Misprints, Misprints Everywhere

[VGLordR2]

Hey, guys. I was looking through my copy of Sandstorm, and I found something odd. There is an entry for a scorpion-tail whip that says that the damage for a Medium character is 1d43, while the damage for a Small character is 1d33. Obviously, it should be 1d4 and 1d3. Anyways, this got me thinking. How many silly misprints like this are out there?

[Suddo]

Rainbow Servant is actually a 10/10 casting progression Prestige Class, the text says it but the table doesn't. It was actually reprinted as such in later prints.
Swordsage gets x6 skillpoints at first level.

[Duke of URL]

I believe there's a similar misprint for a sap in the actual SRD -- like 1d43 which was supposed to be 1d43, referring to a footnote.

[Elric VIII]

The Druid class is a full caster with Wildshape and an Animal companion. Too bad they never got around to fixing that typo. :smallbiggrin:

[Namfuak]

The Druid class is a full caster with Wildshape and an Animal companion. Too bad they never got around to fixing that typo. :smallbiggrin:

Nah man, that's balanced because rangers can hide in natural territory at level 13!

[Telonius]

Nah man, that's balanced because rangers can hide in natural territory at level 13!

Close. It's balanced because Rangers have Know (Geography) on their class skill list. Druids have no idea where the nearest river is. That's actually why they live alone in the woods: they can't figure out how to get anywhere. :smallbiggrin:

[Duke of URL]

Close. It's balanced because Rangers have Know (Geography) on their class skill list. Druids have no idea where the nearest river is. That's actually why they live alone in the woods: they can't figure out how to get anywhere. :smallbiggrin:

You're both completely wrong. I mean, have you seen how many bonus feats Fighters get?

[prufock]

Sacred Fist casting progression doesn't match between table (7 or 8 out of 10, can't quite remember) and text (10/10).

Vest of Legends creation guidelines suggests they are created in pairs.

[Steward]

I think Tome of Magic is the all time king of misprints and typos. The ones you listed above (well, not the Druid one, but the one in the OP), you could deduce what the game creators meant pretty easily. But the Truenamer class is unplayable without errata. See, in order to use a Truenamer's magic, you must succeed on a special skill check called 'Truespeak', by rolling higher than a certain difficulty class. However, the writers forgot to print the DC for one of the three "lexicons" (Truenamer lingo for the different types of magic that Truenamers have). Basically, this means that the players have no way of using this magic since they can't make the skill check, since it has no DC.

Later on, there's a prestige class, called Disciple of the Word. In keeping with its spirit, I'll just print the words here so you can see what you're dealing with:


A disciple of the word adds her class level to her monk level to determine her class-based AC bonus, her unarmed damage, unarmored speed bonus, flurry of blows penalty, and the number of daily attempts of her Stunning Fist feat.

See? But later...


A disciple of the word does not count her class levels for the purpose of determining when she gains any other monk class features, such as reduced penalties for flurry of blows attack rolls, bonus feats,evasion, other special abilities.

These quotes aren't several pages apart, by the way. They were in the same section, in the same special ability, with literally one paragraph of text between them.

[Zubrowka74]

The french edition of the Pathfinder books is really, really atrocious in this department. I mean whole paragraphs copy-pasted multiple times in different entries.

[danzibr]

Urgh they're all over the damn place. I'm amazed they can't even get proof readers.

Anyway, I saw a table once for casting progression and it looked like a certain PrC got 33 or so of some spell but none of the next level. Kinda funny.

[Khedrac]

The Paeliron devil in Fiendish Codex 2 has a good one, it's a downgrade from I can't remember where at CR23(ish) to CR19
Both forms have meteor swarm usable at will as a SPA - but when you downgrade the demon to CR19 that's a bit overpowered - and the DC works out to 3rd level i.e. it's supposed to be fireball.

