Can anyone please enlighten me on how I should understand the following quote from RoP:D page 100:
To sense affiliation on a faerie with might 15, would the ease factor be 9 (6 + 15/5) or 15? Or 10 (9 + 1) since you have to "beat it by 1"? And to get insight about the faeries power, do you need to roll 20 (15 + 5)?
Hmmm given that normally a roll only need be equal to the EF, it might indeed be easier to think of the it being 10, but there may be factors I haven't considered as yet...
My reading is on a 10, you realise that supernatural creature is aligned to Faerie, and if you roll 15+ you get some idea what powers (ie active supernatural effects listed under its statistics as powers) it can do.
What Darkwing said.
Generally, when in doubt, I aim for the order of operations which results in a lower number, because it makes the ability easier to use and more likely a player will have their character pursue it.
-Ben.
I agree with Ben (and I think I may have written it, way back when).
If I had to change it, I'd drop the "beat it by 1" bit. You make the EF, you can tell what realm the beastie is aligned to. I like that you don't need to penetrate, it being a divine power and all. I'd also change it to "if you beat the Ease Factor by 5 you gain some insight". Oh, and I'd replace the "creature's magic resistance" in the formula with just "Might".
Ain't hindsight grand?
Matt Ryan
Hindsight is great! This way the ring makes sense, thanks a lot! Since the original text is truly ambivalent, might this be a candidate for errata?