PHB II and Improved Natural Attack

[satori01]

I'm very tempted to call such "mistakes" incompetent, or at the very least a blatant disregard for rigor. I understand stat block mistakes when it comes to sample PrC class listings...I'm sure often times the PrC class has gone through revisions, and missing a plus or two on a 6th + character is understandable.

This is a generic template to be used for a 1st level character. The person doing the write up only needed to READ the feat to know that this is not possible. People on this very same forum, I believe, are loath to post specific stat information w/o the books handy, for fear of someone checking the information.

I would certainly expect someone being paid to do a write up in a proffesionaly released product to check the books before publishing.

The reality is, everyone hates doing stats. I think the stats are done last minute by the authors, and I think the reality is authors, just like DMs the world over, now for the most part eyeball the stats at higher levels in their own games.

 

[Artoomis]

...a blatant disregard for rigor...

Fair enough.

I'm sure somewhere in WotC someone is in charge of making the business case for how much is spent on editing and proofreading.

Perhaps a few more dollars spent in this area would be money well spent?

On the other hand, money talks, and so long as we buy the books... well, don't expect them to spend any more money on editing and proofreading when we seem to feel it's good enough - evidenced by our buying the books.

It's not like we don't have other choices.

 

[Klaus]

You think that's bad? How about the warlock Blaster progression that takes Point-Blank Shot TWICE???

 

[Thurbane]

That is some major incompetence. Letting crap like that get into print is unforgivable. It sounds like Dragon magazine has more Wotc oversight than the PHB2.

I'm still not too thrilled about the erroneous level info on the front of red Hand of Doom. Who proofreads these things? This should be so basic that it doesn't happen at all.

Perhaps someone should have a word in the ear of WotC staff that getting books out without errors is more important than cramming out a new splat book every few weeks...

 

[Thurbane]

It wouldn't even be hard for them to remedy - put a few groups of experienced gaming groups on as consultants, give them prerelease copies of the books before they have been through the printing press, and then give those groups a weeks or so reading and playtesting.

Hell, my group would do it for free, basically...

I'm sorry, but I'm firmly in the group that believes an organisation like WotC has more than enough resources to ensure that glaring errors do not creep into their publications. It's not exactly like hardcover rule books are cheap - I don't think it's unreasonable for the D&D community to expect a certain level of competence and professionalism for their dollars.

 

[satori01]

Problem is, at the moment D&D is owned by a (parent) company that deals primarily in high profit margin items. I'm quite sure the compartively low margin WOTC books get a lot of scrutiny.

Look at the saga of the 'New' Monster Stat Block. Basic model appears in Dragon and Dungeon...works fine.

In hardback we first see it used in Complete Psionic were it is, to put it politely...it is an embarasement. Those stats are effectively unusable, especially when most DMs will just use an existing, easy to use monster in its place. I seriously doubt the designers on those books felt those stat blocks were finished.

Progress now to Race of the Dragon. Stat blocks are better, but still abreviated. Then move on to Hordes of the Abyss. Stat blocks are fine except for no listing of what number was used for the pre added Power Attack figure. Did Demon X hit for 2 points of PA or 4? The world will never know because the math really breaks down when you look at it hard. We also learn from James Jacobs that when he submited the monsters that PA # was included. Did some bean counter decided to save on ink?

Move on to MM IV where the stat block is perfectly fine and usuable, and no creature has any prefigured Power Attack modifiers in it. Why the change? 3.5 MM started the preconfigured PA trend why stop now.

 

[Artoomis]

The unavoidable fact is that is that D&D is a business based upon continually selling new material, and doing so on relatively unforgiving tight deadlines.

That's unfortunate.

In that environment, a couple of thins will always happen:

1. Books will get published with errors in them, and not all the errors will get corrected in errata.

2. The power of future books will always rise, causing them to become more and more valuable to players who want to keep up with other players, assuming the books are allowed by the DM.

This is pretty much inevitable if D&D is to remain viable as a business.

Could they do better? Of course. Can they afford to? I do not know. Can they afford NOT to? So it seems - we keep buying the material, don't we?

Note that they have put out the FAQ, which is constantly updated, and they do maintain a customer service department for rules questions and such. Both are valuable and costly services. Maybe we should count our blessings?

 

[moritheil]

And lawyers say that America has no corporate shield.

 

[Deset Gled]

Note that they have put out the FAQ, which is constantly updated, and they do maintain a customer service department for rules questions and such. Both are valuable and costly services. Maybe we should count our blessings?

The number of responses that I want to give to this remark are too numerous to type here, so I'll just settle for a

 

[Cedric]

This will be seen by some to be off-topic. However, I am posting it as an example of the complexity that exists in this industry. Yes, mistakes are made, but please don't take that as an indication that there is no quality process in place or as a sign that material is published without a great deal of care and effort put into the creation process.

If you follow this link You will find the Style Guidelines for submitting material to Steve Jackson Games.

Now, obviously SJ Games and WotC are different companies with different products. However, when I once had an idea that hey...I write decent, maybe I could write a roleplaying book. I went to the writing guidelines for Steve Jackson Games...and I was awed.

The level of complexity and professionalism required to submit something to them just floored me. I decided then that I'll leave the professional writing to others, because it wasn't THAT important to me.

So, basically I'm posting this as an idea of what kind of writing chops and skills you need to have to even consider getting published by a professional game company. I'm pretty sure that you would find that WotC has similar guidelines and a strict quality process.

However, yes...in the end, you will find mistakes. I, for one, and pretty forgiving of them.