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shark_bone•

Cool to see. I can't say I understand it all, yet, but I'm going to dig in.

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tiedyedvortexOP•

Let me know if you have any questions! I'd love to tackle anything you want to ask.

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BandanaRob•

Thanks for sharing this! I'd always wondered about the stats. Cortex's unique die rolling method obfuscates them well compared to other methods.

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Jlerpy•

Interesting! I had been wondering about some of those. So it would seem that the main appeal of Focus is not increasing your total, but your chances of having a good Effect die (and decreasing your chances of 1s).

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tiedyedvortexOP•

It also can increase your maximum roll in some cases. For example, if you're rolling a pool of 6d8 then your best possible total is a 16. But if you trade up to 4d8+1d10, your best possible total is an 18. This is useful if your opponent rolled a 17, for example.

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Jlerpy•

Quite so! Conversely, if you've got loads of PP, then having more dice available to spend those PP to add to your total is useful. So if you're starting with, say, 3d10, then being able to split one so you have 2d10+2d8 and can (assuming no 1s), PP your way to as high as 28 (as opposed to a max of 20) without giving up your Effect Die.

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RefreshNinja•

I don't think you can use a PP from using a d4 Distinction on that same roll to keep a third die for the total.You only earn it after actually using the Distinction in the roll - that is, after declaring your result. No?

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tiedyedvortexOP•

There are a couple places in the rules where it implies that putting a d4 in earns you a Plot Point which can be spent immediately. For example, on OM67, it says:

You can always add at least one Distinction to your dice pool. It costs you a PP for every extra Distinction you want to add. Because you earn 1 PP for using a Distinction as a d4 and it costs 1 PP to add a second Distinction, you can always choose to have a d8 Distinction and a d4 Distinction in the same dice pool. It just won't earn you any extra PP.

Similarly, it also suggests on page OM48 that when the Watcher activates an opportunity, the PP gain can be immediately spent to modify the remainder of the roll, as it shows Cyclops receiving a PP and immediately spending it to keep a third die.

It's sort of a moot point anyway: if you interpret the rules to say that "PP earned during a roll are not awarded until the roll is completed", then all that means is a player needs to keep a buffer of 1 PP at all times, and then they can pull the d4-keep-three trick I described.

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RefreshNinja•

Ah, I must have misremembered. Away from the books and all.

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