ''Greyhawk'' (
* '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120501185304/http://www.tsrinfo.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd.htm Basic Dungeons and Dragons] - 1977-1989:''' Of note is that Dwarf, Elf and the like counted as classes, so only humans could play anything but a standard version of their species.<ref>Every elf can only advance in the elf class; every dwarf could only advance in dwarf, no such thing as an "elven wizard" or a dwarven "fighting man" - i.e. classes are ''archetype''-based rather than usual character development lines</ref> The first release only covered levels 1-3, players were intended to move on to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons after this, though an expansion in 1981 let players keep with these simpler rules. Various editions after that expanded the setting, and compiled the rules into easier-to-use booklets, with minor additions. The last version of this particular incarnation was the BECMI series of boxed sets (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal, respectively) by Frank Mentzer, the rules from the first four of which were later compiled in 1991 into the ''Rules Cyclopedia'' written by [[Aaron Allston]], which is still considered a classic.
:: The round and initiative is simple, split into phases by the resolved action.
* '''[
:: The round is divided - now the true time quantum is 6 sec. ''segment'', initiative is adjusted by segments (carrying over into the next round if needed).
** '''Oriental Adventures - 1985:''' A supplement designed to play Dungeons and Dragons campaigns set in the [[Far East]] rather than [[Medieval European Fantasy]]. While it came with a brief setting description (which eventually became Kara-Tur, mentioned above) the rules were very much designed to create a generic oriental setting.
* '''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd edition) - 1989:''' The first full-scale revamp. Tweaked the combat system, [[Executive Meddling|threw out material]] they thought [[Moral Guardians|parents might object to]], like half-orcs and assassins,<ref>who returned with Satyrs and Bandits in ''[
:: The 1 min. round is monolithic, initiative adjustments affect only the sequence in a round.
* '''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons "2.5" (Optional Core Rules) - 1995-1996:''' ("[https://web.archive.org/web/20170429200917/http://www.tsrinfo.net/
:: The 10-15 sec. round is split into initiative phases, initiative adjustments such as weapon "speed factor" are converted into phase selectors.
* '''Dungeons and Dragons (3rd edition) - 2000:''' Arguably this, and the revised 3.5 edition, are currently the best known by all but the oldest gamers. 3rd edition made major simplifications to the rules by using the [[D20 System]] (which was originally created specifically for D&D 3.0) based on roll-over used in [[Gamma World]] long ago. The simplification was comprehensive enough to mean that nearly all character actions will fall into one of three areas - combat, skills and magic. This means that 3rd edition is also more flexible than 2nd; skills and abilities are more universal, with every class being able to attempt actions like "bluff" or "hide", where as only specific classes had access to them before. This time [[Character Class System]] dominates weaker race system: for powerful and unusual creatures what was racial HD is now treated as "class". You can multiclass without any racial restrictions, but any time classes not "favored" by your race get more than a level apart, you suffer XP penalties. The standard level limit was set at 20 (higher levels were covered in the ''[[Epic Level Handbook]]''), again without racial restrictions of any kind. The game became a lot simpler to use without losing very much of its depth. In addition, much of the material thrown out in 2nd edition - half-orcs, monks, battles with demons, and so on, were added back in (some in the core rulebooks, others in supplements). The most obvious flaws: skill point inflation, indecisive unification <ref>Such as class feature "skill works differently" - e.g. out-of-table Rogue abilities to deal with difficult and magic traps. Or prestige classes referring to the base class roundabout way - like "+1 to existing spellcasting class" which makes short stats ambiguous, or "we don't say Druid, we say requires Wild Shape... which has nothing to do with this class".</ref> and [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]] on steroids.
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* '''Dungeons and Dragons (4th edition) - 2008:''' A major adaptation that changed a lot of the mechanics, making it easier for new players to get used to the basic D&D concepts. Its setting and rules are a lot less varied than 3.5 - there's no more crafting system, most magic and attacks are made into "powers" that vary by each class, and magic items have been slimmed down - and there's more pluses in the game rather than minuses (i.e. most races get two + 2 to abilities, rather than the usual 3.5 one of + 2 to one, -2 to one). To this end, the game is more fitting (and clearly designed) for a heroic campaign that is combat-heavy and very fantasy-oriented. Combat itself has been highly revised so that each class has powers that help them in their field. Wizards have area-attack spells, fighters can punish enemies who don't attack them, rangers can shoot two arrows in a turn, but all of these are presented in a standardized format.
