Steve Jackson Games GURPS – Generic Universal RolePlaying System

ERRATA – GURPS Basic Set (Third Edition Revised, Second Printing) – Updated January 4, 2002

Copyright © by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

P. 10. This erratum is for the Revised Edition only. In the last paragraph, you may use these characters for the adventure included in this set. The second adventure was replaced by the Appendix.

P. 11. Under Game World Adaptations and Nonhuman Races, elves, dwarves, et al., are covered in the Fantasy Folk sourcebook.

P. 20. In a campaign that uses psi powers, Danger Sense and Empathy can be psi abilities. Change "is" to "can be".

P. 21. Luck can be used after the dice are rolled to get two more attempts.

P. 44. Under the Skill Defaults: Using Skills You Don't Know sidebar, insert this paragraph in between the third and fourth paragraphs: "Default levels in skills do not carry any of the skills' special benefits with them. Special benefits would include damage bonuses, dodge bonuses, 2/3-skill parry, unpenalized off-hand use, move bonuses, and so on."

Under Maximum Default, change the first sentence to read: "If a skill defaults to a basic attribute that is greater than 20, treat that attribute as 20 when figuring default skill."

P. 48 Under Running (Physical/Hard) change "your Move score (this affects land movement only!)" to "your Move score for purposes of using the Move maneuver on land (it does not affect Dodge!)".

P. 49. Battlesuit/TL is Physical/Average.

P. 50. Under Brawling, change the last sentence to read "See p. 101 for rules on parrying bare-handed."

P. 53. In the last paragraph in Armoury/TL, replace "at TL5 and above" with "above TL5".

P. 59. Astrogation is a /TL skill.

P. 60. In the second paragraph of Electronics/TL, you are at -4 if you are working outside of your specialty.

P. 62. Prospecting is a /TL skill.

Zoology is a /TL skill.

P. 63. Carousing defaults to HT-4.

P. 66. Intelligence Analysis is a /TL skill.

P. 68. Driving is a /TL skill.

P. 69. Motorcycle is a /TL skill.

Piloting is a /TL skill.

Powerboat is a /TL skill.

Vacc Suit has no prerequisite.

P. 73. Under Basic Weapon Damage add the following text to the first sentence of the third paragraph ("If you hit . . ."): "if the basic damage roll was capable of wounding."

P. 74. Change the damage done by ST 4 or less in the Basic Damage Table. ST 4 has a basic damage of 1d-6 (thrusting and swinging); ST 3 has 1d-7; ST 2 has 1d-8; and so on.

Under Weapon Quality replace the first paragraph with this one: "The Weapon Table prices assume weapons of "good" quality. Fine quality weapons may be made for Good quality prices at TL7+ due to improvements in metallurgy. The qualities and relative prices are:"

P. 76. Under the Types of Shield table, change the Shield Damage reference to p. 120.

P. 99. Under Special Parrying Rules, replace "total, 1/2 Knife skill, -5" with "total, 1/2 Knife skill, -3" in the next-to-last paragraph. The -4 off-hand penalty is applied before the skill is halved. Add this sentence: "See also the Main-Gauche skill (CI134)."

P. 101. Under Punching, add a note that its Reach is C,1. Under Kicking, add a note that its Reach is 1 without Karate training.

The first sentence under Kicking should read "A kick is treated exactly like a punch, except your skill is DX-2, Brawling-2, or Karate-2, and you do straight Thrust/Crush damage – or Thrust+1 if you are wearing heavy boots or something similar."

P. 110. Replace Critical Misses on Defense Rolls with this section:

Critical Hits and Misses on Defense Rolls (raised to the same "level" as Critical Misses)

Defenses can also fail disastrously on a critical miss. If you tried to dodge, you lose your footing and fall. If you tried to block, you lose your grip on your shield and must take a turn to re-ready it before you can block again (its passive defense still counts). If you tried to parry, you go to the Critical Miss Table.

However, if you get a critical success on any defense roll, then your foe goes immediately to the Critical Miss Table. You "faked him out," or knocked the weapon from his hand, or otherwise defended very well. Exception: against a ranged attack, a critical success has no special effect.

P. 114. Under Modifying Dice + Adds: An Optional Rule, change "or any +3 be turned into one die" to "or any +4 be turned into one die". In the example, 2d+5 would be equivalent to 3d+1.

P. 119. Under Single-Shot Weapons, in the last paragraph change "3 1/2" to "3~", and change the last two sentences to "This penalty is applied to each successive shot until there is a minimum 1-second pause between shots. If your ST is below the minimum listed for the weapons, the penalty is doubled for each point of difference, and a 2-second pause is required to reestablish shooting position."

P. 120. In the fourth paragraph under Recoil from Burst Fire, Rcl is doubled for each point of ST below that required for the weapon.

Pp. 120-121. In the last paragraph under Recoil from Burst Fire, removing or folding the stock of a weapon multiplies Rcl by 1.5 (round up). Firing any weapon with one-hand doubles the Rcl penalty. These apply to non-automatic weapons as well. Note that folding the stock also lowers SS by 2 and Acc by 3.

P. 126. Shock only affects actions the character initiates. It does not affect active defenses (as noted) nor resisting psionic powers, making Fright Checks, etc.

P. 127. Note: The following erratum is incorrect, and should be stricken in all cases. Crippling happens only if damage exceeds HT/3 for hands and feet or HT/2 for arms and legs.

