Steve Jackson Games GURPS – Generic Universal RolePlaying System

ERRATA – GURPS Basic Set (Third Edition, First Printing) – Updated July 8, 1996

Copyright © by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

Check your title page. If it doesn't specify "Second Printing" (or later), your book is the first printing, and the errata below should be corrected. Second and later printings corrected these (but see below).

P. 1. Stephen Beeman should be listed in the credits under "Additional Material."

P. 8. Our BBS is now capable of accepting 2400 baud.

P. 12. The entry on Dai's character sheet says "Lockpikes." It should be "Lockpicks."

P. 20. In the last sentence of Empathy, this is a Psi ability, not an ESP ability.

P. 21. "Magical Resistance" should be changed to "Magic Resistance." The correct terms are "Magical Aptitude" and "Magic Resistance."

P. 23. Under Strong Will, it should be noted that Strong Will adds to your resistance when you want to resist a magic spell (see p. 150).

P. 30. Under Alcoholism, you roll vs. Will, not IQ, to resist drinking.

P. 37. Weak Will also affects all attempts to resist hostile magic.

P. 48. The falling reference under Acrobatics should be to p. 131, not p. 130.

P. 52. Omit the second sentence under Speed-Load. The description should say "This is not the same skill as Fast-Draw, but you could, with the right skills, reload very quickly by Fast-Drawing a speed-loader from your belt or pocket and then Speed-Loading."

P. 54. Under Language Skills, in the paragraph before Rolling for Successful Communication, it should take 50 days to give you a character point, not 250.

P. 55. Under Levels of Language Skill, the breakdown should be: 4 or under, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15 or better.

P. 55. Under Telegraphy, the telegrapher can send 3 words per minute (not 5) for each point of skill. Standard Morse code speed is 25-30 wpm. (not 60). Speeds over 50 wpm are common among professionals. The -2 penalty should be applied for each additional 3 (not 5) wpm attempted. Sending in a language with a different alphabet, or in a different version of Morse code, is a separate skill.

P. 58. The default for Electronics Operation is IQ-5 or appropriate Electronics-3.

P. 59. In Psionics Skills, the Very Hard should be omitted from the end of the description.

P. 60. The Electronics skill should default to Other Electronics-4.

P. 63. Under the Area Knowledge skill, the long distance table is in the sidebar on p. 151, not 167.

P. 67. Under the Shadowing skill, if you roll a critical failure (rather than lose by more than 5), you follow the wrong person.

P. 72. In the Suits of Armor table, footnote #3 should refer to Vision and Hearing at -3 (not -5).

P. 74. In the Weapon Quality sidebar, the p. 110 reference should be to p. 111.

P. 76. Under Types of Shield, shields may be divided into six general types, not five as the text states.

P. 79. Under Weapon Ranges, the ranged weapon stats are actually on p. 207.

P. 84. In the table of Advantages and Disadvantages, Disadvantage 14 should be Unattractive Appearance, rather than Shifty Appearance.

P. 85. The sidebar should be titled Instant NPCs.

P. 88. With a Basic Speed of 5.5, if you are unencumbered, you could run 65 yards in 10 seconds.

P. 88. After every 100 yards of top-speed running, or every 200 yards of long-distance (half-speed) running, you must roll vs. HT.

P. 94. On the Fright Check table, item #24, each year counts as 3 points, not 1.

P. 97. Long Action should refer to p. 107 instead of p. 106.

P. 97. Free Actions should refer to p. 107, not p. 148.

P. 99. The sidebar section on Unconsciousness is misleading; it was not sufficiently changed to reflect the new damage rules. If you fall below HT 0, you are not automatically unconscious until you fail a HT roll. See p. 126. If you make the second sentence in that section read "zero or less," and delete the last four words of the last sentence, it will be right.

P. 103. The page reference under Change Positions should be p. 203, not p. 107.

P. 105. The new all-out attack option (c) gives a +4 bonus to skill and (d) gives a +2 bonus to damage, not a +4.

P. 109. The sidebar section on Massive Damage: "Blow-Through" should say that there is no maximum damage for injuries to the brain. The "or vitals" should be dropped; any damage over HTx3 to the vitals is lost.

P. 111. Under Grab the foe's weapon arm, add "This counts as a grapple." to the end of the second sentence and delete the last sentence of the paragraph.

P. 111. Under Attack bare-handed, add "; or a Karate kick doing -1 damage." to the end.

P. 111. The Knocking a Weapon Away sidebar should be replaced by:

"To knock a weapon from a foe's hand, use an Attack maneuver, but state that you are attacking to disarm. Instead of regular attack and defense rolls, roll a Quick Contest of Weapons Skills. If you are striking at a hand-held missile weapon, your foe uses his DX instead of skill. You attack at a penalty appropriate to the weapon's size (see above). Weapons other than fencing weapons are at a further -2 for a disarm attempt. The defender rolls at +1 if his weapon is heavier than yours, +2 if it is twice as heavy, and so on.
"If you win, your foe drops his weapon in that hex; if you roll a critical failure, you are disarmed. Otherwise, there is no effect."

P. 114. The page reference under Thrown Objects should be to p. 90 rather than p. 98.

P. 115. The Crossbow has Acc +4.

P. 115. The .45 pistol's 1/2D is 175, not 150.

P. 115. The Laser Rifle has SS 15, Acc +13 and 1/2D 900.

P. 121. In the Molotov Cocktails sidebar, shield damage rules are on p. 120, not p. 122, and Flame is on p. 129, not p. 130.

