I can't figure out how to calculate my stress boxes

[Ghsdkgb]

Let's go with Mental stress. If I have a Conviction of Good, I get 4 mental stress boxes, yeah? So how do I figure out if my Conviction is at Good? I have the Ritual and Soulgaze powers, which each say they affect Conviction. How do they affect it? Do I get +1 for each of them? Do I get +2 for Ritual, since it costs 2 refresh?

So I guess the question is how to add up my skill bonuses, with respect to the Powers I've taken.

Thanks!

[Todjaeger]

Let's go with Mental stress. If I have a Conviction of Good, I get 4 mental stress boxes, yeah? So how do I figure out if my Conviction is at Good? I have the Ritual and Soulgaze powers, which each say they affect Conviction. How do they affect it? Do I get +1 for each of them? Do I get +2 for Ritual, since it costs 2 refresh?

So I guess the question is how to add up my skill bonuses, with respect to the Powers I've taken.

Thanks!

Happy to help with this.  For 'normal' characters, meaning those characters which don't have a Feeding Dependency ability and associated Hunger stress track, start out with the usual stress tracks which I'll list below:

• Physical: 2
• Mental: 2
• Social: 2

Now, unless you have a Stunt which allows you to substitute a Trapping from one skill for another, these three stress tracks relate to the following skills.
Physical: modified by Physical Fortitude Trapping from Endurance
Mental: modified by Mental Fortitude Trapping from Conviction
Social: modified by Social Fortitude Trapping from Presence

Now, as the rules already cover, if any of these skills (Endurance, Conviction or Presence) are at Mediocre (+0), then the stress track associated with that skill only has 2 boxes.  For these skills with ranks of Average (+1) or Fair (+2), then the associated stress track gets an extra box for 3.  If the skills(s) are at ranks of Good (+3) or Great (+4), then again, the associated stress track gets 2 extra boxes, for a total of 4 boxes.  Now, if any of these skills are higher than Great (+4), then not only does the associated stress track get a pair of extra boxes for 4 total (plus any additional for other Stunts/Powers) then starting at the skill rank of Superb (+5) and every other skill rank above that i.e. Epic (+7), Legendary (+9), etc then the character gets an additional Minor Consequence usable for that specific type of stress. 

In other words, having a skill rank in Conviction of Superb (+5) would give a character 4 boxes on the Mental stress track, and an 'extra' Minor Mental Consequence.

Now, with the Supernatural Powers of Ritual and Soulgaze, they don't 'modify' a character's Conviction skill rank.  Rather the opposite actually.  Depending on what the character is attempting to accomplish using those powers, the player would roll 4dF (4 Fudge dice) and calculate the net total of Successes (+'s) and then add the number of ranks in Conviction to determine the total result for the skill test.  Depending on how well the player rolls, the number of skill ranks in Conviction, and the difficulty of what the character is trying to do, it either succeeds or fails.

In short, Ritual and Soulgaze are 'what' you can do, skills like Conviction, Lore and Discipline are 'how well' you can do it.

Hope this is helpful.

-Cheers

[sinker]

Now, with the Supernatural Powers of Ritual and Soulgaze, they don't 'modify' a character's Conviction skill rank.  Rather the opposite actually.  Depending on what the character is attempting to accomplish using those powers, the player would roll 4dF (4 Fudge dice) and calculate the net total of Successes (+'s) and then add the number of ranks in Conviction to determine the total result for the skill test.  Depending on how well the player rolls, the number of skill ranks in Conviction, and the difficulty of what the character is trying to do, it either succeeds or fails.

This is actually a description of how discipline interacts with spellcasting (you add discipline to your spellcasting rolls). Conviction limits how powerful your spells can be.

Otherwise he's got it right.

[Ghsdkgb]

Okay, so let's say I don't take any ranks in Conviction. Is taking the Ritual power only good for making sure I can do it?

Looks like I need to re-think my skill set :-)

So why do the stress boxes go up to 8, then, if the highest you can get is base 2 +5 Superb?

[EdgeOfDreams]

Okay, so let's say I don't take any ranks in Conviction. Is taking the Ritual power only good for making sure I can do it?

Looks like I need to re-think my skill set :-)

So why do the stress boxes go up to 8, then, if the highest you can get is base 2 +5 Superb?

I think you may be confused.

Taking stunts and powers NEVER gives you ranks in a skill.  When it says 'Skills Affected' it just means that those are skills relevant to using the power.  For example, Ritual is pretty much useless without at least Conviction at +1, Lore +1 or higher, and Discipline +1 or higher.

Go look in the character creation section again. There's a whole part about how each rank in a skill costs 1 skill point, but you have to build them in columns or a pyramid, etc. etc.

As for why there's more stress boxes, it is true that 4 boxes is the most you can get with just skill ranks. However, the Toughness line of powers adds more stress boxes to the physical track.  It is also possible to write up homebrew powers that add boxes to the other tracks.

[Masurao]

Okay, so let's say I don't take any ranks in Conviction. Is taking the Ritual power only good for making sure I can do it?

Looks like I need to re-think my skill set :-)

So why do the stress boxes go up to 8, then, if the highest you can get is base 2 +5 Superb?

This is a bit like EoD's post, but he just beat me to it... :p

First of all, you have extra boxes, because of powers like Inhuman Toughness and the like, which give you extra stress boxes.

Second of all, Discipline, Lore and Conviction are the skills that tie into your spellcasting abilities. They determine how well you control your magic, how complex your rituals can be and how much power you can easily muster. If you want to be a spellcaster, you can't really have one without the other. I could quote the books on this, but I respectfully feel it would be much better if you re-read the portions about skills and powers first, because these things are written down quite clearly.

[Ghsdkgb]

I got it, now. Thanks!