The Watcher

I never played many dwarves or gnomes in my time. I like these races, and I generally like when they are in the party. Gnomes are fun little tricksters and even the most stereotypical dwarven fighter is good for a few beer jokes or anti-elf comments. But I am more of a human or half-orc kind of a guy, so I am not putting together many Ederth Hammerfall or Faena Jenan, Master Illusionist. That said, I think I missed out on one of the skills that dwarves and gnomes can do seemingly unconsciously: detect slopes.

I know: who cares about detecting a slope? I never did. Far as I am concerned, the farther down the dungeon the better. There are not a lot of swords of giant slaying or 1,000 p.p. gems hanging around on the first level of a dungeon crawl. Nope, those first levels are filled with stupid goblins, an occasional hobgoblin, and more giant centipedes than I care to count. There is a reason the module is called Descent into the Depths of the Earth, not Staying on the Surface of the Earth. Beholders live in the depths, liches live in the depths, even xorns live in the depths. I don't need someone telling me that I am walking downhill; I will throw some water on the ground and follow it.

I am sure that better players than I use detect slopes all the time. They are probably the same kind of players who put chalk on the walls of a labyrinth or spike door to keep them open. Yes, they live longer, but all that space in their bags filled with chalk and spikes could be going to better use: holding shiny, shiny gold.

"The Watcher" ends Dorime and is credited to Lemmy. It is a long way from the average Motorhead song, but there is a lot of creative room when one is in Hawkwind.