* '''Dungeons and Dragons Essentials (4th) - 2010:''' A new line of products launched in 2010, compatible with 4th edition rules. ''Essentials'' has the stated intent of offering new players a means of introduction to the game. It is, for the most part, a simplified 4E. There are some differences (Fighters work a bit differently, etc.) but for the most part it is 4E mechanics. It's a set of ten products (the new Red Box, dice, three tile sets, and a few extra books). The reintroduction of certain game elements removed from the making of 4th edition, and the confirmation that these changes will become standard from the end of 2010 on, has already led many players to calling it "4.5" edition. Naturally, the already-fragmented base was broken further over this.
* '''Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition:''' - 2014 [https://web.archive.org/web/20140724000303/http://www.wizards.com/
:: Round is officially 6 seconds, initiative is plain Dexterity roll.
* '''[[D20 Modern]]:''' Official adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons 3.0/3.5 for settings in the modern day. Not considered entirely successful - the classes are a bit weird, and not very well balanced (the base classes are... based on and named [[One Stat to Rule Them All|after individual stats]], like Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and so on, making a game mechanic into the entire basis for your character. Eventually, you get access to advanced classes... some of which are just bizarre: for instance, is it possible to take the Superstar, a class where you are a famous rock singer, in a game about fighting magical threats to the modern earth, and not instantly have a [[Mary Sue]]?
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* '''[http://basicfantasy.org/ Basic Fantasy]:''' A first-edition retroclone, this one takes the tack of having the player choose races and classes like in AD&D while keeping things as simple as in OD&D. It also uses ascending AC.
* ''[http://matt-landofnod.blogspot.com/p/blood-treasure.html Blood and Treasure]'': Has F/R/W, but roll-under saving throws and level titles and "AL: Chaotic (LE)".
* '''[
** ''StarSiege'' is its sci-fi counterpart on the same SIEGE engine.
** '''[
* '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150209004115/http://www.gratisgames.webspace.virginmedia.com/darkdungeons.html Dark Dungeons]:''' Named after the infamous [[Jack Chick]] tract, this is a very faithful retroclone of the BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia edition of classic D&D, that covers all five boxed sets (including the Immortals rules) in one book, merging in the optional rules from the later sets directly into the core rules and including a [[Spelljammer]] inspired cosmology.
* '''[
** Its publisher Goblinoid Games uses a modified version of the rules of this game for their post-apocalypse game called ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150211141443/http://www.goblinoidgames.com/mutantfuture.html Mutant Future]'', a close-as-you-can-get-it homage to ''[[Gamma World]]'' - and the "second edition" of ''Starships & Spacemen'' (1978) compatible with both, while they're at it.
* '''[[Microlite 20]]:''' A free, extremely streamlined and rules-lite version of the d20 system, designed to be compatible with existing d20 monsters and adventure modules.
* '''[http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/ OSRIC]:''' One of the first "retro-clone" games, this game is a faithful recreation of the first edition of AD&D.
* '''[http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/ Swords and Wizardry]:''' One of the more well-known retroclones, this game goes all the way back to the original D&D, with the Cleric, the Fighter and the Magic-User, taking inspiration from sword and sorcery. Notable for having only one saving throw as opposed to the five used in regular old-school D&D. You get to choose whether you want to play with original AC or ascending AC. There's also a White Box edition that simplifies things even further.
* '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150319180649/http://thistlegames.com/thistle/about-renegade/ Renegade]''' : a streamlined (roll-over checks, simple and useful skills) AD&D1 retroclone by David Morrison (published by Thistle Games).
* '''[http://www.rpgnow.com/product/235306/Grit--Glory-SRD Grit & Glory]''': a partial conversion of 5e/Castles & Crusades to [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay|d100 system]] mechanics, but it does not take advantages of the latter beyond zero-centered ability bonuses.
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* [[Improbable Species Compatibility]]: Several species in Dungeons & Dragons are quite capable of breeding with just about anything. In 2nd Edition, goblinoid species were specifically cited for fecundity and adaptable with most other races, while elves were specifically noted to choose whether or not they could reproduce with any given partner in ''The Complete Book of Elves''. 3rd Edition carried this further; dragons were capable of offspring with nearly anything alive, while aasimar and tieflings all have celestial or infernal ancestry, respectively (it helps that shape-changing abilities are common amongst the respective parentage). Further parentage was possible; the number of templates for half-parentage is astounding. The Book of Erotic Fantasy actually has a ''table'' for this kind of thing. It once appeared on /tg/, with big red arrows pointing to the part where one-inch-tall tall sprites and twenty-foot-tall cloud giants could interbreed, bearing the tactful message "WAT".
