Merit Problem

[FifthWanderer]

I tried making a WoD character recently. When I tried adding a second dot of contacts, it counts the second dot as two merit dots instead of one.

[rob]

At 07:09 AM 11/27/2007, you wrote:

I tried making a WoD character recently. When I tried adding a second dot of contacts, it counts the second dot as two merit dots instead of one.

That's correct. Each new contact within WoD costs an additional dot. The Contacts merit does NOT work like Allies, Status, etc.

According to the book, a single Contacts merit is purchased on progressive scale of 1-5 dots. At each new dot level, a different contact is selected. So the WoD files allow you to select 5 different Contacts merits, each representing the progressive 1-5 dots. This allows you to specify a different contact for each instance of Contacts.

[FifthWanderer]

It occurs to me that I should expand on this error message:

I read this as each dot in the Contact Merit was a contact in a different area. So my first dot could be a contact in the hacker community, the second dot a contact in the IT industry, and so on. When I went to add a second Contact, it charged me for a full two-point merit, not the second dot of a merit I already had.

[rob]

At 08:58 PM 12/19/2007, you wrote:

I read this as each dot in the Contact Merit was a contact in a different area. So my first dot could be a contact in the hacker community, the second dot a contact in the IT industry, and so on. When I went to add a second Contact, it charged me for a full two-point merit, not the second dot of a merit I already had.

Ah! Now I understand what you were trying to say. I'll go back and check, since it sounds like the calculations may be incorrect. And now I know what to look for. :-)

Thanks for the clarification!

[pazuzu]

In trying to use the figthing finesse merit, the dice pool that shows up on the character sheet for the weapon selected for fighting finesse (in this case knife) doesn't seem to link to my DEX instead of STR. How can I fix this?

[rob]

At 05:37 AM 12/25/2007, you wrote:

In trying to use the figthing finesse merit, the dice pool that shows up on the character sheet for the weapon selected for fighting finesse (in this case knife) doesn't seem to link to my DEX instead of STR. How can I fix this?

Holy crap! Has it really been this long since I last responded to WoD forum posts?!?! Yikes! Please accept my profuse apologies. You might want to read my "Hero Lab Status Update" post for details about our HL plans (and why I've been offline).

The Fighting Finesse merit currently does not swap out the STR/DEX for the proper dice pool. This was a known omission in the initial release and is on the todo list to be added. It's not something that users can fix at this time - we have to get stuff wired up internally to support it properly.

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

That's correct. Each new contact within WoD costs an additional dot. The Contacts merit does NOT work like Allies, Status, etc.

Each Contact group is chosen as its own one-dot-only Merit. As of now (v2.0) it still acts as a scaling Merit like a Fighting Style. It shouldn't be Contacts 1 then Contacts 2 - it should act like Allies does in Hero Lab, but without the option of adding dots to an existing Contact.

Is this set to be fixed in the next release?

[rob]

At 10:26 PM 4/25/2008, you wrote:

Quote:
That's correct. Each new contact within WoD costs an additional dot. The Contacts merit does NOT work like Allies, Status, etc.


Each Contact group is chosen as its own one-dot-only Merit. As of now (v2.0) it still acts as a scaling Merit like a Fighting Style. It shouldn't be Contacts 1 then Contacts 2 - it should act like Allies does in Hero Lab, but without the option of adding dots to an existing Contact.

Is this set to be fixed in the next release?

According to my reading of the rulebook, my original statement above is correct. Here is the exact text of the Contacts merit from the rulebook:

"Each dot in this merit represents one arena or circle in which your character has a web of connections and from which he may draw information. If he has Contacts 3, his dots might be assigned to computer hackers, couriers, and big business, respectively."

In addition, the behavior of Contacts has been vetted and verified by White Wolf to be correct. If you disagree with the way the data files are implemented, I recommend that you check with White Wolf for a ruling direct from the source.

If your gaming group has a house rule wherein you choose to implement Contacts differently from the official rules, that's no problem at all. You can easily use the Editor to create your own version of Contacts that behaves exactly like you want.

[Pollution]

I was jsut about to say, that.

What I'm doing for my LARP is replacing contacts with the old school influences in a way for rumor mongering.

I made "Contacts - Industry" Contacts - "Underworld" ect...

I just copied the contacts merit from the original file (copy button) and then changed the name in each one. It's SOOO much easier that way.

But yeah, I knew what he was trying to do, and had just fixed it myself for that. You can still use the Contacts merit as a general rumor thing, but if you want specifics, then you need to make your own. It's WAY not hard.

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

Okay, so I explained it a bit obtusely. However, my objection to the Merit cost stands.

Currently (v2.0), it costs 15 total Merit dots to have five contact groups in Hero Lab. This is not correct. It should cost six Merit dots - one dot each for the first four groups, and two dots for the fifth contact group (just like the fifth dot of anything at character generation).

Is this set to be fixed in the next release?