Blue Rose

Blue Rose: The Roleplaying Game of Romantic Fantasy

Throughout

Whenever the word "although" is used, use ", although" instead of "; although,".

    True20 Adventure Roleplaying is the generic version of the True20 System. It clarifies some gray areas, but also makes enough changes to the system that its rules should not be adopted into Blue Rose without careful consideration. For this reason, I have only rarely referenced it here. 

    The Blue Rose Companion offers more details on paths and skill use, new feats, expanded arcana rules, and an expanded bestiary. Notes about its contents have been added where appropriate.

Credits (p. 1)

Chapter numbers in the Product Identity and OGC notices should be in Roman Numerals, as they are in the main text (I; II through XI). Also, there is no Chapter 10 or 11, unless the Introductory Adventure and Appendix should have been so numbered.

So flipping through the credits I noticed reference to the 'True20' system including a 'True20 Logo'. I'm not seeing the logo anywhere but there's part of me that somehow is thinking that it might be related to the MNM Superlink logo. [DarkTouch, 2/18/2005, "True20 System?"]

There is a True20 logo in design at this point, but it wasn't ready in time to make it onto the Blue Rose book. [T]he actual designation refers to "associated logos". True20 is the name we are applying to the stripped down system that Blue Rose uses. We didn't want to have to refer everyone to "the Blue Rose system" forever after. The True20 logo is not related to Superlink. [Hal Mangold (Righteousfist), 2/18/2005, "Re: True20 System?"]

Introduction (p. 6)

p.7, [illustration]: If these people are playing Blue Rose, all dice should be d20's.

p. 9, Difficulty Levels: Under "Heroic (30)", change "30-foot" to "25-foot"; Difficulty for a long jump is 5 + distance jumped in feet (see p. 84).

pp. 12-13, Important Terms: Add the following entry, which is explained on pp. 162 and 165, but nowhere else:

percent chance. To roll a percent chance on 1d20, count each number on the die as 5 percent. An event with a 20 percent chance (such as the miss chance for concealment) happens on a roll of 17 or higher, a 50 percent chance on 11 or higher, and a 75 percent chance on 6 or higher.

    Other useful terms to add here include: aid another; initiative; scene.

p. 12, The Combat Round: The sentence immediately before the bulleted list should read, "During a round you can do one of the following:"

Chapter I: The World of Aldea (p. 16)

pp. 21, The Exarchs of Shadow: The Book of Fiends (for d20) has more information on the Exarchs and their seven circles, and the stations of their servants.

pp. 45-46, The Southern Coasts and the Scatterstar Archipelago: The "krakens" mentioned are probably giant squid (p. 193), though some may be creature of that name in the d20 Monster Manual.

Chapter II: Creating Your Hero (p. 52)

p. 54, Nonexistent Ability Scores: The Constitution paragraph mentions constructs, but none are described in the Bestiary. This creature type appears in the Blue Rose Companion (pp. 106-108).

pp. 57-59, Rhydan:

Do Rhydan have their own language? Is it shared between all of them? Can they speak to animals of their type naturally? [ascendance, 2/9/2005, "Rules questions"]

Not as such, no. Rhydan all communicate solely through Mind Touch, which transcends language. They can learn to understand spoken humanoid languages (and usually do) but have no spoken language of their own. Rhydan need the appropriate arcana (like Beast Speech) to communicate with mundane animals, just like anyone else. [Steve Kenson, 2/9/2005, "Re: Rules questions"]

How do you pronounce Rhy? [Grim Luck, 2/27/2005]

I've absolutely no objections to alternative pronunciations, but when I created the world of Aldea, my pronunciations were: Rhy=rye [;] Rezea=Reh-zee-ah [;]and Aldea=Al-dee-ah. [John Snead, 2/18/2005, "Re: How do you pronounce Rhy?"]

I am playing a Rhy-Wolf in an online game right now, and I cannot find anywhere in the core book a mention of how big a Rhy-wolf is in comparison to a standard animal. The Rhy-cats are leopard sized, and the section under Rhydan on armor mentions that Rhy-horses are bigger than standard, but there is no concrete size mentioned that I can find. [nerdron, 4/1/2005, "how Large are Rhydan animals?"]

How difficult would it be for a rhydan go undercover by pretending to be an ordinary animal? For example, a merchant sells a knight a horse, but the horse is really a rhy horse on a mission to keep tabs on the knight. There's the appearance question; considering the larger size and any other factors, can a rhy horse pass for a normal horse? Behavior; can a rhy horse put up with otherwise unacceptable treatment and act enough like a normal horse to fool people? And what feats or arcana would a rhy horse need to fool Beast Reading and other such arcana? [TeddyMiller, 4/1/2005, "Rhy spy"]

Rhy-horses and rhy-wolves can pass as mundane animals. You might require a Bluff or Perform (acting) check with a suitable bonus (say +10) to fool people and to hide any intelligent behavior. Also keep in mind rhy-horses don't especially like being ridden, except by a close, bonded companion, so a rhy-horse isn't going to be quick to volunteer for the duties of a mundane horse. [Steve Kenson, 4/1/2005, "Re: how Large are Rhydan animals?/ Rhy spy"]

I was wondering about how long the various types of rhydan live. Based on the [description of] Laritha, I would assume its at least somewhat longer than the animals they are similar to, perhaps even as long as a human lifespan, at least for the animals that normally live shorter than Men, such as rhycats and rhyhorses. [Seeker of Truth, 6/13/2005, "Ages amongst the Rhydan"]

I think it's fair to say rhydan lifespans are approximately the same as length as a human's. [Steve Kenson, 6/13/2005, "Re: Ages amongst the Rhydan"]

p. 58, Rhy-cats: Improved Climb is a General feat, so it does not need to be listed as a Favored Feat.

pp. 59-60, Sea Folk: 

I'm planning a Blue Rose campaign for our Group, and one of the players wishes to play a member of the Sea Folk, but he raised a question i can't find an answer to, it says on page 60 of the Blue Rose book that the Sea Folk must immerse themselves in water daily but not for how long? i'm guessing that just jumping into a river (or bath) and out again isn't sufficient, but how long is? 1 minute?, 1 hour? Can someone clarify this for me, (I'm currently favouring 1 hour per day). [philnicau, 7/23/2006, "Sea Folk and immersion?"]

pp. 62-63, Adept Paths: See the Blue Rose Companion (pp. 13-27) for more details on these paths.

pp. 64-65, Expert Paths: See the Blue Rose Companion (pp. 27-40) for more details on these paths, plus two new paths: Infiltrator and Merchant.

pp. 66-67, Warrior Paths: See the Blue Rose Companion (pp. 41-50) for more details on these paths, plus one new path: Swashbuckler.

p. 72, Light and Shadow Natures:

I have noticed that there are two repeated oppositions: Hopeful / Remorseful (5 of Chalices) and Hopeful / Hopeless (5 of Pentacles) [Nobilis, 9/1/2005, "Callings and Natures - newbie"]

"Hopeful" is meant to appear in both places. [Jeremy Crawford, 10/21/2005, "Re: Callings and Natures - newbie"]

Chapter III: Skills (p. 75)

The Blue Rose Companion (pp. 51-57) describes additional uses for each skill.

pp. 75-76, Acquiring Skills:

I am still a little confused about SKILLS. Specifically 'Favored Skills'. Page 75 seems to indicate each role should have a "list" of favored skills. While page 61 indicates "...Each role has one or more standard favored skills, in addition to a certain number you get to choose..." Yet as you look at the roles (pg 62, 64, 66), they each get to choose x number of "Favored Skills" (along with a craft and possibly a knowledge).

    Here is where my confusion starts: The "Known Skills". They also let you choose y number (+ int). Generally, however, this number (y) will be much lower than the number of 'Favored Skills' (x). Does this mean almost all characters will have ALL of their 'Known Skills' as favored? If so, why bother with the distinction?

