Silverwood Manor Events - 2023-03-11 - At Your Service with a Smile (log)

Charlatos 11, 5123

Log

Prelude

[Silverwood Manor, Quiet Garden]

A pair of stained glass doors open directly into the garden, where a well-manicured carpet of verdant grass is surrounded by a circle of stately haon trees. The strong trunks and layered green leaves create a quiet area of insulated serenity. Moonlight glints on the waters of a perfectly round pond at the center of the area, the surface dotted with glowing white votives. Daisies sprout at the base of an elaborate polished marble statue. You also see the coffin-shaped Maevie disk, a silver-traced carved mahogany cart with some stuff on it, an eternal flame, a wide wooden log, a flat oak log and a small fire burning within a ring of stones.

Also here: Lorekeeper Leafiara, Mentor Darkkstormmer, Mentor Cordelia, Mentor Giogionni, Istyael, Oishian who is sitting, Chaser Maevie, Epikarik, Meril who is sitting

Leafiara stretches her arms out in front of her, attempting to loosen the tension in her neck and shoulders.

Istyael says, "What a spread."

Leafiara twists her head slightly, cracking her neck. She looks relieved.

Leafiara grins at Istyael.

Maevie agrees with Istyael.

Leafiara exclaims, "Spare no expense!"

Leafiara flashes a quick grin.

>l on cart

On the carved mahogany cart:

Food/Drink [80]: a bottle of rich purple shiraz, a bottle of sylvan marigold wine, a frosted glass of moon wine, a mug of sweet thunder milk, a glass of cold mineral water, a slender glass of chocolate milk, a juniper and lemon concoction, a mug of Silverwood punch, a bottle of dwarven stout, some Silverwood pale pink pilsner, a mug of sweet ginger beer, a glass of V'tull's Revenge, a giantkin-sized barrel of lager, a glass of fruit-mixed rum, a glass of assassin's poison, a glass of Seafarer's vodka, some Elanthian well-aged whiskey, a jar of Basingstoke's Moonshine, an amaranth and pinyon nut salad (2), a chicken and cashew salad (2), a fennel and apple salad with cider vinaigrette (2), an amaretto brie-topped cracker, a chunk of poppyseed-crusted goat cheese, some honey-drizzled cheese truffles, a crumble of aged white cheese, some fire-roasted root vegetables, a nutmeg-laced buttery acorn squash, a red pepper hummus-stuffed mushroom, a dish of tomato herb couscous, a cob of bright yellow corn, some pickled turnips, a bulbous orange carrot topped with a rosette of leaves, a tiny chilled dill pickle, some spicy chicken wings, a slice of stuffed pork tenderloin, a hard-boiled alligator egg pickled in vinegar, a wild rice and mushroom casserole, a hunk of bacon-wrapped steak, some smoked pumpkin soup, a breaded Riverwood crab cake, a slice of erithian tea bread, a large soft twisted bread, a honey and fig-filled pastry, a slice of apple and cherry pie, a sugar-dusted gingerbread cookie, a tiny treasure chest cookie, a thin stick of chocolate-covered shortbread, a large chocolate ice cream cone, some pomegranate-infused vanilla ice cream, a warm banana fritter sprinked with sugar and cinnamon, a chocolate raspberry tart, a gooey peanut butter brownie, a glass of tepid Faendryl brandy, a mug of hot berry rum, a snifter of warm elven brandy, a shot of warmed halfling whiskey, a hot yuletide toddy, a mug of hot cranberry-apple cider, some cobbler's coffee, a cup of cream-topped coffee, a mug of bitter evergreen tea, a cup of warm sylvan tea, a cup of iceblossom tea, a cup of honeyed herb tea, some fragrant white peony tea, a cherry and apple candy ribbon, some acantha leaf candy, a blueberry lollipop, a gnome-sized blueberry, a white sapote fruit, a cluster of plump red grapes, some ripe honeydew wedges, a plump golden pear, some salty popcorn, some hot roasted spicy nuts, some potato crisps, some roasted pine nuts

Maevie helps herself to a breaded Riverwood crab cake.

Leafiara asks, "Is everyone ready to get started?"

Leafiara observes her surroundings with a keen eye.

Leafiara taps her white owl pin on its tiny head and it emits a loud hoot!

Maevie takes a bite of her Riverwood crab cake.

Maevie nods.

Crossing her legs at the ankles, Maevie slowly lowers herself to the ground and sits tailor fashion.

Meril nods rhythmically.

Maevie scoots over next to a silver-traced carved mahogany cart.

Leafiara exclaims, "Onward, then!"

Leafiara greets, "Good evening and welcome to 'At Your Service with a Smile!'."

Maevie applauds.

Leafiara begins, "Tonight's seminar is about explaining the ins and outs of every profession service--yes, really, every one!"

Giogionni grumbles.

Giogionni places his arms akimbo and looks about as if waiting for something.

Leafiara offhandedly says, "I should probably note this will delve into some OOC talk out of necessity for the complex mechanical topics being discussed..."

Istyael sits down.

Leafiara states, "And to clarify the definition of 'profession service' tonight, it's a skill unique to a profession which they offer to others. They consume resource points seen in the RESOURCE verb, which are earned by absorbing exp pulses, and max out at 50,000 per week."

Leafiara adds, "But we'll dig more into that as we discuss them individually."

Leafiara elaborates, "In the interest of time, I'll also be approaching this from the perspective of someone looking to get these services from others, more so than the perspective of someone interested in performing them for others. In other words, tonight we're looking at what they do, not how to do them."

Leafiara exclaims, "And I'll take lingering questions after each service discussed, then we'll have a bigger question and answer session at the very end!"

Leafiara exclaims, "All that said, let's get started!"

Leafiara lets out a cheer!

Maevie lets out a cheer!

Cordelia applauds.

Oishian leans forward.

Loresong Unlocking

Leafiara says, "First up we have permanent Loresongs, also known as unlocked Loresongs."

Leafiara says, "As most people know, bards are capable of identifying properties of items such as their enchantments, abilities, weight, enhancive charges, and more. They craft a song and deliver it to the item in hand, then that item reveals its properties."

