A few questions I have with regards to manipulate:
1) I'm assuming buffs to empathy help the contest, it's not just straight empathy ranks?
2) Do stats (and stat buffs) help the contest (looking at GoL, MeF, and Tranq)
3) Depending on 1 and and maybe 2, would Absolution then hurt my ability to manipulate?
4) If I can successfully manipulate one creature of a given type, is it still an empathy check to manipulate 2? Or does the check shift to empathy/concentration?
5) I've read that manipulation requires a constant upkeep in concentration, but in Stormfront my concentration doesn't seem to indicate this. Is this a bug in the frontend or am I missing something?
AZRYNN
JHALIASCLERIC
Re: Manipulate questions
08/26/2016 10:17 AM CDT
>would Absolution then hurt my ability to manipulate?
I believe it does, but haven't tested. But that said, if you have Absolution up, you're presumably hunting Undead, which cannot be manipulated.
>If I can successfully manipulate one creature of a given type, is it still an empathy check to manipulate 2? Or does the check shift to empathy/concentration?
The check is always Empathy/Concentration, isn't it?
>I've read that manipulation requires a constant upkeep in concentration, but in Stormfront my concentration doesn't seem to indicate this. Is this a bug in the frontend or am I missing something?
I think the first attempt requires concentration. The longer the critter is manipulated, the more it trains Empathy. I'm not sure if a critter will eventually stop teaching.
AZRYNN
Re: Manipulate questions
08/26/2016 10:25 AM CDT
> I believe it does, but haven't tested. But that said, if you have Absolution up, you're presumably hunting Undead, which cannot be manipulated.
The undead can't be manipulated, but any areas that also having living would be, such as wind hounds/reavers (not sure how many total hunting ground like this there are, but at my current ranks, it comes to mind)
> The check is always Empathy/Concentration, isn't it?
Not really sure, Epedia only mentioned Empathy and maybe Charisma into the contest itself, with concentration being the upkeep once successful. Just trying to figure out if concentration also plays a bigger role in the contest and if stat buffs that increase the concentration pool would help here as well.
The undead can't be manipulated, but any areas that also having living would be, such as wind hounds/reavers (not sure how many total hunting ground like this there are, but at my current ranks, it comes to mind)
> The check is always Empathy/Concentration, isn't it?
Not really sure, Epedia only mentioned Empathy and maybe Charisma into the contest itself, with concentration being the upkeep once successful. Just trying to figure out if concentration also plays a bigger role in the contest and if stat buffs that increase the concentration pool would help here as well.
LAMBL
Re: Manipulate questions
08/26/2016 11:49 AM CDT
Empathy buffs (and debuffs) should indeed influence your level of success. Stat buffs will also help, so boosting the stats that contribute to your concentration will indeed help your cause.
Your last two questions are sort of related. The way the Concentration upkeep works is that it's sort of behind the scenes. It doesn't really lock out your Concentration, so you won't see it drop in your front end or by using the INFO or FOCUS verbs. As far as I understand it, when you go to Manipulate something, your level of success in the contest determines how much Concentration is required to maintain it (at-level opponents, however that's measured, should take around half). If you don't have enough Concentration in the first place, you'll fail (this is where having extra Concentration from stat boosts comes into play). For the purposes of attempting a second Manipulation, the amount of upkeep required for the first one you already have going is subtracted from your total. So in order to Manipulate two creatures (assuming they're the same), the first one will have to eat up less than half of your Concentration (meaning you have to outclass them). So basically the upkeep of your first Manipulation only affects subsequent Manipulate attempts, instead of impacting everything that's affected by Concentration (since it doesn't actually lower your Concentration). There's nowhere to actually see how much upkeep is required, so if you want to Manipulate a second creature you just kinda have to try it and see if it works.
I've never actually encountered this situation, but I would guess that if you spend enough Concentration on other things (ritual spells, maybe?) to drop below the required upkeep level, your Manipulation(s) would end.
Thanks,
-Life Weaver Karthor
Your last two questions are sort of related. The way the Concentration upkeep works is that it's sort of behind the scenes. It doesn't really lock out your Concentration, so you won't see it drop in your front end or by using the INFO or FOCUS verbs. As far as I understand it, when you go to Manipulate something, your level of success in the contest determines how much Concentration is required to maintain it (at-level opponents, however that's measured, should take around half). If you don't have enough Concentration in the first place, you'll fail (this is where having extra Concentration from stat boosts comes into play). For the purposes of attempting a second Manipulation, the amount of upkeep required for the first one you already have going is subtracted from your total. So in order to Manipulate two creatures (assuming they're the same), the first one will have to eat up less than half of your Concentration (meaning you have to outclass them). So basically the upkeep of your first Manipulation only affects subsequent Manipulate attempts, instead of impacting everything that's affected by Concentration (since it doesn't actually lower your Concentration). There's nowhere to actually see how much upkeep is required, so if you want to Manipulate a second creature you just kinda have to try it and see if it works.
I've never actually encountered this situation, but I would guess that if you spend enough Concentration on other things (ritual spells, maybe?) to drop below the required upkeep level, your Manipulation(s) would end.
Thanks,
-Life Weaver Karthor