* [[Human Sacrifice]]: A tradition among the evil religions, though some have it in a less formal manner. Gruumsh, the god of slaughter and pillaging, gets his sacrifices through said slaughter and pillaging, so not so much of the high priest hacking off some virgin's head.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: With all the [[Half-Human Hybrid
** There's even a 3rd-party 3.5 sourcebook of half-breeds ''Bastards & Bloodlines''... covering everything from the slightly unusual (human/merfolk) to the completely bizarre (elf/giant eagle).
* [[I See Dead People]]: The "speak with dead" spell which partially resurrects corpses for conversation.
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** 4th Edition's ''Player Handbook 2'' includes the decidedly feline-looking Razorclaw Shifter, descended from weretigers.
** The Tibbit race, which are Small humanoids with cat ears and markings as if their skin were fur; they can also turn into a full cats in the manner of a [[Were Cat]].
* [[Chaos Entity]]:
** The Slaad Lords are the ''de facto'' (given the nature of Chaos) rulers of their kind and of Limbo, the Plane of Ultimate Chaos. While all are embodiments of Chaos, Chourst is the Trope most of all; while the others are embodiments of some concept related to Chaos, he is the Lord of Randomness, representing pure Chaos.
** In the ''Elder Evils'' splat book, the Leviathan is a being created from "leftover" byproducts of the Chaos that created the the multiverse.
* [[Charm Person]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. There is a spell of that name that does exactly that. It used to work for up to a month per casting, depending on the intelligence of the person who was charmed.
** There are improvements, like Mass Charm. An if that's not enough, [[Forgotten Realms]] has Virus Charm spreading by touch from the primary target to several secondary targets, thus beguiling people too well guarded to be charmed directly.
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** 4th Edition gives a possible explanation for why Graz'zt is much more sane and more of a chessmaster than most over Demons (besides Dagon). {{spoiler|He used to be an Archdevil.}}
* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: Nightstalker's transformation, Tenser's transformation and [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/mentalPinnacle.htm Mental Pinnacle]. Exchange all of your quadratic wizard powers for a few of those of a lower level linear rogue/warrior or exponential psion. Mental Pinnacle can be good if (and only if) you fight someone that dumped charisma, the others... not so much.
* [[Commanding Officer Powers]]: ''D&D'' has had various minor abilities of this type pop up over the years, but has had a few instances of a class focusing on it.
** The Marshall class, introduced in Third Edition's ''Miniatures Handbook'', gains the ability to give allies within a certain distance of it non-magical boosts to various checks of the Marshall's choice and let allies move a second time a small number of times per day. Since these abilities are "'''Ex'''traordinary"{{sic}}<!--The system uses a bolded Ex as an abbreviation for Extraordinary abilities.--> and not magical, they function in Antimagic Fields and cannot be dispelled like spells can. Unfortunately that's ''all'' the Marshall does, having absolutely nothing beyond the minor bonuses they provide by simply standing there, making the class notoriously shallow and weak.
** Near the end of its life, Third Edition introduced the White Raven Tactics discipline, used by the Crusader and Warblade classes, in ''Tome of Battle''. Maneuvers from the discipline allow buffing allies and occasionally debuffing enemies when used in conjunction with the Warblade and Crusader's innate ability to hit things.
** Fourth Edition introduced the Warlord, which focused on abilities of this type, in place of the traditional Bard class, which claimed magical buffing among its [[Jack of All Trades|very wide]] portfolio and did not make the core rulebook this time. Aside from Fourth Edition's general design decision to make [[Hit Points]] a matter of morale as much as actual injury (allowing a Warlord to heal allies by shouting at them) and the plot implications of calling the class's role "Leader", Warlord's existence and abilities are actually one of the less controversial additions of a very controversial edition. Even after the Bard returned later on, Warlord's non-magical nature and secondary focus on hitting things allowed the two to remain distinct.
* [[The Corrupter]]: Pazuzu's specialty. [[Magnificent Bastard|Who said a Chaotic Evil obyrith can't be smart]]?
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Dragons, some Sub-races, Gear, etc. This is a pretty common trope overall in this system. Even the ''planes of existence'' have this. Generally, planes with nice alignments have pretty colours; less pleasant planes tend to be black or blood-red. 4th Edition and Eberron decided that made the game too easy, so they did away with it.
