Hello again Akora
(woa, long time since a wanderer came into these ruins)
Akora
I have a couple questions that arose from browsing an older forum topic and discovering some discussion that gave me pause.
One of the devs was talking about how the Karma Table is basically an artifact of a previous version and doesn’t apply now that Karma has been “streamlined”. Can someone clarify what this means for me?
I think I’m aware of the thread you’re talking about but i’m oblivious to any tweak to the karma system. Mind you, there have been a few tweaks and small modifications to the system here and there, sadly they aren’t organized in any single thread so you have to do some prospecting if you want to collect all of the official(?) albeit informal errata, or just stick to the book or use your house rules.
That said, in another thread with a similar time stamp Michael talks about karma and seems to stick to what is in the book (
www.ironthronepub.com/forum/rogues-and-r…-me-understand-karma)
So, here’s what I understand of the karma system, as written in the book and as said by the dev: You jot down all passion spent in character progression and transform it into karma. In the off chance your char is killed or retired, or if you are the ref and wants to play, you decide how much karma you want to spend to buy extra priority picks.
Here’s what I think is the gist of what seems to be the problem: You only spend the minimum amount to obtain the desired pick (as explained by michael in the above linked thread). For example, if you want an extra E pick (to supplement an F), you spend
11 points, even if in the table it says
11 –
30. This means that the table range doesn’t make sense since all you need is the minimum amount of points to buy each pick tier, not the max, and a more thoroughly wording stating you only spend points as needed.
Personally, I dislike the karma system. I’m yet to use karma at all since i’m bond as the blade Master for my group and i’m yet to kill any off. But we do jot down all karma/experience points. In the off chance a character is killed, the player will use his full earned karma point by point. Its less elegant but more precise.
I’m sorry this isn’t a final answer, but in the end the only one who can truly answer is Michael.
Akora
2. On the topic of picking up new skills, the same dev seemed to confirm that picking up new skills as a character is extremely cheap– he confirmed that as long as a character is raising a skill to a level that is lower than the corresponding Attribute value, the cost is always “1”. So for example if a character has a Cunning attribute of 8, he can raise Sneak from 0 to 7 ranks for a total of 7 Passion Points. Is this correct?
Hmm, nope!
(pg
120 –
121)
To raise a Skill by one level, simply spend a number of Passion Attribute points equal to the current Skill level. Entirely new Skills may be purchased for 1 Passion Attribute point, and begin at level 1. Keep in mind that when purchasing a new Skill at a level lower than the rating the PC has in that Skill’s most applicable Attribute (as listed in the Skill’s description), it will cost 1 point less than the Attribute’s rating, though always
at least 1 point.
The wording is flawed, but what it means (and if you read the dev again) is this:
–All new skills cost
1 point. Always.
–When raising a skill, it costs a number of points equal to the current level. e.g:
1 to
2: costs
1…
2 to
3 costs
2. etc.
UNLESS
Your defining attribute for that skill is higher than your current level (which at lower level it mostly always is), in that case it costs
1 fewer point to a minimum of
1, until you reach a skil rating equal to your defining attribute.
I’ll quote Allan from the thread where they also talk about karma, and which is verified by Michel (
www.ironthronepub.com/forum/rogues-and-r…dvancement-questions)
Allan
My take on the page 120 part is;
Attribute level 4, new skill, no levels
Point One costs — 1
Point Two costs — current level (1), so 1, as this is lower than the attribute 4, it would be –1, but always at least 1, net result = 1
Point Three costs — current level (2), so 2, as above –1 due to lower than attribute, = 1
Point Four costs — current level (3), so 3, the skill is now going from level 3 to 4, and the rules say, ‘at a level lower then the rating’. Well for me the skill is now going to be equal to the attribute, so no –1, net cost 3.
So
100% of the time it costs
1 point to learn a skill lvl of
1;
99%* of times it will cost
2 points to go from
0 to
2 skill rating.
95%* of the time it will cost
3 points to go from
0 to
3. Then it starts to
2/
3,
3/
4, and so on.
So for your cunning
8 guy buying sneak:
It costs
3 points to go from
0 to
3 2,
3,
4 and
5 to go each step from
4 to
7 and a regular
7 points to go from
7 to
8, since you’re buying a skill to the same level as your attribute and thus not eligible for the –
1 discount,
for a total of
24 passion points to go from
0 to
8.
Hope it helps and hope i’m not wrong, sometimes the language barrier play tricks on me, so if someone else can corroborate all the better.
*(wild but arguably safe % speculation)
