DQCS Ranking

This page describe how to do your Ranking using the DQ Community Character sheet.

(Back to Main Instructions

Ranking Overview

Ranking involves using up available Time, Experience Points and Money (for training costs)

Usage of time could be handled in a number of ways, and everyone has their own preference.

• One approach is to detail exactly when each piece of training is done. For example "on the 14-16 frost, gained Rank 3 in Spell XX" While this can add flavour into the game and making the character seem more real, it involves a lot more effort and manual playing around.
• The other approach is to ignore details of when everything was done, and just make sure there was enough time to do it, ie "I want to increase ranks of A, B and C. How much time will it take?" This is the approach we have taken, as it is the most commonly used and simplest.

Time usage in the spreadsheet works as follows:

1. The time available for ranking is based around the dates of guild meetings, which are entered in the top section of the Ranking sheet.
2. The time spent on adventure is the subtracted from thisg.
3. If there is any further time when your character is not able to rank, this can be added to the detail section at the bottom of the page. For example: time making items, recovering from hang-overs, doing charity work... whatever.
4. When you enter new ranks, The minimum time needed to complete all ranking is calculated and must must fit into the time available. This minimum time is based on assuming you will always rank 2 abilities at the same time if at all possible.
5. A summary of used and available time for each time stream is provided for reference and feedback into the Ranking process.

EP Usage is simpler:

1. You start with EP carried over from previous ranking.
2. Enter new EP gained from Adventures, GMing etc to get the new total.
3. The EP used for your ranking must not be higher than the total.
4. Arbitrary additional EP Usage can be entered if required to cater for things not covered by the spreadsheet.

Ranking Names: Sorry, this hasn't been implemented yet. (Not having a Namer means it hasn't been high on my priority list.)

Ranking Process

Before you begin...

Before beginning any Ranking, the starting EP needs to be correct. This would be carried forward automatically if you started with a new character, but you will need to manually change the "EP Carried Over" value in the top section of the page if you are copying across an existing character. (NB: The worksheet must be unprotected first to do this)

Enter Adventure & Session information

Enter relevant details of the Adventure you've been on. This includes:

• Adventure Name. This is for reference only
• Net money gained. (ie after guild tax)
• EP gained. This is raw EP - the racial EP modifier is applied to the final EP cost. Note that this is different from how most people do manual ranking, where the Racial EM is taken away of the Raw EP before ranking
• Number of deaths on adventure. A tally is kept of how many deaths you have had, the Endurance loss is bought back through the "Death Endurace Buyback" line at a reduced cost of 2500EP per point.
• Adventure Start and End dates. This should use DQ dates in format of day-month-year or day/month/year, where the months can be numeric or text (eg "Meadow", "Frost" or "Fro")

Make sure the ranking period information is correct.

• Starting year and season for the ranking period. This will be automatically updated each time you commit ranking, but may need manually entering if this is your first time.
• The year and season of the guild meeting you will be needing this character. By default it will be the "next" meeting, ie one season of ranking, so only need to be changed if you don't adventure each session.

If there is other unusual EP related information (extra cost or income) or detailed time usage (eg time spent making potions or items) this should be put in the "Time and EP Details" section at the bottom of the page.

Using the Ranking Controls

The check-boxes and radio-buttons at the top of the sheet are used to decide which abilities are shown in the main ranking table.

• Firstly, there is a choice of displaying:
  • Ranked Only : only display those skills and abilities that you already have ranked.
  • All Usable: Show all skills that your character can possibly rank. Skills and Weapons that your character doesn't currently have the stats for are not shown
  • Future Usable : Shows all skills and weapons that it is might be possible to rank after you have increased your stats. This can be useful for deciding new character stats, or when you begin ranking a weapon at the same time as increasing a stat.
• The "Hide Abilities already at Max Rank" does exactly that. For exanplem if you have raised a stat point to its limit or spell to Rank 20, it will not be shown.
• Use the Filter check-boxes to display a sub-section of ability types (eg Skills, Magic, Stats)
• Select "Final View" to display only the abilities that are being ranked. This is the same view that will be copied when the "Commit Ranking" button is pressed, and can be printed for final sign-off by a GM.

Entering Ranking Data

The columns used for entering data are described below:

• Current Rank: This is the current value of a Rankable ability. If you are manually enter an existing character, you'd type numbers directly into here to get the starting position. Otherwise you don't touch this (and it can't be changed in protected mode.)
• Effective Rank. Your effective rank may be more than the actual rank - eg for Languages and Skills, or weapons in the case of a Warrior. This column is mainly for reference, since you may not want to rank something if you already have effective ranks in it. If you have "custom" extra ranks, these can be entered in the |Custom Data page
• New Rank. Enter the new rank you wish to go to here. The EP cost and time required will autoamatically be calculated, including discounts. Normally this is the only column you will need to change when ranking. The next 2 columns are used for when you don't rank something fully in a single session as follows:
  • Time Already Spent Ranking. If you have already spent some days ranking an ability, or somehow get a special reduction of time, enter that here. It is subtracted from the total time required to gain the next rank. This is a "use or lose" number. If you spent time in the previous session ranking an ability, you must complete the ranking or otherwise lose that time. (This is based on the rule that any ranking must be completed within 6 months of starting.)
  • Days Spent on Next Rank. If you don't have enough time to fully gain an addtional rank, enter the number of additional days you will spend ranking this ability here. This is over and above the New Rank chosen. Example: If you have a Rank 19 Ritual, it takes 140 days to gain rank 20. If you only have 80 days available in this session, leave "New Rank" blank and enter "80" in this field. The time will be spent and carried forward to "Time Already Spent"" for the next ranking session.
• Training. Using a trainer for skills gives a 10% EP discount, but also costs money. Choose the Training option used here. By default, trainers are always used.

Other Ranking Table Columns:

• EP Cost is the final EP cost after all discounts, including the Racial skill modifiers which are over and above everything else.
• Ranking Time is the final time spent ranking that ability in the current ranking period.

Completing Ranking

Press the "Commit Ranking" button when you are satisfied with your results. This will take a copy of the ranking sheet (with all non-ranked lines hidden) for printing, signing and later reference. You will get a change to confirm that you REALLY want to copy across all the new ranks. If you cancel at this stage, you'll have a copy of the sheet which is invalid, but might be useful to compare with another "try" at ranking.

when you do commit the ranking, it will do the following:

1. Copy across all the actived ranks into the Current Ranks
2. Update any "already spent" time for the next set of ranking, if needed
3. Copy across the EP totals and new Ranking dates
4. Add entries to the Money sheet including
   1. Net SP Gained from adventure
   2. Training costs
   3. Living expenses (if defined in Money sheet)
5. Clear any additional fields no longer needed.
6. Refresh all of the pages so they display any new abilities.