    Do characters get to pick more skills/favored skills as they advance in levels, OR does this only happen when they get more Intelligence? [Banesfinger, 2/8/2005, "Re: Step by Step Char Gen guide"]

Certain feats (such as Skill Training) allow heroes to acquire more known skills, which may or may not be favored skills depending on how many skills the hero already knows. You're correct that heroes' starting skills will usually always be favored, since they can choose both as suits the player's concept of the hero. The restrictions of favored vs. non-favored skills comes more into play in advancement and adding new skills. [Steve Kenson, 2/9/2005, "Re: Step by Step Char Gen guide"]

pp. 75-76, Normal Skills:

Also, since you get to choose almost every skill (with the exception of craft/knowledge), comments like "...heroes are less capable with skills their role does not favor. For instance, adepts aren’t as good at athletic skills as warriors are, and warriors aren’t as effective at scholarly skills as adepts are...." (pg 75-6, normal skills), seem to be misleading. [Banesfinger, 2/8/2005, "Re: Step by Step Char Gen guide"]

    Warriors tend to have better Str, Dex, and Con scores. Not only do these stats improve their attack and damage, and their ability to resist the same, they are also the key abilities for athletic skills. So even without training, a warrior will tend to be better at running, jumping, climbing, etc., than an adept. Also, a good Con will allow a warrior to recover fatigue more quickly, another sign of athletic ability.

    Adepts tend to be more cerebral in focus, with good Int, Wis, and Cha. They have all Knowledge skills as favored skills, and will tend to have extra known skills from good Int. This naturally leads them into having a good selection of scholarly skills.

    And of course, the middle ground is the expert, who can potentially do both well, but won't have enough skills or ability score points to outdo both the warrior AND the adept at everything. But there are many paths experts can do best because of their sheer flexibility.

p. 81, Disable Device; p. 87, Search: In spite of including the Trapfinding feat and mentioning traps under the Disable Device and Search skills, Blue Rose gives no rules for how traps work.

Chapter IV: Feats (p. 90)

The Blue Rose Companion (pp. 57-65) includes many new feats.

    It would be helpful if the feat tables (pp. 93-94) included a prerequisite column, as was done in the d20 Player's Handbook, even though fewer feats have prerequisites in True20.

p. 91, Animism Talent: See notes for p. 113, Dominate Beast, and p. 116, Gentle Beasts.

p. 95, Empower Arcana:

If a caster uses a metamagic feat such as empower with an arcana that is not fatiguing, what's the downside? Does it make it have fatigue? can you simply not empower spells with no fatigue? [artent, 6/12/2005, "more magic questions"]

p. 95, Evasion:

[We] wanted to know how useful Evasion would be as a feat. My first instinct, having played a fair amount of d20, was to give it a thumbs up since it's darn handy against fireballs and dragons' breath and... well, other things that don't seem to happen in Blue Rose. So i started hunting through the book a bit, looking for Reflex saves. There are a few scattered around - like avoiding getting knocked off your feet by Earth Shaping attacks - but so far I haven't found ANY instances of making a Reflex save for half damage. So i ask the forum: is there any situation noted in the BR core book that actually makes Evasion useful? [Bhikku, 9/6/2005, "here's my stupid Evasion question"]

    The Earthquake use of Earth Shaping allows Reflex saves for half damage. After taking a quick look through the core book, I can't find any other saves that fit the conditions for Evasion.

    That said, there is one other class of hazard which frequently allows Reflex saves for half damage in d20: Traps. However, in spite of including the Trapfinding feat and mentioning traps under the Disable Device and Search skills, Blue Rose gives no rules for how traps work.

p. 97, Fortune's Favor:

The Fortune's favor feat gives a pc a bonus equal to their Charisma to "all saving throws". Is toughness included in that? [Nisarg, 6/11/2005, True20 Forum: "Fortune's Favor: Does it apply to Toughness?"]

Fortune's Favor is not meant to apply to Toughness. [Jeremy Crawford, 10/21/2005, Noble Assembly: "Re: fortunes favor"]

p. 99, Improved Critical:

The feat "Improved Critical" on page 99 says that it applies to a single attack. What is meant by attack? [Nick Warcholak, 3/22/2005, "Rule Questions"]

    The d20 Player's Handbook states, "Choose one type of weapon, such as a longsword or greataxe." In the Blue Rose rules, Weapon Focus, p. 106, states this more explicitly, and allows unarmed strike as a legal choice. (Grapple is probably pointless except for creatures that deal immediate damage with a grab attack.) Creatures with natural weapons may apply this feat to one of those weapons (such as claw or bite).

p. 100, Inspire: The number of uses per day should also have a minimum of one.

p. 101, Psychic Talent: Heart Reading may also be used untrained. [This is the only talent with two arcana usable untrained.]

p. 102, Rage:

Can you activate any Arcanum at all while raging, or do they all qualify as "Requiring concentration?" A warrior who can activate certain fatiguing Arcanum while raging could make good use of the bonus to will saves, for example. [Isotherm, 4/17/2005, "Some quick rules questions"]

    The "Action" section on p. 107 seems to indicate that all arcana require concentration to activate.

p. 103, Suggest:

I noticed that the Suggest feat for Experts works like the Suggestion arcanum, but does not require mental contact. The Suggestion arcanum also doesn't require mental contact. [rrwood, 6/23/2005, "Arcana requiring mental contact?"]

Under the Suggest Feat description, it says: "Mass Suggest: If you take this feat a second time for the same interaction skill, you can make your suggestion simultaneously to any number of subjects you have already fascinated." The Fascinate Feat description doesn't say how many subjects can be fascinated at a time. Fascinate does mention that: "You may maintain the effect by taking a standard action each round, for a number of rounds equal to your skill rank." I presume, then, that in order to use Mass Suggest, you first have to spend a couple of rounds getting various people Fascinated. Is this right? [Jonathan Moyer, 3/15/2005, "Fascinate and Suggest Feats"]

p. 104, Surprise Attack:

Surprise Attack (BR's equivalent to the standard d20 Sneak Attack ability) is the name of both the feat that gives +2 damage on surprise attacks, and the name of the action itself. "Surprise attack" has a section in the special combat action rules alongside Trip and Disarm and whatnot, but it doesn't actually seem to do anything.

    Is there supposed to be some special effect to surprise attacking (i.e., attacking when a foe is denied his dodge bonus to Defense) when you do not have the Surprise Attack feat?

    I would assume not, except that "surprise attack" is included as an action anyone can take, and the feat modifies that, rather than just giving a +2 to "attacks when the foe is denied dodge bonus." So I'm wondering if a surprise attack is already supposed to have some special result which the feat adds to, in the same way Improved Disarm and Improved Trip modify those actions. [Deadstop, 3/20/2005, "Surprise Attack"]

    True20 Adventure Roleplaying clarifies this: Without this feat, a surprise attack gives no additional benefit beyond the target losing its dodge bonus.

p. 105, Trapfinding: In spite of including the Trapfinding feat and mentioning traps under the Disable Device and Search skills, Blue Rose gives no rules for how traps work.

Chapter V: Arcana (p. 107)

The Blue Rose Companion includes new uses for Mind Shaping, Mind Touch, Psychic Shield, Second Sight, and Ward (pp. 66-68), as well as ten new arcana (pp. 69-71).

p. 107, Arcana Rank: No example is given for calculating ranks for arcana acquired through the Arcanum feat. The calculation is identical to the adept example (total level is treated as adept level). The Blue Rose Companion includes a table of arcana ranks by level (p. 67).

p. 108, Saving Throws: Arcana learned through the Arcanum feat treat total level as adept level, but what is the adept level for a non-adept with Arcane Training? [Thanks to Nick Warcholak, 3/22/2005, "Rule Questions"]

Page 108: "Adepts can choose to deliberately lower the save Difficulty of an arcanum by reducing their effective level to as low as 1. This generally makes the arcanum less effective, but makes it easier to resist any fatigue it may cause." Can an adept choose to do this when using ANY arcanum (i.e. one without a saving throw)? [Codex, 2/18/2005, "Clarification: lowering adept level when using arcana"]

Yes. This allows higher-level adepts to perform at a lower level with less risk of fatigue. [Steve Kenson, 2/20/2005, "Re: Clarification: lowering adept level when using arcana"]

p. 111, Arcana [table]: Adding an Action column to this table (as was done with Skills, p. 76) would be helpful. See also notes to p. 116, Flesh Shaping.

p. 113, Dominate Beast: See note for p. 116, Gentle Beasts.

pp. 113-115, Earth Shaping:

earth shaping: what actions are these. standard, full-round, ... ? [langewiele, 7/12/2005, "some minor issues on arcana"]

Move Earth takes [from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on area affected]; Stonecrafting depends on the project in question. The time for Soften Earth and Earthquake are not specified, but I would guess that both are standard actions, since the d20 spells they mimic are. [Chris LoBue (White Rose Duelist), 7/12/2005, "Re: some minor issues on arcana"]