Edit: For true misprint horror you cannot beat 4th Ed Traveller (Marc Miller's Traveller). One of the problems with 4th Ed was that they went with real-world physics as far as possible, and one of the books (B - Fire, Fusion and Steel|) they produced was simply a book of formulae. And yes, we are talking some of them probably University level if you wanted the theory behind them. Anyway the printer had different fonts for printing than were in the "proof" copies sent for review. Every single instance of a × (multiplication sign if my font went wrong) came out as a double ended arrow - except for three that came out as (.

[danzibr]

Two more suddenly come to mind, both text v. table. The first is a misnaming of the Pyrokineticst capstone, and the second is Sacred Fist being full casting in text and not in the table (IIRC).

[DarkestKnight]

While it may not be a typo, the psionic power Deja Vu is described twice in the EPH.

[Tyndmyr]

But the Truenamer class is unplayable without errata. See, in order to use a Truenamer's magic, you must succeed on a special skill check called 'Truespeak', by rolling higher than a certain difficulty class. However, the writers forgot to print the DC for one of the three "lexicons" (Truenamer lingo for the different types of magic that Truenamers have). Basically, this means that the players have no way of using this magic since they can't make the skill check, since it has no DC.

This is a bit pedantic, but it's still playable without the errata. The other two lexicons work just fine, and they contain the vast majority of utterances. This is an annoyance, sure, but it's a fairly minor one.

More obnoxious are the truenaming feats that do nothing.

[Deox]

Swordsages get 6+Int skills x 6 at first level.

All characters will take 1st level in swordsage.

Edit: swordsage'd from form lag.

[VGLordR2]

I think I've heard something about a Boomerang dealing 24 damage instead of 2d4. After a lot of searching, though, I can't find it. Does anyone know what I might be referring to?

[Steward]

This is a bit pedantic, but it's still playable without the errata. The other two lexicons work just fine, and they contain the vast majority of utterances. This is an annoyance, sure, but it's a fairly minor one.

More obnoxious are the truenaming feats that do nothing.

Creative hyperbole. You can play a wizard if one of the schools of magic was missing key mechanics (casting time, components, duration), but it's still a pretty big misprint since it was an entire section and not just a few words.

[hamishspence]

Rainbow Servant is actually a 10/10 casting progression Prestige Class, the text says it but the table doesn't. It was actually reprinted as such in later prints.

Given how powerful it is, maybe table should have trumped text in this case. The sample Rainbow Servant character in the book also has casting appropriate for table rather than text- sorcerer 6/rainbow servant 4, caster level 8.

Champions of Ruin also has a few moments. The Corrupt Spell metamagic feat doesn't really fit- having to assign a specific spell for which the feat works each time the feat is taken- and not having a metamagic modifier listed. Complete Divine's version makes more sense.

Also, there's 3 feats- Flay Foe, Skewer Foe, and Pulverize Foe (one for each type of physical weapon damage) with similar prerequisites- but Flay Foe does 1 extra pt damage with each hit in a round after the first hit. whereas the other two do 1d6 extra damage. The table lists them all as doing 1d6 extra damage.

[DeathOfAMailman]

Anyway, I saw a table once for casting progression and it looked like a certain PrC got 33 or so of some spell but none of the next level. Kinda funny.

Yeah, that's the Vigilante from, I believe, Cityscape.

[hamishspence]

Complete Adventurer actually- but yes. You can extrapolate though what the table should have been from the part that isn't messed up.

[Agent 451]

While it may not be a typo, the psionic power Deja Vu is described twice in the EPH.

That sir, is an Easter egg. Also see Trait # 26 within the DMG, (Table 4-24, pg. 128).

[Master Thrower]

In the Epic level handbook I believe their is a monster (forget the name) that is immune to death, effects. Clearly meant to be death effects, but currently is open ended so it can't be killed or effected :smallbiggrin:

[DarkestKnight]

That sir, is an Easter egg. Also see Trait # 26 within the DMG, (Table 4-24, pg. 128).

I see what you/they did there.

[Malachei]

Shadow Blade feat in Tome of Battle. Text RAW states that Dex bonus is in addition to Str, while table states Dex is used instead of Str.

