Appraisal skill

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Appraisal is a Lore skill with applications in a wide variety of systems. It can tell you the value, weight, and other qualities of items; the stats of your weapons and armor; the skills of your opponent; the mana capacity of cambrinth items; and 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 maneuvering and stealth hindrance, 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.

You can appraise cambrinth items to determine their capacity. Appraisal is the primary factor, but arcana also contributes to the accuracy. As with weight, holding the cambrinth makes it easier to appraise its capacity.

Traders get a bonus to Appraisal.

Training

Item Appraisal

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.

Appraise Focus

A specific type of item appraisal, APPRAISE FOCUS <OBJECT> allows players to focus on valid objects a begin a research project similar to Magical Research. Once completed, this appraisal project will award Appraisal skill experience, as well as giving a temporary boost to the amount of experience being drained in a target skill. Only one appraisal project may be active on a character at any given time, and the experience drain bonus does not stack with the bonus for an RPA. Valid targets for this ability range from yourself, which gives an evasion bonus, weapons, armor, and crafting books.

This ability uses the same base mechanics as magical research, so cannot be performed at the same time as a research project and will be interupted by the same things.

Skill	Skillset	Valid objects
Appraisal	Lore	None (this ability cannot boost itself)
Arcana	Magic	Runestones
Augmentation	Magic	Name or abbreviation of a spell that teaches Augmentation
Armor Skills	Armor	Armor of that type (includes shields)
Astrology	Magic	Telescopes (Moon Mage only)
Athletics	Survival	Climbable objects
Attunement	Magic	Cambrinth items
Backstab	Survival	NPC(Thief only)
Bardic Lore	Lore	the word "Recall" (Bard only)
Brawling	Weapon	Brawling gear (knuckles, knee spikes, etc)
Crafting Skills	Lore	Crafting books
Debilitation	Magic	Name or abbreviation of a spell that teaches Debilitation
Defending	Armor	the word "Defense"
Empathy	Lore	Other players (Empath only)
Endurance	Armor	??? (Paladin only - placeholder) (Not implemented yet)
Evasion	Survival	Yourself
Expertise	Weapon	Chakrel amulets (Barbarian only)
First Aid	Survival	Anatomy charts and compendiums
Locksmithing	Survival	locked boxes
Mechanical Lore	Lore	None (since this skill is not planned to last much longer)
Melee Mastery	Weapon	Weapon that teaches 2 different skills (ex. SE/LT)
Missile Mastery	Weapon	Ammo
Offhand Weapon	Weapon	Melee weapon that you are holding in your left hand (See Weapon and Brawling for weapon skill foci)
Outdoorsmanship	Survival	Some foragable materials (red flowers, alchemy materials)
Parry	Weapon	Parry sticks
Perception	Survival	Existing cardinal direction room exits (north, south, east, etc)
Performance	Lore	Instruments
"Primary" magics	Magic	the word "Magic", "Khri" for Thieves, "Inner Fire" for Barbarians
Scholarship	Lore	the word "Logic"
Scouting	Survival	Ranger Companion
Skinning	Survival	Skinning knife
Sorcery	Magic	The word "Arcane"
Stealth	Survival	Existing cardinal direction room exit while hidden
Summoning	Magic	Talisman (Warrior Mage only)
Tactics	Lore	the word "Offense"
Targeted Magic	Magic	Name or abbreviation of a spell that teaches TM
Thanatology	Survival	Ritual Knife (Necromancer only)
Theurgy	Magic	Holy Water (Cleric only)
Thievery	Survival	coin on the ground
Trading	Lore	Ledgers (Trader only)
Utility	Magic	Name or abbreviation of a spell that teaches Utility
Weapon Skills	Weapon	Weapon of that type. (Melee weapons held in your left hand research Offhand Weapon instead. Weapons that teach 2 different skills teach Melee Mastery instead.)
Warding Skills	Magic	Name or abbreviation of a spell that teaches Warding

Creature Appraisal

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.
A normal or QUICK appraise will gauge how much vitality and fatigue a critter currently has, how your stats compare to theirs, and an overall comparison of your offense and defense to theirs.
Appraising CAREFUL will also tell you how the critter will train by brawling, parrying, evading, blocking, beguile with tactics, and targeting. If you are holding a, it will also tell you how will it will train, and if you were to throw it, how it would teach thrown.

