GX.Sigma
Adventurer
What are all the actual errors you've spotted? I'm not talking about design decisions you disagree with, but actual things where they messed up. Some things have been broken for a long time, so it looks like they need some help finding the errors. Let's make a list.
Update 6/9/2013: A new packet has come out. I've re-checked all the errors, and a lot of them have been fixed (including almost all the errors in the spells document). Yay! There are still more bugs lurking in the playtest, though, so keep on the lookout. This can include typographical errors, omissions, inconsistencies, and unclear or confusing rules. Balance issues are only allowed on the list if they are unequivocal and glaring (e.g., spiked shields, half-elves).
Recent updates
How to Play
[sblock]Events Supplement
Monstrous Supplement
Older Adventure Bestiaries
[sblock]
Minor/Confusing/Not sure if intentional/just haven't gotten there yet:
Update 6/9/2013: A new packet has come out. I've re-checked all the errors, and a lot of them have been fixed (including almost all the errors in the spells document). Yay! There are still more bugs lurking in the playtest, though, so keep on the lookout. This can include typographical errors, omissions, inconsistencies, and unclear or confusing rules. Balance issues are only allowed on the list if they are unequivocal and glaring (e.g., spiked shields, half-elves).
Recent updates
- (9/21/2013) New packet update.
- (8/31/2013) Bestiary: Dretches.
- (8/24/2013) Equipment update. Also, nutty tables in the DM Guidelines, and pregens.
- (8/11/2013) New packet update.
- (7/30/2013) Minor: Somatic components.
- (7/8/2013) Minor: Stealth in combat.
- (6/29/2013) Spells: Burning Hands range.
- (6/28/2013) Minor: cantrip formatting, stealth. How to Play: stealth. Spells: thunderwave at higher levels.
- (6/22/2013) Additional Races: Half-Elf sleep. Bestiary: Petrify effects. Spells: Mass healing word.
- (6/15/2013) How to Play: Two Weapon Fighting. Pre-Gens: Fighter.
- (6/13/2013) Adventure bestiaries: ghasts and spells. Minor: Missing equipment.
- (6/12/2013) Spell formatting.
- (6/11/2013) How to Play omissions: cubes and water. Minor: short rest recharges.
- (6/10/2013) Added a few more.
- (6/9/2013) New packet. Lots of errors fixed and removed, lots more added or updated. List rearranged slightly.
- (6/6/2013) Minor.
- (6/1/2013) Spells, feats, minor.
- (5/21/2013) Minor: manes and paralysis.
- (5/12/2013) Equipment.
- (4/22/2013) Lots of druid stuff.
- (4/19/2013) Classes, Spells, Adventure Bestiaries, DM Guidelines, Minor
- (4/15/2013) Monsters: Lizardfolk. Minor: Dragonlance deity. Added pre-gen section.
How to Play
- (6/15/2013) Two Weapon Fighting: It's not clear how this is supposed to work in actual play. You don't get your ability bonus to damage on "the second attack." Obviously people are going to roll both attacks at once because it's quicker, so am I supposed to call which die represents which attack before rolling? Or can I just say that whichever one hits is the one that gets the damage bonus? Or is it supposed to be resolved one attack at a time (so stealth advantage, for example, only applies to the first one)?
- (6/11/2013) The "aquatic" trait on creatures says that they suffer no penalties from being underwater. Whatever penalties normal creatures suffer are not explained in How to Play or DM Guidelines.
- (6/9/2013) The Languages table says Mind Flayers and Beholders speak Deep Speech. Their entries in the Bestiary say they don't.
- (5/21/2013) The definition of paralysis doesn't match what hold person is supposed to do (or, traditionally, what a ghoul does). Does the victim become totally limp (fall prone and drop items, as per the paralyzed condition), or totally rigid ("held")?
- (9/21/2013) Kender: The taunt feature doesn't have the "this doesn't work on creatures that are immune to charm" clause that similar abilities do.
- (6/9/2013) Half-Elf: This race is inferior to the Elf in every way. The High Elf gets everything the Half-Elf does, and more.
- (9/21/2013) Some backgrounds grant redundant benefits. For example, the Guide grants proficiency in Athletics, and with the Climber's Kit. Perhaps this is more of a problem with the proficiency system: can a character benefit from both of those proficiencies at once?
- (8/11/2013) The Druid's wild shape forms seem to have "shapechanger" as a creature type. Shapechanger is a subtype, not a type. They should probably read "Beast (shapechanger)."