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* [[Determinator]]: In all editions there are characters and monsters who can fight while at ''negative'' hit points, but it came up more frequently with 3rd's feats and prestige classes. 4th edition gives most Epic Destinies (and thus most level 20+ characters) a means to cheat death daily, either with instant healing, a sudden transformation (like into a platinum dragon or a spell-slinging spirit), or a simple self-resurrection seconds later.
** One Epic Destiny actually has a future version of your character appear to protect his past self.
* [[Disposable Bandits]]: Very common in low-level modules.
* [[Disposable Vagrant]]: Several adventures and supplements have examples of monsters that use this technique.
* [[Draconic Divinity]]: Most ''Dungeons & Dragons'' settings have a pantheon of dragon deities, generally including Bahamut and Tiamat. If any of these deities commonly worshiped by normal races varies.
** If one believes the most popular creation myth in ''[[Eberron]]'', the world was created by the three Progenitors Siberys (the Dragon Above), Eberron ("the Dragon Between" or "the World Itself") and Khyber ("the Dragon Below"), all of whom were/are dragons. Due to the non-provable nature of the divine in ''Eberron'' (a strong contrast to most other ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' settings), if there's any truth to the matter is left to the Dungeon Master to decide, though there definitely is an alternate dimension of evil below Eberron if you go low enough, and a planetary ring of magically useful rocks if you go up enough.
*** The pantheons of the Sovereign Host and Dark Six have no fixed appearance (as the non-provable nature of the divine means every culture will vary wildly), but all The Nine and Six and One have some form of dragon on the list of how they're commonly depicted in-world. The dragons themselves believe the Sovereigns were powerful dragons who ascended.
*** Unlike most settings, Tiamat is "merely" a dragon-themed fiendish Overlord rather than a true deity. Since overlords are so puissant as to be undefinably powerful if unsealed, and fiend worshipers can get divine spells (as in ''Eberron'' those are powered by internal belief, not external divine power) the difference is largely pedantic. Bahamut is just a dragon-shaped constellation and largely exists in the setting only to have some explanation for the sheer amount of rules elements in third edition that included his name.
* [[Eat Dirt Cheap]]: A number of monsters have some form of this; gold dragons eat jewels, xorn eat rare minerals, and so on.
* [[Elemental Shapeshifter]]
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* [[Equivalent Exchange]]: The Defilers in Dark Sun.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: The Drow, for all their depravities, are utterly disgusted by the unthinkably insane Derro, and slaughter them whenever they can. As compared to Illithids and Duergar, canonically trade partners when not at war. Evil dragons usually stick to draconic codes of honour.
* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131028210045/http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm There is no hope for you if you exist in this world. Nothing can be trusted.] [[Killer Game Master|If the game master wants to kill you]], you're dead."
* [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks]]: Quoth the Dungeonscape book: "When a dungeon builder needs a deterrent, the only thing better than a giant pit of acid is a giant pit of acid with a shark in it."
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: The game makes much use of this trope. Most prominently, the drow are a species of [[Evil Counterpart]]s to the other elves. Other examples include...
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** Dragons basically are able to pass along edited instincts through their genes—so yes, if a dragon researches some new spell, its children can learn it automatically. Or, if some evil empire nearly kills the parent (before the eggs are created, obviously), the children will know to avoid that kind of thing without being told. Given that most dragons are probably not great parents this is one possible way they know things like language, that or [[Functional Magic|magic]].
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Baphomet, one of the myriad [[Dimension Lord]]s of the Abyss, has a body that is exactly what you would expect from someone who calls himself the "Demon Prince of Beasts"... and has the brain of a [[Chessmaster]], preferring to destroy society from within before attempting to raze it to the ground.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: In the 1st Edition ''Monster Manual 2'', Glasya - [[Evil Is Sexy| the fiendishly beautiful]] [[Hot as Hell| Princess of Hell]] - [[Double Entendre| has 69 hp]]. Very funny, Mr. Gygax.
* [[Giant Enemy Crab]]: Many examples.
* [[Giant Flyer]]: Dragons, wyverns, pterosaurs, giant eagles, giant owls, etc.
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* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: The lich Pnessutt in the Judges Guild adventure ''Dark Tower''.
