CONAN errors compiled

[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]

A 5th level Pirate gets +2d6 to Sneak attack

A 5th level Pirate is 1d6 sneak. A 6th level pirate is 2d6 sneak. The only place I can think that they got the 2d6 was on the thief table. But yes, now that I look at it there should be no 1d4.

I think it shoud be 1d6(poniard) + 2d8(thief) + 1d6(pirate)

 

[Anonymous]

I have been reading the book from cover to cover, and I have noticed a lot of DnD references that are no where in the book. I don't think the Replace function got all the Armor Class to conver to Defense Value since they spelled it Armour...

All in all, I think it gives a great feel and flavour to the Conan mythos a la REH. But as a reader, damn those typos are annoying (gawd there is a space between the present participle 'are' and the verb that follows it!!). My wife's an editor and a great proof reader. Do you guys need some help?

Seriously, I love the book.

Ken.

 

[Anonymous]

By the way, if a major publisher charged $50.00 for a manual that was laden with such errors, they would be laughed out of the industry.

Except in the RPG business.

Guess the authors failed to invest points in Profession; RPG Core Rulebook writing, or to take the Literacy feat.

To be fair my impression is that since the rise of the Word (Microsoft Word) processor, editing seems to be a dying art throughout all the publishing industries, not just RPGs. Publishers I've dealt with seem to expect the authors to do all the editing themselves, "Editors" now are basically just "Formatters", deciding on layout, graphics & such.

I've noticed with RPGs that stuff from the '70s & '80s has almost no errors, whereas late-'90s on is riddled with them. Just one of them things.

 

[Anonymous]

Errors exist throughout this book and are especially irritating when examples do not tally with charts.

I can't give any kind of official answer for this, as I no longer work for Mongoose.

Didn't know that - drat.

 

[Mayhem]

By the way, if a major publisher charged $50.00 for a manual that was laden with such errors, they would be laughed out of the industry.

Except in the RPG business.

Guess the authors failed to invest points in Profession; RPG Core Rulebook writing, or to take the Literacy feat.

To be fair my impression is that since the rise of the Word (Microsoft Word) processor, editing seems to be a dying art throughout all the publishing industries, not just RPGs. Publishers I've dealt with seem to expect the authors to do all the editing themselves, "Editors" now are basically just "Formatters", deciding on layout, graphics & such.

I've noticed with RPGs that stuff from the '70s & '80s has almost no errors, whereas late-'90s on is riddled with them. Just one of them things.

Lol - you were not buying the same games as me, then. GW RPG products, for example, were famous for their errata and "See chart on Pxx" typos.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your comments, we are keeping a close eye on this thread.

BTW, if anyone feels he could do better (!), we currently have an open requirement for proofreaders - drop a line to ibarstow@mongoosepublishing.com if you are interested. Then you will see how easy it is

 

[slaughterj]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your comments, we are keeping a close eye on this thread.

BTW, if anyone feels he could do better (!), we currently have an open requirement for proofreaders - drop a line to ibarstow@mongoosepublishing.com if you are interested. Then you will see how easy it is

What do you mean by "open requirement" - is that English English for "job opening" in American English?

 

[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]

What do you mean by "open requirement" - is that English English for "job opening" in American English?

:lol: It could mean open auditions for a job opening. Be on your very best proof reading.

 

[S'mon]

Hm - no, I have fond memories of Warhammer Battle 2nd edition. pXXs and all. Must be the rose-tinted spectacles of childhood reminiscence.

 

[Anonymous]

I actually found a reference to half-orcs! That is almost enough to give you setting-inappropriate whip lash. However, I recovered and am loving everything else.

 

[Anonymous]

The Skills by Class table differs from the text of the Class skills section for some of the classes. The one that really caught my eye is that the table removes Move Silently and Listen from the Scholar's class skills
and adds Sleight of Hand. That seems reasonable to me since the
scholars/sorcerers I recall from the stories are always palming some powder or another but are rarely keen eared and cat footed (except for Khitans and that's covered in their racial description). More importantly for those snake-kissing acolytes of the Black Ring :roll: that would allow them to take Conjuring at first level.