- (4/19/2013) The Druid is proficient with shields made of wood. There is nothing to indicate whether those are any different from normal shields.
- (8/24/2013) Walls and doors are given HP amounts, but there is no word about their AC or saving throws. How can they be damaged, then? (page 12)
- (8/24/2013) The random weather tables don't seem to make sense. If I roll a 20 on the Temperate Summer table, there is no special weather, it's hot, and there's heavy rain? What happens if I roll a 15 on the Temperate Winter table? (page 18)
- (8/24/2013) Blowgun has the "special" property, but is not listed under special weapons.
- (8/11/2013) Teleport: The text implies that the casting player rolls the dice and checks the table. That wouldn't make any sense, since then the player would learn whether it's a false destination or not, and whether they arrive off target, or in a totally different, but similar area.
- (6/29/2013) Burning Hands: This spell has a range of "self."
- (6/28/2013) Thunderwave: The "at higher levels" field says the damage increases by 1d8. Not 1d8 per spell level above 1st, just 1d8. I assume this is an error.
- (6/12/2013) Many spells that create zones are formatted differently. For example, Cloudkill has targets make saving throws immediately, then if they enter the cloud or end their turn there. Moonbeam, on the other hand, has targets make saving throws if they start their turn in the light, or enter it the first time in a turn.
- (6/10/2013) Teleport: In almost all cases, mishaps loop indefinitely (every number between 81 and 00 is another mishap). In these cases, there is no way to determine where the character's pulverized remains end up (or do they just disappear entirely?).
- (6/9/2013) Contact Other Plane: Not clear whether or not you get to choose who you're calling (the first paragraph implies it can be a specific person, but the rest implies it's an unknowable entity), and if not, how to determine who or what picks up the phone (or if it matters).
- (6/9/2013) Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill: These spells don’t explain what happens if a target doesn’t need to breathe, or tries to hold its breath.
- (6/9/2013) Astral Projection: Not clear if you can cast it while you’re on a plane other than the Prime Material (classically, I believe you cannot). Not clear what happens if your astral form is coexistent with the plane your material body is on. (Classically, you cannot form a second material body, but you can travel astrally anywhere in the Prime Material Plane, invisible to non-astral creatures.)
- (6/9/2013) Read Magic: Does this mean that non-Mages can never use spell scrolls? Does this mean that Mages without this spell can’t read spells from scrolls or spellbooks? If so, how do they ever learn new spells? Even the free spells they get from each level, aren’t those assumed to come from magical research? How can a Mage perform magical research if he or she can’t read magic?
- (6/9/2013) Maze, Rope Trick: These spell descriptions say that extradimensional spaces are separate planes. Classically, this is incorrect—they exist in extra spatial dimensions of the same plane (which is why they don’t work on the Astral Plane, which has no spatial dimensions). If they create finite, plane-like regions, separate from the normal planes, they should use the term "demiplane."
- (6/9/2013) Antimagic Field: Not clear if spells can be cast out from within the field.
- (9/21/2013) The Drow monster doesn't have dancing lights. The Drow race does.
- (8/31/2013) Some demons can summon dretches. The dretch is not described in the Bestiary.
- (8/11/2013) Spellcasting monsters don't say what their spellcasting bonuses are.
- (8/11/2013) Some monsters' armor is incorrectly called "mail" ("banded mail," "plate mail")
- (6/22/2013) The basilisk, cockatrice, and medusa restrain their targets and call for a saving throw. If the saving throw fails, the target turns to stone. It doesn't say what happens if the saving throw succeeds (presumably the restrained condition ends? or do they have to keep saving until they fail?).
- (6/9/2013) The Wraith's life drain attack says it turns a victim into a specter. The specter is not described in the Bestiary doc.
- (4/15/2013) The Lizardfolk's and Lizardfolk Leader's AC don't make sense. The leader's Dex bonus is 2 higher, but AC is only 1 higher.
- (8/24/2013) The Cleric is missing the command spell description.
[sblock]Events Supplement
- (8/11/2013) Thurgo Songbuckle is apparently a "Small Humanoid (halfling), but his Change Shape action refers to his natural form as "human." Also, there is as yet no definition of what "cursed with lycanthropy" means.
- (8/11/2013) The ghoul is different than the one in the Bestiary.
- (8/11/2013) The hunting hound's Scent trait is different than the Keen Senses trait found on similar creatures in the Bestiary and Wild Shape forms.