Leafiara says, "So, right now, the bard service is to permanently attach the loresong to an item so that others, like the owners, can RECALL the information on demand."

Leafiara exclaims, "I'll place my Adventurer's Guild badge on the ground and you can have a look with RECALL to get the gist!"

Leafiara grabs a veniom-bound fireleaf badge from inside her leaf-patterned tote.

Leafiara carefully places a veniom-bound fireleaf badge on the ground.

>recall badge

As you recall Florania's song, you feel a faint resonating vibration from the fireleaf badge in your hand, and you learn something about it...
It is an enhancive item:
    It provides a boost of 5 to Wisdom Bonus.
    It provides a boost of 5 to Influence Bonus.
    It provides a boost of 9 to Spirit Mana Control Bonus.
    This enhancive item has restrictions whose type are unclear to you.
    It seems to have a fair amount of enhancive charges remaining.
It will persist after its last enhancive charge has been expended.
It is a small item, under a pound.
It is estimated to be worth about 1,000,000 silvers.
It has a permanently unlocked loresong by Florania.

Meril leans in toward the badge, her pointed ears raised ever so slightly.

Giogionni says, "Nice badge."

Leafiara adopts an agreeable expression.

Maevie adopts an agreeable expression.

Darkkstormmer seems to be trying to conceal a veniom-bound fireleaf badge from view.

Darkkstormmer whistles tunelessly to himself.

Leafiara gazes in amusement at her surroundings.

Leafiara says, "The use cases for permanent loresongs are basically quality of life so you can easily track when your enhancives are out of charges, how far along your project item is, and so on."

Leafiara notes, "This is also the only non-mechanical profession service at the moment, which is probably why the GS dev team intends to create a new bard service in the future--potentially even this year, since it was mentioned as a goal in this year's Creating Adventure article."

Leafiara exclaims, "However, even when a new bard service comes, permanent loresongs will still be around--they would just become a secondary service without a resource point constraint--so we might as well get used to them!"

Giogionni exclaims, "Bards get two?!"

Giogionni mutters something about empaths.

Leafiara gazes in amusement at Giogionni.

Leafiara says, "I mean, it depends on the definition of a profession service..."

Leafiara chuckles.

Giogionni grins at Leafiara.

Leafiara lightly exclaims, "By tonight's definition, unlocked loresongs will no longer count!"

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "For the same reason healing doesn't count."

Leafiara snickers.

Giogionni sticks his tongue out at Leafiara, and lets out with a loud, "Thbtbtbtbt" from his lips!

Leafiara winks at Giogionni.

Meril rubs her chin thoughtfully.

Leafiara says, "I won't be talking too often tonight about how a profession gets better at their profession service, but in this case, there's one thing I do have to say..."

As Epikarik sweeps his hand upwards towards the flame, the billowing smoke rises higher, dispersing into the shape of a thickly maned lion.

Leafiara picks up a veniom-bound fireleaf badge.

Leafiara says, "With several other services, there comes a point where your item will just be too challenging for anyone to work on further."

Leafiara says, "There are no items too difficult for the best bards to unlock their loresong, though."

Leafiara says, "Antimagic items like kroderine can't be done because of antimagic properties, but otherwise, it's always at least possible to have your loresong unlocked by *someone* out there."

Questions on Loresong Unlocking

Leafiara asks, "Does anyone have any questions about unlocked loresongs before we move on?"

Leafiara grins.

Oishian raises his hand.

Leafiara points at Oishian.

Darkkstormmer walks over to the log and settles down.

Oishian asks, "Two, really: Does the loresong being permanent make the item harder to work on, and does the loresong continue forever, no matter what else changes?"

Leafiara says, "It doesn't make the item harder to work on and it does continue forever."

Oishian nods.

Maevie nods.

Istyael asks, "Is there a customary tip rate for a loresong unlock service?"

Leafiara says, "And the song will update as the properties of the item update too."

Giogionni nods.

Leafiara says, "Generally speaking, if you intend to keep working on an item for a long time, get its loresong unlocked sooner than later."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "While the loresong doesn't make other services more difficult, other services do make the loresong more difficult."

Leafiara winks.

Speaking to Istyael, Leafiara says, "No, the rate wildly varies depending on the skill of the bard and the difficulty of the item."

Istyael nods.

Istyael says, "Thank you."

Leafiara says, "Typically it can go anywhere from 100,000 silver for something very basic to 4,000,000 silver for something extremely tough."

Leafiara chuckles.

Epikarik raises his hand.

Suddenly, there is a puff of smoke and a blinding flash of light as Rosemunde arrives to answer Istyael's assist.

Rosemunde nods in greeting.

Leafiara says, "Basically, the easier your item, the less skilled of a bard you need."

Leafiara points at Epikarik.

Maevie smiles.

Leafiara concludes, "...and the less they can charge, is what I was going to say."

Leafiara clears her throat.

Leafiara tilts her head slightly toward Epikarik, examining him intently as the tip of one ear twitches briefly.

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik asks, "There are old rare items that have "real" loresongs in them, do these unlock as well, so the owner can read them?"

Leafiara nods at Epikarik.

Speaking to Epikarik, Leafiara exclaims, "They do!"

Leafiara says, "Actually, that's a great question that leads me to explain more syntax."

Rosemunde smiles at Istyael.

Leafiara says, "We'll take my badge again as an example..."

Rosemunde vanishes in a puff of smoke!

Leafiara carefullys place a veniom-bound fireleaf badge on the ground.

Leafiara says, "I think I asked everyone to try RECALL BADGE before."

Leafiara says, "But you can also do RECALL BADGE LORESONG."

Leafiara says, "For items that have full loresongs, that's how you'd see them instead of just the quick details."

Leafiara says, "It's essentially the same thing as being a bard."

Tabubu folds her hands.

Leafiara says, "So, yes, if you'd like to see your loresongs more often, this is a way to get that too."

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara waves to Tabubu.

Tabubu inclines her head.

Tabubu walks over to the log and settles down.

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any other questions on loresongs?"

Maevie shakes her head.

Leafiara admits, "I'm beginning to think I should have started with Enchant."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "I was trying to go from least complex to most, roughly."

Leafiara snickers.

Leafiara picks up a veniom-bound fireleaf badge.