So good that text trumps table.

[kardar233]

The Ninja-To in OA has a 19-29 crit range, IIRC.

[Keld Denar]

Ruby Knight Vindicators venerate Wee Jas. The sample RKV artwork displays no fewer than 2 holy symbols of St Cuthbert.

[kardar233]

Isn't that guy supposed to be in disguise? I thought it said something like "a follower of Wee Jas, posing as a cleric of St. Cuthbert".

[VGLordR2]

In the Epic level handbook I believe their is a monster (forget the name) that is immune to death, effects. Clearly meant to be death effects, but currently is open ended so it can't be killed or effected :smallbiggrin:
I found that creature on page 159. It's called an Atropal, and it's apparently an undead god fetus. It's too bad they can't be PC's. :smallwink:

[ericgrau]

In the Epic level handbook I believe their is a monster (forget the name) that is immune to death, effects. Clearly meant to be death effects, but currently is open ended so it can't be killed or effected :smallbiggrin:

This, however, would not be implausible for an epic monster. It would only need to be more well defined to be official.

[Madara]

That sir, is an Easter egg. Also see Trait # 26 within the DMG, (Table 4-24, pg. 128).

Is the fact that it's missing an Easter egg or a typo? I think its the latter...but in the context.. :smallconfused:

[Siosilvar]

Is the fact that it's missing an Easter egg or a typo? I think its the latter...but in the context.. :smallconfused:

There's a "see #26" later in the table. It's an Easter egg, and it was specifically mentioned as such in one of the articles on the Wizards site about the jokes and doodles that were in older editions.

[Agent 451]

Easter egg. If you look at #100 on that list it says "No sense of humor (see#26)".

Edit: 'saged!

[OracleofWuffing]

More obnoxious are the truenaming feats that do nothing.
Speaking of, Focused Lexicon: Pick a creature type. The DCs to truename against them is increased by 1.

[sonofzeal]

Rainbow Servant is actually a 10/10 casting progression Prestige Class, the text says it but the table doesn't. It was actually reprinted as such in later prints.
This one really bugs me. Look through the partial casting PrCs of CDiv - every single one of them has that wording. A typo I'll understand, but it just seems like that's the language CDiv uses for all its PrCs. RAI is pretty darn clear.

Also, most foreign language versions correct the language to make it clear that it's a partial caster. IIRC, only the English and maybe one other are ambiguous, and only the Portugese changed the table. The other couple dozen different versions are unambiguously partial casters.

[Spider_Jerusalem]

What about orcs? Their god wields a lance, they wield falchions and the artwork is carrying a greataxe. There are no actual typos, of course, but this has become a running gag on some of our games. "Ugar rip you with Ugar's Falchion! *gets the axe*"

[kvothe]

On the topic of Easter Eggs, check out the SRD's description of Vampire Spawn:


A vampire spawn can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round. On each such successful drain attack, the vampire spawn gains 5 temporary hit pints.

[VGLordR2]

I found another one. In Libris Mortis, the Wight monster class is given the infamous Wightpocalypse ability at level one instead of the intended level eight.

[Hylas]

Fear the ultimate dawizard dealing typo! (http://selinker.livejournal.com/32929.html)

[KicktheCAN]

Look through the partial casting PrCs of CDiv - every single one of them has that wording. A typo I'll understand, but it just seems like that's the language CDiv uses for all its PrCs. RAI is pretty darn clear.

This is false. Only two other partial casting PrCs have a mismatch between the table and text.

[Ursus the Grim]

Fear the ultimate dawizard dealing typo! (http://selinker.livejournal.com/32929.html)

That. . . that is glorious.

[Venger]

Urgh they're all over the damn place. I'm amazed they can't even get proof readers.

Anyway, I saw a table once for casting progression and it looked like a certain PrC got 33 or so of some spell but none of the next level. Kinda funny.
oh vigilante, at least you're good for arcane strike as far as RAW is concerned.

