Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:08 am
Since this seems to be a common problem, I'd like to point out that just because you want to know something, it doesn't mean you can just throw your power at it and make it work. You need to ask the right questions, or at least you need to ask your questions the right way.
Imagine a god secretly used an artifact to create an earthquake in the Shattered Lands. Another god whose followers were grievously injured wants to know why the earthquake happened, but of course he/she doesn't know it was the work of a deity through an artifact. He/she wants to finds out what the problem is, and sends an order like this: "I use 1 DRP to find out where the faults in the earth's crust are that caused the earthquakes, then another 2 DRPs to seal them so no more earthquakes occur".
Since there are no faults to be detected, his/her first order turns out to be useless; the 2 DRPs meant to seal the faults, then, also are wasted.
On the other hand, if he/she said "I use 1 DRP to find out what the heck happened in the Shattered Lands", that question is fairly generic; there is a chance it might bring up a different answer (i.e. "a lot of stuff is happening there, there's a war to the south, famine in the north, an earthquake just struck"). However, the more DRPs one invested in the question, the more in-depth the answer would be (assuming one spent, say, 3 DRPs, the answer could be "there's a war in the south between the God of Cookies and the God of Warm Milk, with the God of Honey trying to help the latter, who is losing badly at the moment; famine in the north due to a shortage of food caused by the spoiling of crops due to vermin such as locusts; and an earthquake just struck which was not natural in origin, and bore signs of divine power, as well as resonating with ancient energies from an item of power")
And of course, if one asked "I use 1 DRP to find out the cause of the earthquake in the Shattered Lands", the answer would be less expensive.
All I'm saying is... assumptions are dangerous because if you base an action on them, and they are wrong, the action is wasted. On the other hand, a generic action will yield only a generic result unless one pours in a lot of DRPs. A balance must be struck between how much you want to risk and how much you want to spend.
Imagine a god secretly used an artifact to create an earthquake in the Shattered Lands. Another god whose followers were grievously injured wants to know why the earthquake happened, but of course he/she doesn't know it was the work of a deity through an artifact. He/she wants to finds out what the problem is, and sends an order like this: "I use 1 DRP to find out where the faults in the earth's crust are that caused the earthquakes, then another 2 DRPs to seal them so no more earthquakes occur".
Since there are no faults to be detected, his/her first order turns out to be useless; the 2 DRPs meant to seal the faults, then, also are wasted.
On the other hand, if he/she said "I use 1 DRP to find out what the heck happened in the Shattered Lands", that question is fairly generic; there is a chance it might bring up a different answer (i.e. "a lot of stuff is happening there, there's a war to the south, famine in the north, an earthquake just struck"). However, the more DRPs one invested in the question, the more in-depth the answer would be (assuming one spent, say, 3 DRPs, the answer could be "there's a war in the south between the God of Cookies and the God of Warm Milk, with the God of Honey trying to help the latter, who is losing badly at the moment; famine in the north due to a shortage of food caused by the spoiling of crops due to vermin such as locusts; and an earthquake just struck which was not natural in origin, and bore signs of divine power, as well as resonating with ancient energies from an item of power")
And of course, if one asked "I use 1 DRP to find out the cause of the earthquake in the Shattered Lands", the answer would be less expensive.
All I'm saying is... assumptions are dangerous because if you base an action on them, and they are wrong, the action is wasted. On the other hand, a generic action will yield only a generic result unless one pours in a lot of DRPs. A balance must be struck between how much you want to risk and how much you want to spend.
