Essentials Red Box Errata

[YourSwordIsMine]

I'm starting this thread give a place for everyone to list errors within the new Red Box as they find them. I've found a few making my first character just now (human Fighter) and I'm sure there are more sadly...

1) Marring an otherwise perfect character sheet is the absence of Passive Insight and Perception. This is only compounded when in the Solo adeventure it tells the new player to "fill in this section".

2) As a Fighter it tells you early on that you have two Stances, Poised Assault and Battle Fury. Later on when it tells you have power called Power Strike it says to write it down with Bastion of Defense and Battle Fury... Bastion of Defense is not in Red Box...

 

[captainspud]

Step 8 (Fighter): it tells you to fill in a Constitution of 14 regardless of your race. Later in step 56, when assigning Racial modifiers, it mentions that Dwarves and Halflings already received a +2 to their Constitution, but this was not the case.

Another possible issue with Step 8: it tells you to add your CON mod to your melee attack's damage. Now, this could just be a class feature of the Essentials fighter that we haven't seen yet, but from what we know at this point, a Fighter's MBA shouldn't get STR and CON to damage.

Step 37 (Cleric): The sample attack bonus it provides doesn't add up. It assumes a Wisdom of 18 and a modifier of +4 for the examples. At the bottom of page 13 it tells you that your weapon modifier is 2 + WIS, which makes sense because you're using a mace. But in the sample, it says you're using a Sword (which has a +3 modifier). And even if we assume that the example made a switch of gear, it STILL gets the total wrong, giving the Cleric a +8 to hit-- a mighty +4 proficiency bonus! Following the text will give the player the correct information here, it's just the example graphic that causes confusion. Oh, and the attack bonus and weapon type are both fixed (to +6 and "mace", respectively) later on in step 39.

Step 21 (Wizard): Same issue as Step 37-- the text accurately says your AC is 10+INT (which is either +3 or +4, depending on your race), but the example gives a final AC of 15.

None of these is a problem for an existing player to fix, but I can see them causing confusion for newbies.

 

[Joshua Randall]

In the sections for rogues and wizards (who aren't wearing heavy armor), it says something along the lines of "If you're an elf, your speed is 7. Otherwise, your speed is 6."

This implies that dwaves have speed 6... which I'm petty sure is a mistake rather than an intentional change.

 

[thalmin]

"Premier" gaming stores have them on sale as an early release.

A Premier gaming store is one deemed by WotC. Those stores actively support Wizards by hosting gaming events... Magic tournaments, LFR, D&D Gamedays, etc. In recognition of this, they are allowed to sell certain Wizards products before the street release date... in effect, before the online stores like Amazon.

I don't know if there is a list of stores like this anywhere online. You may want to contact your local game store to see if they're selling Essentials already.

This is only for true game stores. Retailers such as Borders and Barnes and Noble wouldn't be a premier store.

Mostly correct. There are levels of Premiere Stores: Gateway, Core, and Advanced. Only Core and Advanced level Premiere Stores are getting the D&D products early. Most of the stores running D&D Encounters are Core level or above. So check WotC's site under events to find stores running Encounters near you.

 

[Jools]

The Rogue appears to be cocked up too. Take a look here.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'm going to sticky this thread for a while, so that people can easily collate errors or problems with the Essentials Red Box.

I'm also going to remove the off topic comments in this thread - stick to reporting problems or issues please!

Regards,

 

[Reaper Steve]

The Rogue appears to be cocked up too. Take a look here.

Was that ever verified? Couldn't it just be that the Essentials preview was out of date and the stuff in the Red Box is correct and will also be reflected in Heroes of the Fallen Land?

That wouldn't be the first outdated preview. In fact, I think that very same preview references Power Strike, which is clearly a cut-and-paste error from a Fighter preview.

EDIT: Ok, I have the Red Box in hand, and downloaded the Game Day characters. The two Game Day rogues use the Tricks from the preview, which are not in the Red Box. So, some potential outcomes are:
1) The Game Day characters could have been built with outdated info and HotFL will match the Red Box
2) HotFL could have Tricks as well as Red Box style powers
3) The Red Box could be outdated.

I'm coming around to #3--that the Red Box is outdated--because attack powers that grant movement in addition to your normal Move action is a fairly advanced concept.

 

[FabioMilitoPagliara]

Another possible issue with Step 8: it tells you to add your CON mod to your melee attack's damage. Now, this could just be a class feature of the Essentials fighter that we haven't seen yet, but from what we know at this point, a Fighter's MBA shouldn't get STR and CON to damage.

this is a problem because in the Slayer Excerpt on Wizard site it says:

Level 1: Heroic Slayer

Although other warriors might focus on defense or fancy maneuvers, you have trained from your first day of combat to cut your foes down without mercy.
Benefit: You gain a bonus to the damage rolls of weapon attacks. The bonus equals your Dexterity modifier.

now maybe this is because the Red Box is overly simplified but....

 

[Reaper Steve]

Further evidence of the Red Box not being as current as the rest of the Essentials (assuming that the rest of Essentials will be published with the 6 July errata):

DM Book, pg.16: The Prone entry states that flying creatures safely descend a distance equal to their speed before falling. The 6 July PHB errata got rid of the safe descent part.

Nothing huge, I know, but enough indicators are popping up to make me think the Red Box was off to the printers before the last round of errata and Essentials decisions were complete. No big deal to me... as long as the Rules Compendium and Heroes books reflect the most current errata.

 

[Plaguedguy]

Not really a mechanical issue so much as an editing one:

In the Dungeon Master's Adventure (SPOILERS!):

The White Dragon's name changes from Ferron to Farallax between the tactical entry and the skill challenge section.