    Under Earthquake: Open Ground, a 25 percent chance is 16+ on d20 (see notes to pp. 12-13).

p. 115, Enhance Senses:

enhance senses: move action, 10 minutes duration, no fatigue. besides assuming one having that has it "always on" (except sleeping and stuff) with a take 10 - what prevents those ones from doing about 3-5 roles to get a good result, besides stupid take-20-fatigue? [langewiele, 7/12/2005, "some minor issues on arcana"]

    This arcanum cannot be maintained, so you will need to take a move action once every 10 minutes to renew it. If you wish to activate it again before that duration is up, you only get the benefit of the best result. If the Narrator believes that a player is abusing this arcana through excessive frequency, he would be justified in instituting a house rule to either limit how often it can be attempted, or impose a fatigue save after a certain number of attempts in a given time period, or some other suitable solution.

p. 116, Flesh Shaping:

Flesh Shaping is a Healing arcana in the text description on p.116, and a Shaping arcana on the chart on p.111. Which is it? I'm going to guess 'both.' [nephandi, 2/21/2005, "Flesh Shaping question"]

You guess correctly. [Steve Kenson, 2/21/2005, "Re: Flesh Shaping question"]

p. 116, Gentle Beasts:

The Animism arcanum Gentle Beasts refers to the Calm (Psychic Talent) arcanum description for how it works. Calm requires mental contact.

    Animism talent doesn't provide any way to establish mental contact. Beast Link's description sounds like it might do the job, but it is a fatiguing, Trained-Only arcanum with a specific use.

    One way to solve this is to drop the mental contact requirement for Gentle Beasts (and also Dominate Beasts, which has the same issue). This is the easiest solution, and probably what most groups do. [rrwood, 6/23/2005, "Arcana requiring mental contact?"]

    An Animism arcanum doesn't require any separate effort to establish mental contact--it's part of the same action, unlike Psychic arcana. (Note that Beast Link does not require mental contact, even though it has a mental effect.)

    The various "Beast" arcana only work on normal animals (and not rhydan!). They are balanced against the Psychic arcana, which can affect many more creature types but require that extra step.

p. 117, Light Shaping: See p. 162 (or the notes to pp. 12-13) about rolling miss chances (20% is 17+ on 1d20, 50% is 11+).

p. 120, Move Object:

Can a character use the Move Object arcanum to move herself? [nephandi, 3/20/2005, "Move Object question"]

No, but such a use of Move Object would make a good feat, IMHO. [Steve Kenson, 3/20/2005, "Re: Move Object question"]

p. 122, Psychic Shield: Under Time, using Psychic Shield as a defense is a reaction. Raising or lowering the shield is a free action.

psychic shield states, that [it] helps against anything with a will save - but the next sentence explicitly mentions psychic arcana. sorcerers grasp is shaping, but allows a will save for half damage - so does psychic shield help against the grasp or does it not ? [langewiele, 7/12/2005, "some minor issues on arcana"]

I think this is an unfortunate case of having the same word (in this case, "psychic") meaning two different things. "Psychic" (capital P) is a grouping of related arcana, while "psychic" (small P) is a general descriptor of things one can do with the mind - so all arcana are psychic, but only some are Psychic arcana. You should be able to use Psychic Shield against Sorcerer's Grasp. [Chris LoBue (White Rose Duelist), 7/12/2005, "Re: some minor issues on arcana"]

    I would say that, in the absence of an official ruling, either interpretation would be valid, as long as it is consistently applied within the campaign, but I'd be inclined to be generous. (In True20 Adventure Roleplaying, which does not use Arcane Talents, Psychic Shield simply states "any powers granting a Will saving throw.")

    Non-Psychic arcana that require a Will save seem to be limited to: Beast Reading, Beast Trance, Dominate Beast, Drain Vitality, Gentle Beasts, and Sorcerer's Grasp. All but two of those arcana affect only animals, so will only interact with a Psychic Shield if the target is a familiar that is sharing arcana. I'd be inclined to rule that the shield applies in that case, since most of those Animism arcana mimic Psychic arcana. That just leaves Drain Vitality (Healing) and Sorcerer's Grasp (Shaping) in the gray area.

p. 122, Scrying:

How often does one need to make a fatigue check with arcana that are fatiguing and can be maintained over a period of time, like Scrying? [oliof, 6/12/2005, "rules question: maintained fatiguing arcana (like scrying)"]

You make a fatigue save when you first cast a fatiguing arcanum. Even if the arcanum, like Scrying, is maintained for many rounds, you only make one fatigue save at the beginning. If the arcanum is interrupted and you wish to reuse it, however, you must recast it and make a new fatigue save.

    Keep in mind that each fatiguing arcanum you use increases the Difficulty of subsequent fatigue saves by 1. To stop this increase, you must refrain from using fatiguing arcana for an hour. (See page 109 of Blue Rose.) [Jeremy Crawford, 6/12/2005, "Re: rules question…"]

p. 122, Second Sight: Under Time, "psychic signatures" should be "arcane signatures". Delete "and psychic tracing"; this use is not described here. The Blue Rose Companion offers rules for psychic tracing (pp. 67-68).

p. 123, Sense Minds: For ease of use, the distances above 300 ft. are approximately 0.5, 5, 50, and 500 miles.

pp. 124-125, Wind Shaping: A 50 percent chance is 11+ on d20; 25% is 6+ (see notes to pp. 12-13). To roll 1-10, roll 1d20 and subtract 10 from results of 11-20.

pp. 126-127, Sorcery: The Shadow Art:

[T]here is one serious concern we have about the Corruption rules: Why hasn't the Lich King of Kern simply obliterated Aldis in a holocaust of earthquakes and fire?

Here is our reasoning:

    1) The Lich King is a fully Corrupt Sorceror.

    2) Nowhere do the rules state, or even imply, that fully Corrupt individuals cease to accumulate Corruption.

    3) Corrupt adepts use Corruption as the key ability of their arcana.

    4) Assuming the Lich King of Kern started his path to becoming a Lich at the beginning of the Shadow Wars, he has been accumulating Corruption for 600 years.

    5) Assuming he has performed a single Corrupt act a day for 600 years, he has accumulated 219,000 points of Corruption. This would allow him to use Fire Shaping to increase the size of a fire to 219,000 square feet (467 feet x 467 feet square) as a standard action by taking a 1. The flame would have a damage value of +109,500 (or a total Damage save DC of 109,515). The Will save DC to resist fatigue for this would be 22 assuming he used it at full power, or 10 if he used it at minimum strength (which is all that would be required for the firestorm listed above).

    Admittedly, the results of 5) seem fairly broken, but I can't find anything in the rules to contradict my conclusions. [Rich, 5/26/2005, "Does Corruption make the Lich King a walking nuclear device?"]

You're spot on, except for one minor detail. Accumulating Corruption requires a failed Fortitude save (see p.126); the unliving automatically succeed all Fortitude saves (see p.203). So according to a rather literal interpretation of the rules, the unliving cannot gain more Corruption. I find this silly. I also find it silly that Corruption has no cap, so I house rule that Corruption maxes at +20. I also house rule that the unliving can become more Corrupt. [nephandi, 5/26/2005, "Re: Does Corruption make the Lich King a walking nuclear device?"]

In fact, there is a cap: 20. We'll make sure to clarify that, among other things, in an upcoming corrections and clarifications document. Also, the cap is in place in The World of Aldea, so the Lich King has a leash. [Jeremy Crawford, 10/21/2005, "Re: House Rule: Gaining Corruption"]

p. 126, Corrupt Places: For more information on corrupt places, see the Blue Rose Companion (p. 78, Shadow Wells).

Chapter VI: Wealth and Equipment (p. 128)

pp. 128-130, Wealth: Blue Rose needs guidelines for assigning Wealth and/or equipment to characters created at above 1st level. (See d20 Modern, p. 204, for a "Wealth Bonus by Level" table.)

pp. 128-129, The Wealth Check: Under Aid Another, the Difficulty is 10.