Nah man, that's balanced because rangers can hide in natural territory at level 13!

pfft. druids are balanced because they're not even allowed to wear metal armor! and the fighter can. plus druids aren't proficient with tower shields.

my favorite typo comes from stormwrack, which is really bad about typos. this comes from the description of the magnficent captain's coat, an item that makes you better at sailing:


Threat the
coast as a shirt or vestment for determing whether it can
be worn with other magic items.

this gave me the strangest mental image of a pirate captain standing on the bow of his ship like leo and shaking his fist at the shore, screaming "I'm a shirt!"

that goes beyond awful proofreading, that's just downright hilarious.

first runner up though is on the section regarding concealment in the phb


Multiple concealment conditions (such
as a defender in a dog and under the effect of a blur spell) do not
stack.

there's nothing I can add to that.

[Calanon]

this gave me the strangest mental image of a pirate captain standing on the bow of his ship like leo and shaking his fist at the shore, screaming "I'm a shirt!"

I laughed so hard... I am still laughing :smallamused:

[2xMachina]

On the topic of Easter Eggs, check out the SRD's description of Vampire Spawn:

Sorry, I don't understand this. Can you explain?

[georgie_leech]

Sorry, I don't understand this. Can you explain?

Likely a typo, rather than an Easter egg, but it describes the spawn as gaining 5 hit PINTS, a common unit of measuring blood volume, as oppose to the actual POINTS.

[2xMachina]

Ah, damn. I missed the missing o.

[Calanon]

Just thought you'd all get a kick out of this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_Bible)

Nothing to do with D&D but the same editor must have been on staff that day... :smalltongue:

[Zubrowka74]

Fear the ultimate dawizard dealing typo! (http://selinker.livejournal.com/32929.html)

And also the time travelling iWizard. I just knew it, that sneaky Jobs fellow got his ideas from someone else.

[Telonius]

there's nothing I can add to that.

"Outside of a dog, a scroll of Blur is a Bard's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read the scroll." :smallbiggrin:

[Chronos]

Others have mentioned the swordsage's x6 skill points, but that's not even the only typo in that table. They also have a screwy BAB progression.

[Atentora]

Speaking of ToB Mountain Tombstone Strike has no pre-reqs. Which as a lvl 9 maneuver is crazy.

[Jack of Trades]

Rainbow Servant is actually a 10/10 casting progression Prestige Class, the text says it but the table doesn't. It was actually reprinted as such in later prints.
Swordsage gets x6 skillpoints at first level.

Actually the Rainbow Servant is a 6/10 casting progression Prestige class despite what the rainbow servant handbook says.

Rainbow servant, sacred fist, and seeker of the Misty Isle are all listed in the Complete Divine (CD) as Moderate casting classes but have same wording under the spells per day/spells known paragraph. If rainbow servant is a strong/full casting class, then so is the sacred fist and seeker of the Misting Isle. I am willing to bet that the later prints (in other languages) did not take them out of the moderate casting class listing.

From Complete Divine:
"Moderate Spellcasting: These prestige classes don't get more and better spells as quickly, but they have other abilities to make up for their reduced progress."

So if text trumps table, which text are you paying attention to? The text listing them as a moderate spellcasting class, or the (granted poorly) worded spells per day/spells known paragraph.

BTW The rainbow servant handbook, which probably first brought up the question of whether this a full or partial casting PrC, has at least two other errors in it. Normal entry is 6 level, not 7th. And you can't be a necropolitan at 1st level.

[Boci]

So if text trumps table, which text are you paying attention to?

The primary text, which would be the class description itself.

[sonofzeal]

I am willing to bet that the later prints (in other languages) did not take them out of the moderate casting class listing.
You'd win that bet... mostly. The vast majority of foreign language printings correct them to be a partial-casting progression. There's exactly one (the infamous Portugese) that "corrected" the table to be full-progression.

