Thanks for getting these up Shaun! I know I've been waiting forever for the new version
I finished my first read through and had some points for correction / clarification. Please don't take anything personally - just trying to help you guys finish the edits so we can have a final V4 edition sooner!
Pg 14 - Combat - Attack
"For example: A Hero with ATK 4 wielding a Sword (+2) rolls 4d6 for the attack. Every 5 or 6 rolled counts as a success. If the Hero rolls [1], [5], [5], [3], [4] and [3], he scored two hits against the target."
Typo: The example incorrectly states the Hero rolls 4d6; they should instead roll 6d6 (the example later properly shows this).
Pg 14 - Combat - Fumbles in Combat
"While stunned, a Character may not activate any reactive abilities or spells until he can act again."
Confusion: While reactive abilities not reacting make sense as it requires the Hero being 'functional', why wouldn't reactive spells? Reactive spells do not need to be cast again; they are already in place and would trigger on some effect regardless of the Hero's state. This seems counter-intuitive to standard rules.
Pg 14 - Combat - Fumbles in Combat
"Attack roll fumbles do not cause adverse conditions. However, some items, spells or other special conditions (like Weak weapons) may change the effect of a combat fumble, and provoke another type of penalty. Some of these conditions may replace the Stunning penalty, while others may stack with it."
Clarification: A fumbled attack can still succeed, correct? For example, if a Hero rolls 5d6 and obtains [1], [1], [1], [5], [6] on their Attack Roll, the two successes are still compared against the opponent's Defense Check.
Confusion: In addition to the clarification above, why is there no penalty to a fumbled attack? On Pg 5 - Playing the Game - Stat Checks, under the definition of Fumble, it gives the examples "... your weapon falls from your hand, you trip and must stand up on your next turn, etc." It seems only fair to penalize the attacker in some way (even making them 'Stunned' or some status like 'Vulnerable', similar to the optional rule 'Overwhelmed' causing a -1 to DEF, but lasting only to their next turn) as they've overextended themselves in some way / failed miserably in their attack.
Pg 18 - Monster's Turn
"Monsters are the enemies and opponents the Heroes face in the dungeon, be it Orcs, Ghoblins, Trolls or Dragons – even wild animals and human enemies (like evil sorcerers) are called Monsters in Dungeon Plungin."
Typo: Ghoblins is misspelled (unless intentional); typically spelled Goblin.
Pg 18 - Monster's Turn
"During the Monster’s Turn, all opponents in the board will take their Actions, one at a time, until all have acted."
Typo: Instead of "in the board", suggest changing to "on the board" - it's hard to get out of the board.
Pg 18 - Monster's Turn
"Monsters do not open doors and will ignore whatever is behind them. They are however aware of anything not “blocked” by a door, up to two tiles away from their position, and will pursue Heroes in that range according to their Laws. Once opened, doors can only be closed by special items, spells or events."
Clarification: It took me a few reads to really understand this - initially I thought this meant that if all Heroes moved to a range of 3 squares away from a Monster, it would sit still until the Heroes stepped within range again. After looking back at the definition of the MOV stat and the section Encounter Chart - Monster and Chest Arrangement, I noticed the key word difference - TILES vs SQUARES. I think reiterating the difference between tiles and squares here might be helpful, or possibly the addition of a glossary.
Clarification: How do you handle Monsters pursuing Heroes that may have closed a door with an alternate path available that takes more than 2 tiles to traverse? For example, lets say the Heroes flee from a Monster onto an adjacent tile, closing a door to block the Monster. The Monster has an alternate path that takes 4 tiles to traverse, but would eventually lead to the same tile the Heroes are on. The Monster is technically only 1 tile away, but the path is 4 tiles - how is this situation handled?
Confusion: Why can doors not be closed? Whoever built these dungeons used some really inefficient hinges.
I see this mentioned again later under Locked Doors and Chests - Using Keys. Is this a design decision to make the dungeon more dangerous?
Confusion: Should the note about doors not being closed be moved up in the Construction section under doors, or even clarified in a section under the Hero Turn? I would never think to look for this rule under Monster's Turn.
Pg 20 - Traps
"A trap is also activated when a Hero fails to disarm it, but in this case, all Heroes affected by the trap get an extra +1 die on any roll allowed to avoid its effects."
Clarification / Typo: This appears to be incorrect; later in the rules under the Disarming Traps subsection, it states "If the roll fails, then the trap is not activated, but each further attempt to disarm that same trap adds +1 to the difficulty of the check. A Fumble, however, will activate the trap which will take effect immediately. Once a trap is triggered the object is no longer trapped." Consequently, I believe the statement here should be revised to state that "A trap is also activated when a Hero fumbles when attempting to disarm it..."
