prerelease comments / observations

On p.233 and p.331, instances of "who's" should be the possessive "whose."

In the description of the Lodestone Shield, p.326, it explains that to use the power of the shield you must spend hold, but does not describe how you gain hold to spend.

The effects of missing on the roll for The Ku'meh Maneuver and Other Strategems, p.325, is very unclear.  "The GM can 1 of your hold" does not make sense, and further it would seem that the consequences of failing the roll could be avoided by not giving out advice.

The Druid move Elemental Mastery, p.100, delights me.  But I want to understand it better.  What does it mean to pay "nature's price"?  If you select "retain control" but do not select "the effect you desire comes to pass," can you then simply control the spirit to cause the effect you desire?  I assume not, because if you didn't select "the effect you desire comes to pass"... it won't!  I also assume that the range of effects is limited to what elemental spirits can do, which is largely up to fiat.

P.20 helpfully explains that unarmed PC's deal 1 damage.  How does this reconcile with the Fighter's option to make her signature weapon her "Fists" (p.105)?  Does the Fighter then just have a really nice set of benefits on that 1 damage?  Should this be "Gauntlets" instead of "Fists"?  Or perhaps if a Fighter takes Fists as her signature weapon, she is never actually "unarmed" and can deal full damage with her tattooed kung fu killing hands capital-F Fists.  I like that last interpretation.

The Paladin move "I am the Law," p.112, is unusual in that it succeeds on a roll of 6 or higher ("6+").  This is different from every other rolled move in the game, where marginal success requires at least a 7.  I'm thinking typo.

The Thief move Trap Expert, p.128, calls for a roll+DEX.  Which strikes me as odd, since the move allows you to perceive and determine more about the environment, which would usually call for +WIS or +INT.  I mean, I can kind of see how you could justify it as the Thief walking around and poking everything very dextrously to figure things out, but I wonder if that was intended.

The Thief move Trap Expert, p.128, calls for a roll+DEX.  Which strikes me as odd, since the move allows you to perceive and determine more about the environment, which would usually call for +WIS or +INT.  I mean, I can kind of see how you could justify it as the Thief walking around and poking everything very dextrously to figure things out, but I wonder if that was intended.

I suspect this is to prevent "attribute creep" where a class slowly needs a longer and longer list of atts to do everything. But that's just a guess.

Traditionally, thieves are supposed to be awesome at finding traps, and having a skill tied to their best attribute helps with that. 

It certainly does make sense that disarming traps would get a bonus from Dex, and finding isn't much of a stretch.  High Int characters can be absent-minded professors, and high Wis might mean you're disciplined and strong-willed, but hardly necessarily observant.  Alertness is often considered a component of Dex.

Although -- are the stats even properly defined in the rules?  If there's a page where it actually says, I don't see it right now.  That could be an issue for, e.g., the difference between Int and Wis (which I remember having debates about when we were teenagers first trying to figure out D&D).

"Stunned" refers to two distinct conditions, one described on p.21 and again as INT debility on p.23.  I'd want to rename INT debility as "addled" or something.

Starting on p.255 some monster stat blocks have "w" or "b" indicated in their damage.  Is this defined somewhere?

Starting on p.255 some monster stat blocks have "w" or "b" indicated in their damage.  Is this defined somewhere?

It is defined somewhere. Hmmm or used to be.

B means to take the best of the two dice. I think W means to take the worst.

It should probably be added to Chapter 17, Elements of a Monster - Damage, to make it clearer though.

Might also be worth adding to Chapter 2 - Harm and Healing - Damage. Where it talks about monster damage.

But of the two areas the Chapter 17 would keep it fresh in the reader's mind as they look at the monster stats and see it pop up.

More over: what should I do when a bunch of minions and their 2d10·b damage leader deal their damage to the same character? Should I have to roll 2d10 for each one and take the best? Or just 1d10 for each minion and 2d10 for the leader?

Hey Adam, you should ask a few questions and establish the fiction first, before you ask how to deal the monsters damage.
How does that fictionally happen? Are the minions tiny? Are they and their leader leaping all over the character and hacking away? How are they dealing damage? With sword blows or bites or magic?

If it is fictionally established that all of these blighters can make an attack against the character simultaneously (poor bugger) and you decide to go with dealing damage, then:

If multiple creatures attack at once roll the damage die for each of them and take the highest result. If some of the creatures deal a different amount of damage roll the damage with the highest potential for each creature involved in the attack and take the highest result.

p.165

So yeah, roll 2d10 for each one and take the highest result showing.  Perhaps making an attack / hard move other than dealing damage would be more of a fan of this particular character? Ouch.

Yeah probably. 2d10 for each minion is just sick.

Yeah probably. 2d10 for each minion is just sick.

Well it's not really 2d10 for each minion, 'cause you only use the highest roll.

(I love that rule because you can totally mob a PC, and know that they can handle it)

It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!

It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!

Sounds like Exalted World to me :D

It's not about balance, it's... 16d10 in a single roll!

Ooooh gotcha, hahaha. Yeah, I would roll 4 or 5 dice Max, there. Otherwise you can safely assume there will be on 10 in there, so just call it ten damage and keep the game moving, haha