P. 123. Under Shield Bashing, a shield bash does thrust/crushing damage.

P. 127. In the Effects of Crippling Injuries sidebar, under Eyes, the first sentence should read, "A critical hit to the head, or an attack aimed at your eyes, can blind you."

P. 129. Under Magical Care, the reference should be p. 162, not p. 161.

P. 129-130. Magical fireballs should not have been listed as "ordinary" heat! Armor protects against them only with its normal DR, as for a weapon-type attack.

P. 136. The first sentence under Turning should read, "A horse moving slower than 4 hexes per turn must move at least one hex in a straight line after every one-hexside change of direction."

P. 146. In the Hiring a Wizard sidebar, the pay rates are on p. 152 rather than p. 154.

P. 146. Under Casting Spells, the third paragraph should read ". . . marked from your ST."

P. 147. In a very-high-mana area, the energy a mage used is renewed every second, but there is an energy cost; a mage cannot cast a spell for which he does not have energy.

P. 150. Under Missile Spells, first paragraph, the second skill roll is vs. the caster's DX-3, not DX.

P. 150. Under Missile Spells, last paragraph, the caster must roll vs. Will, not IQ.

P. 151. Under Notes on Ceremonial Magic, a caster of ceremonial magic should roll against Will, not Will-3, if distracted.

P. 161. Under Staff, p. 150 should be p. 149.

P. 163. Under Flash Distance, the first line on the chart should be "Within 10 hexes."

P. 163. The Time to Cast on Blur should be 2 seconds.

P. 166. The page reference under Concentration and Time Required should be p. 148 rather than p. 146.

P. 186. Under the Weapons and Armor sidebar, TL0 should be "fists and stone weapons." TL1 should be "metal-tipped spears and arrows; bronze swords; leather armor." Personal force screen should be TL12, not TL9.

P. 193. In the Loyalty of Slaves sidebar, ". . . determine as above" should read "determine as on p. 195."

P. 194. The entries marked with an "*" are freelance jobs. The explanation is buried in the sixth paragraph on p. 193 and should have been given at the end of the table.

P. 194. Under Artisan (average jobs), the word "weekly" should be removed from the end of the monthly income entry.

P. 194. Under Military officer or knight (comfortable jobs), the monthly income should be "Total of the above skill levels." The "x3" should be removed. The entry under critical failure should read "-2i,-3d/-3i,-5d,LJ."

P. 202. In the Firearm Critical Miss Table, 9, 10, 11 – roll (Guns-4, or Armoury) to unjam the weapon, not Gunnery-4.

P. 202. In the Firearm Critical Miss Table, the last sentence of #15 should state: ". . . if your ST is at least 5 more than the minimum ST for the weapon (or 12 and higher, in the case of weapons with no minimum ST rating), ignore this result and use #7 above, instead. But if the weapon is recoilless, nothing happens."

P. 203. Under Parts of the Body, numbers 4, 5 and 17 should have the superscript 4.

P. 203. In note #4, the first sentence should read: "Any blow to the head or brain, or any crushing blow to the vitals, requires the victim to make a roll against HT to avoid knockout (see Knockout, p. 127)."

P. 205. The "very bad" section was missing from the Reaction Table. The following paragraph should be inserted over the art to complete the table:

1 to 3: Very bad.

  • General reaction: The NPC dislikes the characters and will act against them if it's convenient to do so.
  • In a potential combat situation, the NPCs attack, and flee only if they see they have no chance. (A fight in progress will continue.)
  • Commercial transactions are next to impossible. The merchant asks three times the fair price, or offers 1/3 the fair price.
  • Requests for aid are denied. Make a "potential combat" roll; no reaction better than neutral is possible.
  • Requests for information are met with malicious lies.
  • Loyalty: The NPC dislikes you, and will leave your service (probably taking everything he can carry) or sell you out as soon as possible.

P. 206. The minimum ST for the Lance should be 12, not 25.

P. 206. A scythe weighs 5 lbs.

P. 207. Bolas: Amt. should be –, SS 12, Acc 0, $20 and 2 lbs.

P. 207. The Spear Thrower skill defaults to DX-4 or Spear Throwing-4.

P. 208. Under the Rcl explanation, the page reference should be to p. 120.

P. 209. The Blunderbuss should cost 15.

P. 209. The damage for the Matchlock Musket should be 4d.

P. 209. The number of shots for a Military Laser Rifle should be 140/D, rather than 12/C. This also changes p. S55 and p. S60.

P. 210. All IQ rolls to see, hear, etc., in a Greathelm are at -3, not -5.

P. 210. Scale Armor covers areas 9-11, 17-18 only.

P. 210. The footnote should read "Chainmail is normally worn over padded cloth armor." And without cloth armor underneath, the chainmail would have a DR of 3 (PD 0, DR 1 vs. impaling).

P. 211. On many copies this page was trimmed too tightly, cutting off the "hand" number at the edge of the page. Both hands are #7.

P. 211. In the Kevlar note at the top of the page, the sentence "This does not apply to areas protected by steel and ceramic inserts" should be moved to the end of the first sentence of the paragraph.

P. 211. Under Second Chance Hardcorps System, delete "Available in camouflage and black. Weight with inserts, 25 lbs." Insert "There are separate inserts for front and back; each weighs 19 lbs."

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