Now that I've made them happy, can someone work out how a Khitan
sorcerer can take Gelid Bones at 5th lvl? It has lesser ill-fortune as a requirement, but thats the basis of the Curses sorcery style and Khitan
sorcerers have already covered the 3 styles for a 5th lvl scholar with
Oriental Magic, Divination, and Necromancy. Perhaps Gelid Bones
should be a Necromancy style spell with Raise Corpse as a prereq?
It feels more like a necromantic attack then a curse to me.

Also because Curse of Yizil is free if you meet the prereqs,
shouldn't Kushite witch-finders and Sorcerers of the Black Ring get it at
8th lvl and 8th Rakhshas get another spell (Dread Serpent fits if I
remember the story correctly).

For completeness the Skills by Class table has these other differences:

Barbarian - remove Bluff and Perform from class skills
Borderer - same as text
Noble - remove Hide from class skills
Nomad - same as text
Pirate - same as text
Soldier - remove Jump from class skils

I can't say I disagree very strongly with any of those changes, except maybe removing Jump from the Soldier (Climb but not Jump seems odd but then why Climb to begin with? Same for Nomad). As for Barbarians, subtle con-men they aren't, and as for Noble, granted they _try_ to hide a lot, but people always seem to find them. :wink:

Anyway, unless someone can point me to offical errata I think I'll go by
the table and not the text.

 

[Anonymous]

I think every class should have Perform; even barbarians have instruments, dances or songs to perform. Bluff I'm sure was intended for the Feint option. It should probably go, although Barbs are often depicted as cunning and quick to break truces in the stories.

I'd be inclined to keep Hide for Nobles, though I'm not married to it. Aren't they always skulking about the palace eavesdropping or needing to move about unseen to prevent gossip on their "extracurricular" activities?

The soldier has a rotten, tiny enough selection of class skills as it is. I'd leave Jump.

Aha! Re: the scholar, between the rule that you could use your bonus Int points to buy ranks in cross class skills as if they were class skills, and Sleight of hand being on the Class Skills table, it begins to seem possible that one could meet the Sleight of Hand requirements for the Prestidigitation sorcery style! Losing listen and move silently is good in exchange for Sleight of Hand is good.

 

[TAROT]

Can't remember how much of this was said before:

Table 4-3, column headers on second page would be nice. Several discrepancies from class descriptions as pointed out above.
p85: Synergy - Table 4-5 does not exist.
p88: Concentration table - footnote 1, should say PP cost instead of level of spell. Footnotes 3&4 change acid arrow & storm of vengeance spell references. Suggest agonising doom to replace acid arrow
p89: Concentration (Special) - "(plus the PP cost of the spell..."
p89: Concentration (Special) - delete reference to Combat Casting
p91: Craft(herbalism) Example - should be +12 for rolling twelve above the DC.
p92: Decipher Script (Synergy) - suggest changing Use Magic Device to Knowledge (arcana)
p93-94: Disguise (Try Again) - references to several spells that do not exist.
p94: Escape Artist (Action & Table) - references to several spells that do not exist
p95: Forgery (Restriction) - should read character, rather than barbarian, as literacy is determined by race, not class
p96: column 1, near bottom - delete reference to "riding dogs"
p100: Knowledge - delete Knowledge(the planes) as it seems to be included in (arcana). Personally, I'd include (dungeoneering) in (geography) or (nature). Under Synergy, there is no Spellcraft skill. Synergy bonus to Craft (herbalism) for Knowledge(nature) is omitted.
p101: Move silently (Special) - delete reference to "cat familiar."
p102: Perform - Ritual category is missing
Perform (Chart DC10) - copper pieces do not exist in Equipment chapter. Suggest 1d4 quarters.
p104: SLIGHT OF HAND means something else entirely
p106: Survival (Synergy) - suggest deleting reference to travelling to other planes
p107: Use Rope (Special) - reference to animate rope spell.

Various instances of periods imbedded in words and spaces deleted after the word "are" that I didn't cross out with my black pen.

 

[Anonymous]

p106: Survival (Synergy) - suggest deleting reference to travelling to other planes.

The Conan stories often talk of other worlds (REH has Conan declare the existence of countless other worlds in THE VALE OF LOST WOMEN), and in at least one of the pastiches, CONAN THE CHAMPION, Conan goes into the "Spirit World" for about 100 pages to fight man-eating, ambulatory plants, silver-eyed elven sadists, a Godzilla sized mutant scorpion, demons and a mechanical centaur golem sent by the Demon Lord Tsathogghua, LOL).