    When equipping your hero, a good rule of thumb is: 1) List all items that you wish to buy, in order of cost. 2) Make all purchases that won't reduce your Wealth score. 3) Start with the highest-cost item and work downward.

p. 129, Currency in Aldea: The first word should be "The", not "he".

pp. 129-130, Professional Skills: The d20 Profession skill has been dropped in favor of the new Professional Skills rules. A few of the examples in the PHB, such as brewer, cook and tanner, probably should have been Craft specialties to start with, and can easily be covered that way in BR. Guide can be covered by Knowledge (geography) and/or Survival, and herder, stablehand, and teamster should all use Handle Animal.

    However, some other potentially useful Profession skills--like sailor--do not have an obvious alternative under True20. Will the Blue Rose Companion book offer any new skills to cover this and other gaps? If not, GMs may wish to consider importing the Drive skill from True20 Adventure Roleplaying, especially if the campaign involves a fair amount of ship travel. The Islander background could easily swap in this Drive skill for any of its three favored skills.

    On a related note, the Freeport setting introduces a Profession (gambler) skill. In BR, I'd suggest treating that as a new application of the Bluff skill.

p. 131-132, Weapon Qualities: Weight mentions Small and Large weapons, there are no rules for their cost or damage. Small weapons cost the same as Medium weapons; Large cost +2 more. See notes to pp. 183 and 188 (Size and Advancement) about calculating Large damage; reverse the calculation for Small weapons.

p. 131, Melee and Ranged Weapons: Under Reach Weapons, change "an opponent in an adjacent square" to "an adjacent foe". (Blue Rose does not use battle-grid squares as d20 does.)

p. 131, Light, One-Handed, and Two-Handed Melee Weapons:

Do two-handed weapons get 1.5 strength added to damage [as in standard d20]? Some of them do slightly more damage than their one-handed counterparts even without it, admittedly, but others have cheaper one-handed equivalents, like the scythe vs. the pick, and if you're wanting a two handed sword, you might as well just get a bastard sword, since it does the same damage, costs slightly less, and can be used in one hand if you want to spend a feat for it. Should the Greatsword do +5 damage like the great axe, so it's -not- outdone by the bastard sword? [Isotherm, 4/17/2005, "Some quick rules questions"]

    The x1.5 appears to have been removed. (This may be because each +1 for Strength in True20 has fractionally more effect than each +1 in d20. According to the conversion guidelines, each 5 hit points of damage converts to a +2 damage bonus; however, Strength bonuses aren’t scaled down relative to this. So, in a way, that x1.5 is already there.)

    According to p. 218, both the bastard sword (1d10) and greatsword (2d6) convert to a +4 damage bonus, but the greataxe (1d12) becomes +5.

p. 132, Critical:

A successful critical hit doubles an attack's damage. This strikes me as being really, really high in some cases. A high strength warrior specializing in a rapier, with Improved Critial, is going to be confirming a lot of crits, and getting somewhere in the high teens in damage, if his total damage is doubled. In D&D, only the weapon's base damage is doubled on a crit, I think, and in M&M a successful critical gives a flat +5 to damage.

    Another problem is that sometimes damage equals +0 or is negative; what happens if there is a critical? Doubling either doesn't work or is lowered. Wouldn't a flat +5 damage on criticals work better? [nephandi, 4/1/2005, "Sundering, Criticals rules questions"]

[I]n D&D, 'extra damage dice' like Sneak Attack bonuses are not multiplied in a critical. In BR, it seems that Surprise Attack bonuses are multiplied on a crit. [nephandi, 4/2/2005, "Re: Sundering, Criticals rules questions"]

On my first reading I read pg [132], 154 and 159 to mean only the weapon's damage was multiplied by the critical. On page [132] it says: "Damage over and above a weapon's normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit." Unfortunately, the example refers to an enchantment bonus, not bonuses from feats and Str. On a closer reading I am not sure and suspect nephandi is correct. If the high criticals proved an issue then I suggest just multiplying the base damage. However, the higher damage may be intentional given the high levels of Toughness. [skywalker, 4/21/2005, "Re: Sundering, Criticals rules questions"]

    Narrators may wish to adopt the critical rules from True20 Adventure Roleplaying, where each weapon gives a flat +3, +4, or +5 to damage on a conformed crit; these correspond to x2, x3, and x4 weapons, respectively.

p. 133, Cryston:

The rules talk about wielding them, but who makes them? Is it a trick a PC could pick up? [Theron, 7/27/2005, "So, How Do You Make A Cryston?"]

imbue stone feat, some proper arcana (or maybe even better: psychic weapon). set proper dcs for making (like 15) and costs (like 7 or 8 - mainly the sha[s] crystal). compare to the other stones already in the book. [langeweile, 7/27/2005, "Re: So, How Do You Make A Cryston?"]

    The Blue Rose Companion has rules for additional types of magical objects, but crystons don't require attuning like those new item types do. Imbue Stone seems most appropriate for creating crystons.

p. 135, Quarterstaff: The staff is always a two-handed weapon. "You can wield it one- or two-handed" is probably supposed to refer to Two-Weapon Fighting; replace this sentence with: "Each end can be wielded as a separate weapon (see Two-Weapon Fighting, page 167), with the off-hand end being treated as a light weapon."

pp. 136-137, Whip: Remove the reference to a threatened area; Blue Rose does not use d20 rules about threatened areas and attacks of opportunity.

p. 137, Armor Qualities: Weight mentions Small and Large creatures, but there are no rules for the their cost, except for barding (p. 143). Small armor costs the same as Medium armor. Add +2 to the cost of Large armor. Add an additional +2 to any size armor designed for a quadruped rather than a biped (such as barding for mounts).

p. 140, Lantern: A "cone" emanates from a point to the listed distance, where it is as wide as the cone is long.

p. 140, Lock: Insert a colon at the paragraph break, and remove the break.

p. 140, Manacles: Because Wealth is not linear (see notes to pp. 217-219), adding the lock's cost to the manacles' cost is actually more expensive than buying them separately.

p. 140, Oil: A 50 percent chance is 11+ on d20 (see notes to pp. 12-13).

p. 141, Magnifying Glass, and p. 142, Scale, Merchant's: Blue Rose has no Appraise skill, and lacks rules for other methods of judging an item's value. Use a Craft or Knowledge skill related the item, or an Intelligence check. Difficulty will vary depending on the value and rarity of the item.

p. 144, Saddle, Military: See p. 165 about mounted combat and staying in the saddle.

Chapter VII: Playing the Game (p. 147)

p. 148, Haggling: Wealth is not linear; see notes to pp. 217-219 about Cost.

p. 154, Critical Hits; Increased Threat Range: Some weapons have higher multipliers or threat ranges; see Chapter VI. See also the notes to p. 132, Critical.

p. 155, The Surprise Round: "attack or move action" should read "standard or move action".

p. 156, Actions in Combat [table]: Aim is listed, but not given an entry in the main text. It is only mentioned under Sunder, p. 166. See True20 Adventure Roleplaying, p. 68, for the text on Aim.

p. 158, Drop Prone: The Acrobatics skill (p. 77) may be used to Instant Up as a free action.

pp. 158-161, Damage and Recovery:

1. When you mark off a damage condition (Disabled), do you also mark off all the lesser damage conditions (Wounded)? [skywalker, 2/13/2005, "Damage and Healing questions"]

No. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

My guess is yes as otherwise you end up with a strange situation where someone Disabled who gets Wounded wouldn't devolve to Dying, as Wounded was not crossed off. [skywalker, 2/13/2005, "Damage and Healing questions"]

That's true, which allows disabled characters some chance to valiantly struggle on, using Conviction to help keep them going. However, if you prefer a more realistic treatment, any further damage to a disabled character should push them over to dying. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

2. Recovery checks. Do you make a recovery check for each condition once the time period has elapsed, just the worst damage condition or just the worst damage condition for both lethal and non-lethal? [skywalker, 2/13/2005, "Damage and Healing questions"]

You make a recovery check for the worst condition, starting with dying, then going back and forth between lethal and non-lethal. So you recover from conditions, one at a time, in the following order: Dying ("recovery" in this case means stabilizing), Unconscious, Disabled, Staggered, Wounded, Dazed, Hurt, Bruised. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

3. When healed by arcana do you choose which damage condition you make a recovery check for? [skywalker, 2/13/2005, "Damage and Healing questions"]

Arcana like Cure automatically treat the patient's worst current damage condition. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

4. When you heal a lethal Damage Condition, does the collateral non-lethal Damage Condition also heal? [skywalker, 2/13/2005, "Damage and Healing questions"]

No, it heals separately.

