On Paizo's Recent Flurry of Errata... (Not Monk Related)

[Tels]

I have decided that I will no longer accept Paizo's errata except on a case by case basis. There is so much swing-and-a-miss stuff with the errata these days, that I can't trust Paizo to do it correctly anymore.

It feels like I have to go through books with highlighters and markers to cross stuff out that is stupid or doesn't make sense these days.

That is all.

[137ben]

In another thread, I wrote:

Unless you know what the rules said pre-errata, this idea ignoring errata isn't always feasible. If different group members own different printings of a book, or don't own it at all and use the srd, the errata document doesn't always give enough information to 'reverse engineer' the errata and figure out what the 1st printing rules were.

I've considered tracking all errata and putting 'anti-errata house rules' in my house rules document...but that means I have to keep track of all the errata when I didn't want to use it to begin with just so I can tell players what not to use. And that's assuming I have access to the first printing of every book to begin with, which I don't. The extra hurdles involved in 'not using errata' are what ultimately convinced me to stop running pathfinder.

Now, one idea I've suggested in the past was that Paizo could sell PDF versions of earlier printings. That way, any GM who doesn't want to deal with the continually changing rulebooks can just say "first printings only". Any player who doesn't own the first printing can just put down 10 bucks for a PDF of the first printing core rulebook/whatever book they are looking for. Paizo gets more money selling PDFs that they already have, and people who don't want to use errata can avoid doing so much more easily.

But unless and until Paizo implements my idea, not using errata requires tracking down old printings of hardcovers which become increasingly difficult to find the more time passes. Particularly for books which have gone through several heavy revisions like the Core Rulebook.

On the flip side, the rules changes that don't get added to the PRD (i.e., those they mis-advertise as 'FAQs') have been ignored at my table for awhile. But that's only because I have easy access to the non-FAQ'd text.

[Tels]

137ben wrote:

In another thread, I wrote:

Unless you know what the rules said pre-errata, this idea ignoring errata isn't always feasible. If different group members own different printings of a book, or don't own it at all and use the srd, the errata document doesn't always give enough information to 'reverse engineer' the errata and figure out what the 1st printing rules were.

I've considered tracking all errata and putting 'anti-errata house rules' in my house rules document...but that means I have to keep track of all the errata when I didn't want to use it to begin with just so I can tell players what not to use. And that's assuming I have access to the first printing of every book to begin with, which I don't. The extra hurdles involved in 'not using errata' are what ultimately convinced me to stop running pathfinder.

Now, one idea I've suggested in the past was that Paizo could sell PDF versions of earlier printings. That way, any GM who doesn't want to deal with the continually changing rulebooks can just say "first printings only". Any player who doesn't own the first printing can just put down 10 bucks for a PDF of the first printing core rulebook/whatever book they are looking for. Paizo gets more money selling PDFs that they already have, and people who don't want to use errata can avoid doing so much more easily.

But unless and until Paizo implements my idea, not using errata requires tracking down old printings of hardcovers which become increasingly difficult to find the more time passes. Particularly for books which have gone through several heavy revisions like the Core Rulebook.

On the flip side, the rules changes that don't get added to the PRD (i.e., those they mis-advertise as 'FAQs') have been ignored at my table for awhile. But that's only because I have easy access to the non-FAQ'd text.

I have a lot of digital content so I don't worry about different printings. As I am also a GM, in many cases, or a primary rules advisor for the games I play in, it doesn't really bother me that much. So, if a new player joins my group, I have no problem in sharing my copy of the book with them, if they are using a different version with different rules.

As I said, I can't trust Paizo anymore when it comes to errata.

[Just a Guess]

My biggest concern with the errata is that time was used to fix stuff like "replace dwarven” with “dwarf”" or with unnecessary nerfs while other things that have been flagged many times for "FAQ needed" was ignored.

But, by what was said by an official posting we can't expect things to be errata'd that wasn't mentioned in the YX potential errors threat despite there being massive FAQ clicks.