Monstrous Supplement
- (8/11/2013) The Bhaalspawn and Chosen of Bhaal traits say the creature can climb and jump as part of its movement with no ability check required. According to the "How to Play" document, all creatures can do that. If the monster entry is trying to say that the Bhaalspawn can climb or jump the whole 40 feet in one round, it should say that (perhaps with a climb speed and jump speed).
- (8/11/2013) The second monster on page 3 refers to itself as "Bomber" and "the bomber" in different lines. The Alchemist's Fire attack does not specify a Save DC.
- (8/11/2013) Many NPCs seem to use outdated class mechanics (such as expertise dice for Fighters and focus for Rogues).
Older Adventure Bestiaries
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- (6/13/2013) Slave Lords: The ghast's paralysis effect doesn't work on Elves (I assume this is unintentional copypasta from the ghoul)
- (6/13/2013) S-Series: The following spells are referenced by certain monsters, but don't exist in the playtest materials: change self, transmute rock and mud, spectral force, detect invisibility, meld into stone, produce flame, enlarge, polymorph self, legend lore.
- (6/9/2013) Vault of the Dracolich and Slave Lords: Many minor things are inconsistent. Too many to list, but the funniest is “Human Witch Dotcor (Urbone)” from Vault of the Dracolich, page 7. The name says human, the subtype says troglodyte, the multiattack action says lizardfolk.
- (4/19/2013) Tomb of Horrors: The Juggernaut is missing.
Minor/Confusing/Not sure if intentional/just haven't gotten there yet:
- (7/30/2013) The rules for spellcasting say you need to "have the use of at least one arm," but a lot of playtest materials assume Clerics will regularly use a weapon and shield. It's not clear if such a character needs to put away his or her weapon before and after casting a spell, and if so, whether that means anything mechanically.
- (7/8/2013) Stealth in Combat: The rules seem to be incomplete on this topic. "Search" is an action in combat. The word "search" implies an Intelligence check, and the Stealth section says you only roll Intelligence to search if you're actively looking for someone you know (or suspect) is there. The stealth rules imply that if you're trying to hide while near enemy creatures, anyone who would notice you is immediately entitled to contest your Dex check with their Wis (though there is no guidance as to how to actually do this at the table). But if, for example, a thief enters stealth mode and sneaks up behind a group of 12 orcs to sneak attack one of them, does that orc never get a roll to detect the thief, since he has no reason to be actively looking? Do they all get Wisdom checks as soon as the thief enters a certain radius (forcing the DM to roll 12 d20 at once)? If so, when? Also, if that's how it works, then would a group of PCs be entitled to free Wisdom checks to notice an invisible stalker? If so, even if they all fail, the DM will have revealed there is something there that they don't see.
- (6/28/2013) Stealth: The rules seem to be incomplete on this topic. First, the rules imply the sneaking player gets to roll the dice, then the result is used until the character stops hiding. If the player gets to see the die result, why would he or she not immediately leave and re-enter stealth mode until he or she rolls a 20? Second, if a player is trying to detect multiple hidden creatures, does the DM roll stealth checks for them? If so, the player would know how many creatures there are based on how many dice the DM rolls.
- (6/28/2013) Shillelagh says "cantrip transmutation" instead of "transmutation cantrip" like other cantrips.
- (6/28/2013) Druidcraft, prestidigitation, and thaumaturgy are all formatted differently.
- (6/9/2013) Some effects make it clear that they're magical, but many don't. Is the Beholder's hover trait magical? Is a dragon's breath weapon magical? Are psionic powers magical? How am I supposed to know which powers are psionic, anyway? Are actions with the same names as spells (like the Dryad's dominate person) considered to be those spells (for dispel magic or Rod of Absorption)? It's not clear how these interact with magic resistance and antimagic.
- (6/6/2013) Isle of Dread: The Mace of Genuflection references the "dazed" condition. That condition does not exist. (Quibble: It knocks people down when you hit them, and it dazes someone once a day. Which part of that is supposed to represent genuflection?)
- (5/21/2013) The least demon is called a "mane." This is an error; "manes" is the correct singular and plural.
- The Customization Option for the cyclops uses two different plurals in different paragraphs ("cyclopes" is the correct one).
- Customization Options for the chromatic dragons have gone missing.
- The Disciplined action (hobgoblins, humans) refers to itself as a trait. Also, mechanically, it cancels itself out in all imaginable situations.
- The Rakshasa uses an illusion (with a pretty easy DC) instead of a polymorph.
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