I am unclear as to whether the changes in the Definitive Edition are going to make all of the Tribunal Guides, Realm Guides, and other books obsolete? For example, all of the Tribunal Guides for 4th Edition were no longer compatable without revision, when 5th Edition came out.
Are we looking at a wholesale change in Edition, or more of adding in all of the Erata and other changes to one unified text? I love the game, and have been playing since 4th Edition. The wording of "Definitive Ediition" just has me confused.
As I understand it, it is going to be a new revision of the core rule book. With all errata incorporated, and some things from the other books included, and likely some sections rewritten or moved around to make things clearer. It is intended to be the Definitive 5th Edition rule book, not a new edition of the game.
But it will only be one book, and even if it will be a lot bigger than original core rule book, it won't include more than a fraction of all the content from the other 5e books.
So the rest of the books should still be relevant.
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Well, if it helps, the new version is not called the "Definitive Edition". The new version is, per the announcing post, "5th Edition Definitive".
(Yeah, the big logo is "Definitive Edition", but read the post text.)
Insofar as that was the root of your confusion, hopefully that alleviates it. If you need more reassurance than that, to quote that post:
We recently completed our long-term project of resurrecting original printer files for the entire Ars Magica 5th Edition line of supplements, converting them to softcover print-on-demand. This means that the entire line of supplements, fully compatible with ArM5D, can remain in print indefinitely, both as ebooks and as printed books made to order and delivered to buyers anywhere in the world.
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No, definitely not. This is "the definitive version of the fifth edition of the world's greatest roleplaying game". As I planned to introduce it on my social media when it looked like we were going to get the crowdfunding going before D&D moved on to a new edition.
If you have a complete collection of ArM5 supplements and have downloaded the errata, you have everything of substance in ArMD. But it's going to look gorgeous, so you might want it anyway.
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Absolutely looking forward to picking up a copy once it's released, David. The Atlas team's work on the 5th Edition lineup has been nothing short of fantastic and dedicated.
Will we likely receive any update on when in the Fall the 5th Edition Definitive is going to be released?
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I believe it's being Kickstarted.
We should know more when that launches September 10...
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It's being crowdfunded. Last I heard, Atlas was looking into other platforms as well, but I don't think anything was final.
But, yes, fairly firm dates for when the books are likely to appear should be expected around then.
Thank you! I hope you are not disappointed.
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Does the Core Rules of AMDE included in the 'Hermetic Magus' bundle include rules clarifications, errata, and necessary rules revisions suitable to making all of the various supplements play together correctly?
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There are a bunch of things that do that, yes. All the errata should be there, along with a whole bunch of clarifications and some small rule revisions. But no one went back to totally rewrite things. So things like animals still have multiple systems.
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Abilities* correction
Can the Ability lists (Chapter 5) still be edited in the Definitive Edition to correct a few asterisks?
It would be nice to make the asterisks consistent for (Organization) Lore and (Mystery Cult) Lore (between the Abilities by Type inset and the detailed Ability List, showing whether these may be rolled with no experience points in the ability).
Judaic Lore has an asterisk in neither place, which makes it the odd one out for Lore Abilities.
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Yes, I think that can still be done. I've passed this on to the team.
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The Virtues chapter lists the Major Hermetic Virtues, and one of them as Life-Linked !!!Formulaic!!! Magic.
The part following the list contains a virtue called Life-Linked !!!Spontaneous!!! Magic. And the description is also about spontaneous casting.
Please check it before printing 
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There is definitly still time for any mistakes to be fixed!
Place in our feedback form: Ars Magica Definitive Feedback
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I have received an e-mail from BackerKit mentioning that chapter 7 is available for proofreading, but I don't have access to it, because I did pre-order rather than pledge. Is there a way for me to have access to the pdf files that might need proofreading?
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Access to the advance layout chapters was a backer perk, so pre-orders do not have access to them, sorry.
OK, thanks for the answer. That was what I expected, but as I received this e-mail from BackerKit, I thought pre-orders might be in the same category.
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Is it normal that I keep receiving emails from Backerkit that they need more information, even though I've already provided it? Is there anything beside the postal address, phone number, email address and the payment method for my pledge that they need? It makes me think that I've missed something.
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Shipping address maybe? The address to be shipped might be different than the one you've provided at first, so they need to verify that before they calculate shipping costs.
That's what I meant by postal address. Looking at the sections, there's no seperate address..