** This is also played around with in module S1 ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', as the fake lich, once destroyed, causes the room and dungeon to appear to collapse. [[Gary Gygax]] nearly explicitly encourages Dungeon Masters to be sadistic in describing the collapse and ruthless in enforcing a countdown. To those who leave, Gary suggests the DM ask "was that too hard for you?" or words to that effect, while those who stay are NOT crushed. (One almost wonders if early drafts had instructions on how to get tar and feathers out of clothes and hair.)
* [[Loads and Loads of Races]]: Aside of possible NPCs from anything in any Monstrous Manual and specified in settings, ready playable races are added in [[sourcebook]]s like [
* [[Luke Nounverber]]: Many, many characters. Especially dwarves.
* [[Made of Iron]]: Any high-level character. Many monsters, including the literal [[Made of Iron]] Iron Golem.
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* [[Magic Knight]]: Many fighter/mage classes (or "Gish", as they're known in fan circles); including the duskblade, hexblade, and swordmage(from 4th Edition). On the divine side, there's the Paladin and certain cleric builds.
* [[Magic Music]]: Bards, who fight orcs with their magic-infused music.
* [[The Mindless Almighty]]:
** Banghtu, the orcish god of strength, has almost limitless physical might, but he's known for being woefully stupid. The ''Monster Mythology'' splatbook gives him an Intelligence Score of only 3 (putting him below most mortal ''children'', orc or otherwise). Naturally, he values strength and little else besides - he's also [[Undying Loyalty|completely loyal]] to his father Gruumsh, the head of the orc pantheon.
** Leviathan, one of the [[Eldritch Abomination]]s detailed in ''Elder Evils'', is an entity that took form from a leftover aspect of Chaos after it combined with Law during Creation. Best described as “mindless”, it is driven by little except raw instinct.
** [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Juiblex]] is a grey area here. A powerful demon lord, it supposedly has an intellect and mindset that is [[Blue and Orange Morality|alien and incomprehensible even to other demons]]. Some sources rate its INT at 1 or even zero, portraying it as mindless, while others give it genius-level or even godlike Intelligence, stating it even knows the true names of [[The Old Gods|the most powerful obyriths]], using this knowledge to manipulate the Abyss itself. Whatever the case, Juiblex seems to have the simplistic mindset of the oozes and slimes it holds dominance over - it is concerned only with devouring, consuming, and destroying everything, barely even acknowledging mortal races. In fact, certain sources claim that evil cultists who worship Juiblex actually gain their divine magic from either [[God of Evil|Tharizdun]] or [[Eldritch Abomination|Ghaunadaur]], with some even suggesting that Juiblex is a lesser aspect of one of them. Possibly the most likely theory is that Juiblex does indeed have intelligence bordering on godlike, but only in regards to the Abyss and its history and denizens, and has no interest in anything beyond it.
* [[The Minion Master]]: You can use a summon spell for lots of little monsters instead of one big one, for example.
* [[Missing Mom]]: Bensozia and Naome to Glasya and Fierna.
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** [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: Vampires in D&D hew pretty closely to tradition, though they vary in temperament from savage brutes to dignified killers depending on the individual. The horror-themed Ravenloft setting, though, introduced numerous variants, such as the elven vampire, which can only survive in the day and is killed by exposure to moonlight!
** [[Our Werebeasts Are Different]]: Werebeasts are collectively (and [[Did Not Do the Research|innacurately]]) lycanthorpes. In addition to [[Werewolves]], there werebears, werecats, wererats, wearboars, weretigers, dire wereboars (hill giants that turn into dire boars), and jackleweres, just to name a few. The 3.5 edition ''Monster Manual'' has rules for the use of any type of animal as template for a werebeast.
** [[Our Monsters Are Weird]]... OK, honestly some of them are [http://www.cracked.com/article_17455_15-retarded-dungeons-dragons-monsters.html kinda][https://web.archive.org/web/20131028210045/http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm stupid] (MONKEY BEES!). But it wouldn't be D&D without them.
{{quote|The rabbit is not just sitting there. The rabbit is part of the monster. So you're looking at an evil tree stump that has a cute bunny on the end of its tentacles so that it can lure people or other animals near it. While I understand the parallel to animals in the real world, I'm still stuck here looking at a googly-eyed tree stump with a rabbit glued to its head. Wow.}}
* [[Outside Man, Inside Man]]: Used in 4th edition's alignment system. Good characters prefer to overthrow corrupt governments while [[Lawful Good]] characters prefer to change things from within.
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* [[Stronger with Age]]: The older a creature is, odds are the bigger and stronger it is.