    So, for example, Wynn has the following damage conditions after a fierce battle with shadowspawn: three bruised, two hurt, dazed, wounded, staggered, and disabled. She would normally get a recovery check from being disabled after a day. Fortunately, one of her allies knows the Cure arcanum and uses it to aid her, giving her an immediate recovery check. It succeeds and she is no longer disabled.

    Since the Cure check succeeded Wynn's healer friend uses Cure again (with a +1 to the fatigue save Difficulty for repeated use). He succeeds once more and heals her staggered condition (Wynn would have gotten her normal recovery check from it after a minute). He then attempts to heal her wounded condition, but fails, so he has to either wait an hour or spend Conviction to try again.

    Wynn rests for an hour and makes her normal recovery check. She succeeds and erases the wounded condition. The dazed condition fades automatically after a minute. Wynn's two hurt conditions fade in two hours, then the three bruised conditions in three minutes. So, with the aid of a healer, Wynn is completely recovered in a little over three hours. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

One last question: if a person is Wounded and Staggered and a hit is scored which results in Disabled, do they check Unconscious due to the collateral non-lethal damage (which in this case would be a second Staggered upgrading to Unconscious)? [skywalker, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

Correct. [Steve Kenson, 2/14/2005, "Re: Damage and Healing questions"]

p. 159, Damage Conditions:

Do the BR rules at all attempt to use standard d20 terminology? (I sincerely believe BR best serves its customers by avoiding confusion by inventing new condition names for conditions that truly are different from their standard counterparts)

    […][Staggered and] Wounded: [I]f you use Stunning then you should add "dropping hand-held items" to the description.

    Disabled: You should clarify that you fall unconscious *after* performing the standard action. A beginner might well read the current text as "you fall unconscious when you try to perform a standard action, so no action gets performed". [Zapp, 11/23/2004, "fastplay rule mechanism glitches"]

p. 160, Condition Summary: Under Blinded, a 50 percent miss chance is 11+ on d20 (see p. 162 or the notes to pp. 12-13). Under Entangled, delete "a -2 penalty to Defense"; the -2 to Dexterity already imposes that penalty.

p. 163, Aid Another: Aid another can be used in other situations besides combat. See the Wealth Check, pp. 128-129, for an example. Difficulty for aid another is always 10, whether it involves an attack roll, a purchase check, or a skill check.

p. 164, Grappling Consequences: Blue Rose does not use d20's threatened area rules, so delete "Opponents can move past you as if you weren't there".

p. 166, Object Defense and Bonuses to Attack:

For a held item, Defense equals the character's Def+5+Object Size Mod. Under a literal reading it seems that, all other things being equal (like Dodge bonuses), it is much harder to attack an object held by a heavily-armored warrior than a more lightly-armored warrior. Maybe 'character's Defense' should really be 'character's Touch Attack Defense'? [nephandi, 4/1/2005, "Sundering, Criticals rules questions"]

    In standard d20, the AC [Defense] of either a carried or a worn object is 10 + its size modifier + the Dexterity modifier of the carrying or wearing character.

p. 166, Surprise Attack: See notes to p. 104 for the Surprise Attack feat.

p. 169, Smoke: A 20 percent miss chance is 17+ on d20 (see p. 162 or the notes to pp. 12-13).

Chapter VIII: Narrating Blue Rose (p. 170)

No notes.

Chapter IX: Bestiary (p. 183)

This chapter needs more explicit guidelines for assigning skills and feats to creatures, so that GMs have solid guidelines for creating their own creatures (or converting them from other d20 sources). This is especially important for new creature types (like shadowspawn) that don't have precise d20 equivalents. (The d20 Monster Manual did all this quite well [the v.3.5 one, anyway], and BR seems to have stripped out a bit too much of those rules.)

• Creature entries should explicitly list racial bonuses to skills, and bonus feats, as the MM does.

• Several creatures split their skill ranks across multiple skills, as if this was still standard d20. Either follow the Blue Rose skill system as written, or add a rule to make these exceptions legal.

• In d20, some of these creatures (especially animals) only have ranks in Listen and Spot, often in combination with Alertness. In many of the Blue Rose stat blocks, the MM value for Listen/Spot was used for Notice without adjusting the ranks, or translating Alertness to Skill Focus (Notice). (Usually, Alertness was simply deleted, with no replacement feat.) In these case, re-calculate Notice as a normal known skill, and either apply Skill Focus (Notice) or give the creature a new feat. The conversion rules on p. 219 say to average the modifiers, but this breaks the rules for known skill ranks.

• The MM routinely lists Hide modifiers for non-Medium creatures with no ranks in the skill, but Blue Rose does not do this for Sneak. (See p. 88 for Size modifiers.)

• The larger, more physically powerful, Narrator-character-only rhydan (griffons, unicorns, whales) should have creature levels as listed, but rhydan types allowed as heroes (dolphins, cats, horses, wolves) should follow the hero rules throughout, including taking roles from 1st level rather than creature levels.

    I hope these omissions are rectified in a future book or web enhancement. Meanwhile, I will be deconstructing parts of these stat blocks to fix things to my own satisfaction. Specific problems and suggestions follow, under each entry.

    The Blue Rose Companion (pp. 94-117) offers many new creatures, include two new types (vermin and construct) and a few templates.

p. 183, Size, and p. 188, Advancement: No rules are given for modifying damage when increasing a creature's size category. In D&D, size increases result in a larger number and/or type of dice being used for each weapon, because the weapon itself is larger. By comparing the Monster Manual's Increased Damage by Size table (p. 291) to the dice conversion rules in Blue Rose (p. 218), I've devised the following method for calculating size-based damage increases in BR: 1) Subtract Strength from the creature's total damage bonus to get the base damage for each weapon or natural weapon. 2) An increase of one size category increases damage by 50% (round down, minimum +1). 3) Repeat step 2 as necessary if increasing by more than one size category. 4) After all size increases have been made to base damage (above) and Strength (see p. 188), add them to get the new total damage bonus. [Thanks to langeweile (6/30/2005, "advancing monster - damage?") for noticing the problem.]

p. 184, Speed: Fly: Blue Rose lacks rules on how to use maneuverability ratings.

pp. 184-185, Attack: Secondary attacks only get half the Strength bonus (if any) to damage.

pp. 186-187, Incorporeal: A 50 percent miss chance is 11+ on d20 (see p. 162 or the notes to pp. 12-13).

p. 187, Scent: Creatures with the scent quality make Survival checks, not Wisdom checks.

p. 188, Skills: Creature gain skills using the same rules as heroes. Based on the d20 Monster Manual, creatures should gain the following number of skills, based on type:

• Aberration, animal, elemental, humanoid, plant†, rhydan, and shadowspawn: 2 + Int (minimum 1).

• Darkfiend: 8 + Int (minimum 1) [see notes to pp. 208-209.]

• Unliving†: 4 + Int (minimum 1).

    † Creatures with an Int score of "--" are mindless, and gain no skills or feats (but may have free feats as given in their race entry).

    Racial skill bonuses are listed in the following notes (omitting "racial", since Blue Rose omits most such descriptors). See also Speed, p. 184, about Climb and Swim bonuses.

p. 188, Feats: Creatures do not gain a new feat at each level, as do heroes. Typically, they follow the d20 progression: one feat at 1st level, plus one at every level divisible by three (3rd, 6th, etc.). Exceptions (such as free feats) are listed in the following notes. Creatures with an Int score of "--" are mindless, and gain no skills or feats.

p. 189, [illustration]: None of the animals pictured here are described in the Bestiary.

p. 189, Bat: Bats have a +4 racial bonus to Notice checks, plus Skill Focus (Notice), for a total of +9. They have one known skill, Sneak +18.

p. 189, Bear: Both types of bear have a +4 bonus to Swim checks. Notice should be +7 (black) and +10 (brown). Brown bears have Improved Grab as a free feat.

p. 190, Bison: Add Skill Focus (Notice); Notice should be +11 (or +8, with a different feat).

p. 190, Boar: Notice should be +7.

p. 190, Cat: Cats have a +4 bonus on Climb and Sneak checks, and a +8 bonus on Acrobatics and Jump checks. Add "Notice +5".

p. 190, Crocodile: Crocodiles have a +4 bonus to Sneak checks to hide when in water. Add Skill Focus (Notice); this gives the listed Notice modifier.

