v0.10 Ritual Clarification Questions

[Alavatar]

Quicken Meditation has (Item [Book]) and Spell Swap has (Item [Spellbook]) as their targets. Will either ritual make the book indestructible? If yes, will the books still be capable of being written in?

Is there a significant difference between the Enhanced Blade battle magic Spell, and the Magic Strike / Elemental Strike rituals? Or Earth Blade / Chaos Blade battle magic Spell and Healing / Chaos Strike ritual?

Magic Item duration change: What is the vision for how this is logistically handled? Will the item tag have a number of clippable tags? Or be a hole punch system? What happens if the tag is lost after 5 events and the item is re-identified?

 

[Alavatar]

Magic Item duration change: What is the vision for how this is logistically handled? Will the item tag have a number of clippable tags? Or be a hole punch system? What happens if the tag is lost after 5 events and the item is re-identified?

If the tag and magic item database can incorporate a QR Code generator detailing the Chapter, Chapter e-mail, and MI#, then perhaps it could be done electronically? Then the Event Logistics can e-mail the respective chapters to update their respective Item Databases? Most phones have QR readers, or can acquire an app to read QR Codes. Or have a single, global, Restricted MI Database?

 

[Polare]

Quicken Meditation has (Item [Book]) and Spell Swap has (Item [Spellbook]) as their targets. Will either ritual make the book indestructible? If yes, will the books still be capable of being written in?

Once an item has been made indestructible, it is no longer alterable. Render Indestructible (which is essentially the same effect as is done when a non-times-ever Ritual is cast on an item) states this clearly:

If a Render Indestructible is cast upon a book, nothing can be written in it. All entries in the book are considered permanent and indelible. If this ritual is performed on a flexible item like a book or a doll, the item cannot be torn or broken.

Is there a significant difference between the Enhanced Blade battle magic Spell, and the Magic Strike / Elemental Strike rituals? Or Earth Blade / Chaos Blade battle magic Spell and Healing / Chaos Strike ritual?

They are very similar in nature. The Battle Magic spells will enhance all weapons a target uses within their duration and do not take up a Ritual Slot on an item, while the Rituals can be used by the possessor of an item even without knowing how to cast the spell versions.

The High Magic versions are the only ones which last longer than 10 minutes at a time.

 

[MondayMcGee]

I'm also curious about how the number of logistics periods a Magic Item lasts for is calculated. I really like that the change makes magic items more usable for those that can't make every event, but it does seem to effectively nerf items/duration extending rituals for chapters with a greater than average number of events per year.

 

[Avaran]

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[MondayMcGee]

Yep, I can completely see it either way. My thought was that it's a bit weird that items effectively last longer depending on what chapter they're used in. Makes valuation potentially strange? Also might mean that players in event-heavy chapters or those who travel a lot will be on a constant Stuff Quest. I dunno.

I actually do like the change, for the "life happens" reason if nothing else, but I'm still curious about how some of the details will work.

 

[Polare]

I believe the final number chosen was 20 Logistics Periods for a current 1-year item, or 100 Logistics Periods with a Preserve Duration.

My thought was that it's a bit weird that items effectively last longer depending on what chapter they're used in. Makes valuation potentially strange?

That actually happens today. It's not uncommon to see the following situation:

Bob plays in Chapter X, which is geographically isolated, and Bob doesn't have the chance to travel to other chapters more than once per year.

Sally plays in Chapter Y, which is right near 3 other chapters. She (or her team mates) is able to attend all 3 regularly.

All of these chapters run 5 events per year.

In Chapter X, a 1 year item with rituals X, Y and Z sells for about 5 Gold. Bob will get roughly 10 Logistics Periods of use out of the item, thus its lower valuation.

In Chapter Y, the same 1 year item sells for about 20 Gold. Sally will get roughly 40 Logistics Periods of use out of the same item, thus its much higher valuation.

Significant player concerns can occur when Sally travels to Chapter X, buys all the magic items there for 7 gold each (it's more than they'd normally sell for there!) and takes them back to Chapter Y (and the other ones around it). Not particularly fair for the players in Chapter X. Even though in-game their characters should all be getting the same use out of the item, for out-of-game reasons, the characters in Chapter Y get four times as much use out of the items.

The hope is that with the new system, the item will be worth roughly the same in both locations, since the players will get the same amount of in-game use out of it.

 

[Muir]

Yeah, this happens now. As a specific example, I routinely trade off items with 1-2 year durations because they aren't very valuable to me, given that my home chapter is running 4 events this year and I don't travel anymore due to the travel logistics involved in playing multiple Midwest games. The players who come up from Chicago, however, will pay better and get more use out of the item because they have four chapters within roughly the same driving range it takes me to get to SoMN.