* [[Super Reflexes]]: Available as several of the class abilities.
* [[Tactile Script]]: ''Illithiad'' (''Monstrous Arcana'') introduced Qualith script, made for the illithid way of thinking and hard to understand for creatures that don't have practice with telepathic communication. It usually consists of 4 striated lines that can be followed with tentacles, though certain standalone symbols (Creed identifiers) use 6 lines. They also have the striator - a pen that translates thoughts into this script, even if used by a creature who can't read it.
* [[Take Up My Sword]]: A ridiculously common backstory for unoriginal characters. (Orphans are still more common, though.)
* [[Taste the Rainbow]]: Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, Trolls, Fiends, Spellcasters, Deities, incredibly niche Prestige Classes, alternatively aligned Paladin spinoffs...
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* [[You Have to Burn the Web]]: The ''web'' spell (or any spideresque webbing) combined with a handy flame can be the low-level party's first introduction to nigh-unavoidable blast attacks.
* [[You Kill It, You Bought It]]: Goblins in 3rd Edition. Because they're [[Lawful Evil]], their government is rulership by the strong. If the goblin king is killed, the killer usually takes his place.
== Mechanics ==
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** Exists as a feat by the same name in 3.5, and a couple of others intended for large monsters in 3.0.
* [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]: First to third editions, averted in fourth. It was, at least in gaming, the trope creator, and many games based on or inspired by D&D suffered from the same issue. It was at its worst in 3rd/3.5 edition due to significantly lowered character mortality and rules specifically for starting higher level campaigns, leading to far more characters achieving high levels and thus encountering the issue.
* [[Literally Fearless]]: "Immunity" to fear is traditionally a class feature of the Paladin. ''[[Ravenloft]]'' makes it explicit that the Paladin isn't merely in control of his fear, but totally shielded from it. Accordingly it alters the class within the setting to only have protection from supernatural fear effects (meaning a paladin is still subject to intimidation, atmosphere, etc.) since one of the victims not having fear is a [[Story-Breaker Power]] for a horror setting.
* [[Loads and Loads of Rules]]: While this applies to pretty much every published RPG ever, the rules for early editions of D&D are rather lengthy. Worse still, most of these rules are poorly organized.
** To give some perspective, the rules for [[Grapling With Grappling Rules|grappling]] run a whole two pages in the 3rd edition [[Updated Rerelease|Rules Compendium]]. The rules for magic items weigh in at 5, and the rules for movement are covered by ''ten whole pages''. And then you have Polymorphing rules, which have been changed so frequently that you need to check the errata instead of the most recently printed book just to make sure you are up to date.
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* [[A Year and a Day]]: Multiple examples
* [[Your Mind Makes It Real]] for some spells, usually illusion spells with the shadow sub school. Although illusion spells with the shadow sub school still hurt you if you don't believe in them, just not as much, under normal conditions.
== Gaming ==
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* [[After-Action Patchup]]: Healing is generally concentrated after the battle.
* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: Multiple examples
* [[
**
** In the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' boxed set (before they started getting edition numbers), the [[Powers That Be]] were referred to as Immortals, and the Master Set included a detailed procedure (which included tithes, research, meditation rituals) for an epic-Level hero to petition to join their ranks, which if accepted required a series of trials and tasks to prove their worth. The later Immortal Rules was a setting for those who had succeeded.
* [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]:
** In 4th edition, when your characters reach max level (30), the rulebooks encourage them to do this so you can start new characters.▼
** This was the ultimate goal in the last version of BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia-era D&D, complete with a ruleset for those that ascended. To ascend further, an ascended entity needs to max out his ascended level at 36, reincarnate himself as a level 1 character, ascend once again, max out the ascended level again, and proceed to ascend past some great barrier. The result is a character that cannot be contained by a D&D rulebook.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The 3.X monk. On paper, you've got a monster ninja who can move faster than anything, run up walls, teleport, [[In a Single Bound|jump so far]] [[Not Quite Flight|he can effectively fly]], become completely immune to poison and disease, block and catch enemies, grapple and trip forever, stun or kill enemies with a single blow, punch through ''castles'', and [[Flight, Strength, Heart|talk to animals]]. In practice, he can't hit anything, and is ''squishier'' than [[Squishy Wizard|the wizard]] (
▲** In 4th edition, when your characters reach max level (30) the rulebooks encourage them to do this so you can start new characters.
