The FAQ trumps the PHB

[Silveras]

The entry on page 36 is actually more recent, and came from Andy Collins.

The entry on page 50 is older, and came from Skip Williams.

The most recent entry is generally considered to be the most "official" one. Andy Collins just didn't take the time to look through the FAQ and clean up any older answers that no longer applied. Typical.

In fairness, I would expect that someone else actually updates the FAQ. Andy Collins answers the questions in the Sage Advice column; I *presume* someone else (an intern, or the like) copies those answers to the FAQ.

 

[Artoomis]

See: discussion of FAQ as errata

 

[Ranger REG]

Wether or not the FAQ is right or wrong, there still remains the question I was concerning myself with: does the FAQ trump the original rules? No amount of talking to the Sage will yield that answer. And that's the answer we're trying to find here, right?

If an absolute answer is what you're looking for:

By default, FAQ does not trump the PHB. That is absolute.

However, I would not so easily dismiss the FAQ if it does contain errata. In theory, all errata should be found in the errata, but the reality is WotC have not bothered to update the new errata, and yet the FAQ contains the new ones.

So there, you have both absolute and relative answers.