How to Write Good Logs as Every Class

A comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide as to how to write good logs with every class.

Introduction

Have you ever played Throne of Lies, and realised you have no idea how to write your logs? Do you have no idea what people are saying when they share their logs? Are you looking for tips on how to write your logs?

If any of the above apply to you, you've found the right guide.

This is a guide that breaks down how to write logs as every class, and common obstacles and pitfalls that can come up when trying to write good logs. Writing good logs is core to being a good Throne of Lies player, and it is criminally underemphasised in the current tutorial. With this guide I hope to make it a little easier for all of you.

This guide is split into various sections. The first few cover general logbook setup and common occurrences in games that will affect your logs. After that, each section covers a particular class and how to write down every ability you can use with each class, with in-game screenshots and examples of each set of logs.

Lastly, I have provided a few of my own logs from real games to show you how these logs look in practice.

Don't feel the need to read the whole guide from start to end. The sections preceding the class-specific breakdowns provide good information no matter what class you are. However, there are a lot of classes in this game, and it may be overwhelming to try and digest it all in one go. The guide is broken up in such a way so that you can easily jump from one class to another.

Why Should I Listen to You?

It's a good question.

Well, I'm iSocket, a Throne of Lies streamer and content creator. I have more than 1000 hours of gameplay logged, several hundred of those live on stream on Twitch. I have more than 2500 games logged and have played several games with each class.

Most importantly though, I understand just how daunting the beginner experience can be. I actually made a spreadsheet when I first started playing as a guide to refer to, to remember all the various interactions in the game. It's a little outdated now, but this is a real spreadsheet I made (see below).




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As someone who came in with experience in the genre, I remember feeling overwhelmed for a good while, and I remember the lack of quality resources available to me when I initially started playing the game. I learnt through watching other streamers and by playing the game, but anything I can provide to expedite that process a bit I think could be beneficial for people coming into the game.

What This Guide Isn't

This guide does not provide any information with regards to how best to fake your logs as an "evil" class. While you can take the information in this guide to help you write fake logs, there is nothing here that will tell you exactly how to do it.

This guide is not a guide how to play the game. While logbook writing is a critical part of the game, there is nothing here to help you with anything else.

This guide is not meant to be read in its entirety - feel free to do so, but I intended it more as a class-to-class reference.

This is not the definitive guide to logbook writing. As long as your logs are legible and easy to understand, do what feels right.

Is There a 'Best' Way to Write Logs?

No, not really.

I have a particular preference and style that I've developed since I started playing and while I believe it's the best way to write them for me, there's no agreed on way to write logs. I aim for informative and concise (which I'll explain in greater detail in the next section) and I feel as long as your logs meet those standards, they're fine.

Logs are simply the way you communicate information in this game; as long as you and other people can understand them, you can't be doing too much wrong.

The Basic Log-Writing Formula

When it comes to log-writing, there are two standards I feel any good log should meet; logs should be informative and concise. When reading any log, you should be able to glean all relevant information from it, and it shouldn't take up several lines to do it. With this in mind, this is the general formula a log should follow.



Now that might be a little too conceptual, so let me use an example Butler log.

• Time of Day is N, meaning the action occurred at night.
  
• Day Number is 1, meaning the action happened in the first day of the game.
  
• Action is Serve, meaning the Butler used the action Serve Wine.
  
• Target is 7, referring to the player number of the player the Butler is serving wine to.
  
• Result is Success, meaning the Butler's occupy action was successful.

Most logs in the game will follow this template pretty closely.

How Should I Setup My Logbook?

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The default starting layout the game gives your logbook is actually pretty good. I'd leave the right page as-is, it doesn't need to be changed. With regards to the left page, I like to remove the top line and just write down my class. There's no need to write your player name down because whenever you paste your logs they're going to be coming from your name in chat anyway. If anyone wants to copy your logs they'll copy you saying them so all it does is waste space. This is especially relevant when you're whispering your logs to someone else; the more information you can fit in one whisper the better.

With regards to the nights I personally just remove them all bar N1 at the start of the game and add the nights (and days if applicable) as I go. By doing that I'm never writing my abilities down on the wrong night and it's clear when I die (with regards to things like being reaped).

Jails, Links, Occupations and Redirects

No matter what class you are, your logs will be affected from time to time by jails, links, occupations and redirects. Sometimes you use an ability on someone who is jailed so your ability doesn't work. Sometimes you get occupied and your ability doesn't work. Sometimes you try to use your ability on someone and get redirected to someone else. Writing these things down is important.

