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[Kel]

Okey dokey, I haven't gone out of my way to do science as such (kinda hard to with moods...), but I believe I've noticed something about getting possessed vs. fey/secretive moods: a dwarf will always (and only?) be possessed if he has no moodable skills that aren't crafting skills.

Basically, if they've got weaponsmithing or something they'll get a weaponsmithing fey/secretive mood.
If they got say, woodcrafting, they'll get a crafting fey/secretive mood.
If they've got e.g. cheesemaking, they'll get a crafting possessed mood.

As it stands the wiki claims possessed moods are totally random, but in all the moods I've had so far (using v34.07), this seems to be the pattern - possessed is only for non-moodable non-crafting skills. I've no idea how fell or macabre moods fit in, I've never had a dwarf unhappy and mooded at the time.

This is just what I've noticed so far - those who get a crafting mood and are not crafters are always possessed, and are the only possessed. I might be suffering from pure fluke, so can anyone else debunk/back me up on this?

[khearn]

I'm pretty sure I've gotten plenty of legendary wood or bone crafters from moods when they started with no skill. But I haven't kept records, so I suppose it's possible that they all started with novice skills and I didn't notice it. I guess I'll have to start taking notes every time someone gets a mood.

[KodKod]

I think you're reading too far into a few results from the RNG. As far as I am aware it's purely luck-based.

For instance, if a dwarf with no moodable skills was always possessed then why would I have several legendary child-ens?

[i2amroy]

I'm not sure if this is right. I know that I personally have had several secretive/fey modes in dwarves that only had growing/brewing skills and have become craftsdwarves. I would assume that you have simply gotten lucky/unlucky in the current fortress, but their still might be a pattern there.

Edit: AHHH! Ninjas everywhere!

[khearn]

I think you're reading too far into a few results from the RNG. As far as I am aware it's purely luck-based.

For instance, if a dwarf with no moodable skills was always possessed then why would I have several legendary child-ens?

Good point. I know I've had legendary kids. And I'm not a dirty cheater who assigns labors to kids via DT, so they had to be unskilled when they got their moods.

I'm still going to start making notes of skills and mood types whenever a dwarf gets a mood though. We all assume it's completely random, but I don't know if anyone has ever really looked into it.

[MisterB777]

^ Beat me to it. 

I have had multiple childrens (thus, no craftable skills) that went Secretive/Fey in my current, vanilla fort.  So, ghosts in the machine, Kel.

[Kel]

Huh, forgot about legendary children. (not that I've had any this fort, which is the first I've had this version. Unless it changed this version and no-one else spotted something amiss, which is unlikely.) Looks like I'm suffering from a lot of fluke then. Ok, never mind, ignore me.
I'll go sit in the corner quietly.

[nightwhips]

Let's state the questions clearly, first:

The hypothesis here can be written two ways, with big consequences, that are both consistent with the noted scenario.

One, H1: Dwarves with no moodable skills are possessed, and dwarves with moodable skills get other moods.

Two: H2: Possessions only strike dwarves with unmoodable skills. (EDIT: note that this does NOT rule out other moods striking dwarves with unmoodable skill.)

H1 can be ruled out based upon the many legendary bone carver children that populate many forts, as other observers have pointed out, because children have no moodable skills, and possessions do not result in legendary skill, clearly indicating that children may get other moods than possession.

H2 we do not currently have evidence for, and this SHOULD BE TESTED. If one can ward off annoying possessions by giving untrained dwarves dabbling in a moodable skill, this would be very useful, though it would fit in with the currently existing strat of avoiding legendary craftsdwarves by giving them all weaponsmithing, etc.

[nightwhips]

No, no, put the title back! We're not done with the science!

[Patroclus]

Conversely, in my current fort I've had crafters who had quite a few levels of a moodable skill get possessed, so it can go the other way too.  I think I had a high master armorsmith get possessed, don't remember offhand.

I should count up my artifacts (at work atm), but if you have a large hauler/furnace operator squad like I do, giving each of them a tiny amount of weaponsmithing skill will increase the number of artifact weapons you get.  I think somewhere around a quarter to a third of my moods have produced weapons. (Just from memory, the artifact weapons I've gotten in this fortress have included a steel sword, a copper giant corkscrew, a bismuth bronze battle axe, an adamantine spear, an adamantine short sword, an adamantine giant axe blade, an adamantine war hammer, a lead crossbow, and a gold crossbow.)

[nightwhips]

Okay, if a high master armoursmith was possessed, it also rules out H2 there. A few more anecdotes will help, though.

[Sphalerite]

In my community fortress Brightwater I had a fairly skilled bonecarver get possessed.  That's not just an anecdote, I have screenshots.  I also had a child get a non-possession mood.  I've seen skilled dwarves be possessed in other fortresses as well.  I don't think there's any correlation.

[Karakzon]

fun little scenario:
I have had moodable dwarves with moodable skills end up with possesion and not gain any experiance etc in that skill.
Not only that, but some moods are only viable via dwarven happyness. Fell Moods are humerous if unproductive, but can be had by anyone pissed off enought.

[Kel]

I thought to post because whilst this is a semi-young fort (summer of year 4), and I've only had 8 moods so far (which I realise isn't a nice large statistical sample), 5 (!) of those have been possessions, and all of the possessions on a non-moodable non-crafter. Oh well, so much for !!SCIENCE!!
Unless I set the moody dwarves on fire... !!dwarves!!