Questions for Dustin

[Dustin]

Well... here we are.

There you go...

[Bertie]

You mentioned changing up Oracular abilities to function differently. The problem I see with them is actually more of a problem with mod-dot. The actual system for the oracular merit is the following:

Oracular Ability (3-pt. Merit)
You can see and interpret signs and omens. You are able to draw advice from these omens, for they provide hints of the future and warnings of the present. When the Storyteller feels that you are in position to see an omen, you will be required to make a Perception + Occult roll, with the difficulty relative to how well the omen is concealed. If successful, you may then roll Intelligence + Occult to interpret what you have seen, the difficulty again relative to the complexity of the omen.

Because of Mod-Dot people have found it quite easy to reliably get five successes on both rolls, which by the standard system rules is an exceptional success. While I've been doing oraculars, and when I have been running scenes as an AST, I have been treating an exceptional success as an exceptional success, as opposed to being intentionally vague to try and slow things down.

Now in the tabletop, even if somebody had 10 dice, they tended to range between 10 successes and a botch on both the base oracular roll, and on the interpretation roll. This amount of variability I think lead to Oraculars being much less reliable and a lot more fun.

Now, there exist in game methods to at least boost the interpretation roll including leadership, clarity of emptiness, and occult libraries, making it even easier to boost your pools.

Would you either be changing the way the Oracular merit works? Or changing the dice pools so that it is not so easy to regularly get 7+ successes on interpretation rolls?

Also there are additional powers with Oracular like effects, including Insight and Gift of Morfeus that would also have to adjusted to reduce the power of Oraculars.

[Dustin]

There wouldn't be any change to oracular itself. If there was, we would be involving the PAs.
The results gained from oracular would be vague. I know there is the "make this roll to see how well you interpret it" but you will get advice from them. You get vague from them.

1) this implies there is something, specific, you are trying to find out or asking. Sometimes that is "what is this all about" or "how will this choice turn out".

2) '...When the Storyteller feels that you are in position to see an omen
'. The magic 8 ball of the universe points to "maybe"...


I believe the issue is right here:

Jul 16, 2014 15:44:23 GMT -8 Bertie said:

...Because of Mod-Dot people have found it quite easy to reliably get five successes on both rolls...

You make an excellent point. I personally feel this is one of the fundamental issues and this is why I will be asking for the players to make a vote on Mod-Dot. If it is "kick it back to the PAs", I hope the PAs add something about stacking...