Jails

If you target someone who's jailed the same night, it's pretty easy to write the logs. Just write your target was jailed and move on. If you've been jailed yourself, it's also pretty simple. Just write down that you were jailed.

Links

If a Mystic links (or conduits you with someone else) at night, you should write it down. It confirms the Mystic's links, which especially matters if you get linked the night you die. I like to append my links after my action like so.

Occupation

If you're an occupiable class, just write that you've been occupied that night. If you're an occ-immune class, I like to write that an occupy attempt has been made on me that night.

Redirection

Redirects can make for some of the hardest logs you can write. Debauches and swaps can throw you all over the place, and writing those logs can be tricky, especially if you're using an ability that targets two people at night. I once played a game as CW where I swapped the same two people another CW swapped. Hard to find an easy way to write something like that.












Above are some examples of redirection logs I'd write. Most redirects are fairly simple, moved from one target to another. On occasion you'll get a double redirect, something like you get debauched to one target and that target get swapped and you get redirected to another. Just try your best to make the redirection path as clear as possible.

Being Attacked, Healed and Delayed

In a large quantity of your games you're probably going to be attacked. Most of the time this doesn't matter for log-writing, as the attack kills you and you're just dead. However, sometimes you get attacked and you get healed or delayed. Sometimes you're a class that's normally death immune (Pretender) or used an ability that would make you death immune at night (Alchemist's Stoneskin Potion, King's Guards!, etc.). Sometimes you're not even regularly death immune, but another ability made you so that night (Court Wizard's Empower on Offensive classes). Whatever happened, it's very important to write down whenever you're healed or delayed, as these things help confirm other healer classes.

Below are some examples of various attack and/or heal feedback you might need to write in a typical game. I would normally write said feedback after the feedback of the ability I was using that night.

Being a Heathen

If you're one of the starting heathens of the Inquisitor, please write it down in your logs. It's so important for both confirming yourself and the existence of an Inquisitor in game.



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I like to write that I'm a heathen after my class claim, and usually I'll write a separate message somewhere in my logbook stating that I'm a Heathen and it's an Inquisitor game, because your average player is not a good reader.

Anyway, onto the class breakdowns!

Butler

Serve Wine: Plenty of people write Wine X – Result instead, which is also totally fine. I’d avoid writing the ability as SW; I’ve seen a few people do it and it usually just confuses people.



Concentrated Wine: Commonly referred to as partying, and the word I’d use to describe it. It’s called partying based on the feedback you get when using the ability, and it’s what most people will understand best. Again, I’d avoid abbreviating this ability to CW or even writing Concentrated Wine – it’s so ingrained as Party that even experienced players might not initially understand what you’re referring to.



Poisoned Wine: Plenty of people don’t write down their King poisons, and I think it’s a good idea. Stops other people from potentially claiming your king kills as their own.

Chronomancer

Time Warp: TW is pretty universal; some people write Timewarp or just Warp. None of these are bad, but TW is the shortest and most common so I use that, personally. DND for unsuccessful warps is standard. I like to write 'delayed' instead of something like 'success' because I think it's the most clear way to write it.



On rare occasions you may attempt to delay someone who can't be delayed because they've been attacked by an unhealable source. The in-game feedback will let you know when this happens, and I would write such a delay attempt as above.



Distort Reality: Not an ability you actually see in logs all that often, but again, DR is short and understandable so use that.



Pocket Dimension: I like to write these down, if only because they make your logs look a little more legitimate. If you ever delay yourself with PD you definitely should be writing that down.

Court Wizard

Empower: It’s so important you write the feedback as Aided/Not Aided. I’ve seen more than a couple of CWs write something like Emp 7 – success and you have no idea what they mean. Did they aid someone? Did they just not get occupied? It’s ambiguous and really confusing. Don’t use “success” here.



Tornado: I believe Swap is the most common parlance for this ability, but writing Tornado would also be fine. I like writing Swap because it’s shorter, and what most people call tornadoes in day chat.



Clear Mind: It’s so important you write these down. Please do it.




If your CM protects someone, write it down like this.

Drunk

Debauchery: Deb/Debauch is best, everyone should understand what debs are.