Barrier Appraisal

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. Successfully appraising a swim or a climb may give you a bonus ("You think you have determined the best route to take") to climbing or swimming the appraised barrier.

• It's worth noting that climbing barriers can be more difficult than the appraisal lets on.

Item Creation

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).

Fine Art Appraisal

Adventurers have the ability to analyze one-of-a-kind stationary artifacts and receive more details than just your standard LOOK. Currently, the Raven's Court is the only place with this type of appraisal available. One must STUDY a piece in order to learn. STUDYing will teach appraisal and scholarship. There are a few levels of success. Everyone should be able to learn no matter what information they see. Naturally, with the highest level of success, the most information will be displayed. Bards and Traders have a bonus, so they should effectively be able to learn better and see more information earlier on.

Item weight detection

3.0 changed detecting numerical weights in stones to not occur until higher ranks. For a non-trader, expect not to begin to get numerical weight return on appraisals for any item until 170 ranks at minimum. As you increase in skill, weight detection will become more common and more accurate. At 400 ranks you receive a fairly accurate weight estimate most of the time. At 500 ranks, expect perfect weight results every time with the standard 8 second roundtime. As an aside, at 500 ranks, quick appraisals continue to be clumsy regarding weight, but will be exact in all other regards, probably the equivalent of a standard appraisal at 250-300 ranks.

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

Order Damage Min Value Max Value 0 no 0 0 1 dismal 1 5 2 poor 5 10 3 low 10 15 4 somewhat fair 15 20 5 fair 20 25 6 somewhat moderate 25 30 7 moderate 30 35 8 somewhat heavy 35 40 9 heavy 40 45 10 very heavy 45 50 11 great 50 55 12 very great 55 60 13 severe 60 65 14 very severe 65 70 15 extreme 70 75 16 very extreme 75 ?? 17 mighty 18 very mighty 19 bone-crushing 20 very bone-crushing 21 devastating 22 very devastating 23 overwhelming 24 annihilating 25 obliterating 26 demolishing 27 catastrophic

Order Balance/Power/FOI Min Value Max Value 0 not 1 terribly 2 dismally 3 poorly 4 inadequately 5 fairly 6 decently 7 reasonably 8 soundly 9 well 10 very well 11 extremely well 12 exellently 13 superbly 14 incredibly 15 amazingly 16 unbelievably 17 perfectly

The numerical values for damage were derived from Copernicus' Storebought Guide. Copernicus derived the weapon values through an intensive process of comparing storebought weapons with forged weapons having known values of damage, balance, and power. Some information is still missing or incomplete.

Brawling Gear Damage	Min Value	Max Value
no	0	0
a little	?	?
some	?	?
quite a bit	?	?
a lot	?	?

There are two types of brawling damage.

• If the damage stat does not end in "increase," it replaces the standard stat-based damage and uses the brawling weapon scale.
• If the damage stat ends in "increase," the weapon adds a percentage-based bonus to the standard stat-based damage and uses the same scale as standard weapons. According to GM Kodius, this model is being phased out, because these weapons "don't seem to do much of anything."

Armor & Shield

Hindrance

The hindrance system is slated for rewrite with armor changes. The rank values are those required to work maneuvering hindrance down to the lowest level.

Note: Though they use the same adjectives and order, a trivially hindering piece of armor does not hinder the same as a trivially hindering shield. The armor has more hindrance.