Leafiara exclaims, "But you all had good questions on loresongs!"

Leafiara says, "Okay, in that case..."

Enchanting

Leafiara exclaims, "On to Enchant, the 25th spell in the Wizard Base circle!"

Leafiara says, "In terms of what Enchant does once it's been applied, it's probably the most simple profession service. Each time the wizard successfully CHANNELs 925 at a combat item, that item gives 1 more AS or DS than it used to, depending on whether the item is for offense or defense. You're more likely to hit and you're less likely to get hit! Better offense, better defense, it's that simple."

Meril leans forward and rests her chin in her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Leafiara notes, "By the way, if anyone's been around a while, this is different from how Enchant used to work, where it went in increments of 5 only."

Darkkstormmer nods at Leafiara.

Giogionni says, "And took forever."

Leafiara agrees with Giogionni.

Maevie agrees with Giogionni.

Leafiara appears to be struggling to keep a straight face.

Darkkstormmer says, "Mana pools."

Darkkstormmer cringes.

Leafiara says, "Since we're looking at these services from a buyer's perspective tonight, the question of how to get your items enchanted is where more complexity comes up."

Leafiara says, "As I mentioned at the start, every service uses points seen in RESOURCE that can be accumulated at a rate of 50,000 per week."

Leafiara says, "Most of these services consume points in increments of 50,000 or 25,000."

Leafiara says, "So most professions can advertise how many 'weeks' of points they have available."

Leafiara cheekily says, "But not wizards, they're special."

Leafiara chuckles.

Darkkstormmer says, "We are."

Darkkstormmer nods in agreement at Leafiara.

Leafiara looks at Darkkstormmer and hums.

Maevie laughs softly, trying to hide her amusement.

Leafiara exclaims, "An enchant can take as little as 0 essence for a +0 to +1 cast or could take as much as 195,000 essence for a +49 to +50 cast... of course, the latter could only even be made possible with potions from pay events, but let's not even go there. Beyond the scope of the night!"

Leafiara appears to be struggling to keep a straight face.

Oishian helps himself to a crumble of aged white cheese.

Leafiara says, "In case anyone wants to know the math, the gist is that from the +1 to +2 cast all the way through the +24 to +25 cast, each enchant costs 312.5 more essence than the last one, rounding up. From +25 to +26 on, though, the costs increase by 7,500 more essence than the last one."

Oishian takes a bite of his aged white cheese.

Meril's expression is thoughtful, but her furrowed brow indicates she's working something out for herself.

Oishian takes a drink from his rich purple shiraz.

Leafiara exclaims, "But if your eyes glazed over just reading that, fear not, because we're moving on quickly to the point!"

Tabubu leans forward and rests her chin in her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Leafiara says, "Since wizards' essence usage is so complex, you'll usually see them advertise their services with a silver cost per essence rather than per 'week'."

Leafiara says, "Just a minor thing to be aware of, but it does trip people up sometimes."

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any questions on enchanting?"

Leafiara says, "Hopefully the +1 AS or DS part is straightforward enough, at least."

Leafiara chuckles.

Maevie smiles.

Giogionni grins at Leafiara.

Epikarik grins.

Leafiara observes her surroundings with a keen eye.

Leafiara exclaims, "Perfect, moving on then!"

Meril squints.

Leafiara says, "Eventually they'll get real complex, I promise."

Leafiara snickers.

Leafiara says, "But for now..."

Mystic Tattoos

Leafiara says, "Next up are Mystic Tattoos, which monks can begin to apply to people after they've trained twenty times."

Leafiara says, "Mystic Tattoos also provide a pretty straightforward benefit! They act as an enhancive that raises the bonus of a single chosen stat--Strength, Agility, and the rest--by 1 to 5 as you apply each of the five 'circles' of power, also known as tiers."

Leafiara clearly says, "Please note, that's the *bonus* of the stat, not the base of it."

Leafiara exclaims, "Of course, before a monk can imbue power into a tattoo, the tattoo has to exist first. They can either use one of your existing tattoos or use TATTOO MUNDANE to ink a new one themselves at the cost of another dose of ink. Monks have many available options--985, to be exact, which you can see with TATTOO MENU!"

'Leafiara says, "I'll... pause for a moment in case people want to scroll my words off the screen with TATTOO MENU."

Leafiara glances upward and whistle quietly, an innocent look on her face.

Giogionni rubs his tattoo.

Meril rubs her eyes.

Leafiara says, "Once you've chosen which tattoo you want imbued and which stat you want enhanced, the monk can get to work powering up! However, do be warned that, if you ever want to change which stat you're enhancing, you'll need to destroy the tattoo. ...so it's not necessarily the best move to use an existing tattoo if you're attached to it unless you're absolutely sure you'd never change your stat."

Leafiara says, "Since Mystic Tattoos are based on the enhancive system, they have charges--100 of them, to be precise. However, the Adventurer's Guild can't work on these, nor can normal enhancive charging potions; only monks can recharge them."

Tabubu's eyes crinkle slightly at the edges.

Leafiara notes, "The tattoo doesn't have to be completely drained of charges, just less than completely full, so you can check in with your monk friends any time."

Epikarik gently reaches into his cloth-of-veniom haversack and withdraws a tan gopher snake, which slowly curls around his hand.

Leafiara says, "Maybe more crucially than that, though..."

Epikarik carefully inspects his gopher snake.

Epikarik put a tan gopher snake in his cloth-of-veniom haversack.

Leafiara exclaims, "Upgrading from one tier to the next will also fully recharge, so it's typically best not to recharge a tattoo that's below the fifth circle ("T5")--just upgrade it instead and the recharge comes with the territory!"

Leafiara says, "The tougher question is whether to drain all charges before upgrading to the next tier or just upgrade quickly for extra power as soon as you can get it..."

Giogionni says, "More power."

Leafiara says, "And the answer is subjective based on yourresources of time, resources of silver, and patience."

Leafiara gazes in amusement at Giogionni.

Leafiara amusedly says, "See, we know where Gio stands..."

Leafiara snickers.

Tabubu agrees with Giogionni.

Giogionni says, "I'm standin' right here."

Giogionni points down.

