[RPM] Gathering for long rituals

[FOXDIE_]

Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic says this on pg. 20:

At every third attempt for a given ritual, apply a cumulative -1 to skill – long rituals are more difficult.

Does this mean after every third attempt, or that the third attempt gets the minus -1?

In other words, which set of numbers does a person with an effective skill of 18 gathering for a long ritual roll against:

1) 18, 18, 18, 17, 17, 17, 16, 16, 16, 15, etc
or
2) 18, 18, 17, 17, 17, 16, 16, 16, 15, etc
or possibly even
3) 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 16, 15, 15, etc

Just a little confused on the wording.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by FOXDIE_

Does this mean after every third attempt, or that the third attempt gets the minus -1?

In other words, which set of numbers does a person with an effective skill of 18 gathering for a long ritual roll against:

1) 18, 18, 18, 17, 17, 17, 16, 16, 16, 15, etc
or
2) 18, 18, 17, 17, 17, 16, 16, 16, 15, etc
or possibly even
3) 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 16, 15, 15, etc

Just a little confused on the wording.

Door Number 2. You get the first 2 at no penalty, then the next 3 at -1, the next 3 at -2, and so forth. Personally, I'd be tempted to break the rules and go with number 1 just because it's a bit more consistent; technically that would give you a slightly higher Safe Threshold, but probably not enough to make a significant difference, particularly considering there's already some wiggle room with Thresholds. Option 3, however, is going to make RPMists much less powerful.

[FOXDIE_]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Door Number 2. You get the first 2 at no penalty, then the next 3 at -1, the next 3 at -2, and so forth. Personally, I'd be tempted to break the rules and go with number 1 just because it's a bit more consistent;

This makes the most sense to me, but like you I'm tempted to use 1 – it feels like it should be the right one because it's more consistent.

[Engurrand]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Door Number 2. You get the first 2 at no penalty, then the next 3 at -1, the next 3 at -2, and so forth.

Whelp. I've been doing that wrong.

My thought on reading this was: "HUH? How does "At every third attempt." translate to something different for the first set than for all subsequent sets?"

Here's how: First roll on skill 18, no penalty. Penalty applied on every third roll. Third roll in bold.

18,18,17,17,17,16,16,16,15,15,15,14,14,14,13

Numbers. Not always intuitive. I agree that it might have been a little more intuitive if the rule were "After every third attempt." That would result in a slightly more uniform array of sets of three.