New Novice user, "if" help

turtlejet

This is a section of a larger random monster generator I am working on for Numenera. This part takes the level variable established earlier in generation and compares it with a 1d10 roll. If the roll is less than the level, the generator proceeds to make picks from the powers list equal to the difference. I've almost gotten it working a couple times, but I think there must be something fundamental in the syntax that I'm not understanding. Thanks in advance for any help or pointers anyone can give.

; test.ipt
; created 7/22/2014 1:00:12 PM
 set: level={1d10}
 set: power={1d10}
 
Table: powerchance
{if ({power}<={level}, [!{({level}-{power})} powers >> implode], 'None')}

table: powers
drains might
drains speed 
drains intelect
absorbs damage
acid blood

largando

Hi turtlejet, welcome to the forums!

Personally, I've always found the "if" syntax to be a little flaky. Possibly it's just a lack of understanding on my part. Regardless, InspirationPad provides an alternate syntax, "when". Here's how I was able to get your code running using "when".

; test.ipt
; created 7/22/2014 1:00:12 PM
set: level={1d10}
set: power={1d10}

Table: powerchance
{power} {level}  [when]{power}<{{level}+1}[do][!{({level}-{power})} powers >> implode][else]None[end]

table: powers
drains might
drains speed 
drains intelect
absorbs damage
acid blood

Some notes: I added the "{power} {level}" bit at the beginning of the line just to see that the code was doing what I wanted. You can delete that part painlessly. Also, for whatever reason the "<=" symbol didn't work right, so instead I went with "<" and just added 1 to the level. Kludgy, but it got the job done.

turtlejet

That did the trick! Thank you!

It's odd that "when" works in the same situation that "if" doesn't. Is there anything "if" does particularly well?

Also, I have nothing against kludge as long as it works!

Thanks again.