    Add Skill Focus (Notice) to the giant crocodile; Notice should be +4, Sneak +11.

p. 190, Dog: Dogs have a +4 bonus to Jump checks. Known skill ranks (4) are split between Jump (2) and Notice (2). Track is a free feat; add Skill Focus (Notice), for Notice +6.

pp. 190-191, Eagle: Notice should be +6.

p. 191, Hawk: Notice should be +6.

p. 191, Horse: Notice should be +7 (+8 for heavy warhorses). Heavy warhorses, as 1st-level warriors, should add one feat (mostly likely Weapon Focus [hooves]).

p. 191, Octopus: Improved Grab is a free feat. Octopi have a +4 bonus on Sneak checks, and a +10 bonus to Escape Artist.

p. 191, Owl: Owls have a +6 bonus on Sneak checks (in addition to the +8 size modifier).

p. 191, Pony: [Correct.]

pp. 191, Rat: Rats have a +4 bonus to Sneak checks, and a +8 bonus to Acrobatics checks (as well as Climb and Swim, for having those speed modes). A rat uses its Dexterity instead of Strength on Climb and Swim checks. The rat's known skill ranks (4) are split between Climb (2) and Sneak (2). Add "Swim +10".

pp. 191-192, Rat, Dire: Dire rats have a +8 to Climb checks (for having a climb speed) and a +8 to Swim checks (in spite of not having a swim speed). A dire rat uses its Dexterity instead of Strength on Climb and Swim checks. Known skill ranks (4) are split between Notice (3) and Sneak (1).

p. 192, Raven: Notice should be +6.

p. 192, Shark: Notice should be +7 (Medium), +11 (Large), +14 (Huge), and +22 (Dire). The dire shark should have Swim +14 and three more feats (most likely Great Toughness x3).

pp. 192-193, Snake: Snakes have a +4 bonus on Notice and Sneak checks. A snake uses either Strength or Dexterity on Climb checks, whichever is better.

    The constrictor snake's known skill ranks are split between Climb (3) and Sneak (3). Notice should be +5. (Alternately, if Improved Grab is a free feat, add Skill Focus [Notice], for Notice +11.)

    The giant constrictor snake's known skill ranks (14) do not add up (Climb 2 + Notice 4 + Sneak 11 + Swim 1 = 18). It should also have one more feat. Adding Talent (Notice, Sneak) will solve both problems.

    [The small viper's skills are not listed alphabetically, but the skill ranks add up properly.]

p. 193, Squid, Giant: Notice should be +16. This squid should have two more feats. (To match the d20 Monster Manual, these should be Great Toughness and Skill Focus [Notice], for Notice +19.)

p. 193, Weasel: A weasel uses its Dexterity instead of Strength on Climb checks. Notice should be +5 (known skill) and Sneak +10 (size and Dex only).

p. 193, Wolf: Track is a free feat. Known skill ranks (5) are split between Notice (2) and Sneak (1), but 2 are unallocated; raise each skill by one.

pp. 194-196, Rhydan: All rhydan get the Psychic Talent feat for free. All rhydan (except winged cats) have Int +0, so should have two known skills. (Most only have one, apparently a holdover from the d20 Monster Manual.) See also notes to pp. 57-59.

I am curious to see if anyone has suggestions on how to use the higher-powered Rhydan as PCs (in a higher-level starting point game, of course). [Helios, 6/1/2005, "Rhy-Griffon PCs?"]

You can convert the rules for Griffons and unicorns as PCs from WOTC's book "Savage Species". [Dragonspawn, 6/2/2005, "Re: Rhy-Griffon PCs?"]

    This gets into the realm of Equivalent Character Levels and Level Adjustments, which are tricky at best in D&D, and not touched upon at all in BR. Even if those rules are imported intact to BR, griffons and whales have higher Int than in D&D, plus psychic abilities, so LA will have to be tweaked (and invented from scratch for whales).

    I don't own Savage Species, so only have the vaguest idea how that book treats monster PCs.

    Parts of the BR book imply that powerful heroes may bond with the more powerful rhydan, but it's never mentioned whether the companion's maximum level needs to be adjusted further for those greater rhydan. I'm hoping that the Blue Rose Companion will clarify this (as well as several other issues I have with the Bestiary chapter).

All the rhydan that are allowed for PCs are listed as either 2nd or 3rd level in the Bestiary, so presumably any other rhydan PC with a single character level would be 1-2 levels below the level listed in the Bestiary. Therefore, a griffon 1st-level something would be an appropriate 5th or 6th level PC.

    However, you need to note that the PC description of rhydan are not the same as those in the bestiary. Specifically, the PC description does not give the natural armor bonus of the various rhydan to PCs, and the entries in the bestiary have anywhere from +1 to +6 more in abilities than the adjustment listed for PCs - a PC rhy-cat would have lower abilities than the example in the bestiary; for the other three types, the PC has higher ability scores.

    Without trying it, it would be hard to give a good answer as to what you'd need to do to incorporate a more powerful rhydan as a PC. Your best bet is to let the players and GM figure out something that seems reasonable, with the caveat that the rhydan character may get more or less levels of advancement than the others if the character seems unbalanced. [Chris LoBue (White Rose Duelist), 6/2/2005, "Re: Rhy-Griffon PCs?"]

p. 194, Dolphin: Per p. 58, dolphins have a +4 bonus to Notice checks and a +8 bonus to Swim checks. Raise Notice to +10, and add Perform (dance) +5 [the dolphin's other favored skill].

pp. 194-195, Drake: Note that no "true" dragons are described in the Bestiary. Add one known skill.

p. 195, Griffon: Add one feat. (The MM griffon has Multiattack, which doesn’t appear in Blue Rose.) Griffons have a +4 bonus on Jump checks, and Notice check to spot things at distance. Raise Jump to +18 and Notice to +11, and add one more known skill.

p. 195, Rhy-cat: Per p. 58, rhy-cats have a +8 bonus to Climb and Jump checks, and a +4 bonus to Sneak checks. Jump should be +11, Notice +7.

p. 195, Rhy-horse: Per p. 58, rhy-horses have a +4 bonus to Notice checks, and gain Endurance for free. Notice should be +5; add two known skills. Add one more feat.

p. 195, Rhy-wolf: Per p. 59, rhy-wolves gain Track for free. Notice should be +6, Sneak +7.

pp. 195-196, Unicorn: Most unicorn feats and arcana are gained for free; how many is unclear. A unicorn has a +4 bonus to Sneak checks, and a +12 bonus to Jump due to high speed. It gains a +3 bonus to Survival checks within its own forest. A unicorn should have two known skills (at 7 ranks each), but the listed skill ranks do not add up (Jump 5 + Notice 6 + Sneak 6 + Survival 3 = 20, not 14).

p. 196, Whale: Whales have a +4 bonus to Notice checks, and a +8 bonus to Swim checks (from having a swim speed). Notice should be +20 (baleen), +21 (cachalot), and +18 (orca). Add one known skill to each whale. Add two feats to baleen whales, one feat to cachalots and orcas.

p. 196, Winged Cat: See notes for p. 190, Cat.

So all of the flavor text I've seen on the winged cats has them listed as 'familiars'. Here's the thing though...they aren't on the list of available animals for familiars and their stats list them as being Rhydan.. so I'm assuming the Rhy-bonded feat is more appropriate? [DarkTouch, 3/16/2005, "Winged Cats as Familiars?"]

