ACKS v20 Copy Editing

252: Wilderness Encounters, Subtable Men: Has entries for Bandit and Buccaneer which are not statted out in the monster listing for Men (Berserker, Brigand, Merchant, Nomad, Pirate)

Hope you don’t mind if I post some stuff my group noticed tonight.
Darts are not listed in the equipment list.
There are two candles listed without an explanation of the differences for the cost paid.
The Mortal wounds chart refers to Healing specialization. Shouldn’t this be healing proficiency?
Ink has no cost that we could find and should be listed in the equipment.
Also, in regards to charge, if you are the last person in a round to go, there is rarely (if ever) a penalty to charge. Perhaps the charge penalty should stick until it is your turn again?
Also, after playing, would it not make sense to list missile weapon ranges in the equipment section?

115: Reference to displacer beast hides; replace with phase tiger?
254: Wilderness Encounters, Subtable Flyer (Other) and Subtable Other (Insect) have entries for Robber Fly; monster listing is for Giant Carnivorous Fly.
254: Carrion Crawler, Displacer Beast, Lamia, Lammasu entries on Wilderness Encounter tables
242: Chart is titled “Placing Villages, Towns, and Cities Placement”; probably want to drop final ‘placement’

This is all very helpful, please keep it coming!

Under the Retainer Loyalty Table, p. 92, it states: “A retainer automatically resigns if he reaches the same level of experience as the adventurer.” I’m pretty sure that’s just an artifact from the prior version, because that contradicts the new (and excellent) changes to the retainer rules at the beginning of the section.

Another creature on the encounter tables, but not in monster descriptions: Water Termite.

pg. 1 - 5. numerous examples of the fakespearian/faux-irish “aye” should be changed to the word, “yes.”
:slight_smile:

Bargle, although the goal of the introduction was to present the scene as the characters experienced it, rather than a transcription of what happened at the table, I think any fantasy world that accurately reflects the way Americans roleplay is going to have a lot of denizens speaking in Fakespearian.

Agreed, but game of thrones would sound a lot sillier with the book full of ‘aye’ instead of yes, and humbug instead of bullshit :). I insist on a no “argh” rule at my table. Once you allow even a little in character cos-play, next thing you know the dwarf’s player is going to start vocalising his internal monologue like some character out of the dune movie from the 80’s every time he opens a dungeon door.

All I know is that dedicated attempts by those who know what a Scottish accent ought to sound like have never in my experience gotten the players of dwarves to stop vocalizing in bad Scottish accents. It may be easier to expunge “aye” from the text than it is from gamer’s vocabulary, aye, but is it honest to do so? Arrr.

Went through the Adventuring Equipment section today. Noticed the following discrepencies:
The following have no description:
Barrel - May want to list the number of stones it holds
Blanket - May not be neccesary
Chest - Should list the number of stones it holds
Flask of Oil (common and military) - For me to choose which one to buy I need a description of what they do and the benefits otherwise I will always choose the cheaper one.
Garlic - May not be necessary, maybe move under foodstuffs?
Tent -
The following show up in the chart but go by a different name in the description:
Pole, wooden - Goes by Wooden Pole in the description making it hard to find.
Tinderbox - Goes by Flint & Steel in the description. Should be one or the other.
The following has a description but is not listed in the chart that I could find.
Ink - Not in chart - needs a cost to buy
Lock - Not in chart - needs a cost to buy
Hope that helps!

This is all very helpful - thank you!

What about adding a Blackjack or a sap for non-lethal damage options?

Regarding Explorers, on pg 24:
Explorers are trained to fight with all missile weapons, as well as spears, javelins, short swords, hand axes, daggers, and clubs, and may wear chain mail or lighter armor. They may fight wielding a weapon and shield, wielding a two-handed weapon, and wielding a weapon in each hand.
Does the “two-handed weapon” refer to long spears and bows, or is legacy text? Is sword a conscious omission?

Bat, Normal in Monster section: # appearing is 1d00, is this 1d100?

Sprite and Ankheg: # appearing is only one value.

Encounter Frequency By Terrain table (p251) doesn’t include ‘Woods’

Hello all, Duskreign’s minion here.
The classes all have a description of advancement of their attack throws and saving throws. With the addition of the charts explicitly listing what the values are at what level the description is now confusing and redundant. For example the fighter’s “They advance in attack throws and saving throws by two points every three levels of experience” gives no indication the there is a one point advancement at second level. I suggest either making the description match the chart or removing the written description all together.
Hijinks suffer from a similar discrepency. The chart lists the success fee that must be paid by the PC on a successful hijink. The written description of each hijink lists a success fee that is roughly half of what is listed on the chart. The notable exception to this is treasure-hunting, which has no success fee in the written description.
As a player I suggest going with the lesser value. I have no particular reason for this preference, none at all.

The Combat Trickery proficiency (pp. 42,43, 45) refers to the special maneuver Trip, which is called “Knock Down” in the Special Maneuvers section (p. 109).
Regarding various ships: There are three discrepancies between the crew sizes listed in Section 5 (p 89) and the Equipment Descriptions in Section 2. Though the table in section 5 labels this column “Required Crew”, the differences are inconsistent (and small) enough to think the numbers are in error:
Boat, River (9 higher than Section 2)
Galley, small (10 higher)
Galley, war (5 lower)

Battle Magic: The character gains a +1 initiative bonus when casting spells. He casts spells as if 2 class levels higher for purposes of penetrating any magic resistance the target may possess.
Sounds good so far.
Magic Resistance: Some powerful creatures enjoy a partial immunity to spells and spell-like effects. When a creature with magic resistance is affected by a spell or spell-like effect, the creature may make a magic resistance throw. A roll of 1d20 equal to or greater than the listed magic resistance (MR) value for the creature means it ignores the spell or effect. The magic resistance throw is affected by the power of the caster. The listed value assumes a 7th level caster. The creature suffers a -1 penalty for each level of the caster greater than 7, but gains a +1 bonus for each level of the caster less than 7.
So it looks like it’s an MR throw with the monster’s stated number, modified by caster level and possibly Battle Magic. Basing everything around a 7th level caster with the resulting pluses or minuses seems wonky, but think I follow what’s going on.
Except… I don’t see a single monster with a listed magic resistance value. The closest thing I can find is the Harpy - “Harpies have an innate magic resistance giving them a +2 bonus on all saving throws.” - which sounds like a different thing altogether. It seems like either the MR monsters are just missing (demons? tougher golems?), some monster MR values are missing (harpies?), or the entire mechanic got dropped and the descriptions are leftovers.