Cordelia grins.

Leafiara looks at Giogionni and hums.

Leafiara says, "But for those unfamiliar with enhancives, running out of 100 enhancive charges can take several months even if you can be in the lands almost nonstop."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "So that's what makes the case for just upgrading as quickly as possible."

Leafiara grins.

Questions on Mystic Tattoos

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any questions about Mystic Tattoos before we move on?"

Giogionni asks, "Can ya have more than one at a time?"

Leafiara says, "Sadly, no."

Leafiara snaps her fingers.

Meril asks, "There are some scripted tattoos that cannot be made mystic, yes?"

Leafiara says, "Really wish we could. Maybe one day."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara ponders.

Tabubu rubs a small fire burning within a ring of stones.

Speaking to Meril, Leafiara says, "Things like empath tattoos or rune tattoos, right..."

Leafiara says, "Any tattoo that has a script, basically."

Leafiara says, "I was trying to think if there were other examples."

Meril rubs her chin thoughtfully.

Oishian says, "Wandering ones."

Giogionni says, "Wanderin' tattoos."

Leafiara says, "There might be! But if it does something fancier than just look pretty, it's probably not eligible to be made Mystic."

Giogionni nods at Oishian.

Leafiara says, "Ahh, right."

Leafiara nods.

Giogionni says, "Still need to get one of those."

Leafiara says, "I wouldn't dare convert one of those to a Mystic Tattoo even if I could, for the reason I laid out before."

Leafiara chuckles.

Tabubu gives a sidelong glance at Giogionni.

Leafiara says, "I never know if I'll want to change my stat."

Leafiara grins.

Speaking quietly to Giogionni, Tabubu says, "Talk to me later."

Leafiara gazes in amusement at Tabubu.

Giogionni glances at Tabubu.

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any other questions on Mystic Tattoos?"

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "Alright..."

Leafiara takes a deep breath.

Leafiara says, "Brace for the tough stuff starting now."

Leafiara appears to be struggling to keep a straight face.

Weighting, Padding, and Sighting

Leafiara says, "We're moving on to the warrior service: weighting, padding, and sighting, or WPS for short! Like monks with their tattoos, warriors can begin working on WPS starting when they've trained twenty times."

Leafiara says, "Unlike Enchant, which helps you hit or avoid getting hit, weighting and padding matter when hits have already connected. Respectively, they intensify or soften the impact of the blow! As for sighting, it works on ranged weapons to help the archer aim better."

Leafiara adds, "A skilled enough archer will also eventually reach a point at which they can't possibly aim better. Once there, the sighting benefit is treated as weighting instead at half the rate that weighting would have been."

Giogionni rubs his chin thoughtfully.

Leafiara says, "Now here's where this gets more complex."

Leafiara chuckles.

Meril says, "I am not sure that pures who use archery will hit the aim cap normally."

Meril squints.

Leafiara says, "That falls under not meeting the 'skilled enough' criteria."

Leafiara grins.

Meril looks downright miserable.

Leafiara says, "As messy as this terminology is about to get, warriors add 'services' to weapons, armor, and accessories... so we have to define what a service is now, in this context."

Leafiara says, "WPS uses a system called Combat Effectiveness Rating, or CER for short. Warriors can see an item's CER via the ASSESS command. The CER system works on a scale of 0 to 50, where the first 5 points need 10 services each to be finished, then the next 5 need 20 services each, the next 5 need 30 each, and so on."

Leafiara says, "So, in other words, think of each service a warrior adds to an item as a partial point of CER."

Leafiara asks, "But what good is a partial point, one might wonder?"

Giogionni grins.

Leafiara says, "Basically, partial CER equates to a percentage chance to act as if it were that CER. So if you have 16 services of crit weighting, which equals 1.6 CER, then your item has a 60% chance to act as if it's 2 CER and a 40% chance to act as if it's 1 CER."

Leafiara hurriedly says, "I'm not digging any deeper into the math than that. It would take hours--believe me, I've done it. But that's the gist of it."

Leafiara chuckles.

Oishian ponders.

Leafiara says, "Warriors can add up to 2 services per week, by the way, for weapons and armor."

Leafiara says, "They can add 5 services per week for accessories."

Leafiara says, "Accessories being things like greaves or helms."

Questions on Weighting, Padding, and Sighting

Leafiara says, "I'll open the floor for questions on WPS now..."

Leafiara lightly says, "And brace myself."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara's concentration shifts and becomes more focused as she slightly tilts an ear in a particular direction.

Giogionni appears to be trying hard not to grin.

Leafiara observes her surroundings with a keen eye.

Giogionni says, "There's no amount of sightin' that keeps a ranger from gettin' lost."

Leafiara gazes in amusement at Giogionni.

Leafiara asks, "Hm, no questions on WPS?"

Oishian says, "An observation: Sounds like once you get past the 20 or maybe 30 per CER level, you're looking at severely diminishing returns, with accelerating difficulty."

Speaking to Oishian, Leafiara says, "Oh, some would argue that's happening even past 5 CER."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "...actually, some would argue that's happening even at 0 CER. The warrior service's services (yes, I know) can feel sort of slow at times."

Leafiara says, "The subjective value of each service is kind of beyond the scope of the event, but I'll at least acknowledge that when it gets brought up."

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "Oh, I suppose there's one more thing I should mention related to that point."

Leafiara says, "Most people are familiar with the WPS wagon that comes around every so often, or at very least comes around every Duskruin."

Leafiara says, "The WPS wagon hosts an automated NPC who likewise adds services of WPS to your item, but does so with a scaling price. The more services you get in a two-month window, the more it costs, going up in increments of every five services."

Leafiara says, "Warriors, of course, aren't automated NPCs and don't have to concern themselves with the two-month window."

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik asks, "I know the difficulty thingy resets itself for each period of WPS, is a warrior who works on my item, after I say add services via the wagon, affected by what level im currently at with that item, or does his 2 services just work regardless?"

Leafiara says, "So that's one of the more typical use cases: someone who wants to really accelerate things along by making use of the NPC and players."

Leafiara ponders.

Leafiara says, "Okay, there are layers to that question, so give me a moment."

Epikarik quietly says, "Well I see you were answering it."