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

Base Item Hindrance Order Hindrance 0 no 1 insignificant 2 trivial 3 light 4 minor 5 fair 6 mild 7 moderate 8 noticeable 9 high 10 significant 11 great 12 extreme 13 debilitating 14 overwhelming 15 insane

Skill Hindrance Order Hindrance 0 unhindered 1 barely hindered 2 minimally hindered 3 insignificantly hindered 4 lightly hindered 5 fairly hindered 6 somewhat hindered 7 moderately hindered 8 rather hindered 9 very hindered 10 highly hindered 11 greatly hindered 12 extremely hindered 13 overwhelmingly hindered 14 insanely hindered

Armor Protection and Absorption

Order Protection 1 poor 2 low 3 fair 4 moderate 5 good 6 very good 7 high 8 very high 9 great 10 very great 11 extreme 12 exceptional 13 incredible 14 amazing 15 unbelievable

Order Absorbance 1 very poor 2 poor 3 low 4 somewhat fair 5 fair 6 moderate 7 good 8 very good 9 high 10 very high 11 great 12 very great 13 extreme 14 exceptional 15 incredible 16 outstanding 17 amazing 18 unbelievable

Shield Protection

There are two tiers of armor perception, requiring skill to get more detailed information. Paladins always receive the more specific scale.

The message "Your experience with shields allows a better appraisal of the protection capabilities." means you have received the more detailed appraisal.

Tier I Tier II ? none ? extremely terrible ? terrible ? dismal ? very poor ? poor ? rather low ? low ? fair ? better than fair ? moderate ? moderately good ? good ? very good

Tier I Tier II ? high ? very high ? great ? very great ? exceptional ? very exceptional ? impressive ? very impressive ? amazing ? incredible ? tremendous ? unbelievable ? god-like

Equipment Construction and Condition

1. extremely weak and easily damaged
2. very delicate and easily damaged
3. quite fragile and easily damaged
4. rather flimsy and easily damaged
5. particularly weak against damage
6. somewhat unsound against damage
7. appreciably susceptible to damage
8. marginally vulnerable to damage
9. of average construction
10. a bit safeguarded against damage
11. rather reinforced against damage
12. quite guarded against damage
13. highly protected against damage
14. very strong against damage
15. extremely resistant to damage
16. unusually resilient to damage
17. nearly impervious to damage
18. practically invulnerable to damage

Condition	Min Health	Max Health
in pristine condition	98%	100%
practically in mint condition	90%	97%
in good condition	80%	89%
rather scuffed up	70%	79%
some minor scratches	60%	69%
a few dents and dings	50%	59%
several unsightly notches	40%	49%
heavily scratched and notched	30%	39%
badly damaged	20%	29%
battered and practically destroyed	0%	19%

Creature

• Can start appraising creatures with 10 ranks of Appraisal.
• 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
less skilled
slightly less skilled
worthy	Perfectly at range ??
something in your skill range
challenging
solid
difficult
rather difficult
quite 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

• healthy
• slightly battered
• battered
• beat up
• very beat up
• extremely beat up
• bad shape
• very bad shape
• extremely bad shape
• death's door

Health		Injury
Dead		?

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

Cambrinth

Difficulty

Capacity	Verbal Description
4-20	very lttle mana
30-50	a little mana
<108	a moderate amount of mana

Training

1. exceptionally well, but you probably won't be landing many blows.
2. very well
3. rather well
4. acceptably
5. somewhat poorly
6. quite badly

Climbing and Swimming

Scripts and Settings

• See 'n Say Appraisal (script): Genie script that appraises any weapon, shield, or armor and then echoes the appraisal in IC and OOC ways
• See 'n Say Comparison (script): Genie script that compares any weapon, shield, or armor and then echoes the comparison in an IC way.
• Numerical Appraisal Subs: Genie subs that add a numerical description to the verbal appraisal output for damage, balance/suitability, protection, hindrance, construction, and condition.

See Also

• ANALYZE
• Trader's Scale

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