When it comes to failed debauches, there's no consistent way to write them. I like to write a failed deb simply as "deb failed". Why? I feel that writing something like "deb immune" or "redirect immune" can be misleading, as trying to debauch someone who has been occupied will also fail. For instance, if you try to debauch a Physician, and that Physician is occupied, the Physician will be redirect immune, despite the Physician being a redirectable class.

There are also classes like Noble and Hunter who have non-targetable and targetable abilities. If you try to debauch a class when they use their non-targetable ability, they will be redirect immune for that night, but could be debauchable on other nights. Saying simply that your attempt failed will still convey the message that they could not be debbed the night you tried to deb them, but there's a possibility they are not a redirection immune class.



Happy Hour: HH is short and concise, use that. For failed HHs, follow the failed debauch example.

Hunter

Doing nothing: Hunter is the only BD class where doing nothing is expected some nights. I like to just write down those nights as Nothing – pretty clear and gets the point across.







Bear Companion: People write this down a few different ways, but Beared/Bears/Bear all work fine. If you do kill someone you should write that down, writing down the number of the person who has your death note. If you don't see a death note, still write that you killed someone.





Hunter’s Mark: I use HM, but Mark would also be acceptable.



Wolf Companion: So important you write these down. Plenty of people don’t. Knowing who’s been bled by what is really important for BD deduction. I like writing Wolf here, using something like Bleed is a bit too ambiguous for me.

King (and becoming King)

These log-writing tips are primarily for use as Good King or as an elected Good King later in the game. As starting Unseen King or Cult King you should, as a general rule, keep your logs and claims list private.





Guards!: It's important to write these down, especially if the Neutral Killer hasn't been outed. If you die on a night that you guard yourself, it can give BD information as to the type of attack that killed you, such as an empowered reap by a Reaper or a Butler's poison.

Safeguard: Simple; just write down SG and the number of the target. This shouldn't get confused with the Mercenary's Stand Guard (also often written down as SG) given the unique position of being King.

Doing nothing: Some nights as King you won't be guarding or using Safeguard, so just writing "Nothing", similar to what Hunter does on no-action nights is fine.

Decide Fate: You don't need to write these down. Everyone knows when a King uses them or hasn't used them. You won't need to remind the court when.

Being Elected King

If you step for King later in the game and become King, I usually start a second set of King logs after my regular class logs in my logbook.

Knight

Defend: One of the few abilities I don’t actually write any feedback on unless I get a positive result (killing someone with Defend). You definitely could write something like “Defend 1 – watched over” if you prefer. I would avoid using the word “Guard” – you might get confused for a Mercenary claim.







Cold Steel: Everyone understands CS. However, I haven’t yet landed on a favoured way to write a CS that gets redirected. A CS that gets redirected doesn’t occur, so maybe something like “CS 3>4 – did not happen”? As always, prioritise clarity over conciseness if you can’t achieve both.

Maid

Starting match targets: Quite a few people write their starting match targets on a separate line. I don’t do it personally, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all. I just think if you write your logs clearly enough it shouldn’t be necessary.





Matchmake: People write maid matches in a few different ways. I’ve seen Matchmake, I’ve seen MM. I like Match because it doesn’t confuse people with MM (often used for Mastermind) and it’s clear. I like to write match/not a match for my results, but compatible/incompatible is also totally acceptable. I use 'with' to imply that the first match (2 in the first shot) is the previous match, and the match I visited that night (3 in the first shot) is the one on the right. Don't be one of those people who writes their Maid logs "backwards".



Nosy Servants: I have literally never used Nosy Servants. If I did I’d write it like that.

Mystic

Link Minds: You should try to write the class of the person you’re linking before the night ends. Also, if you happen to not be able to link someone (because they’re reaped) you should definitely write that down too.



Conduit: I do it like this. Any information shared in the conduit you can append after the Conduit.

Telepathy: I tend not to write when I use Telepathy in my logs - it's pretty obvious when you use it and easy to reference if need be.

Noble

Gossip: Gossip is the hardest ability to write feedback for in the game for newer players. Being able to write Gossip logs well means knowing what feedback you get with each ability with all of the classes. In a way it's similar to playing Possessor; a very rewarding class for those who know the game and its classes well, but overwhelming and potentially confusing for those who don't. It's also one of the hardest abilities for me to write a beginner-friendly guide for, as I write my Gossip logs in a way that parses that feedback into the right class abilities.

With regards to learning how best to do Gossip logs, I would just familiarise yourself with some common types of feedback. Here are some common snippets of feedback and how I would represent them in my Gossip logs.