Leafiara chuckles.

Tabubu clears her throat.

Tabubu stands up.

Epikarik slaps himself on the forehead.

Tabubu quietly says, "Excuse me."

Tabubu inclines her head.

Leafiara waves to Tabubu.

Tabubu just went through a pair of stained glass doors.

Leafiara says, "Yes, the warrior's services have no interaction with the smithy's services."

Leafiara says, "Meaning it doesn't increase your service count for the window."

Oishian asks, "Do we know whether damage and crit padding, when both are present, are calculated in some order vs the attack, or together, somehow?"

Leafiara says, "That said, the warrior does still have to contend with the difficulty of your item."

Epikarik nods at Leafiara.

Leafiara says, "So it's not as if a warrior can just work on anything. They're not bards in that regard. Powerful enough items will eventually exceed their ability."

Speaking to Oishian, Leafiara says, "That's an excellent question that's both beyond the scope of tonight and also something I've never researched, so I actually don't know."

Leafiara chuckles.

Oishian grins.

Oishian says, "Had to try."

Leafiara says, "I'd hazard a guess that either crit padding comes first or that they somehow calculate simultaneously."

Leafiara says, "It would be a pretty rare scenario where a hit somehow did enough damage that crit padding actually does something, but not enough damage that crit padding would have reduced the damage to 1 independently of damage padding..."

Leafiara stares into space, appearing to ponder multiple possibilities and potential nuances.

Leafiara quickly says, "Okay, yeah, I better not derail myself here."

Leafiara snickers.

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any other questions on WPS?"

Leafiara adds, "As a service, not the core combat mechanics..."

Leafiara snickers.

Oishian chuckles.

Leafiara observes her surroundings with a keen eye.

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara absent-mindedly drops a veniom-bound fireleaf badge into her leaf-patterned tote.

Leafiara says, "Alrighty! Onward, then."

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik says, "Crit is calculated first both for weapons and padding, then damage."

Leafiara nods at Epikarik.

Speaking to Epikarik, Leafiara says, "Ah, excellent, thank you."

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "That was the only way I could make sense of it in my head in theory, so good to hear."

Leafiara chuckles.

Ensorcelling

Leafiara exclaims, "Let's venture into sorcerers' domain: Ensorcell, their 35th level spell!"

Meril nods rhythmically.

Leafiara says, "Ensorcell is a gear upgrade spell that can apply five tiers--layers of necrotic energy--of improvement to an item. Used on armor or a shield, each tier improves the CvA by -2, which in essence is the same thing as improving TD by 2. CvA and TD, of course, are defense against warding spells. The armor and shield part is the simple aspect."

Leafiara says, "Now for the more complex side..."

Leafiara says, "Ensorcelling a melee or ranged weapon adds a flare that can trigger when attacking. The flare is completely independent of other flares like the flare slot or script slot, and it does one of four things: increases the AS of your *next* attack by 5 per tier, restores some health, restores some stamina, or restores some spirit. The health, stamina, or spirit restoration effects won't occur if you're already full on the respective stats, so, in practice, the AS boost is what you'll see most commonly."

Leafiara says, "And the amount of health or stamina restored is a random number between 6 and 12 at T1, then 7-14 at T2, 8-16 at T3, 9-18 at T4, and 10-20 at T5. In other words, it starts off at 6 to 12, then each following tier increases the floor by 1 and the ceiling by 2."

Leafiara says, "Spirit isn't mentioned in the documentation, so I'm assuming that's just a flat 1 restored since the game is usually very conservative with how it lets spirit be restored."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Ensorcelling a runestaff is similar to a melee or ranged weapon except for three things. First, instead of restoring stamina, it can restore mana. Second, it has the same CvA benefits as ensorcelling armor or a shield. Third, the attack strength boost will affect either AS *or* CS depending on whether your subsequent attack is a bolt or a warding spell. In the case of CS, it scales at a rate of 3 per tier instead of 5."

Leafiara says, "Another important thing to note is that various combat maneuvers and shield maneuvers like Spell Cleave, Spell Thieve, Spell Parry, Tainted Bond, Spell Block, and Shield Mind won't do anything unless an item has at least one tier of Ensorcell. This makes the first tier especially appealing to many people since it opens up new options in battle."

Meril nods.

Questions on Gear Difficulty and Success Rates

Leafiara asks, "For as much breath as that took out of me... do we have any questions on Ensorcell before we move on?"

Leafiara grins.

Cordelia grins.

Maevie smiles.

Leafiara rubs her chin thoughtfully.

Meril says, "I remember hearing something about ensorcell difficulty..."

Meril furrows her brow.

Leafiara says, "Apparently loresongs and WPS were the *real* challenging stuff tonight..."

Leafiara snickers.

Leafiara nods at Meril.

Leafiara says, "Yes, I was going to bring up gear difficulty at the very end to make sure we had time for the base functionality of each service, but..."

Meril asks, "When someone says they have a particular bonus, how should we understand that compared to the item difficulty?"

Meril says, "But answering that at the end is fine too."

Leafiara says, "Okay, that's a good question to raise."

Leafiara says, "Since we were using my badge at the beginning as an example, you guys couldn't see it, but loresongs also reveal the gear difficulty of an item--that's what Meril is asking about, in case anyone's wondering."

Leafiara says, "So here's how gear difficulty relates to applying the gear-related services..."

Cordelia says, "Pardon..."

Cordelia ducks her head.

Mentor Cordelia just went through a pair of stained glass doors.

Leafiara says, "With Ensorcell, the sorcerer needs 150 more skill bonus than the item difficulty to have a 100% chance of ensorcelling your item successfully."

Leafiara says, "I say 100%, but there's always the chance of an open roll fumble."

Leafiara says, "For each 1 skill bonus less than 150 the sorcerer has, it reduces nominal success rate by 1%."

Leafiara says, "So a sorcerer with 100 more bonus than your item's difficulty has a 50% shot at it."

Leafiara says, "This math only applies to ensorcelling, though."

Meril nods thoughtfully.

Oishian says, "Strange, but sort of straightforward."

Leafiara says, "A wizard will need in the range of 100 to 110 more bonnus than your item's difficulty, depending how enchanted it is already."

