# I just realized why i don't like Frodo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170 "2005-08-01T17:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/21 "2005-08-02T15:25:01Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > What I actually said to the Ringwraiths after we tortured Gollum was “Cook his goose.” What they _heard_ was “Cut him loose.” I should’ve known not to use regional colloquiallisms when giving dispensation orders regarding prisoners. I wanted to kill the one who set Gollum free, but there was some question about morale, not mention a lot of crap regarding symbolism and balancing light and dark forces that I frankly didn’t understand. So it was hard to get good help even back then. But in many ways Nazguls are the ultimate airheads. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/22 "2005-08-02T15:36:00Z")
Wasn’t the title of the article something like “Gandalf is a 5th-Level Wizard” or something like that? > [@jrfranchi](#): > > One more note on the article. At time written 20th level was a fantastically high level. Now with online games we do seem to 45th level characters running around. These characters would all be vastly more powerful than any of the Deities spec’d out in Deities and Demigods. So the level rating were also low as the benchmark was lower. Not a matter of time, but of systems. Even in modern D&D, 20th level is still really high, if not as high as you can get. 45th level in your average MMORPG probably translates to roughly 10th or 11th level in AD&D terms. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/23 "2005-08-02T15:45:08Z")
How do you feel about Bard (from The Hobbit)? After all, he killed a flying dragon with a single arrow. That’s like rolling 100 consecutive 00s. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/24 "2005-08-02T15:47:38Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Wasn’t the title of the article something like “Gandalf is a 5th-Level Wizard” or something like that? > > Not a matter of time, but of systems. Even in modern D&D, 20th level is still really high, if not as high as you can get. 45th level in your average MMORPG probably translates to roughly 10th or 11th level in AD&D terms. Ok. Good to know. I only played Paper & Dice version and started way back in '75 with the ancient 3 book box set. I still play a few times a year. Highest any characters ever got in my games were low 20’s and that was literally after 5 years of playing weekly. I always stressed the storyline and character development over just kill = experience. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/25 "2005-08-02T15:48:42Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > How do you feel about Bard (from The Hobbit)? After all, he killed a flying dragon with a single arrow. That’s like rolling 100 consecutive 00s. He got word of an exploit and used it though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/26 "2005-08-02T16:07:35Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > How do you feel about Bard (from The Hobbit)? After all, he killed a flying dragon with a single arrow. That’s like rolling 100 consecutive 00s. It was a very special arrow. He was a very good shot and he knew the one weakness of Old Smaug. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/27 "2005-08-02T16:09:58Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > It was a very special arrow. He was a very good shot and he knew the one weakness of Old Smaug. This is why they introduced ammunition breakage rules in the next edition. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/28 "2005-08-02T16:52:56Z")
If the LotR Orcs are \<1 HD monsters, then an 8th level Aragorn will get 8 attacks per round vs the Orcs, which pretty much fits the film. Legolas probably has double long bow specialisation, and the bow is probably +2 of speed. Which Hobbit got most experience in the end though? After all Sam actually hit the Spider Queen Shelob? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/29 "2005-08-02T17:01:36Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > It was a very special arrow. He was a very good shot and he knew the one weakness of Old Smaug. So he was actually unlikely to fail? ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/30 "2005-08-02T17:06:51Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Ehhh … it ain’t worth getting upset about. That’d be like George Bush getting upset over a negative editorial in the Mayberry _Gazette_. I don’t know beans about this D&D stuff. But hey, Sauron, I hear tell that you’re in the middle of jump starting an industrial revolution in a developing area. I also hear that you’re building a coalition which has no prejudice, includes all kinds of different people from disparate ethnic and cultural backgrounds working side by side as equals. You’ve even empowered nine of the local community leaders to be part of the effort. But you’re encountering resistance from some redneck honkies who insist on resisting progress, grasping at outdated dogma and maintaining their ignorant backwoods existence. So let me take the chance to say, you go, bro! Beat them rednecks! You might want to post an orc guard or two on that big volcano over there, while you’re at it… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/31 "2005-08-02T17:25:14Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > If the LotR Orcs are \<1 HD monsters, then an 8th level Aragorn will get 8 attacks per round vs the Orcs, which pretty much fits the film. Legolas probably has double long bow specialisation, and the bow is probably +2 of speed. > Which Hobbit got most experience in the end though? After all Sam actually hit the Spider Queen Shelob? Meridoc helped killed the Lord of the Nazguls and lead the Scouring of the Shire. Capt Merry definitely gained the most experience. On other hand Sam grew the most as a person. He was the Lower Class nobody with Aristocrats and the Idle Wealthy. After the war he was received by Kings and Mayor for life. Able to finagle huge tracts of land for his family and get his children into favorable marriages. ---