Well familiars are only supposed to have animal intelligence (initially). […] Rhybonded is definitely more appropriate. [Ran, 3/16/2005, "Re: Winged Cats as Familiars?"]

p. 197, Assassin Vine: Improved Grab is a free feat. Under Camouflage, "Difficult" should be "Difficulty".

p. 197, Shambler: Shamblers have a +4 Sneak and Notice checks. They have an additional +12 bonus to Sneak checks to hide in a swampy or forested area. Known skill ranks (11) are split between Notice (2) and Sneak (8), with 1 unallocated. Improved Grab is a free feat.

p. 198, Treant: The treant's known skill ranks (3 at 10 ranks) are split between Diplomacy (2), Intimidate (5), Knowledge (nature) (5), Notice (5), Sense Motive (5), and Survival (5), leaving 3 unallocated.

pp. 198-199, Air Elemental: Notice should be +5. One of the listed feats is free.

p. 199, Earth Elemental: Notice should be +5.

p. 200, Fire Elemental: Int should be -3. Notice should be +5. One of the listed feats is free.

p. 200, Water Elemental: Notice should be +5.

pp. 200-201, Ettercap: Ettercaps have a +4 bonus to Craft (trapmaking), Sneak, and Notice checks. (They also receive a +8 bonus to Climb due to having a climb speed.) Their known skill ranks (8) are split between Craft (2), Notice (2), and Sneak (2), with 2 unallocated. Add one more feat. (The MM ettercap has Multiattack, which doesn’t appear in Blue Rose.)

p. 201, Hag (Annis): Hags get three known skills (2 + Int) at 10 ranks each, so skills should be Bluff +10, Notice +11, and Sneak +7. Either Arcanum or Improved Grab is a free feat.

p. 201, Harpy: Harpies have a +4 bonus to Bluff and Notice checks. Known skill ranks (10) are split between Bluff (4), Intimidate (4), Notice (2), and Perform (2). Add one feat (possibly Talented [Bluff, Intimidate]).

pp. 201-202, Ogre: Known skill ranks (7) are split between Climb (3) and Notice (2), with 2 unallocated. Merrow add Swim +13 to skills.

p. 202, Troglodyte: Sneak includes the +4 bonus to Hide; for other uses of the skill, Sneak is +1.

p. 202, Choker: Improved Grab and Improved Initiative are free feats. Add Skill Focus (Sneak). Climb should be +11.

pp. 202-203, Naga: Known skill ranks (2 at 10 each) are split between Concentration (9), Knowledge (8), and Notice (4); this is one rank too many. In d20, Concentration is Con-based; reduce this skill by one to reflect its lower Wis. [The naga appears to have one feat per level, plus a second at 1st level.]

p. 203, Stirge: Known skill ranks (4) are split between Notice (3) and Sneak (2); this is one too many ranks.

[A]s written, the Stirge's Blood Drain follows d20, not True20 rules. As far as I can tell, a Stirge should drop off after draining 2 points of Constitution, rather than 4. A Monster Manual Stirge drains 4. [Moiner, 9/30/2005, "Re: Errata & Notes: Blue Rose"]

    This indeed should be the case.

p. 203, Will-o'-Wisp: Delete Diplomacy and Intimidate; Blue Rose has no synergy bonuses to skills. Delete Survival; it includes only Wisdom. Will-o'-wisps have 4 known skills, at 12 ranks each; add one more known skill. Add Skill Focus (Notice), for Notice +18.

p. 203, Unliving: Ability drain (mentioned under Immunities) is never explained in Blue Rose (only ability damage, on p. 161).

    The Blue Rose Companion (pp. 108-113) offers templates for customizing the Ghost, Lich, Skeleton, Vampire, and Zombie. The stat blocks for those five creatures in the core rules are merely examples; see below for notes on making them better agree with the template rules.

p. 204, Ghost: In the second paragraph, replace "ability" with "and rejuvenation abilities". Ghosts have a +8 bonus on Notice, Search, and Sneak checks. This accounts for the listed skills, so add 4 known skills (at 8 ranks each).

    To make this ghost agree with the Blue Rose Companion template, choose a background and role; the ghost gains base attack, role bonus to Defense, saving throws, feats, and skills based on a 5th-level character of that background and role, NOT according to its unliving type.

pp. 204-205, Lich: The four levels of unliving is a divergence from the Monster Manual lich. It's unclear how many skills, and at what rank, a lich should have. Per the MM, liches have a +8 bonus on Notice, Search, Sense Motive, and Sneak checks. Most of these skills were omitted from the Blue Rose stat block, but should be counted as known skills.

    To make this lich agree with the Blue Rose Companion template, make the following corrections: delete "4th-level" (retain "unliving", but without levels); Attack +5 melee; Saves: Tough +5, Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +10; add Notice +11, Search +13, Sense Motive +11, Sneak +9 (all untrained); add two more known skills [assuming original Int was +4]; the save Difficulty for Paralyzing Touch is 10 + half lich's level + lich's Cha. In addition, choose a background and apply those benefits to the stat block.

p. 205, Shadow: Shadows have a +2 bonus to Notice checks, and a +4 bonus to Search checks. Known skill ranks (2 skills at 6 ranks each) are split between Notice (4), Search (2), and Sneak (6). Shadows should have two feats.

p. 205, Skeleton: Improved Initiative is a free feat. (Both sample skeletons agree with the Blue Rose Companion's template.)

pp. 205-206, Spectre: Spectres should have 6 known skills (at 10 ranks each); add Notice +12 and one other. Add one more feat.

pp. 206-207, Vampire: Vampires have a +8 bonus on Bluff, Notice, Search, and Sneak checks. No skills are listed; add five known skills (at 11 ranks each), favoring the receiving bonuses. Per the Monster Manual, Improved Initiative and Lightning Reflexes are free feats; add three feats. MM vampires also receive Alertness (=Skill Focus [Notice]) and Dodge as bonus feats.

    Children of the Night does not give the numbers of creatures summoned. Also, in the MM, swarm is a special creature subtype, not simply a horde of individual animals.

The Weaknesses section refers to holy symbols. However, the equipment chapter does not list any, and unlike d20, they are not needed to cast priestly magic.

    To make this vampire agree with the Blue Rose Companion template, choose a background and role; the ghost gains base attack, role bonus to Defense, saving throws, feats, and skills based on an 8th-level character of that background and role, NOT according to its unliving type.

p. 207, Zombie: Under Qualities, "simple actions only" should be "single actions only". Great Toughness is a free feat. BR has omitted the damage reduction that MM zombies receive; this would translate to "damage reduction +2/slashing". (Both sample zombies agree with the Blue Rose Companion's template, including the omission of damage reduction.)

pp. 207-209, Darkfiends: The Book of Fiends (for d20) has more information on the Exarchs and their seven circles, and the stations of their servants.

    The number of known skills does not appear to match the Monster Manual outsider type, nor does it appear to be consistent within the three sample darkfiends. The soldier has 5 skills (7 + Int), the watcher 5 (1 + Int), and the whisperer 6 (4 + Int). Judging from the examples in the Blue Rose Companion (pp. 113-117), which are consistent with each other, darkfiends should have 8 + Int known skills. Therefore, give the soldier one more skill, the watcher 7 more, and the whisperer 2 more. Also, the soldier's known skills should be 8 ranks each (not 5).

p. 208, Fiendish Creatures: Smite Foe is a free feat, and thus ignores the Favored Foe prerequisite. Each fiendish creature should have one more feat. Fiendish creatures gain skills according to their base creature (2 + Int, minimum 1, for animals), not the darkfiend type. The Blue Rose Companion (pp. 116-117) gives a template for creating fiendish creatures.

    Fiendish Rat: Add a swim speed to justify the +8 bonus to Swim. Known skill ranks are split between Climb (3) and Swim (3). Sneak should be +7. Add Skill Focus (Notice).

    Fiendish Raven: Known skill ranks (6) are split between Bluff (4) and Notice (1); one is unallocated. Add Skill Focus (Bluff).

    Fiendish Shark: Except for the one missing feat, the stat block is correct.

p. 208, Darkfiend Soldier: One feat is a free feat.

pp. 208-109, Darkfiend Watcher: [No other notes.]

p. 209, Darkfiend Whisperer: Notice and Sneak are too high; either give the race a +3 bonus to these skills, or reduce each skill by 3.

Introductory Adventure: The Curse of Harmony (p. 210)

pp. 215-216, Cast of Characters:

I noticed from the scenario in the Core Book that NPCs [Narrator characters] seem to come in two types: those with class levels, and those without. The former are pretty straightforward, obviously, but I can't see whether there's a system for working out NPCs without a class. From an initial look, it appears that they receive no bonuses for Base Attack, Defense and Saving Throws - but some seem to have skills and feats. Is there a system? Or is it just up to the Narrator to give them whatever (s)he wants? I can't find anything on this in the corebook... [Codex, 3/19/2005, "Generating NPCs - is there a system?"]

    The rules do not give a system, but based on the four Narrator characters without roles listed, I would suggest the following for "ordinary people":

• An average of 4 points in abilities. (6 is "heroic" level, so give no more than 5.)

• +0 base Attack, Defense, saving throws, and Reputation.

• Favored skills: Any 4, plus Craft (any). Known skills: 2 + Int. 4 ranks in all known skills. (These are the minimums common to all roles. Note that favored skills are pretty much irrelevant at such a low level.)