Maevie takes a bite of her Riverwood crab cake.

Maevie takes a bite of her Riverwood crab cake.

Leafiara says, "A warrior will need more like 101 to 102 more skill bonus."

Oishian takes a bite of his aged white cheese.

Oishian takes a drink from his rich purple shiraz.

Leafiara says, "And clerics are what we're talking about next, so I'll touch on that when we get there."

Leafiara chuckles.

Speaking to Leafiara, Darkkstormmer says, "They need to bring the sorcerer in line."

Darkkstormmer grins.

Leafiara says, "But the reason these things are true is because of how much gear difficulty the services add."

Leafiara nods in agreement at Darkkstormmer.

Leafiara says, "Each tier of Ensorcell adds 50 gear difficulty, hence it needs 100+50 skill bonus to have a 100% chance."

Leafiara says, "An Enchant will add in the realm of 1-10 gear difficulty or so... more as the enchant gets higher."

Leafiara says, "Warriors are only adding partial CER, so any one individual service adds a percentage of gear difficulty unless they're working on something truly top end."

Leafiara says, "Basically, just think that people servicing your item always need *at least* 100 more bonus than your item's gear difficulty, then a bit more depending on which specific service it is."

Leafiara says, "This is in relation to mechanical gear services only, I should add."

Leafiara says, "Bards use their own unique difficulty system that's not related." [And, while I neglected to mention it that night, they need exactly 100 more bonus than the listed loresong difficulty that only they can see.]

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara asks, "Okay... do we have any other questions about Ensorcell?"

Leafiara grins.

Maevie shakes her head.

Oishian shakes his head.

Leafiara carefully surveys her surroundings and.

Leafiara nods.

Leafiara exclaims, "Onward then!"

Sanctifying

Leafiara exclaims, "Second to last, we have clerics' Sanctify, their 30th level spell!"

Leafiara says, "Some of you definitely know this is the highest demand profession service at the moment, at least if the prices people can get away with charging are anything to go by, so let's dig in and see what it does."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Like Ensorcell, Sanctify is a five-tier service of gear improvement--but then there's an extra sixth step we'll get to after explaining the first five."

Leafiara says, "For armor and shields, each of the five basic tiers of Sanctify add 2 DS against undead only, 1.2 TD against undead only, and treats you as being one level higher than you are when defending against sheer fear, the mechanic that penalizes your combat efficiency in every way when hunting undead at least ten levels higher than you."

Leafiara says, "The decimal TD does round down, so in essence it's basically 1 TD per tier until the fifth tier, when it becomes 2. Assuming, of course, that you're working on an armor or shield and not both at once."

Leafiara says, "For melee and ranged weapons, each of the five basic tiers add 2 AS against undead only, a 20% chance to anchor noncorporeal undead that would normally vanish too quickly to be looted, and negation of 20% of undead resistance against undead weapons. In other words, a weapon that's been sanctified five times is essentially permablessed, minus the holy water flares, since it's negated all the undead damage resistance."

Leafiara says, "For runestaves, each of the five basic tiers add 2 bolt AS against undead only, 1.2 CS against undead only, 1 DS against undead only, 0.6 TD against undead only, and treat you as being half a level higher than you are when defending against sheer fear. Runestaff sheer fear defense can stack with armor sheer fear defense, but won't stack with a shield."

Meril nods.

Leafiara says, "After the five basic tiers of Sanctify have been applied, the last thing clerics can do is add Holy Fire flares to any of these items. Holy Fire flares do heat damage against the undead plus an additional sheer health damage between 50 to 100. The health damage is capped at a percentage of the creature's max health, starting at 30% and then scaling up another 1% for every 5 levels the creature is. In practice, the cap generally only affects very low health or very low level undead so that a single flare wouldn't just one-shot them on health damage alone."

Leafiara says, "As with other types of flares, adding Holy Fire to armor or shields will let those items flare reactively when taking damage or proactively when using maneuvers such as Bull Rush. And, of course, adding it to weapons and runestaves functions when using them offensively, but not when parrying."

Oishian says, "Oh, that is sick."

Oishian chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Lastly, Holy Fire flares supercede holy water flares. Once they're added to an item, the basic Bless spell will no longer help that item in any way. The fire portion of Holy Fire is exactly as powerful as holy water would be--except in rare cases like firephantoms--but then there's the additional damage."

Leafiara grins at Oishian.

Leafiara says, "I've avoided the how-tos tonight since we're looking at this from a buyer perspective, but in this case I do have to touch on one thing: applying Holy Fire requires the cleric to have 100 ranks or more of Spiritual Lore - Blessings." [Neglected to mention it that night, but as with Ensorcell flares, Holy Fire flares aren't mutually exclusive to any other form of flares except holy water flares.]

Leafiara says, "This is one of the bigger reasons why people are paying so much for Sanctify at the moment, since that's no easy feat of training to accomplish."

Maevie nods.

Leafiara says, "It also means that while you can get lower skill clerics to work on the first five tiers of Sanctify easily enough, it's generally going to take around a mid-60s cleric or higher to handle Holy Fire no matter how easy the item is."

Leafiara says, "As far as gear difficulty goes... the five basic tiers add 20, then Holy Fire adds 50."

Leafiara says, "So your clerics will need 120 more skill bonus than the item's difficulty, then 150 for the final Holy Fire cast."

Maevie takes a bite of her Riverwood crab cake.

Leafiara says, "There is some reprieve for eonake, white ora, faewood, white alloy, or Voln Armor, however, which are all treated as being 50 gear difficulty less than usual when being sanctified."

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any questions on Sanctify before we move on to the last service?"

Leafiara grins.

Maevie smiles.

Leafiara observes her surroundings with a keen eye.

Leafiara rubs her chin thoughtfully.

Leafiara asks, "Guess that's a no for now?"

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara exclaims, "Alright then... last one coming up!"

Ranger Resistances

Leafiara exclaims, "Last and certainly not least, we have the newest profession service of the existing ones: rangers' Resist Nature, their 20th level spell that's just a touch over thirteen months old now!"

