Some novice questions - shops/recipes, rolls, actions, spells

[Moanerette]

Hi all.

 

I'm new to the game and enjoying discovering things as I go. However, there are a few points that I would like clarification on, if possible.

 

1. Shops and recipes - I don't really get how these work. I thought I was buying some cloth and thread from the shop, but apparently I bought two recipes. They are now sitting in my wardrobe. What am I actually supposed to do with them?

 

2. Rolls - spell descriptions include phrases such as "successful Intelligence/Revision Roll v. 9". I understand the concept of making rolls, but the mechanics here are not clearly explained. If I have an Intelligence of 2 and a Revision of 8, then what is my chance of successfully making the abovementioned roll? Is the formula [average of two attributes + d6], or what?

 

3. Actions and their colour-coding - most of the Actions I've discovered since the start (Befriend, Bully, Encourage Fellow Student etc.) show as purple, which the manual tells me indicates basically no hope. However, I have successfully used Befriend a couple of times. Have I just been extremely lucky, or is the colour-coding not telling the whole story?

 

4. Adding extra phemes to spells - this makes them harder, but can add unusual and unexpected effects, right?

 

5. A minor query. I have been trying to increase Schoolyard Education and Observation above 2 and 1 respectively. Yet even when I'm told I successfully trained these skills the numbers don't increase. Is this a bug/anomaly, or by design?

 

Apologies for so many questions, I hope there are answers!

[Draigh]

1. Shops and recipes - I don't really get how these work. I thought I was buying some cloth and thread from the shop, but apparently I bought two recipes. They are now sitting in my wardrobe. What am I actually supposed to do with them?

hmm.. not too sure about what you mean here.

I do know that items also include their recipe in their description. So my guess is that you have both the actual item there, and the way to create more iif you wish to do so. But artificing is not my strong point.

 

2. Rolls - spell descriptions include phrases such as "successful Intelligence/Revision Roll v. 9". I understand the concept of making rolls, but the mechanics here are not clearly explained. If I have an Intelligence of 2 and a Revision of 8, then what is my chance of successfully making the abovementioned roll? Is the formula [average of two attributes + d6], or what?

The rolls are simple: It is based on your attribute (between 1 and twice your attribute value) and the skill used (straight bonus). In your example it would be a random value between 1 and 4 (twice your Intelligence) and +8 (from your Revision). Possible results would be between 9 and 12, making your chances of success versus a 9 pretty certain. You would have some trouble with reaching 12 though, and higher difficulties are impossible, unless you work on either your base abilities (increasing inteligence, and thus your success range) or your skill (increasing the straight bonus).

 

3. Actions and their colour-coding - most of the Actions I've discovered since the start (Befriend, Bully, Encourage Fellow Student etc.) show as purple, which the manual tells me indicates basically no hope. However, I have successfully used Befriend a couple of times. Have I just been extremely lucky, or is the colour-coding not telling the whole story?

Colour coding isn't always correct, as some are oppossed rolls instead of straight difficulties. The computer has some trouble guessing chances accurately there.

 

4. Adding extra phemes to spells - this makes them harder, but can add unusual and unexpected effects, right?

A pheme has a predictable effect when added to a spell, and also increases the difficulty of casting the spell by a set amount. To refer to your second question, if a spell requires the successful Intelligence/Revision Roll v. 9 and you add a pheme that increases the difficulty by 2, you need to roll versus an 11 for an all or nothing effect.

 

5. A minor query. I have been trying to increase Schoolyard Education and Observation above 2 and 1 respectively. Yet even when I'm told I successfully trained these skills the numbers don't increase. Is this a bug/anomaly, or by design?

Your skills have both skill ranks and skill steps. Depending on your base attributes, your skills might require several steps to increase it one rank. Some skills are easy and others are hard (danger sense comes to mind, see another recent topic around here)

[Moanerette]

Ah that's great, thanks a lot.

 

To clarify question 1, my problem is that I have no idea how to make use of what I bought. I'd hoped to be able to fashion a Glamourous skirt!

[Mikka]

Just to add- for number 3 specifically, Befriend/Bully/Intimidate and so on require an opposed roll. While it's simply just sitting as an action of yours, as the game doesn't know what you're rolling against, it's always going to be purple. Once you select, say, Befriend, and target a student, you may see the color change even all the way to green, as it now can compare your stats to their stats and see that, yeah, you're probably going to beat them.

 

It's also unable to figure out bonuses you may have for location: if you Befriend in the Great Hall, for instance, you're always going to have a 10% of success. The game doesn't get that.

 

Also note if you hit befriend, set up the person you're befriending, then hit back to reslect later options in the day, it'll go back to showing up as purple. It's just an engine limitation.

 

However, Draigh is right in that also, on occasion, the game just screws up color-coding. This is most notable in adventures, where you may find a black option hanging out on top of a blue option- the easiest options are always at the top, going downward, which means you have more chance of success at the black option rather then the blue option, no matter how odd it may seem. Just shrug and smile, I guess.

[Moanerette]

Thank you Mikka, that's most helpful

 

Oh, with Actions, some of don't state the difficulty of a roll e.g. Question Surroundings simply states "Make an Intelligence/Sleuthing roll". What is the roll made against?

[swang]

Question Surrounding's threshold is 6

 

Also,

1. Shops/Catalogs - In general, you'll buy the item, and you will be informed of its recipe. You may be informed of other recipes throughout the year in your adventures/classes. To create something just use the craft action. you will be able to pick the recipe and the items you wish to use. Note that in year 1, you can't use different ingredients (different threads, or cloths, etc), you have to use the exact ingredient in the recipe.

 

2. I want to note again that I'm virtually positive the roll is 0-ability*2, and the upper bound is NOT inclusive.

 

3. The color coding is based upon your skill/attribute pair only, and does not include any bonuses you may have for chance of success or for that type of action. It also uses your skills, and if an adventure uses your familiar (or maybe) someone else, the color coding might also be wrong. Lastly, in adventures, if your clique members have a higher skill than you, they will take over. So your color coding will be wrong in that case as well.

 

4. Another note here is that some you have affinity to some phemes and oppositions to others. (based upon your equipment and phemes that you are already using.) Opposition simply adds the difficulty of the opposition modifier. I'm not sure what affinity really does.