@risner: See if this helps.
In my system, Talents (the Talent component) can be taken multiple times and so need the xCount/Index functionality. "Effects" is a phase right after Setup.
1) Add xCount and xIndex (and xTotal, xAllLev, and xMaxLev if using them ) fields to the component you want to use this on
2) Add the "Prepare First Copy" script to the actor component.
3) Add the other scripts on the component you want to track.
I'm not using the xTotal, xAllLev, and xMaxLev because the system doesn't need it. Does that help?