Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules
Frank Mentzer began revising the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set in 1983. He released a five-boxed set series that ran through 1985. The first box contained rules for characters from levels one to three. A second box covered levels four through fourteen. The third box expanded play up to level twenty-five. The fourth box took players to level thirty-six. This final expansion before Immortals Rules established the foundation for what came next.
TSR published the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules in 1986. The boxed set included two booklets totaling eighty-four pages combined. One booklet held fifty-two pages while the other contained thirty-two pages. Frank Mentzer wrote both guides under the titles Player's Guide to Immortals and DM's Guide to Immortals. Anne Gray McCready edited the text with Harold Johnson assisting on development. Larry Elmore created the cover artwork. Jeff Easley provided interior illustrations alongside Elmore.
Characters who reached immortality exchanged experience points for power points at a rate of ten thousand to one. Players spent these power points to permanently increase attribute scores. They could also use a magic point system to grant new special abilities. Immortals advanced by rank instead of traditional levels. Maintaining a rank required keeping enough power points available. Promotion to the next rank demanded competition in the Olympics event. Combat and magic systems modified themselves to account for Immortal powers. Each character gained an abundance of powers capable of casting any spell plus new combat abilities.
The rules expanded the D&D multiverse system beyond previous limits. An Astral Plane permeated and connected the entire multiverse structure. The Prime Material Plane sat alongside elemental planes and Ethereal Planes. Outer planes ranged from mono-spatial atto-planes measuring about 1/3 inch wide. These tiny realms contrasted sharply with penta-spatial tera-planes spanning approximately 851 billion light-years. Dungeon Masters received notes on running campaigns for Immortal characters. Hierarchs of the spheres acted as superiors over player characters within this society. Sample plots offered adventure scenarios while twenty-two pages detailed game statistics for monsters including demons from Eldritch Wizardry.
Graeme Davis reviewed the set in issue No. 83 of White Dwarf magazine. He called it the culmination of the Dungeons & Dragons game system. Davis found the material interesting yet could not imagine actually playing through it. Lawrence Schick wrote in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds that play using these rules differed so much from low-level D&D as to be almost another game entirely. Casus Belli magazine published a review in issue number thirty-six during February 1987.
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Common questions
When did Frank Mentzer begin revising the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set?
Frank Mentzer began revising the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set in 1983. He released a five-boxed set series that ran through 1985.
Who published the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules and when was it released?
TSR published the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules in 1986. The boxed set included two booklets totaling eighty-four pages combined with one booklet holding fifty-two pages while the other contained thirty-two pages.
How many pages were in each booklet of the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules?
One booklet held fifty-two pages while the other contained thirty-two pages for a total of eighty-four pages combined. Frank Mentzer wrote both guides under the titles Player's Guide to Immortals and DM's Guide to Immortals.
What is the exchange rate between experience points and power points in the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules?
Characters who reached immortality exchanged experience points for power points at a rate of ten thousand to one. Players spent these power points to permanently increase attribute scores or use a magic point system to grant new special abilities.
When did Casus Belli magazine publish its review of the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules?
Casus Belli magazine published a review in issue number thirty-six during February 1987. Graeme Davis reviewed the set in issue No. 83 of White Dwarf magazine before that date.