• Two feats. [?]

    Add background benefits normally. Skills and feats that will not affect the adventure may safely be omitted from the stat block. For example, of the four "ordinaries", only Jan has feats listed. The others can be assumed to have feats that do not affect their combat or investigative skills, such as Skill Focus in a Craft or other professional skill.

The GM should decide whether to apply the rules above to "ordinary" night people, sea-folk, and vata, or whether to always give them roles. Rhydan should always have at least one level in a role; psychic animals are never "ordinary". [Thanks to nephandi for a starting point.]

p. 215, Jan, latent Jarzoni adept: In spite of having no role listed, Jan is almost certain to qualify as a full adept in the very near future, assuming he survives the adventure. When he acquires a role, modify his stat block as follows: 1st-level adept; +2 to Defense; +2 to Will; distribute 2 more points among his ability scores; add three known skills; add Rhy-bonded and two other feats (probably Arcane Training and Shaping Talent).

p. 215, Milos, Roamer youth: Delete "Resistance +0".

pp. 215-216, Verrik, sorcerer and spy: Psychic Blast allows a Will save (Difficulty 12) for half damage. Verrik is described as a sorcerer, but is given no Corruption score (or Conviction, for that matter).

p. 216, Lurra, rhy-cat prisoner: Add Second Sight +2 [untrained]. Arcane Training applies to two arcana, so raise either Mind Touch or Second Sight to +4.

Appendix: D20 Conversion (p. 217)

This appendix does not go into detail about converting d20 classes to Blue Rose roles. The sample paths on pp. 62-67 should help a great deal. Many characters with NPC classes will be Minions (p. 161), while some, especially commoners, will be "ordinaries" (see notes to pp. 215-216).

p. 219, Converting Creatures: See notes to Chapter IX about creature skill problems; this sort of fudging does not obey the BR known skill rules. D20 creature types convert to Blue Rose types as follows:

• Aberration: Usually aberration, though generally humanoid creatures should become shadowspawn.

• Animal: Animal, except for those considered rhydan (dolphins and whales).

• Construct: Construct (introduced in the Blue Rose Companion, pp. 106-108).

• Dragon: This type does not appear in Blue Rose, but are mentioned in the Drake's entry. They are probably best treated as either rhydan or aberrations, depending on their origins.

• Elemental: Elemental.

• Fey: This type does not appear in Blue Rose.

• Giant: Shadowspawn.

• Humanoid: Humanoid if no monstrous features (only humans, sea-folk, and vata are known to date); otherwise, shadowspawn.

• Magical beast: Rhydan if intelligent and generally non-evil; darkfiend if extraplanar; otherwise, aberration.

• Monstrous humanoid: Shadowspawn.

• Ooze: This type does not appear in Blue Rose.

• Outsider: Evil outsiders are darkfiends. Non-evil outsiders does not appear in Blue Rose.

• Plant: Plant.

• Vermin: Vermin (introduced in the Blue Rose Companion, pp. 105-106).

Need some help in understanding the Creature Conversion from the core Book. Also how would one go about converting other races to Blue Rose? […] Just trying to understand the math or how to convert the Hit Dice and Hit Points into Level and Toughness modifier. [Robotman, 8/8/2005 and 8/10/2005, "Creature Conversion & New Races"]

    Hit Dice is the same as level. For example, 3 HD = 3rd level. See the chart on p. 217 for converting HD type to a Toughness modifier. Simply multiply that number by the total HD, then drop any fractions. Then add modifiers for Con and the Toughness feat (if any). See the corpse flower example on p. 219 for how this works.

    If the monster you're converting belongs to one of the creature types given in the Bestiary chapter, just use the Toughness progression given there. That should give the same result as the conversion table.

    If you're converting a monster only has class levels (such as a humanoid with 1 or fewer racial HD), then base Toughness is determined solely by the role you use to convert that class. In this case, the racial traits should be treated as a Background package. (True20 Adventure Roleplaying includes conversions of the PH races. They will need some slight tweaking for Blue Rose.)

    If it has HD plus class levels, you should convert each component separately, then add them as per a mixed-role character, but that gets a lot more involved. (You may want to just convert the base creature, then advance it those extra levels solely using the BR rules, if you want to avoid the extra math of a more precise conversion.)

[M]any high CR creatures in D&D [such as old, powerful dragons] may simply be too tough. I'd recommend adopting a house rule where a Toughness save of 1 always results in at least a minimal failure, allowing at least the possibility they may fail a Toughness save. Even then, such creatures are likely to be threats beyond the capabilities of mere mortals. [Steve Kenson, 2/12/2005, "Re: Toughness & converted creatures"]

Other Conversions: Costs

D20 Modern has a table giving approximate relative values for Purchase DC's (p. 204). [It's in the GMing chapter, so doesn't seem to appear to be in the SRD.] The progression isn't linear; it's roughly x4/3 for each +1 difficulty.

    It's possible to work out purchase Difficulty for a new item (say, from the D&D PHB or DMG) if you know its value relative to another item listed in Blue Rose. Let's use a manor house as an example [suggested by Elandir Melanin, 6/29/2005, "Heirlooms"]:

    According to the DMG (v.3.5, p. 101), a simple house costs 1,000 gp, a grand house 5,000 gp, and a mansion 100,000 gp. I'm going to assume that a larger price known in both systems will be a better reference point, so let's use the heavy warhorse instead of, say, a sword. A large warhorse has a cost of 400 gp in D&D, and difficulty 22 in BR.

    400 x (4/3)3 is close to 1,000, so the Cost becomes +3 harder, or 25. 5,000 is about 6 more steps beyond that, for Cost 31. An increase of x100 (1K to 100K) is almost exactly 16 steps, for Cost 41. Now just decide where between those three benchmarks a "manor house" should fall.

    After a very cursory comparsion of BR costs and PHB prices for selected weapons, armor, etc., it looks like you can get the BR Cost simply by multiplying the D&D price (in gp) by $10 then consulting that Purchase DC table on p. 204 of d20 Modern. So if you own d20 Modern, that will speed up these conversions dramatically.

Index (p. 220)

The following items should have entries added:

• Action types (see "Actions, [type]") should also be listed under their own names.

• Adept, Expert, and Warrior paths (pp. 62-64), by path name.

• Advancement (including level, 68, and creature, 188).

• Caria daunen, and cepia luath (p. 32).

• Creature qualities, under their own names.

• Feat categories.

• Light, Shadow, and Twilight (Natures, Alignment, etc.).

• Lords, Queens, etc., by given name (in addition to title, as currently indexed).

• Nobility, Merchant Council, Rhydan Council, Sovereign's Council, and similar organizations.

• Rose Knights. (They are indexed under Knights of the Blue Rose, but not under this shorter name).

• Other important subheaders appearing in the Table of Contents but not the index (e.g., Marriage and Romance, Psychic Arts).

    Several topics have separate entries for the singular and plural forms (e.g., Alignment[s], Familiar[s], and all rhydan races), which should have been combined.

    Most "[topic], Creature" entries (e.g. "Alignment, Creature") should have been listed as subentries under those topics. Other entries to change into subtopics include: Cat, Winged; Difficulty Levels (under Difficulty); Rat, Dire; and Skills, Professional. Likewise, the Darkfiend, Horse, Shark, and Snake entries should have been combined into topics with subtopics.

p. 220, A: Under Axe, "Hane" should be "Hand".

p. 221, P: "Pick 134" should be "Pick/ Heavy 134/ Light 134" to match similar weapon entries.

p. 221, R: Add "32" to Romance.

p. 221, S: "Shadowgates" and "Shadowspawn" should come after "Shadow Wars". "Skill…" entries should precede "Skills…" entries.

p. 221, U: "Using" should be "Using Arcana".

p. 221,W: "Wildwalk" should come after "Wild Talent".

Character Sheet (p. 222)

This character sheet needs a Fatigue track.

    Under purpose of the boxes under Skills is unclear--favored vs. normal skills?

    A slightly different character sheet is available at: http://freeronin.com/gr_files/blue_rose_charsheet.pdf

Open Game License (p. 223)

p. 223, 15. Copyright Notice: The Book of the Righteous entry should read, "Book of the Righteous, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Aaron Loeb."

    Add: "Creatures of Freeport, Copyright 2004, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Authors Graeme Davis and Keith Baker." [This is referenced on p. 219.]