Hi

OK, so here are a couple of shallow Sorcerer questions based on no actual play experience, but they're bugging me.
I'm sure they're trivial and obvious but my brain's in a pretzel over them - I've trawled many old posts and reread the rules a few times but not quite cleared up my confusion yet.

1. Demon Abilities and Stamina
I know it's been done in many threads but I still can't get it straight.
What counts as a 'use' and when?
So Abilities like Special Damage, say, are easy, I think - Demon goes 'kazam', hit or miss it counts as one use against its Stamina quota.
Take something like Ranged, though.
Would Ranged Special Damage (like the FBI guy's demon gun, Woo in the rules example) 'cost' 2 uses to set off each time, or is Ranged bound up 'for free' in the Special Damage itself?

Is there a simple rule of thumb (or just a plain old rule for that matter) that I'm missing here that would make it all shiny and simple?

2. Drawn Dice Rolls
This is really stupid but here we go anyway. The key point here being, one person has a roll with all dice showing the same results and the other person has the same numbers plus a few more.

I noticed it when playing with a 1 die contest, but take Guy A vs Guy B; 2 dice vs 5 dice:
A: 9 9 vs B: 9 9 9 5 2

What's that? A draw? 3 victories to B? Something in the middle?
I try to work it out based on scenarios with more and fewer dice on both sides, but end up in the same place anyway. I'm caught between "it's a draw" and "but B has more dice..."

Brrzt...Brain fused...Can't compute....

I appreciate I'm probably thinking too hard about both of these but someone please just give me a figurative slap on the forehead before I do myself an injury... :)

G

not sure on your first question, but on the second, i do beleive that B gets 1 success- he had a 9 that A couldn't beat.
same thing happens if B had 9 9 5 5 2- B had a 5 that A couldn't beat

here's the link to the Sorcerer Wiki (not sure if you already saw that) http://random.average-bear.com/Sorcerer/HomePage

Hello,

Brian's right about the dice. I think you're confusing yourself a bit about this "more dice" thing, which isn't an issue.

Now, as far as the abilities go, you are asking two questions, I think.

1. Do Ranged and other "modifying" abilities count as uses? The answer is yes. Demon abilities can be pretty expensive.

2. How does one calculate uses for stuff like Armor or Protection?

The answer is to think in terms of demonic commitment to act, not in terms of minutes or charges. If a demon zaps someone three times during a fight, that's three uses. But if the demon uses Armor throughout the fight, for several rounds, then it's still just one use.

A good thread which lays it all out, probably a little better than I'm doing right now, is How did I miss this? Check that out, then c'mon back.

Best,
Ron

Thanks Brian, for your prompt reply, and Ron for that link.
Lot of good stuff in there. The concept of 'commitment to act' is a nice one, in particular.

I almost feel compelled to start a thread called "How Did I Miss How Did I Miss This?" ;)

That said, I am still hazy about aspects of both areas though... :/

On the dice front, rather than sit here going "duh..yeah but..." over and over again, I think I probably just need to go away and scratch at the actual rules a bit more.
I'll do that and post again tomorrow to let you know if my brain unknots.
I'm utterly convinced it's simpler than I'm making it in my head.

On the Ability front, I think I'm mixing up two things from different discussions and making myself confused.

Just when I'm happy that a power like Armour is 'switched on' once and lasts for a whole scene (counting as a single use for Stamina purposes), I then recall reading something to the effect of "yes, but every time an attack hits that Armour during the fight, it counts as an additional use of the Ability on top".

Is that real or have I entirely hallucinated the entire thing?

I do appreciate your patience with all this.

G

Hi Gethyn,

Patience? Geez, compared to some of the screaming meemies I've had to deal with over Sorcerer rules (almost always concluded with, "Really? But that's easy!"), you're a peach. This is fun.

About the dice, tell you what - just take a bunch of real dice and roll'em against one another. However you want, lots against a little, lots against lots, a little against a little. Come up with about a dozen to twenty comparisons. Don't make them up! Really roll and really write them down.

Then just post'em here. Don't try to interpret them on your own. Let me tell you what they mean. Then see whether it's making sense to you.