• "X did not require healing" - Phys/Alch DNR
  
• "X did not die" - Chrono DND
  
• "You watched over X" - Knight Defend (also can be Paladin Smite from N3 onwards)
  
• "X is not suspicious" - Sheriff Invest NS/Paladin TF NS

This is not an exhaustive list, but reading through the Notifications tab on the class cards in game should give you the expected feedback from successful and unsuccessful feedback for each class ability. The more you play, the easier these connections should be. If there's ever feedback you don't understand, just write the feedback line down - you may not exactly understand it but someone else in your game should.



Court Spy: Just write Spy or Court Spy and be done with it.



Noble Twin: I think it's really important to write these down. Twin is one of the most confirmable abilities in the game, and if you can point to when you used a twin, it can really help solidify your claim with the rest of the court.



Political Pressure: Commonly referred to as "force vote", this is something I would write down as well. A lot of people don't though.

Observer

Follow: This is probably the hardest basic log to write, and there are a lot of different styles when it comes to writing Follow logs. I like the way I write them because the directionality of the abilities is clear and easy to read in one line. People who visited your target on the left, your target in the middle, people your target visited on the right. “x” to represent no visitors/no visit targets depending on the side I put it on. With this log I'll actually provide some sample logs and break them down below.



In this example, the person followed was 5. No one visited 5, and 5 visited 4.



In this example, the person followed was 8. 10 and 14 visited 8, and 8 visited nobody.



In this example, the person followed was 7. 4 visited 7, and 7 visited 10 and 11. Sometimes I use brackets around the person followed to make it clearer in the logs who I followed, but it means nothing more than that.

I like this particular convention of Observer log writing because it all fits in one line, and is usually understood pretty well.









Window Peek: In contrast, Window Peek is super simple to write. Peek Target, write their faction down.

Paladin

Test Faith: You can use other words like Test, but TF is the shortest and most common abbreviation so I use that.





Smite: Another really simple ability that I write similar to Knight’s Defend; nothing after the smite if I don’t kill anyone, the person I kill if I do kill someone.

Physician

Heal: Heal seems like a relatively straightforward ability, but there's actually a few different types of feedback you can get from heal. You get slightly different feedback for healing an attack and healing bleed and you can get "could not heal" from trying to heal unhealable attacks.





Self-Care: Self-Care is pretty straightforward, write Self-Care and whether you healed yourself or not.



Inoculate: Not everyone writes these down, but I think it's generally a good idea.





Exhume: This is the Phys ability to make sure you write down correctly. If you find multiple killers of a dead body, write them both down, otherwise just write whichever classes come up.

Prince

Imprison: I write Jail as do most people. It's very important to write the claims of the people you jail each night. If the person you jail speaks and refuses to claim, you should also write that down. Bear in mind this is not the same as the person you jailing saying nothing - if the person you jail says nothing, I would write that they said nothing, as reaped people will say nothing at all, as well as AFK players and the odd evil.



Execute: Some people will write their executes after their jails. I prefer to just write it instead of Jail as it's assumed that you're jailing people every night anyway.

Princess

Flirt: Flirt is the best and only keyword to use here. With regards to the result, I shorten the three types to 'Kill/Off', 'Spec/Inv' and 'Soc/Sup'. You can go shorter if you want.





Will O' Wisp: I use WoW, but something like Wisp would also be fine.

Sheriff

Scout and Expert Investigation: I like to write both my scout and investigation results on the same line. In the past I used to write scouts separately, but over time I've come to prefer combining them. Why do that with Scout when it's a day ability? Well I think about it in a similar way to Prince's Imprison ability. Imprison is technically a day ability, but no Prince would write it down as anything other than a night ability, as it only resolves at night. Scout is similar. While you set it during the day, Scout only returns information at night.

With regards to invest results, I typically write 'NS/MM' for results found in the first 3 nights, as Masterminds cannot be found until N4, due to their In the Shadows passive. This indicates that the person being investigated is either NS or is MM. N4 onwards I just write NS as Masterminds are no longer hidden and thus can be found.







Surveillance: I write this combined with Scout similar to Expert Investigation. Again, NS/MM for not suspicious persons if used before N4, just NS afterwards. If you do find them as Unseen, just write down the class.

Starting Unseen/Cult and Being Converted

As starting Unseen or Cult, you do not want to be keeping honest logs. You really don't want to be keeping anything in your logs as starting evil. I would recommend you keep your claims list and fake logs in your private notes, and keep your starting logbook bare. By doing so, you'll never accidentally reveal the identities of other unseen members, or leak any information that might help BD figure out who the evils are.