[danzibr]

I hope when they reprint 3.5 they actually fix all of this crap. I mean, simple typos aren't that bad, but text and tables not matching up is pretty bad, and what I think the worst is ambiguity in so many places. There should be no notion of RAW v. RAI. RAW should be RAI. Say what you mean, mean what you say kind of thing. Another thing that's bothersome is specific trumps general; the idea is totally fine, but it leads to a lot of book sifting and makes the game more confusing than necessary. Then again, maybe I'm just a big noob.

Sorry about ranting, just a bit frustrated.

[Jack of Trades]

I hope when they reprint 3.5 they actually fix all of this crap. I mean, simple typos aren't that bad, but text and tables not matching up is pretty bad, and what I think the worst is ambiguity in so many places. There should be no notion of RAW v. RAI. RAW should be RAI. Say what you mean, mean what you say kind of thing. Another thing that's bothersome is specific trumps general; the idea is totally fine, but it leads to a lot of book sifting and makes the game more confusing than necessary. Then again, maybe I'm just a big noob.

Sorry about ranting, just a bit frustrated.

Ultimately they cover themselves by saying that the DM has the last word.

[Cwymbran-San]

The german version of "Complete Divine" is missing a crucial sentence for the feat "Ranged Touch Spells". In short, this feat allows you to cast a toch spell at range without level adjustment. No wonder every caster in my group took this feat asap.
Cause wounds on a touch attack? No brainer. The playground corrected that mistake.

[nedz]

While it may not be a typo, the psionic power Deja Vu is described twice in the EPH.

[Righteous Doggy]

While it may not be a typo, the psionic power Deja Vu is described twice in the EPH.

We've already mentioned that. OH! did we mention Deja Vu is decribed twice in the EPH?

[Kobold-Bard]

Many Sample NPCs don't meet the pre-requisites for the prestige class they're representing.

[danzibr]

While it may not be a typo, the psionic power Deja Vu is described twice in the EPH.

[Lycar]

We've already mentioned that.
You mean you just had a ... :smallcool: ... sense of Deja Vu?

[Milo v3]

Its a running gag in my group that everyone in the world thinks that my Pale Master is a "corpse lover" because of this bit of Libris Mortis:

At 6th level, a pale master gives in to terrible necrophiliac urges.

My character's response is to murder any NPC who mentions it. After the ten thousandth joke he kind of snapped.

[MrLemon]

The german version of "Complete Divine" is missing a crucial sentence for the feat "Ranged Touch Spells". In short, this feat allows you to cast a toch spell at range without level adjustment. No wonder every caster in my group took this feat asap.

That's where one of my players got that from!
She told us her other group handled it like that... We corrected her though since most of us have the english books (the german 3.5 books are even harder to get nowadays, and sometimes the wordings have strongly different implications)

Also, the Shugenja's table entry for 8th and 9th level spells per day are shifted upwards by 2 levels. You can cast 9th level spells at 16th level, but you don't KNOW any until 18th :smallwink:

Update: According to the text, the shugenja spell list can be found on page XX. They obviously forgot to put the correct reference in after they knew on which page it would be (hint: it's 144)

[Steward]

Its a running gag in my group that everyone in the world thinks that my Pale Master is a "corpse lover" because of this bit of Libris Mortis:


My character's response is to murder any NPC who mentions it. After the ten thousandth joke he kind of snapped.

OK, I don't get it. What else could that sentence mean, besides the obvious?

[2xMachina]

Not sure if this qualifies, but

Bladesinger (CW), Song of Celerity: (...) may quicken a single spell (...) as if she had used the Quicken Spell feat, but without any adjustment to the spell's effective level or casting time.

So... a quickened spell that takes a standard action then?

[danzibr]

Update: According to the text, the shugenja spell list can be found on page XX. They obviously forgot to put the correct reference in after they knew on which page it would be (hint: it's 144)
Oh yeah, I've seen a couple things like that. Made me laugh.

