Visualization and Luck

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Personally I would use the following:

Ridiculous Luck [60] + Visualization (Blessing, +100%; Reduced Time 6, +120%; Reliable 10, +100%) [9] + Visualization (Cursing, +100%; Reduced Time 6, +120%; Reliable 10, +100%) [9]. 78 points.

Ghostdancer

Looks like you used AA there. I would too, just mention it for those who might not see it.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Looks like you used AA there. I would too, just mention it for those who might not see it.

Damn browser eating my words. There I fixed it.

[Fred Brackin]

I would actually rate Serendipity over Luck for a Gambler character.

Gambling Skill (even with a very good roll) won't let you beat a roulette wheel or a slot machine but Serendipity will.

Even in Opposed Contest games like Poker where Gambling Skill really is relevant Serendipity will let you fill that inside straight. :)

[vicky_molokh]

Visualisation is good all-around, but very different from Luck. In fact, I think in most cases when you have Visualisation, you won't need to waste a use of Luck. What does the character do besides rolling the Gambling skill? (Also, you might have enough time to use Visualisation, as it requires a minute before a roll.)

Visualisation is actually very good for various mechanics, hackers, craftsmen etc.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Refplace

For that Luck is probably better.
It will be handy when things go wrong.
Most of the games you are involved in wont be set up well enough that Visualization will apply. You need a lot of predictability for that advantage to work. Depending on the game Lightning Calculator may be handy for helping you figure odds quickly or card counting.

Eidetic Memory (5) is probably also going to be useful...

Boost for Remembering...Cards through the shoe, people you have gambled with before and their tendancies and tells, people, places, and details that are important...

For example I would think a lot of the Secret Service (for whom remembering faces is VERY important) probably have at least the first level 5 pt version of Eidetic...

But for a Gambler living on the margins REMEMBERING important facts is the first step before EXPLOITING the information!!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Edit: both of these builds use Alternate Abilities to reduce the cost.

You should probably note that as a modifier to the ability.

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Visualisation is good all-around, but very different from Luck. In fact, I think in most cases when you have Visualisation, you won't need to waste a use of Luck. What does the character do besides rolling the Gambling skill? (Also, you might have enough time to use Visualisation, as it requires a minute before a roll.)

Visualisation is actually very good for various mechanics, hackers, inventors, craftsmen etc.

Yeah, basically this. Visualization is used for when you have a decent amount of time on your hands. I do disagree about the not wanting to waste a luck reroll on anything that visualization works for. (Especially if you have the game time version.) But luck is for important make or break rolls and visualization is for spamming on things that take a lot of time.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Lamech

Yeah, basically this. Visualization is used for when you have a decent amount of time on your hands. I do disagree about the not wanting to waste a luck reroll on anything that visualization works for. (Especially if you have the game time version.) But luck is for important make or break rolls and visualization is for spamming on things that take a lot of time.

Well it really depends on the situation, but usually if you need Luck, you're doing something more urgent, while if you have a spare minute, usually you can get away with a second try. There are, of course, exceptions to either statement.

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well it really depends on the situation, but usually if you need Luck, you're doing something more urgent, while if you have a spare minute, usually you can get away with a second try. There are, of course, exceptions to either statement.

Well if its something like inventing, something else time intensive, surgery or something else where failure is unacceptable you can easily want to use both. If you can just retry endlessly who really care what your skill is as long as you don't crit fail?

[bcd]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well it really depends on the situation, but usually if you need Luck, you're doing something more urgent, while if you have a spare minute, usually you can get away with a second try. There are, of course, exceptions to either statement.

If you have plenty of spare time relative to how long the task takes, you can also often get +5 by taking 30x as long. Of course this would be cumulative with Visualization still making it nice for those times when you need more than a mere +5. :-)

What never really occurred to me before is that you could buy Visualization down to an instantaneous effect with seven levels of Reduced Time, and then try to use it in combat. Interesting concept, that, the brainy warrior.