Is +1 effect level the same as potency?
Potency seems clear. But I thought +1 effect level was like.. if you roll a 1-3, it counts as a 4-5. A 4-5 counts as a 6. And a 6 counts as a crit. Now I am not so sure.
I thought they must be different (sounds like two different mechanics to me) until I reviewed p. 17. The second example in the Set Up section seems to indicate +1 effect level gives you an additional factor for effect determination, which p.10 (Factors) indicates is how potency works. Please correct me where I am wrong
Increased effect level is, roughly, the same as having potency. +1 effect level does not have to do with interpreting the numbers on your dice.
I have this question too. It’s not clear what the difference should be between a Spider with Connected gathering info and a Leech with Analyst gathering info.
For now I think they should both be treated as getting one result level higher on the dice.
Good question, I’m not entirely sure. It could be like in pathfinder where bonuses with the same type don’t stack, but untyped bonuses do. So if you have +1 effect twice you end up with +2 effect, if you have potency from 2 sources it doesn’t stack. That seems overly fiddly for blades though.
Generally I just treat them as two ways to say the same thing.
The way I see it…
Potency it’s just a factor: it could give you a increased effect only if it’s better than the potency factor of your opposition.
+1 effect level it’a a guaranteed increased effect, regardless of the factors.
If you get potency from an ability, I think it should always do something once you meet the trigger, even if that something is just to cancel out an advantage your opponent already has.
MisterTia86 re: potency being a factor
Thanks, that is exactly what I was trying to articulate when describing potency (it’s role in Effect is simply as an additional factor). Edited the OP to be clearer about my question.
re: effect level
After rereading mentions of “effect levels” on p.10, it would seem That is where I am wrong. Like: “Yes, they are different, but not in the way I thought”
Yeah, you confused “effect level” (which increases Effect) with “result level” (which improves a dice roll).
Potency is an effect factor and is handled as normal. “+1 effect” isn’t a factor — you just increase your final calculated effect by one. This distinction is a little fiddly. I might standardize it into one thing.