Now, about those abilities:

Just when I'm happy that a power like Armour is 'switched on' once and lasts for a whole scene (counting as a single use for Stamina purposes), I then recall reading something to the effect of "yes, but every time an attack hits that Armour during the fight, it counts as an additional use of the Ability on top".

Is that real or have I entirely hallucinated the entire thing?

Yay! It's official - I actually understand something! :)

Well here we go with some rolls then. Let this stand as a warning to all...

*rattle rattle*

20 rolls as they came out:

10 v 10 10 9 9 8 3 1 1
10 4 v 7 6 5 2
6 5 4 2 v 10 10 9 6 5
10 5 3 3 v 10 9 5 4
7 v 10 8 6 2
10 v 10 8 4 2 1
8 v 9 5 5 1 1
10 2 2 v 6 6 4 3 1
10 9 1 1 v 10 9 6 4 1
10 8 8 7 4 2 v 9 8 8 6 5 2
4 3 2 v 9 8 7 6 6 2 2 2
9 8 4 3 v 8 5 4 1
10 v 10 10 5 5 3 1
10 v 10 8 6 3 3 1
8 v 8 8 4 3
8 7 6 5 5 3 1 v 10 8 7 6 6 5 1
7 6 5 4 3 v 10 10 7 7 5 4 4 3
10 6 v 9 6 4
7 6 v 10 5 4 4 1
6 5 v 6 5 4 3

How's that?

G

Hi Gethyn,

And away we go ...

10 v 10 10 9 9 8 3 1 1
B wins with one victory (see special rules about one-die ties)
p. 18: "... if one opponent is only rolling a single die, and if he or she rolls equal to the other opponent's highest value, the result is treated as one victory in favor of the opponent with more than one die."

10 4 v 7 6 5 2
A wins with one victory

6 5 4 2 v 10 10 9 6 5
B wins with three victories

10 5 3 3 v 10 9 5 4
B wins with one victory

7 v 10 8 6 2
B wins with two victories

10 v 10 8 4 2 1
B wins with one victory (see special rules about one-die ties)

8 v 9 5 5 1 1
B wins with one victory

10 2 2 v 6 6 4 3 1
A wins with one victory

10 9 1 1 v 10 9 6 4 1
B wins with two victories

10 8 8 7 4 2 v 9 8 8 6 5 2
A wins with one victory

4 3 2 v 9 8 7 6 6 2 2 2
B wins with five victories

9 8 4 3 v 8 5 4 1
A wins with one victory

10 v 10 10 5 5 3 1
B wins with one victory (see special rules about one-die ties)

10 v 10 8 6 3 3 1
B wins with one victory (see special rules about one-die ties)

8 v 8 8 4 3
B wins with one victory (see special rules about one-die ties)

8 7 6 5 5 3 1 v 10 8 7 6 6 5 1
B wins with one victory

7 6 5 4 3 v 10 10 7 7 5 4 4 3
B wins with two victories

10 6 v 9 6 4
A wins with one victory

7 6 v 10 5 4 4 1
B wins with one victory

6 5 v 6 5 4 3
B wins with two victories (basically the 4 and the 3 count as victories after the higher dice cancel; alternately, some people treat this as the same as a single-die tie situation, although that isn't following the rules)

Thoughts, comments, points? Do you see that usually, once you look at only a couple of dice on each side, the rest of the dice are just irrelevant?

Best,
Ron

P.S. I prefer to use real names in this forum. Is Gethyn yours? If not, what is it?

Ron Edwards wrote: I prefer to use real names in this forum. Is Gethyn yours?

6 5 v 6 5 4 3
B wins with two victories (basically the 4 and the 3 count as victories after the higher dice cancel; alternately, some people treat this as the same as a single-die tie situation, although that isn't following the rules)

Hi Gethyn,

Whoops, I fucked up a little back in the first exchange. I shall explain.

I just want to double check that.
Back in my first post I used 9 9 vs 9 9 9 5 2 as my example.
Brian said "B wins by 1", which you agreed with.