Pg 20 - Traps - Detecting Traps
"If you failed the detection check, then the Hero believes there’s no trap to be found, and you can’t try again."
Clarification: The way this is written, it seems to imply no other Heroes can try to detect a trap again. Earlier in the rules (and later in the example), it does clarify that all Heroes can make one check. My only suggestion is to change the "you" in "you can't try again" to "this Hero".
Pg 21 - Traps - Some Example Traps - Explosive Runes
"Make a 5d6 attack against every Character in the tile, which can resist the heat or roll for cover with an opposed RES or DEX check (use whichever stat is higher)."
Clarification: This seems ambiguous. If I can resist the heat, why am I rolling an attack roll against that Hero? What happens if I attempt and fail a RES or DEX check to avoid the damage? Do I immediately and completely 'fail' my Defense Check against the Attack Roll? If not, why wouldn't all Heroes attempt the check first?
Pg 22 - Locked Doors and Chests - Using Keys
"Normally, if you use a key, any traps are automatically bypassed and you can open the Door or Chest safely."
Clarification: Why is this qualified with "Normally"? No examples are given as to when this would not occur as described.
Pg 22 - Locked Doors and Chests - Using Keys
"Great Keys are a Treasure item that may be discovered in a chest or obtained from specific Characters. You need a Great Key to open a Great door and any traps are automatically bypassed."
Clarification: It might be beneficial to note that you do not *NEED* a Great Key to open the Great Door, as it is later noted it can be bashed in.
Pg 22 - Locked Doors and Chests - Picking the Lock
"If you fail to pick the lock, you immediately trigger any existing trap (roll on the Door Trap or Chest Trap Chart if you haven’t done it yet). Note that if you had already detected the trap, then all Characters affected by the trap get an extra +1 die to avoid it. Once activated, the trap is gone. See the Traps sections for more detail."
Clarification: If the Heroes failed to detect a trap, they would also check at this time to see if a trap is present, correct?
Pg 22 - Locked Doors and Chests - Picking the Lock
"For example A locked Door is Dif: 2. The Warrior Hero attempts to unlock the Door with his DEX 3 and fails. The Thief had already determined that it wasn’t trapped so He tries again with his second action but this time he needs 3 successes. Once again he fails and can no longer attempt to open the Door as he cannot ever achieve more than 3 successes. The Thief Hero makes his first attempt at opening the Door and must get 2 successes."
Clarification: This is the first time that I noticed the difficulty check for a task 'resets' when attempted by another Hero. Is this correct? If so, can this be added in the rules in another location to make this more explicit and obvious? I was under the impression that every failure was cumulative.
Pg 22 - Locked Doors and Chests - Bashing a Door or Chest
"As a final resort, you can also try opening the chest or door by force. This makes a lot of noise, so any monsters in neighboring rooms are automatically on the Alert awareness level."
Clarification: What is the point of rolling when bashing a door (specifically a door; I understand the potential penalty on the chest)? As soon as the door is hit, any traps are triggered, and monsters in neighboring rooms are automatically 'Alert'. As no penalty is encforced on a failure or fumble for bashing a door, why not just state it's automatically successful?
Clarification: Does bashing a chest also alert the monsters in neighboring rooms, or only when bashing doors?
Pg 23 - Treasure - Party Inventory
"Gems and other items that do not have a special use do not occupy an Inventory slot. Like Gold, these items are shared by all Heroes and are normally sold when the quest is over and they return to town – but some can be expended as reagents for magic item creation recipes the Heroes may possess. Details can be found on the Spell Book."
Typo: The word 'on' should be changed to 'in' in the last sentence.
Pg 23 - Treasure - Hero Inventory
"The backpack is a special item that, once acquired, expands a Hero’s Inventory from 4 to 8 slots."
Clarification: Presumably this means the backpack does not take up an inventory slot, correct?
Pg 23 - Treasure - Hero Inventory - Equipment
"Attire consists of a collection of accessories and worn magic items, like Helmets, Capes, Amulets, Boots, Gloves and Rings. Each Hero can equip up to 4 pieces of attire, otherwise their magic energies interfere with each other and none of them work. Attire bonuses do not stack: if two items grant a bonus to the same stat, consider only the highest bonus (or the worst penalty, in the case of cursed equipment; see below)."
Clarification: As written, there is no limitation on wearing the same type of attire. In the case of jewelry this makes sense, but is it intended that Heroes be able to wear 4 pairs of boots if they choose? Or helmets, capes, gloves...?
Pg 25 - Experience Points
"When Heroes return to town, divide all XP gained while in the dungeon among them. You can find details about advancement on the Character Book."
Typo: The word "on" in the last sentence should be changed to "in".
Thanks again to EVERYONE contributing on this game! It's wonderful, and I look forward to the rest of the books so we can start really playtesting!