Under "Crippling Injuries," a hand or foot is crippled by being hit for 1/3 your HT or more, and an arm or leg is crippled by being hit for half your HT or more.

P. 129. Replace the Recovering From Unconsciousness text with the following:

This depends on the severity of your injuries, rather than the medical care you get or don't get. If your HT is 0 or higher, you will awaken in an hour; if you have lost no more than 2 HT, you will awaken in 15 minutes.

If your HT is below 0, but not fully negative, make a HT roll to regain consciousness after a number of hours equal to the amount by which your HT is negative (maximum 12 hours); roll hourly after that. Example: Your HT is -8 after the battle. You may roll to wake up (still with -8 HT) after 8 hours, and every hour after that. When you awaken, you can call for help or even try to drag yourself to shelter. Details are up to the GM, who should be merciful. However, you regain no hit points unless you can get food and shelter; you will remain weak for a long time.

If your HT has gone "fully negative" – e.g., HT of -10 or worse for someone with a basic HT of 10 – you are in bad shape. If you can make a roll on basic HT, you will awaken (as above) after 12 hours, and can try to help yourself. If you fail the roll, you stay in a coma and die unless you are helped within (HT) hours.

P. 131. Under Falling Objects change the line that begins "For simplicity" to read "For simplicity, when dealing with falling inanimate objects . . ." Falling beings reach terminal velocity at 50 yards, as described under Falling, above.

P. 147. Under Mana, change "Mages can do so at no energy cost!" to "Energy spent by a Mage is renewed every turn."

P. 150. In the second paragraph under Resisted Spells, the caster rolls against a 16 or the subject's actual resistance, whichever is higher, if his effective skill is over 16 and the subject is a living creature.

P. 155. Persuasion: An intelligent being is one with IQ 8 or better.

P. 161. Under Staff, delete the third paragraph. Limiting enchantments are not covered in the Basic Set.

P. 162. Under Detect Magic, delete the sentence "A Limit spell is often used to make it alert the wearer only to certain kinds of magic." Limiting enchantments are not covered in the Basic Set.

Lend Strength's duration is Instant. Lend ST does not have a fatigue cost; rather, it's a cost-free ability to transfer ST from one person (not an item, spell, mana field, etc.) to another on a one-for-one basis.

Minor Healing and Major Healing are instantaneous, not permanent.

P. 172. Under Telekinesis and in the Telekinesis Table, replace "weight" with "mass". (Yes, you can measure mass in lbs., which is why you can convert from lbs. to kg.)

Pp. 175-176. Under Healing, the first line should read "The power of psychic healing seems to combine aspects of psychokinesis and telepathy . . . " Change the last line in the second paragraph to read "Successful healing costs 1 fatigue for every 2 hits healed. The cost to cure disease is always at least 6 fatigue."

P. 176. While Psi Static is on, any use of psi that normally requires a skill roll requires a Quick Contest of Skills instead (not just a Contest of Skills).

P. 203. In note #4 under the Parts of the Body table, change the last sentence to read "Vitals may only be targetted by missile or thrusting attacks. If the brain, head or vitals are targetted, a roll that misses by only 1 gives a hit on the torso."

P. 207. Delete the sentence "Increases user's effective ST by 5 when throwing a spear." from the Spear Thrower section.

P. 211. In the third paragraph under Modern and Ultra-Tech Armor, change the last sentence to read "In addition, when all of the damage in an attack is absorbed by the Kevlar, any rolls of 6 on any of the damage dice result in one point of crushing damage per 6 rolled being applied to the wearer."

P. 217. Corwin Bearclaw does 1d-1 crushing damage with his medium shield.

Everything from pp. 232-249 is for the Revised Editions only.

P. 236. Destiny as a Great Disadvantage is worth -15 points.

P. 237. Healing costs 25 points. Replace the last paragraph with these three:

"It is assumed that this power works on the user's own race and on all "similar" races. In a fantasy campaign, all the warm-blooded humanoid races (Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Halflings, etc.) would be "similar."

"Special limitation: Works on user's own race only. -20%. This is not available in a campaign where there is only one intelligent race.

"Special enhancement: Xenohealing. The user can heal creatures quite dissimilar from himself. Examples, assuming the healer is human: "All Mammals" (+20%), "All Earthly Life" (+40%), "All Carbon-Based Life" (+60%), "Anything Alive" (+80%), "Anything Animate" (including the undead, golems, etc.) (+100%)."

Perfect Balance is 15 points.

P. 242. Video Production is a /TL skill.

P. 244. Hard-Hat Diving is a /TL skill.

Video Production is a /TL skill.

P. 245. Computer Hacking is a /TL skill.

Cryptanalysis is a /TL skill.

Planetology is a /TL skill.

P. 246. Xenobiology is a /TL skill.

Xenology is a /TL skill.

P. 247. Computer Hacking is a /TL skill.

Cryptanalysis is a /TL skill.

Exoskeleton is a /TL skill.

P. 248. The Jaw is at -6 to hit.

P. 249. Under Weapon Legality, change Legality rating to Legality class.

P. 252. Acrobatics, falling, 131.

Adversary, 180-181, 198.

Aim maneuver, advanced combat, 103-104.

P. 254. Freezing, combat 130.

P. 255. Change the Running index entry to read "Running, 88; skill, 48; see also Move."

P. 256. The page reference for Sprinting is 108.

The page references for Strength, minimum ST, are 75, 104, 120, 208.

Instant Characters. Battlesuit is P/A.