**Author:** ![Domokun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Domokun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Domokun)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/32 "2005-08-02T17:28:35Z")
Yeah well, what’s a hobbit to do? The Enemy totally hax. Just because you give the Eye of Sauron a fancy pants name it’s still a lamer radar cheat. ---
**Author:** ![Domokun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Domokun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Domokun)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/33 "2005-08-02T17:31:27Z")
The GMs really suck too. They won’t even help unless you kiss up and get their “grace” or some BS. This is the worst run MMO ever. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/34 "2005-08-02T17:44:24Z")
> [@Domokun](#): > > The Enemy totally hax. omg lol k n00b ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/35 "2005-08-02T18:44:01Z")
> [@](#): > > I posit also Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and any similar “goose-girl” character from the Brothers’ Grimm. These are characters who are extremely lucky (or for whom destiny takes a hand) far beyond their abilities. “Everyone helps that girl!” is the witch’s complaint. She rolled a natural 18 on her Charisma stat and then tweaked it up by taking the “Weak and helpless” and “Trouble-making familiar: dog” disadvantages. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/36 "2005-08-02T18:55:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I always stressed the storyline and character development over just kill = experience. You qouldn’t like the new edition. Mathematically, you should easily be able to level from 1 to 20 in about three months. And they pretty much made the XP tables such that the GM has no say, at least not according to WotC. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/37 "2005-08-02T19:06:10Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > You qouldn’t like the new edition. Mathematically, you should easily be able to level from 1 to 20 in about three months. And they pretty much made the XP tables such that the GM has no say, at least not according to WotC. You caught me, I still use the first edition of AD&D with heavy editing by myself. My large campaigns took place in Middle Earth, roughly 110 Fourth Age. (at the very end of Aragorn’s Reign) I now use a world I built completely from scratch with it’s own mythos. Oh, I was one of those ref’s that had a favorite NPC that could never have anything serious happen to him. He was Samwise’s Grandson and a professional Treasure Finder and Trickster. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/38 "2005-08-02T20:14:12Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > There are characters in fiction who do not convert easily to AD&D characters. “Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a 17th-level moocow coming down along the road to the Keep on the Borderlands and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby koo-bold…” Yeah, I see what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/39 "2005-08-02T20:26:25Z")
Frodo is not a D&D character. He is the \*\*Quest Item \*\* himself. No one else can carry the Ring. Just like you have to bring the virgin along for the virgin sacrifice, even though she’s no good at fighting all the goody-two-shoe paladins & knights intent on rescuing her, so too you must bring Frodo through harm’s way and protect him. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170/40 "2005-08-02T20:44:05Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > That just means that Aragorn, Legolas, and Boromir were just campers who got off slumming around low-level areas to kill a bunch of wolves and orcs that conned gray to them. They should’ve known that the level difference was too high to form a party with four level 1 halflings. Frodo couldn’t have been getting any experience for any of the kills up until Moria. The Balrog would’ve been at least an orange elite to Gandalf, but he has to go and ruin it by logging out before the kill and then coming back with an alt character. And dumb-ass Aragorn didn’t even have enough sense to get his sword repaired when he was back in town. > > If you ask me, Frodo was the only one who knew what he was doing – he recognized that the Fellowship was a waste of time so he disbanded the party and went to explore areas where he could get better experience. The rest of them just went off to another mid-level area to play around with their new mounts and just do some simple guard and fetch quests. And Legolas and Gimli are the worst kind of “power-gamer,” not exploring or anything, just camping one area and waiting for monsters to respawn so they could compare how many they’d killed and see who leveled up faster; you know they went straight to the message boards afterwards and talked about what bad-asses they were. If I read you correctly, Frodo/Gandalf are the same? That I would believe. Gandalf is two boxin his alt Frodo so he get him some Blue/Purple BOP crap. He’s obviously a noob, because what kind of wizard tanks in an instance like Moria? If you ask me, they are all idiots. WTF, no healer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realized-why-i-dont-like-frodo/315170.md?page=3)