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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 2462659" data-attributes="member: 8158">A lot of folks think there's some unwritten law that errate can only account for typos and accidental omissions. It can also include &quot;hey, now that this thing's being played on a much wider scale than we could ever playtest it, an issue that we thought was minor turned out to be not-so-minor and we're fixing it&quot;. Yes, you can argue that it &quot;makes sense&quot; to leave Disable Device off the scout's class skill list because in the woods you can walk around a trap instead of fiddling with it blah blah blah, but anyone who does so is putting form ahead of function--in fact, they're outright sacrificing function for form, which is generally a bad move. If the class can find traps, then clearly the intent should be to supplant the rogue as the party trapfinder, and it shouldn't be half-assed at doing so (although trap sense still makes the rogue the optimal trapfinder).The comparison to the halfling outrider incident is appropriate. They initially thought something was OK, and when it became apparent it wasn't, they fixed it and got lambasted for the deplorable crime of inconsistency.The damage is precision damage--it doesn't work against non-critable creatures, for instance--so, no it's not extra momentum.&nbsp; The erratic movement allows the scout to catch his opponents with their guard down.This is one of those &quot;ivory tower&quot; issues, to use a Monteism. They gave the mechanics for the ability, and didn't bother to explain the idea behind it. Think of skirmish like this: initially, they wanted the scout to have Sneak Attack/Sudden Strike, and the Skirmish ability augmented it by being something along the lines of a mobile feint; it negated a foe's Dex bonus to AC whenever the scout moved 10 feet. That turned out to be awkward, and instead they simplified it by just incorporating the bonus damage directly into the skirmish ability.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felon, post: 2462659, member: 8158"] A lot of folks think there's some unwritten law that errate can only account for typos and accidental omissions. It can also include "hey, now that this thing's being played on a much wider scale than we could ever playtest it, an issue that we thought was minor turned out to be not-so-minor and we're fixing it". Yes, you can argue that it "makes sense" to leave Disable Device off the scout's class skill list because in the woods you can walk around a trap instead of fiddling with it blah blah blah, but anyone who does so is putting form ahead of function--in fact, they're outright sacrificing function for form, which is generally a bad move. If the class can find traps, then clearly the intent should be to supplant the rogue as the party trapfinder, and it shouldn't be half-assed at doing so (although trap sense still makes the rogue the optimal trapfinder). The comparison to the halfling outrider incident is appropriate. They initially thought something was OK, and when it became apparent it wasn't, they fixed it and got lambasted for the deplorable crime of inconsistency. The damage is precision damage--it doesn't work against non-critable creatures, for instance--so, no it's not extra momentum. The erratic movement allows the scout to catch his opponents with their guard down. This is one of those "ivory tower" issues, to use a Monteism. They gave the mechanics for the ability, and didn't bother to explain the idea behind it. Think of skirmish like this: initially, they wanted the scout to have Sneak Attack/Sudden Strike, and the Skirmish ability augmented it by being something along the lines of a mobile feint; it negated a foe's Dex bonus to AC whenever the scout moved 10 feet. That turned out to be awkward, and instead they simplified it by just incorporating the bonus damage directly into the skirmish ability. [/QUOTE]

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