Likewise, if you're converted, I would move your logs and claim list into your private notes. Your real logs (before you were converted) can give information that BD can use to deduce (including when you were converted). Again, it's safest to just remove that information from being easily accessible after you die, even if you've previously posted your logs to someone else or in public chat.

Neutrals and Neutral Killers

As any neutral that isn't Sellsword, it really doesn't matter where you keep your logs, fake or real. Given that most neutrals either have to accomplish their win condition before dying (Fool/Scorned/Mercenary/Pretender/Inquisitor) or lose once they die (Alchemist) it doesn't matter where your logs are kept, as they don't matter to you once you die.

However, if you are Sellsword, treat your logs like you would if you were starting or converted evil - your logs still matter as you can still win after you die. You typically don't want to leave any info that may make it easier for BD to deduce who the evil players are.

As for Neutral Killers, for Reaper and Sorcerer it again doesn't matter where you keep your logs. Your game is over the moment you die. As Possessor though, you want to keep your fake logs in your real logbook, as jumping from body to body is part of the gameplay, and you want to leave real-looking logs behind when you jump (as a general rule).

Alchemist

Crimson Potion: I write these as Heal, exactly the same as I would a Physician heal. Everything that applies to Physician's Heal applies to Crimson Potion.





Emerald Potion: Commonly referred to as 'bombs'. When honestly writing these down, I just write them as Bomb Target and the result, similar to a Knight CS or a Pretender Kinslayer attack.



Stoneskin Potion: You can write these down if you want; I'd write them similar to using the Chronomancer's Pocket Dimension.

Mercenary

Stand Guard: I just use SG, though Guard also works. Next to that I just list how many brilders I got from the guard.








Shield: I write Shield Target. When the shield gets broken, I write that next to the feedback for the ability I did that night. Sometimes that happens on the same night the shield gets put down, sometimes it happens on a later night (as Shield stays on a person while they're still alive).

Don Armor: This will be my one part of unsolicited advice - do not use this ability. It's a complete noob trap. I have used this ability twice ever, both by accident.

If you do wish to write it up, write it up like any other instant day ability.

Pretender

Blood Test: If you're an outed Pretender, you can write your logs like this. I still write Flirt instead of BT; everyone still understands what you mean. Blood Test is just an enhanced Princess Flirt, with the added Not Royal/Royal information.






Kinslayer: I'll just write Stab Target and whether the attack succeeded or I hit a death immune target, in a similar way to how I'd write a Knight CS or an Alch bomb.




Ballot Mixing: I've never written down a Ballot Mix in my logs, but if you want to, go for it.

Distract: See Ballot Mixing.

Other Trackable Information

The more experienced you get with log-taking, the more information you can start to record. At first, I would simply focus on being able to do your night actions and write them down. Once you have that on lock, you can try tracking other information.

A sample of some of the information I personally keep track of in games:

• Who's been bled and when
  
• What class types people have been flirted/allied as
  
• Who are potential Nobles and/or when they have twinned
  
• Classes confirmed by Noble gossip that haven't outed yet
  
• Classes confirmed by heals/delays that haven't outed yet
  
• Classes that Mystics/Princes/Kings say exist that are unknown to me
  
• Who is an occupiable class/who is a class that visits other people
  
• How many Unseen/Cult are left at any given time
  
• Copies of logs from people I link/jail
  
• Copies of logs from people in day chat that I think could be relevant later

The important to remember is not to overload yourself. Always make sure you get the pedigree information down - what you're doing. After that, add extra stuff. Remember, the better your logs are, the better it is not just for you in the game, but also for other people after you die.

Some Real Example Logs

These are a few sets of real logs that I've kept in games. Nothing special about these - they were just the first ones I could find in my Twitch VODs for each class where I didn't die too early. Each one has some annotations where I explain some of the things I'm doing with each set of logs.

• Butler[imgur.com]
  
• Hunter[imgur.com]
  
• Good King[imgur.com]
  
• Mercenary[imgur.com]
  
• Mystic[imgur.com]
  
• Noble[imgur.com]
  
• Physician[imgur.com]
  
• Princess[imgur.com]
  
• Sheriff[imgur.com]

Where to Find Me

You can find me at my Twitch channel - https://www.twitch.tv/iSocket
You can find me at my channel Discord - https://discord.gg/uhDWz3D

All feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my viewers and subscribers who have watched me play hundreds of hours of Throne over the last year, and have acted as great sounding boards during the good games and the bad (especially the bad).