Leafiara says, "This one's an absolute doozy of complexity and was the inciting incident for hosting this event at all! I get messages about it pretty frequently from people who have no clue what it does, so I'll break it down as cleanly as I can."

Maevie grins at Leafiara.

Leafiara says, "First, let's talk about the benefits. Resist Nature is a 25-tier service that upgrades a wearable item created by the Imbue spell, such as a bracelet, anklet, or amulet. Pick a damage type out of fire, cold, lightning, steam, and nature to work on, then the first five casts each add 5% resistance to that damage type and a 1% chance to fully negate damage of that type coming in."

Leafiara says, "Trying to make sure that's clear with an example: a ranger anklet with five tiers of fire resistance offers 25% protection from fire damage all the time and a 5% chance of simply being immune to fire when hit by it."

Istyael stands up.

Istyael bows.

Leafiara waves to Istyael.

Istyael just went through a pair of stained glass doors.

Maevie nods slowly.

Leafiara says, "Each element type maxes out at five tiers, so you move on to your next choice and go through each one successively. You can't interrupt the progression or do things like 10% resistance to each; it has to be 25% against one element before starting the next, so choose wisely."

Leafiara says, "You might have heard players shorthand this service and say they're looking to pay for something like an 'R3T4,' meaning the fourth tier of their third resistance type on their item."

Leafiara says, "Once you've started on your second element, all elements not only contribute the 1% negation per tier to their own type, but also 0.5% negation per tier to the other elements on your item."

Leafiara says, "I'll illustrate again: if you had a ranger anklet with five tiers of fire and two tiers of lightning, that means you'd have 25% resistance to fire, a 6% chance to negate fire, 10% resistance to lightning, and a 4.5% chance to negate lightning."

Leafiara says, "So a fully completed ranger item, also known as an 'R5T5,' grants 25% resistance to all five damage types--again, that's fire, cold, lightning, steam, and nature--and a 15% chance of immunity to all of them."

Leafiara cheekily exclaims, "But wait, there's more!"

Leafiara appears to be struggling to keep a straight face.

Maevie smiles.

Darkkstormmer says, "I think my head is about to pop now."

Leafiara says, "All ranger items created via Imbue can hold any spell that can be imbedded with Magic Item Creation (420) or Holy Receptacle (325). The ones upgraded with Resist Nature become non-crumbly, though, and will recharge themselves as the item gets hit by elements it resists. (Yes, this includes things like getting hit by cold weather in Icemule and the Hinterwilds!) You could also change the spell by using a grot t'kel potion from your local alchemist shop."

Darkkstormmer chuckles.

Leafiara snickers at Darkkstormmer.

Meril nods slowly.

Maevie grins.

Leafiara says, "Like with Mystic Tattoo, since R5T5 has a specific difficulty to work on, there's a ceiling of skill for Resist Nature at which surpassing it won't do any good. *Unlike* with Mystic Tattoo, that ceiling is really high and will almost always require a drastically post-cap ranger to complete--well, barring suffusion anyway, but that's talking more about the seller perspective, so we'll save it for the end if we have time for it at all."

Leafiara lightly says, "...as it suddenly occurs to me that I think I skipped one of my copy/pastes for Mystic Tattoo..."

Leafiara stares off into space.

Leafiara says, "Well, just as a quick aside on that, basically any level 100 monk should be able to handle a T5 Mystic Tattoo no problem."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Okay, back to rangers."

Meril nods.

Leafiara says, "For this service, I can't skip over how rangers perform Resist Nature since you might end up having to participate to get work done."

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "Rangers need to prepare the resistance item with doses of elemental potions supplied by an herbalist NPC who charges 50,000 silver and five samples of an herb such as a frostflower, drakefern, mistweek, murkweed, or shockroot per dose. A ranger will need to be the one to apply the potion, but someone else can acquire it for them--meaning they can forage up the herbs and spend the silvers themselves. After the appropriate number of doses has been applied, the ranger preps 620 and CHANNELs it at the item to upgrade it."

Leafiara says, "Common etiquette is still developing for this relatively new service, but right now it seems pretty common that rangers will expect clients to at least cover the cost, if not outright supply the potions themselves."

Meril ponders.

Leafiara says, "The reason for this is that most services just require things like a monk running out to buy ink at their local alchemist shop or a wizard to buy a potion at their wizard guild, but this service involves foraging up anywhere from 5 to 25 herbs per cast and paying anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 silver."

Leafiara says, "The herbs for fire resistance are the toughest since they can only be acquired in the Elemental Confluence or on Teras Isle."

Epikarik smiles.

Leafiara says, "The others are readily available on both sides of the DragonSpine without having to go through the danger of the Confluence."

Leafiara chuckles.

Questions on Ranger Resistances

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any questions on Resist Nature?"

Epikarik raises his hand.

Leafiara says, "Or, since that was the last service, I suppose we can take questions in general."

Leafiara chuckles.

Oishian wrinkles his nose.

Leafiara points at Epikarik.

Maevie smiles.

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik asks, "What if I wear two items a wrist and anklet say, which are both r5t5, then whats the math?"

Leafiara says, "Oh, only one item works at a time."

Leafiara grins.

Leafiara says, "The game would just treat it as if you were only wearing one of those, in other words."

Epikarik nods.

Oishian asks, "Same for resists that are found in armor?"

Leafiara says, "If your armor resists one of the same types as your ranger item, the resistances don't stack--you just get whichever of the two is higher. That said, you do get the damage negation from your ranger item either way."

Oishian nods.

Maevie takes a bite of her Riverwood crab cake.

Leafiara says, "I should add: one thing that *will* stack is the group buff version of Resist Nature that you can have by being, well, grouped with a ranger."

Oishian takes a drink from his rich purple shiraz.

Leafiara says, "Together they can bring you up to 50% resistance to a single type."

Oishian slowly empties his lungs.

Leafiara asks, "Do we have any other questions on Resist or, now, just on services in general?"

Maevie shakes her head.

Darkkstormmer stands up.

Maevie's cheeks flush with a soft pale rose shade, darkening her freckles even more.

Leafiara says, "Even if not, I have a couple last things I could touch on."

Meril asks, "Can anyone pour a grot t'kel potion on it to change the spell, or would you ask a wizard or cleric to pour it?"