 

[Malkaline]

How in the world are there references to spells that don't exist? How does this happen? Sure theres a lot of typos that are pretty bad and there is some horrible chart to material references, but how does something get into the book that is not part of the game. It's like reading a Star Trek RPG and finding a Craft (lightsaber) skill. If I'm sounding harsh, I don't mean to be. I, like everyone on this forum, love the book, and am looking forward to many future supplements. I can tell you now I am a fan of this game for life. Spelling errors, some contradictions, a d6 here is a d8 there, whatever, we're all gamers and between the fans and the company we'll get through it and have fun playing CONAN the whole time. I'm just curious about the explanation for foreign spells and rules making its way to the final product. Once again, love the game and thanks.

 

[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]

Attack and Full Attack
Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but I think that a couple values for the monters in both these areas are off.

Monsters:
Bodiless Slimer: 13 should be 12 +8(base) +5(dex finesse) -1(size)
Uncanny Steed: 18 should be 17 +8(base) +10(str) -1(size)
Elemental, Earth: 30 should be 26 +15(base) +15(str) -4(size)
Elemental, Fire: 15 should be 19 +15(base) +7(dex finesse) -4(size) +1(weapon focus)

Animals:
Greater SoS: 34 should be 40 +33(base: base shown +27) +15(str) -8(size)
Ghost Snake: 13 should be 14 +9(base: base shown +8 ) +6(str) -1(size)
Sabre-Tooth: 10 should be 9 +3(base) +7(str) -1(size)

I didn't look at all the animal type entries but that is 1/4 of the monster entries that appear to be off.

By the way, wow that's a lot of missing feats. Although, I can see not putting all the feats on some of the animals.

 

[arai]

In the Special section for Climb it says 'Zingarans get a +1 racial bonus to Climb checks when in urban or underground surrounds..'

This should be 'Zamorans get a +1 circumstance bonus' if it's listed at all,
since I haven't noticed many (any?) circumstance bonuses being listed in the skill descriptions. Anyway, definitely not Zingarans. One of those times having a proofreader familiar with the racial tendencies in the stories would have helped. :wink: Or maybe just an honest miss. It's a big book.

On a related note: why are some racial bonuses/penalties listed in the skill descriptions and some not? Examples: Cimmerian racial bonus to
Climb is listed. Cimmerian racial penalty to Diplomacy is not. None of several racial bonuses to Move Silently are listed... there are many others

I suppose it's not very important because the bonuses/penalties are all in the race descriptions but sometimes I like to work backward from a set
of desired skills and weaknesses when creating a character (especially NPCs) and having the racial bonuses/penalties listed in the skill descriptions would help.


Other comments:

On the skill selection for Soldiers: I'm considering adding Heal to their class skills. I don't think it would be rare for Soldiers to learn how to bind wounds and keep each other alive. Though I'm sure wine and a romp with a wench would be a commonly recommended treatment. :roll:

About Tlazitlans: Have details for this subrace been posted anywhere? Are they the ones from the story 'Red Nails'?

 

[Shonuff]

I was actually thinking about the spot skill for soldiers instead of search. Soldiers often stand guard and are on the lookout for an ambush.

Anybody know why search would be a better choice for the soldier?

 

[Anonymous]

I was actually thinking about the spot skill for soldiers instead of search. Soldiers often stand guard and are on the lookout for an ambush.

Anybody know why search would be a better choice for the soldier?

They are frequently told to search areas for hostiles or evidence.

Personally, I think Listen and Spot are good candidates for Soldier class skills, as they spend a lot of time guarding... yet Conan usually ambushes or sneaks past civilized soldiers quite easily.

 

[InsomNY]

Personally, I think Listen and Spot are good candidates for Soldier class skills, as they spend a lot of time guarding... yet Conan usually ambushes or sneaks past civilized soldiers quite easily.

Two good reasons for that: (1) Conan's practically a demigod. (2) Soldiers get a lot fewer skill points than other classes.

Having said that, I agree that these would make logical additions to the class skill list for soldiers. I can live without them, though. And let's not forget that said soldiers can pick them as background skills if they're Hyborian, or simply spend any INT-bonus points on them.