▲** Sort of averted in 3/3.5 edition. Standard class progression stops at level 20, but the [[Epic Level Handbook]] contains rules for advacing beyond that, with no actual cap. The easy multiclassing in that edition also meant that you could simply add new classes and prestige classes pretty much forever. However, by this point game balance is pretty much non-existant so few games ever hit epic levels, and even those that do rarely go very far into them. Deities and Demigods allows your character to engage in this trope rather than just advance forever.
▲* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The 3.X monk. On paper, you've got a monster ninja who can move faster than anything, run up walls, teleport, [[In a Single Bound|jump so far]] [[Not Quite Flight|he can effectively fly]], become completely immune to poison and disease, block and catch enemies, grapple and trip forever, stun or kill enemies with a single blow, punch through ''castles'', and [[Flight, Strength, Heart|talk to animals]]. In practice, he can't hit anything, and is ''squishier'' than [[Squishy Wizard|the wizard]] (Who gets lots of good buffs to avert that).
** Monks have excellent defenses against magic. They are inaccurate against hard targets but can deal extreme damage to [[Squishy Wizard|soft]] ones, and have excellent mobility to strike [[Squishy Wizard|vulnerable rear line targets.]] [[Scrub|Certain players]] just mistake them for a front line melee class.
*** Nah, they're still hopeless. The defenses against magic consist of spell resistance (against which wizards don't care due to no-SR spells) and good base saves (which meet no save spells). Wizards can fly, so that takes care of mobility. The end result consists of a class which is not competent to melee melee opponents and incapable of fighting spellcasters. Only good thing they do is possibly being a glass stunlocker. Maybe.
** 3.0/5 metamagic feats raised the power of spells but treated them as higher level, essentially making them more expensive to use. With very few exceptions, the result was actually slightly less powerful than just using a higher level spell. Several feats and classes reduce the cost of metamagic (Arcane Thesis, notably), making it capable of dealing several thousand damage per round with ease.
* [[Beat Still My Heart]]: Multiple examples{{context|reason=Such as?}}
* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: Pretty much the entire point of Epic Levels (i.e. level 21 and higher) in third edition. By [[Charles Atlas Superpower|training long enough]] and defeating enough monsters, any fighter or rogue or barbarians can attain a balance check high enough to walk safely upon clouds, or a tumble check high enough to survive re-entry into the atmosphere.
* [[Boring Yet Practical]]: Several, especially in ''Complete Arcane'', which (among other things) details how to counter casters. For example, the best defense against an invisible intruder? A dog.
** Of all the crazy stuff Gestalt can allow you to do, just adding Warblade or Factotum on the other half a typical Wizard build allows you to run almost anything off your intelligence.
** Of all the new tricks you can learn with a feat, Improved
* [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]: Every character with a few levels under his belt who does not use magic or obviously supernatural abilities. Having a 10 in all stats is defined as the human average in an ability score, and 18 as the strongest on earth. Since you can get an 18 in a stat at character creation if you're lucky, characters can go far and above the maximum human potential through levelling up.
* [[Combat Medic]]: Certain cleric or fighter/cleric builds could be like this; most Leader classes in 4th Edition function as Combat Medics by default.
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* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Deicide is a common practice in epic-level games. In 1st, 3rd and 4th Edition, gods even have combat stats just like any other monster, and are fully punchable. At least in 3rd and 4th, they can't be killed except by extraordinary circumstances, not to mention 3rd edition deities typically had 20 levels in three different class with another 20 outsider hit dice (and each of these gets the max amount, rather than the 1/2 or random most get). For those not in the know, that means they can take a ''lot'' of punishment and resist a lot of effects even without their divine immunities and powers. A Call of Cthulhu d20 book not only statted out Cthulhu, but had a sidebar addressing why Cthulhu might have a suit of +3 chainmail lying around.
* [[Difficult but Awesome]]: [[Squishy Wizard|Controllers]] in 4E. Poorly played, they're a [[The Load|liability]] due to their squishiness and lack of damage output. Played by a good tactician, their ability to [[An Adventurer Is You|debuff and mez]] everything to the point of complete ineffectiveness will make the DM cry.
** It turns out the horribly overpowered full casters in 3rd edition [https://web.archive.org/web/20081223093330/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mc_los_142 were at least partially intentional], in order to reward players who realize how it works.