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara ponders.

Speaking to Meril, Leafiara say, "You know, that's a good question and I actually don't know... I'll have to experiment with that and get the answer before I post this event on the wiki."

Leafiara chuckles.

Meril nods appreciatively.

Leafiara says, "I had actually assumed it was the ranger pouring on the grot t'kel potion and that just blanks the imbedded spell."

Leafiara says, "I'll find out." [And the answer is... You need a wizard. Clerics and rangers can't blank the spell, nor can other Neither cleric nor ranger will work, nor can other professions like sorcerers thare also capable of imbedding; it has to be wizards.]

Leafiara grins.

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik asks, "Does a Monks Resistances stack with the Rangers?"

Leafiara ponders.

Leafiara admits, "Huh, surprisingly enough, I never thought of that one either."

Leafiara starts chortling.

Leafiara grins sheepishly.

Leafiara says, "I'm guessing no, but I had to pull up the wiki for Meril's question and it doesn't indicate anything on the topic."

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik says, "My monk has like 38 percent resistance."

Darkkstormmer says, "I thought it took the higher one but i am not sure."

Leafiara says, "I assume it's the same as Ascension resistances, where you just get the higher one."

Speaking to Darkkstormmer, Leafiara says, "That's the way it works with Ascension and armor, yeah, just not sure on monk resistances specifically."

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik says, "That would handicap the monk unfairly I would argue."

Leafiara says, "It's a good question too! I'll dig up the answer and get it onto the wiki at some point." [I said, but this time I'm actually not sure how I'd go about figuring that one out...

Speaking to Epikarik, Leafiara says, "Or it could just free you up to resist a different type. I could see it both ways."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara admits, "See, now you've got my mind wandering off what the interaction is between warrior puncture fittings and monk meditate resistance, for example..."

Leafiara grins.

Giogionni grins at Leafiara.

Leafiara looks at Giogionni and hums.

Leafiara says, "Niche stuff, I love it."

Speaking quietly to Leafiara, Epikarik says, "Well if I wanna hunt say Major fire elementals no need for various types just want a lot of fire."

Leafiara says, "Gonna have to tease Siggurd at the next All Things Elanthia event. He tries to come up with stumpers, but you all are besting him tonight."

Leafiara grins.

Maevie flashes a wide grin.

Speaking to Epikarik, Leafiara says, "Yeah, I see what you mean. I'm sure you'd still get the damage negation at very least, but I don't know if it would end up as 38% fire resistance or 63%."

Epikarik nods.

Leafiara says, "Highly doubt it would end up as 25%, that much I'm pretty confident about."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Or if it did, I bet it would be seen as a bug and get corrected."

Oishian says, "Should be easy enough to tell, when testing, at least."

Leafiara says, "There's no way these items should be making anyone worse."

Epikarik nods.

Speaking to Oishian, Leafiara says, "I've always found resistances harder to observe than I'd like, to be honest."

Leafiara chuckles.

Leafiara says, "Like my armor has 40% crush resistance, but occasionally I can still sometimes just outright die to a crush hit."

Oishian blinks.

Leafiara says, "It works sort of nebulously, but I don't want to dig too far into the DSW system."

Leafiara says, "I'm guessing that DSW isn't necessarily randomized like CER, but... that's more speculation than anything."

Leafiara chuckles.

Oishian says, "Rolls within rolls."

Leafiara adopts an agreeable expression.

Oishian winces.

Closing Tips

Leafiara says, "Did we have any other questions on any services? If not, I do have a couple more very quick things to touch on to send us off for the night."

Leafiara grins.

Maevie smiles.

Maevie shakes her head.

Leafiara exclaims, "Alrighty... last things, then!"

Leafiara exclaims, "A few tips, tricks, tactics, and thresholds!"

Leafiara says, "Enchant: generally agreed-upon stopping points for items are +20 because the game is balanced around being manageable with that level of enchantment, +25 because wizards' essence consumption (and therefore cost of service) goes up drastically after that point, +35 because it's the highest achievable enchantment without pay event items, +40 on weapons because that enables hitting demons seen primarily in invasions, or +50 because it's the highest achievable enchantment."

Leafiara says, "(...no, I'm not going to comment on the one time they did +75...)"

Leafiara snickers.

Leafiara says, "WPS: if you're wearing an accessory over padded armor, you only get half the benefit of your padding when you take damage on that body part *unless* your accessory also has at least 1 CER. Warriors can make that 1 CER happen with two weeks of stored resource points, so if you have something like flaring spiked greaves that you just can't live without and it's covering up very padded armor, then getting 10 services on them might be a good move."

Leafiara says, "Ensorcell: some people--including former GM Naijin--make the case that T1 Ensorcell is sufficient for melee weapons. That's because of the scaling of the health/mana/stamina restoration, where a T1 restores 9 on average, which is 9 more than having no Ensorcell at all, but then each subsequent tier only increases the restoration by another 1.5 on average."

Leafiara says, "It's also because of the high gear difficulty that Ensorcell adds with each tier, which exceeds all other gear services."

Leafiara says, "Sanctify: There are competing schools of thought here, but with melee weapons, some people would argue that Holy Fire basically *is* the service and you either commit to going all the way or don't start. Runestaves have a better case even without counting Holy Fire, since increased CS is pretty difficult to get otherwise."

Leafiara says, "As for armor, people still like Holy Fire there too, but a different school of thought would say that the real benefit there is just enough sanctification to safely avoid sheer fear. What that mark is depends on the profession and build."

Leafiara says, "Build including society too in this case."

Leafiara grins.

Maevie smiles.

Leafiara says, "Resist Nature: steam and nature are less common damage types than the other three, so R3T5 can be a reasonable stopping point that gives 25% resistance and 10% immunity to fire, cold, and lightning. If you expect to rarely or never encounter steam and nature damage, it's a fine option that won't need ultra top end rangers like an R5T5 to get those last 5% immunity chances."

Leafiara exclaims, "And that'll conclude our tips, tricks, and tonight's 'At Your Service with a Smile' event in general!"

Leafiara lets out a cheer!

[Some discussion followed, but no further questions related to services except for the very niche case of working on a weapon made of ruby.]