The Spheres are what makes it useful... Unless you think Omen like effects that don't go away for hours weak or some Spheres that do even worse. I agree the Retroe thing isn't so great, but just a few days ago I was able to afflict with Stupidity, Aeon, Hallucinations for 3p which is damn good in my opinion, though not so common. It's more of a bonus at certain times, other than that Astrology is great for combat. Tarot may still be best for Ceres though since she doesn't fight offensivly and needs the Hermit/Catacombs, which would be of more value for her style of fighting.

I was thinking about the rays, actually. Not the spheres, which I agree are nice. I just think the probability of that stuff coming up frequently is too low for it to really count. (The retro thing.)

If you have anything like the Binah sphere, damn, that is nice.

(Binah sphere = less one to three constitution, I believe, could be less or more)

So far I've found that on days where you are weak offensivly you get insane defensive bonuses and sometiems it's the opposite, it's always atleast one or the other, which both come in handy in combat.

We do, actually. -1 CON 2/12 of the time, -2 1/12 of the time, and -3/-4 on some really tiny probability I can't be bothered to figure out.

Incidentally, on second thoughts I retract my remark about Astrology being offensively less strong, I just don't think the rays are really that usable most of the time.

EDIT: As for the defensive bonuses, you're right to an extent, but you have to be fighting the right opponent. BurningCenser matters to me fighting only 2 guilds, Volcano vs. 2, Spider vs. 1, etc.. Crocodile is a bit more broad, as are Bumblebee, and of course the wonderful Dolphin/Skull, though.

To make full use of Astrology you really need to setup a chart telling you everything off one stargaze for combat, so you always know what options you have going into combat. I'm always using the rays, like I mentioned earlier, they can easily go unseen and half the afflictions are good.

The -3/-4 Con is 1/12, -2 Con is 2/12, -1 Con is also 2/12
5 out of 12 days isn't so bad, then you have to consider on the days I can't give negative con, I can give up to negative 30% damage weakness, which is an Omen that lasts up to 4 hours (almost an Omen). The only sphere that has no real use right now is Glacier, unless you want to bash Gar's.

Hmm, something I'm missing you've apparently not. I stargaze before fighting if I can, eh, and keep a notepad file up (I should probably draw a chart, but I'm lazy). Anyway.

How do you get -2 CON 2/12 of the time? There's only one month it has a major negative effect every year. And the -3/-4 1/12? That can't be right. The only way to get -3/-4 in the first place is dependant on papaxi. Which is random and thus unlikely to work. It'd be more like 1/56 or something. (Papaxi is good for buffing yourself ahead of time, though, because I can guess you can just whore it and wait until it hits the right effect. That only really works for Moondancers with maiden and I guess Celestines though.) And let's not forget that 1/4 of the time any of these effects will drain 10p, and since Wiccans/Guardians are fairly heavy on power expenditure that makes things difficult.

Can any ray other than Paavik give aeon? This includes planet and zodiac rays.

Yes

No, only Aapek can give Aeon. Zodiac rays can too, at different times of year, but it always has the same message, so you'll never have to worry about "The ray of the Dragon shines on you" *oh noes do I have aeon?*

An aeon affliction from an astrologer will always be given by Aapek (or waning moon, whatever), although an Aapek message will not always give aeon.

Figured he just wanted to know if there were two effects that cause , which there is.

Sure. It does make a difference, since last time I checked he's not affected by astrocast aapek, but I just wanted to clarify the thing entirely. (Although I explained this to him the other day, plus wrote a huge arse helpfile on the subject. Which he said was too much to read! )

Nejii, have you tried reading that scroll? I'm sorry but it needs to be send off to the publishing editor before you subject someone to that mess... it is confusing as hell!

Anyhoo, I want to verify one final time. No message other than the Aapek one will -ever- give aeon, right? That's what Shiri told me. But I swear Ethelon said something different in a FFA that some other message could give aeon... I'm confused!

No Astrology skill, as far as I am aware, will give aeon to you without an Aapek ray message. I am 99% sure of this.

And... Okay, but the two undersecretaries, Skyla, and three novices who I have referred to it or otherwise consulted on it have had no difficulties so far. Can't be THAT hard... What part didn't you get?

Yeah, it turns out I was casting a different effect that day since the Spheres had changed since I last checked, which is why I thought it was a different message at the time.

This happens to me all the time, and really irritates me.

I can see no reason not to allow us to stargaze with portable telescopes other than to make the skill pointlessly fiddly. Astrolabes weigh less than a tower shield, for example, but we still have to put up with the effects of our skills changing out in the field and needing a trip back home every half hour to ensure the accuracy of their use.

I think we're supposed to work out the planetary system and make a database or something that keeps track of it based on that. Too much work for me though.

Portable telescopes - new artifact idea?

Yeah, I saw that topic AFTER I looked at this thread and posted.

Can you tell me what you're talking about here, please?