* [[Empty Levels]]: The earlier editions had this problem. While spellcasters got new spells every few levels, fighters and thieves were mainly limited to the advancement in Hit Dice and to-hit that all characters got upon leveling up, in addition to skill percentages if you were a thief and being able to cut down another 1 HD or less mook per round if you were a fighter. Combine this with the increasingly horrifying supernatural enemies that players encountered at higher levels, against which sharp-sword-swinging was a decreasingly recommendable tactic, and it was no wonder that [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]] set in.
* [[Failed a Spot Check]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
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* [[Spoony Bard]]: Some base classes, many prestige classes (though many seemed better for NPCs than PCs)
* [[Weapons Grade Vocabulary]]: In the Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, bards have an at-will "spell" called Vicious Mockery, which inflicts damage and status effects. Some bard players will use insult generators every time they use this attack.
== Meta ==
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* [[Character Tiers]]: A unique variant, the classes are tiered not on their power, but on their versatility (and thus ability to solve traps, social encounters, and other non-combat stuff given by the DM), then broken up into how well they can do that. Thus a fighter is low tier not because he is bad in combat (though he may be), but because he is complete dead weight outside of combat (He may rarely get usage out of intimidate), while Rogue is higher because he may work at social encounters, traps and combat, but he isn't fantastic at them.
* [[Creator Thumbprint]]: Gary Gygax had several, including mushrooms, various shades of the color purple, [[H.P. Lovecraft]], his extensive vocabulary and polearms - and really bizarre ideas about ballistics. In 3e era someone evidently has fetish for spiked chains and word "eldritch".<ref>The latter may or may not have anything to do with [[Sexy Packaging|the cover of OD&D book ''Eldritch Wizardry'']]</ref>
* [[Did Not Do
** One 3.5 Prestige Class that fits this trope would be the Abjurant Champion; a [[Magic Knight]] class that grants a character bonuses to Abjuration spells (such as [[Does Exactly What It Says On The Tin|Shield]]). It mentions Mage Armour as being another such spell, seemingly disregarding the fact that Mage Armour is placed in ''conjuration''.
*** Though most DMs will allow it as Abjuration if asked: it's an obvious bug. "Armor" stays in Conjuration from its first appearance (AD&D1 ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' article by Gygax), even after most dubious school assignments were fixed in AD&D2. "Create force field of armor" <ref>reinterpreting it as a corporeal object would open "wizards in armor" can of worms</ref> fits better in either Abjuration (with protective barriers) or Evocation [Force] (with other forcefield spells like Shield) than "create/call stuff". It's all the weirder given that it never was fixed even though more powerful similar spell Invisible Mail (''The Complete Wizard's Handbook'') was designated Evocation+Abjuration and a few shaped forcefield spells (e.g. Gauntlet from ''Seven Sisters'') were Evocation+Alteration.
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** The iconic Mind Flayer was inspired by the cover of [[Brian Lumley]]'s novel, ''The Burrowers Beneath''.
** In 3rd Edition, the [[Pirate]] [[Prestige Class]] is called the "[[The Princess Bride (film)|Dread Pirate]]."
** In ''Libris Mortis'', an example offered of a potential [[Soul Jar|phylactery]] for a [[Our Liches Are Different|lich]] is [[The Lord of the Rings|a plain gold ring with arcane inscriptions on the inside of the band]].
** Possibly overlapping with [[Continuity Nod]], the 3rd edition [http://ia600805.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/25/items/olcovers54/olcovers54-L.zip&file=547531-L.jpg ''Player's Handbook II''] and [http://images.trollandtoad.com/products/pictures/128270.jpg ''Dungeon Master's Guide II'']{{Dead link}} covers feature artwork that could be called revamps of their [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/PHB-cover.jpg AD&D] [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jekJFiEaILE/TtZgNQTfZmI/AAAAAAAAAWI/Hk1eAAuknB8/s1600/1E+Dungeon+Masters+Guide.JPG counterparts].
* [[Signature Device]]: The setting involves trinkets in this role - Some of them are magical, others not.
** Holy symbols. However they're never ''exclusive'' for the clergy - Laymen don them to show their devotion. - But anyone that sees you wearing it will think you're part of some deity, a priest, or belonging to the church's hierarchy.
** Drow nobles get the House Insignia - An amulet that holds some magical powers, besides being a heraldic device, it functions as a utility mostly. They are also use as "keys" for magical security for their estate(s0, obedience enchantments on mounts, and so on - And are booby-trapped, so a non-family member that steals it will be cursed.
* [[You All Meet in An Inn]]: Generally thought of as the inventor of this trope.
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