Errata: The Law of Fives

[TKurtBond]

In the print-on-demand copy of ITL I got from Amazon, which has a copyright date of 2020, the description of the Explosive Gem spell on page 27 at the bottom of the first column ends with "The Law of Fives does not seem to apply to this item." This should refer to "The Rule of Fives". I didn't see this listed on the TFT errata page.

[LeopoldBogisich]

Originally Posted by TKurtBond

In the print-on-demand copy of ITL I got from Amazon, which has a copyright date of 2020, the description of the Explosive Gem spell on page 27 at the bottom of the first column ends suika game with "The Law of Fives does not seem to apply to this item." This should refer to "The Rule of Fives". I didn't see this listed on the TFT errata page.

You are correct, the description of the Explosive Gem spell should refer to "The Rule of Fives", not "The Law of Fives". This is a typo that was introduced in the 2020 edition of In The Labyrinth (ITL), the core rulebook for TFT.

[larsdangly]

One of the most consequential throw away lines in the book! And quite anomalous in the context of LE rules: in the current edition there are no missile spells that can do more than 3d+3 damage, but its quite plausible for someone to be walking around with a pouch of a dozen 8d exploding gems, which can be thrown or (even better) hurled in a sling. The party I have been running for some time does this, and while I don't really mind that much, it's kind of annoying. If a character has an exploding gem and a lesser wish (e.g., purchased with 500 XP), they can pretty much automatically kill any one thing you put in front of them (i.e., take a '3' on the attack roll, so you are doing 8dx3 damage, or an average of 84 pts of damage).

[hcobb]

How did they round up the fatigue to cast that high a level of exploding gem? (And whataboutism the enemy has reverse missiles on?)


This would have been a good case for applying the usual rules for doubling enchantment costs for each additional level.

[larsdangly]

The ST costs of a 6 or 8 die exploding gem just aren't that bad; an experienced character with a staff and/or a power storing crystal can handle it no problem.

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

The ST costs of a 6 or 8 die exploding gem just aren't that bad; an experienced character with a staff and/or a power storing crystal can handle it no problem.

I realize that you referred to "an experienced character" but, at 5 ST per die of damage, that's tough to do in any of the games that I play.

1 d = 5 ST
2 d = 10 ST
3 d = 15 ST
4 d = 20 ST
5 d = 25 ST
6 d = 30 ST

I wouldn't consider myself to be a stingy GM either. There are a few 5 point power stones and one that is larger floating around in my game. Lots of huge Aid Spells could possibly make it possible. Or, lots of staff mana. So, making explosive gems that are more than 2d becomes difficult.