I would like to thank Imperium42 for making this game in a genre I feel is underserved and underappreciated. I love social deduction games and I'm glad I found one in the digital space I can enjoy to such an extent.

I would like to thank the friends I have made over the last year playing Throne, for the chats, the laughs, the screenshares and the memes.

I would lastly like to thank Ville Kilkku of PC Gamer, who wrote the article that alerted me to the existence of Throne of Lies in the first place.

[<#008000>Paretos]

your logs are ugly

[saturdaymidnights.]

Dang..my brain can't handle this much info...guess i am going back to ToS x)

[Tyrax Lightning]

For the Maid, would it also be feasible to do "Match/No Match"?

[Reianor]

Now, if this wasn't a well established tradition, and we were talking about how it would be better to set things up “from scratch” then yeah, it would be clarity vs brevity, and in that case I'd even agree with you that having separate lines for day abilities WOULD make logs clearer, but even that's only in the case were the default layout would include day lines and we'd leave them alone even for classes that don't have any day abilities.

I still don't think I'd support it though, as that'd be too big a hit to brevity for very little extra clarity.
And that btw, if what I think is the real reason for lack of day lines in default log layout.
And in our current situation, no way having those extra lines is a good thing. You are de-standardizing logs this way, and the meager clarity boost that comes from that doesn't even come close to compensating for the damage done by that de-standardization.

[Reianor]

You're ignoring my main point. Perhaps even to the extent where's I'm starting to wonder if it's on purpose...

This is not brevity vs clarity.
The main point I'm trying to make here is that having day lines mixed into logs makes them HARDER to read, not clearer. It's distracting.
It's like looking through numerous similarly formed documents and then running into one that deviates from the common form. It gives the reader unnecessary pause.

And I'd rather read through an entirely separate log of day abilities than have separate lines distracting me. “One line lower = one night later” rule is THAT important. Or to be more precise it's important that the N-th line of logs is always the n-th night (or rather day+night pair).

[iSocket]

> Speaking of separate lines, if you wanna split the day abilities so badly, why not do that in a separate set of lines? IMHO it's easier to read then having them mixed into the night lines.

I strongly disagree with this. When reading logs, it's good to have a clear timeline of actions. By separating day and night into two separate blocks, it makes someone reading them have to continuously flick back and forth between the blocks to understand what they claim to have done each day. This is definitely worse.

Most of the other disagreements I can just stem to a difference in opinion with regards to brevity vs. clarity, but this is a clearly worse alternative.

[iSocket]

> P.P.S. Also sheriff's scouts and CW's CMs are kind of a confidential info. You may have reason to not want evil to know where those are going

You can just do "Scout X" or omit the CM, but you can do that when posting logs to court. The only time I'd consider omitting them is when posting to court, and having the CM on a dayline makes it really easy not to include if you don't want to out that for whatever reason. The modularity of keeping day and night separate actually makes doing that easier.

[iSocket]

> P.S. Um, sheriff's scouts don't have to be used every day actually. They stay on their last target, so if there's no reason to move the scout there's no reason to re-use the scout or re-log it in your logs.

Scouts are not used everyday, but including them in the nightline is a shift specifically because people failed to notice the scout if it was only written once at the top, or only included when changed. This one I know for sure improves readability. I played a game today where someone got accused of having no scout because their scout was only written once at the top and presumably never moved.

[iSocket]

> A line with “ex4(assa); heal 8 – dnr” is no less noticeable, exactly BECAUSE it's not every time that the given ability is used.

As I said before, I don't think there's anything wrong with this -- I just prefer not to. I just don't think the "bloat" is as big a deal as you seem to think it is.

It's the same reason I tend to not abbreviate a lot of ability names -- it's less concise, but no one is going to be confused when reading the logs, which for me trumps brevity.

[iSocket]

> And, from my PoV, day lines only decrease readability.

Perhaps in daychat, but I'll take that trade for logs that are more easily read when I'm dead.

> Many classes simply don't have day abilities, and many players don't separate those. Even the starting layout doesn't include day lines.

I mean this would be why the starting layout doesn't include day lines, no? Add them in when you have one, don't when you're a class that doesn't. Why would they include day lines by default if half the classes don't need them?