[Larkas]

I think Tome of Magic is the all time king of misprints and typos. The ones you listed above (well, not the Druid one, but the one in the OP), you could deduce what the game creators meant pretty easily. But the Truenamer class is unplayable without errata. See, in order to use a Truenamer's magic, you must succeed on a special skill check called 'Truespeak', by rolling higher than a certain difficulty class. However, the writers forgot to print the DC for one of the three "lexicons" (Truenamer lingo for the different types of magic that Truenamers have). Basically, this means that the players have no way of using this magic since they can't make the skill check, since it has no DC.

Care to share where exactly is that? I'll be ordering ToM soon and want to know what to expect :smallsmile:

[VGLordR2]

Care to share where exactly is that? I'll be ordering ToM soon and want to know what to expect :smallsmile:

Tome of Magic is a pretty neat book. It introduces three new classes, all of which are very flavorful. The problem is, the Shadowcaster and the Truenamer were very poorly thought out. There are amazing concepts behind them, but the mechanics that they were given make them fall flat. I would suggest that, if you play one of them, you use one of several fixes for them around the Internet. They are amazingly cool classes, but they just don't work out.

ToM also features the Binder. It is widely considered to be an amazing class (and I agree). What sets the Binder apart from the Truenamer and the Shadowcaster is that the Binder actually works well mechanically. I think that it is a Tier 1-2 class, if memory serves.

Overall, I really liked ToM. I got it for my birthday a couple years ago. The concepts that it introduces are very cool. Of course, to play with them, you need to do some fixing, but I think it's worth it.

[Chronos]

Binder is generally regarded as Tier 3, or Tier 2 if the extra vestiges found online (especially Zceryll) are allowed. But yeah, they're pretty cool. You don't have to worry about "using up" most of your abilities, but you also can't spam any single ability, and you can change your abilities every day.

[Calanon]

Tome of Magic is a pretty neat book. It introduces three new classes, all of which are very flavorful. The problem is, the Shadowcaster and the Truenamer were very poorly thought out. There are amazing concepts behind them, but the mechanics that they were given make them fall flat. I would suggest that, if you play one of them, you use one of several fixes for them around the Internet. They are amazingly cool classes, but they just don't work out..

I have never seen a Shadowcaster fix :smallconfused: I like the class because it expands upon the Vecna Myth Meaning that Vecna was not only a 20th level Wizard but a 20th level Shadowcaster, Truenamer, and I believe a 10th level Tainted Scholar/Loremaster Gestalt for EVEN GREATER SECRETS! (Throw in levels of Archmage and Spell Focus (All) + Greater Spell Focus (All) and just for lulz Epic Spell Focus (All) and thats a fraction of Vecna's power :smallbiggrin:

[Righteous Doggy]

OK, I don't get it. What else could that sentence mean, besides the obvious?

To clarify, at that level your replace a limb with an undead body part that allows negative energy touch attacks. Its that you've given into your urges to further become an undead (You know, the whole point of the class :smalltongue:). The implications are still pretty bad, but hopefully not as bad in your book.

[VGLordR2]

I have never seen a Shadowcaster fix :smallconfused: I like the class because it expands upon the Vecna Myth Meaning that Vecna was not only a 20th level Wizard but a 20th level Shadowcaster, Truenamer, and I believe a 10th level Tainted Scholar/Loremaster Gestalt for EVEN GREATER SECRETS! (Throw in levels of Archmage and Spell Focus (All) + Greater Spell Focus (All) and just for lulz Epic Spell Focus (All) and thats a fraction of Vecna's power :smallbiggrin:

There are a few fixes out there. The most commonly used fix was actually made by Ari Marmell, the original writer. He agrees that Shadowcasters need fixing, and posted new rules. A link to them can be found here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/184955-shadowcaster-fixes-mouseferatu.html).

[willpell]

Here's one that can't be right. The feat Craft Psionic Construct says "A newly created construct has average hit points for its hit dice". Given that all psionic constructs would be created with this feat, that would mean that they all have exactly the same hit point total, since there's no way to "reroll" hit dice in the course of play.