Tome of Horrors - Evil Nitpicker at work!

[DnDChick]

If I haven't stepped on to many toes, I'll look through the book to see if I can find more.

Believe me, everyone's toes are quite intact! Allow me to quote Clark Peterson from a similar thread over at the Necromancer Games boards:

The Great Orcus, Clark Peterson said from the depth of the Abyss:
Thanks everyone. Keep posting.

Unlike some companies, we arent afraid of mistakes. We dont want to hide them, we want to fix them and to get the best and most accurate updates to the fans. You guys are a vital part of that process.

Thanks for posting and I never consider posting of errata to be critical or in bad taste.

Clark

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Knight Otu]

Re: Re: Tome of Horrors - Evil Nitpicker at work!

Since the Dire Template is my design, I can answer this one.

Sure!

When I first made up the Dire Template, I gave the dire animals the "non-existant" dire subtype because I felt they deserved it to set them apart from otherwise normal animals. They aren't just normal animals.

That's ok, but then the sample dire animals should have that subtype. I don't remember seeing it.

Also, the dire template cannot reproduce the dire animals in the Monster Manual. Believe me, I tried. There is no unifying mechanic that I could 'reverse engineer' to create a workable dire template, so I just had to make one up. Using a dire subtype helps further set the templated versions apart from the "official" ones.

I'm aware of the Dire template vs official Dire animals problem. I've tried a few things myself and it never really added up. (Not that I tried too hard)

Besides, there are more possible subtypes than those mentioned in the MM and MMII. I don't think it's a terrible breach of rules to make up one's own subtypes.

Certainly not! After all, Oriental Adventures introduced the Spirit subtype (and Creatures of Rokugan redefined it). But if it is introduced, it would help using it, right?

As for the saves ... my bad. I goofed. Plain and simple. Others have pointed that out to me as well and unfortunately we didn't address it before it went to print.

That happens.

And I've seen Orcus' post some time after posting this. I read on a few EZboards, but I don't post on them.

While we're at it, Pale Writer said:

Most of that thread seems to be more like personal opinions rather than errata.

Quite possible! I try to back my opinion up, but some of it stays opinion. And my opinion can be wrong. I'm just trying to help and find answers.

 

[Knight Otu]

And Pale, Cheiromancer is right, that was my concern.

 

[Wolf72]

here's to Necromancer games letting us know when the have an errata section up!

here's to taloncomics for sending me my book! (any day now )

 

[Knight Otu]

A few other things...

24) In the descriptive text of the floating eye, both the first and the last sentence are a physical description

25) The frost man is listed as having an ECL of +2, with 4 hit dice. One of the few things ECL calculators agree upon is that ECL should be at least equal to a creature's hit dice.

26) The spectral troll template increases the Cha by +4. The sample troll does not show this increase, assuming it is a MM troll. Also, I think it' deflection bonus to AC should not apply to ethereal encounters, right?

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

here's a little more...

Moloch's hp seem to be wrong (should be 726 I think).

Some of the greater Nabasu (Nabassu?) Demon's listings are displaced.

Have just gotten the Tome and I must say that it's even better than expected. Absolutely brilliant!
So I haven't had that much time to nitpick (only one hour), but I'm pretty sure I have the best one (it had me roaring with laughter):

It is rumored that The Lord of Entropy's real form is that of a 15-foot tall black salad!!

Great work

-Sorcica

 

[DnDChick]

Hey now ... them black salads can be pretty nasty! Think about it ... if someone put a plate of icky, ebon-hued lettuce in front of you, would YOU eat it?



That error seems to be an exemplary case of Spellcheckerwon'tcatchititis. lol

Either that, or a vicious attack by an angry Typodaemon.

 

[Knight Otu]

It is rumored that The Lord of Entropy's real form is that of a 15-foot tall black salad!!

Well, I would consider that scary!

Great work

Seconded!

Either that, or a vicious attack by an angry Typodaemon.

My biggest gripe - why wasn't this monster included! It would have been essential advice for any writer!

 

[DnDChick]

I actually made up stats for a Typodaemon (Type 0 Demon). There was talk between Scott Greene and myself about including it in the front of the Tome of Horrors as a humorous sample stat block of how monsters were laid out. Unfortunatly, it didn't happen. It would have been neat, though.

 

[Knight Otu]

I remember reading that!

Sad that it wasn't included.