Divine Favor - Dice adders

[iago]

Divine favor expenditure includes:

1 box: +1d6 to any roll
3 boxes: +1d8 to any roll

My first question, one which may have been asked and answered (if so, apologies) is--- hang on, there's a faq, which says:

Q. When I spend Divine Favor to add a d6 or d8 to my roll, do I add the result of the extra die to my highest roll? A. No. You simply add the extra die to your pool and roll it with the other dice.

Okay, so, next question. :) Given that these are "just" adding another die to the pool to be rolled, I feel like 3 boxes for a 1d8 is overcharging me.  So, just so I "get" it, what's the logic behind making +1d8 cost three times +1d6?

I confess, my natural expectation would have been:

1 box: +1d6 (a peer of "open ending")
2 boxes: +1d8 (a peer of "reroll any one die" and "make an additional attack", etc)
3 boxes: +1d10 (replacing the original +1d8)
4 boxes: +1d12 (a peer of "reroll up to all of your dice")

So I wanna get inside the designer's head and understand the why, here.

Also: Can the same option from the list be bought multiple times on the same action? I.e., if 1 box = +1d6, could 3 boxes essentially be either +3d6 or +1d8, under the current pricing scheme?

[John Harper]

Well, I'll admit that I'm a little uncertain about the cost of the +1d8. But my thinking was to "overcharge" for it slightly, in order to make creative ability use that little bit more attractive. In other words, if you have a d8 ability that you can add in, it's more effective to do that than to spend divine favor for the extra d8.

Having said that, I don't think there's anything very wrong with your proposed divine favor cost list, Fred. It will make the heroes more effective -- which they probably don't need -- but it won't hurt either.

And yes, you can buy the same option from the list multiple times.

I also liked your suggestion (I think it was a PM to me) for adding a divine favor item that is a straight bonus to the die roll. Something like 2 DF for +1 to your roll. This is powerful whiff-fighting mojo, which I love.

[Darren Hill]

Myself, I think I'd be happy dropping the d8 to a cost of 2 DF, but not having the d10 or d12 options be available. Then you can only get them through oaths and creative abilities.

[Valamir]

With the caveat that I haven't played the game yet...

Its easier to get Divine Favor back during an Interlude than it is to restore Impaired Abilities.  This seems to me to make "Pay 2 Divine Favor for 1d8" to be better than "take 1 Impairment for 1d8".  Not only does the Divine Favor option not reduce your die size but you get it all back automatically with a sacrifice. 

So, spending 8 DF for 4d8 can be completely recovered from in a single Interlude.  But taking 4 Impairments for 4d8 will take 2 Interludes to recover from (unless you get lucky and can win on some other player's recoveries.).

That said the opportunity cost of spending the DF to get a d8 advantage that you could get for free with a Simple Contest Advantage roll vs. some of the other beefier things you can spend Divine Favor on, probably means that even at a cost of 2DF players aren't much more likely to do it then they were at 3.


Spending 2 DF for a +1 would be a good bet.  Especially if its +1 to the ROLL and not just +1 to the RESULT.  In otherwords spending 2 DF to convert a d6 roll of 5 into a 6 so you could then spend another DF to open it would be pretty tactically key.   And since both players and NPCs have Divine Favor...it becomes just an added decision point rather than an advantage.

[Darren Hill]

On the 2 points for a d8: yes, players won't often use this. Also note, it's 2 points for a reroll - and players will often have rolled a d8 or d10 into their roll already, so setting it at 2 points is just the same as that.  Though that could be an argument for leaving it at 3-point: to privilege the abilities that are naturally at that level, and make it harder for heroes to match that when rolling outside their areas of specialty.

Regarding the +1, I was thinking of setting this at 3 points - which is a bit of a turnabout for me, since I originally suggested having a d6 bonus at that cost. Now having played the game, I saw players (and GM) repeatedly fail by one, and use rerolls in the hope of getting that one point higher - and often failing. The +1 option will be very attractive when you need to roll high - because it grants certain success (assuming you are just one point away, of course).

In fact, the other thing that occurred to me tonight was regarding your Greatest Deeds idea: rather than a point of Divine favour, I'm also considering letting them give a +1 bonus, and making that the only way to get that bonus.

[iago]

I feel no great need to change the cost on +d8, after some actual play tonight.  There's nothing broken.  I don't need to fix it.

I'm going to hie my ass over to RPG.net and do an AP thread there in order to get Agon a little more exposure.

[John Harper]

Sweet! Thanks, Fred. I need to return the favor with DRYH! I read it in full last night and wow. I'm dying to play it.

[coffeestain]

Awesome AP post, Fred!  I'm dying to play this.

Regards,
Daniel