Going by the principle in our 6 5 v 6 5 4 3 case here, shouldn't B have won by 3 victories?
ie A's two 9s cancel, leaving B with 9 5 2 vs [nothing] = 3?

interesting- i'm sure its been gone over either here or in the archives on your site, Ron, but it just seems more intuitive to apply the '1-die tie' rule to any situation where the first dice in both pools are ties, since the person wth fewer dice can't do more thanhe already has to succeed...

no need to get into that discussion here and now- but thanks for clarifying, and thanks Gethyn for pointing it out :)

gorckat wrote: interesting- i'm sure its been gone over either here or in the archives on your site, Ron, but it just seems more intuitive to apply the '1-die tie' rule to any situation where the first dice in both pools are ties, since the person wth fewer dice can't do more thanhe already has to succeed...

Hi there,

No, Michael, I don't think that's what he's proposing. I think he's talking about stuff like

9 3 2 vs. 9 3 2 1 1 1

in which all of the loser's dice are tied with the highest dice of the winner.

Going by the written rules, that's three victories for B (the three unopposed 1's).

But if you extend the single-die tie (special) rules, basically treating it as 9 vs. 9 3 2, then it's one victory for B.

Um, just to be 100% clear, is everyone up to speed with Gethyn about this? I mean, understanding the real rules and never mind the variant?

Best,
Ron

Hi

This is turning into a far more interesting topic than I ever imagined it would.

For myself, I'm totally clear now, thanks very much for laying it all out.

A tiny part of me wants it to be consistent for both cases ("but *why* should 1-die be a special case" etc), but actually as long I grok the rules them I'm perfectly happy.

Cheers

G

I didn't get it before, but I do now. I was also using the special case for all ties where one side ties competely. So now:

For die rolls where one side rolls only one die, a tie indicates a marginal vicotry for the side with more than one die.

For normal die rolls that do not meet the above condition, when all of one side's dice are tied high, then all unopposed dice count as victories.

Is that right? Or am I confusing things?

Trevis

Hi Trevis,

That's right.

The real way to look at it is that this situation

5 vs. 5 3 2

would be two victories for B, because of his two unopposed dice. That's what would happen if we didn't have any special rules.

Which would be perfectly fine, actually, if we wanted to bare our saber teeth in every single roll in Sorcerer.

Bear in mind that there are some very significant one-die rolls in Sorcerer (barring bonuses): snap-shot rituals and any time you've been hammered to 0 dice through penalties. These are major dramatic situations in Sorcerer. See now why I wanted to add a little edge under those conditions?

The special rule is therefore to give one-die rollers just a weeny edge, so that if they tie the winner's highest die, they're not totally screwed by the extra dice. Call it the "underdog edge."

So there's some logic to that inconsistency between single-die and multiple-dice rolls, in term sof these conditions of tieing. I consider Tweet's "crock" comment to be unjustified. See why?

The more I think about it, actually, the more I think that extending the single-die edge out to cover any unequal matching of rolls, when the loser ties out to the winner's highest die, is a bad idea. Far better to do the "sabertooth" option and lose any special rule entirely. Gethyn, if what you want is 100% system consistency, then that's the way to do it.

Best,
Ron

Well, under 'sabertooth' rules, it seems to me that a 1-die roll against a large number of dice is likely to be penalized for a 'high' result.

On 6-sided dice, under sabertooth:

6 vs 654321 = 5 successes for B
5 vs 654321 = 1 success for B

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if one isn't attached to the highest possible die result as being 'special,' but it can seem unintuitive.

Personally, I'm fonder of the mechanic that if a single die succeeds, it's a 'total success' allowing for very cool comebacks and reversals.

Hiya,

Angel-etc, I think you're muddying the waters a little ... even though, yes, your example is correct, you're bringing up a completely different issue now.

The new issue (totally unrelated to anything discussed so far in the thread) is that if a person rolling a single die wins - so we're not talking about ties at all - it's Total Victory.

That's a feature of the system which works very well in play, and acts as yet another reason why rolling a single die carries some special weight in the game that you don't see otherwise.

However, the current topic at hand isn't talking about that at all. We're talking about when the person rolling the single die loses, but his die ties with the winner's highest die.

Everyone realizes, I hope, that sabertooth merely means abandoning the special rule for single-die ties and treating those rolls just as you would for any roll, as written?

Best,
Ron