Appraisal skill

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Appraisal can tell you the value of your items, the stats on your equipment, and skills of your opponent and much more.

Use

APPRAISE will give you an assessment of something's abilities. COMPARE will give you a relative assessment of two items' attributes.

Appraisal, at least for comparing creatures, is based on base skills rather than factoring Agility. However, it does take your current STANCE settings into account.

When comparing armor, it will give an assessment of the armor's overall hindrances, as well as how hindering it is with everything your are currently wearing after factoring in the relevant armor skill.

Appraisal can also give you an idea of how well you can swim or climb something, and can even provide a bonus to the swim or climb contest on a particularly good appraisal success.

You will begin to see (at first very inaccurate) damage and protection appraisals at precisely 50 ranks.

Training

There are many ways to train this skill. The first way is to appraise items. The quickest way to learn is to appraise something very valuable that has many parts, like a full gem pouch, a really nice bundle, weapons, or armor. If you can't do this, the next best option is to appraise all of your inventory, the more valuable, the better.

The second way to learn is to appraise critters. One can appraise a beast multiple times without regard for a delay between appraisals to quickly learn the ability. Besides being a good way to gain appraisal experience, this is a good habit to develop. It's useful to know in advance how a critter's skill compares to yours.

The third way, possibly of greatest use to new adventurers, is to appraise swimming locations. In a room where a swimming contest is necessary to exit, you can appraise water or direction. It's not clear how well this trains, as a new character can learn very little in the Crossing sewers but very well in the Arthe Dale swimming hole. It may be dependent on water depth and current. You can also appraise climbing barriers, but this seems to teach little or nothing at lower ranks.

The fourth way to learn is through the creation process of several items. Usually when you are creating an item you will gain a little appraisal as well when you determine the quality of the item. For example, when braiding grass/vines, you will learn appraisal. Every time you braid you are automatically appraising the item to see the quality of the item. Another example is Moon Mage sigil scrolls, every time you read a scroll you appraise the quality of the scroll. This way is good for learning appraisal while also learning other skills. (In the case of Moon Mage sigil scrolls, you will learn appraisal faster than you will learn astrology or scholarship, but possibly might have a limit. I have tested with 267 in astrology, 241 in appraisal, and 324 in scholarhsip, I am locking appraisal first, then astrology, then scholarship).

Traders get a bonus to Appraisal.

Accuracy

The accuracy of your appraisal depends primarily upon the number of ranks that you have in appraisal. (Traders have a bonus.)

When appraising weapons or armor, the number of ranks that you have in that weapon or armor type affects the accuracy, at least for non-Traders. For example, if you were appraising a claymore, you find it easier to appraise if you had 200 ranks in twohanded edged weapons than if you had only 50 ranks.

Only when "you are certain" about some property can you be sure that your appraisal is an accurate assessment. Otherwise, the more confident you are about the accuracy, the closer your assessment is to the truth.

Accuracy Levels (from best to worst)

• are/feel certain that
• are/feel confident that
• think that
• believe that
• are pretty sure that
• think it is likely that
• estimate that
• guess that
• wonder if

Appraisal Values

Weapons

Damage	Min Value	Max Value		Balance/Power	Min Value	Max Value
None	0.0	0.0		Not Suited	0.0	0.0
Poor	1.0	9.9		Dismally	1.0	19.9
Low	10.0	19.9		Poorly	20.0	39.9
Fair	20.0	29.9		Fairly	40.0	59.9
Moderate	30.0	39.9		Reasonably	60.0	79.9
Heavy	40.0	54.9		Well	80.0	99.9
Great	55.0	69.9		Excellently	100.0	119.9
Severe	70.0	84.9		Superbly	120.0	139.9
Bone-Crushing	85.0	94.9		Incredibly	140.0	159.9
Devastating	95.0	99.9		Unbelievably	160.0	?
God-like	100	?

Some brawling weapons appraise as "some" or "quite a bit of" damage. My guess is that "some" ranks between low and fair, and "quite a bit of" ranks between moderate and heavy.

Armor & Shield

The Hindrance system is slated for rewrite with armor changes. Values are current range to work hindrance to lowest value.

• 4/15/09 - Minimally hindered is now within the range of Insignificant. Unhindered truly means unhindered by your armor.

Protection	Absorption		Hindrance	Min Ranks	Max Ranks
None	None		Unhindered	0	4
Poor	Poor		Insignificant	5	9
Low	Low		Lightly	10	19
Fair	Fair		Fairly	20	29
Moderate	Moderate		Somewhat	30	39
Good	Good		Moderate	40	49
High	High		Very	50	59
Great	Great		Highly	60	69
Impressive	Extreme		Greatly	70	79
Tremendous	Extreme		Extremely	80	90
Incredible	Incredible		Overwhelming	90	99
God-like	God-like		Insanely	100	?

Equipment Construction

• extremely weak
• flimsy
• somewhat flimsy
• of average strength
• fairly sturdy
• moderately strong
• well-constructed
• very strong
• quite hard
• incredibly hard
• unbelievably strong

Creature

• In order from low threat to high threat

Difficulty

Difficulty	Difference
completely beneath
wipe the floor with
tear to shreds
you'd kill quickly
harmless
very easy
well beneath
simple
easy
relatively easy
definitely less skilled
slightly less skilled
worthy	Perfectly at range ??
something in your skill range
challenging
solid
difficult
rather difficult
definitely difficult
very difficult
truly skilled
well above
couldn't hope to hurt
master that's well beyond
mythical being

Statistics

Strength	Min Difference	Max Difference		Agility / Reflex	Min Difference	Max Difference
				Great deal less	?	-30
				Significantly	-29	-25
				Quite a bit less	-24	-20
				Definitely less	-19	-15
				Rather less	-14	?
				Somewhat less	-10	-6
				Not quite	-5	-1
				About as	0	0
				A little more	1	5
				Somewhat more	6	10
				Definitely more	11	15
				Quite a bit more	16	20
				Significantly more	21	25
				Great deal more	30	?

Condition

• Dead or horrible injury to perfect health

Health		Injury
Dead		?

"Minor Wound" with bleeding injury "Major Wound" occurred with badly bleeding injury.