Game Mechanics Q&A

A while ago we answered a number of questions about the rumors that surround game mechanics. They've recently expired off of the ideas board, so someone asked us to make them permanent somehow. Here they are.

Q: Does dex factor into the CLEAR command working?
A: No. It's just a flat % chance.

Q: Is it possible for second attack (or third attack, fourth attack, etc.) to go up without using practices?
A: It is possible if you have first used rage, though we don't quite remember if rage will work this way for all the attacks. We'll figure it out when we get to those helpfiles.

Q: Do stats have any effect on how successful you are at learning trades?
A: No.

Q: Does intelligence help you land spells?
A: With the sole exception of the forget spell, no. For now.

Q: Is blind mental, and does that mean orcs and ogres are vulnerable to the spell?
A: Blind is not mental. It is magic. Races that resist magic resist blind, but it should be noted that the resist bonus for this type of spell is small.

Q: Does wisdom help you resist spells?
A: Wisdom has nothing to do with resisting spells. The vast majority of spells only check the victim's saves and racial adjustments (resist/vuln).

Q: Does having high saves help you land spells?
A: No. The caster's saves have nothing to do landing spells.

Q: Does constitution help you push?
A: No, but strength does.

Q: Should we bother with armor class (AC)?
A: At level 50, I would say not. Basically, in order for you to get the minimum AC necessary for it to be useful, you would need many thousands (like better than -5000) of AC. This is because the game is built around the idea of 8 hitroll being awesome. As soon as awesome hitroll got moved from around 8 to around 80, AC became an irrelevant stat, because nobody can possibly get the huge AC needed for it to matter.

AC is useful at low levels though, because you will be fighting mobs who have such low hitrolls that your AC will actually do something for you. Casting your armor/shield/stoneskin spells while levelling will help you a lot.

This is something we may consider opening the door to changing in the future.

Q: Does dexterity help you land melee blows?
A: Dex does not help you land melee blows. It does factor into your AC, but see the previous question for an explanation as to why this winds up having no effect.

Q: What is dexterity useful for?
A: Dexterity is most useful for landing (and defending against) dirt kick, and for defending against barbarian skills.

Q: What are the bonuses to two-handed weapons?
A: You get a bonus to parry while wielding polearms, spears, and staffs. Typically, two-handed weapons have higher stats than ordinary weapons since they get extra points for builders to allot.

Q: How does dispel magic work?
A: The first check is a flat saves check. If the victim makes his saves check, the caster sees "You failed." If the dispel is landed, each affect on the victim is checked. Essentially, the effectiveness of this second check depends on the level of the affects on the victim. If the level of all affects on the victim are too high to dispel, the caster will see "Spell failed." However, this also indicates that a high-level spell affect had its level lowered, making it easier to dispel in subsequent casts. Each spell affect is independently checked of the others, so it casting a weaker spell on a victim first won't help you dispel other affects.

Q: Is there a 'cap' at which point having more saves, hitroll, and damroll is pointless? If so, what is it?
A: There is no cap on hit/dam. More is always better. It's a little more complicated for saves. Check out this post; there's a bullet called "There is no cap for hit, dam, or saves" which provides a more detailed answer.

Q: How much difference does having the weapon skill you're defending against make?
A: None. There was a myth that if you were skilled in the type of weapon your opponent was using, that you would get a bonus to parry, but although that is an interesting concept, it isn't true.

Q: Does intelligence/wisdom affect mana regeneration?
A: Yes and yes.

Q: Does constitution affect hp regeneration?
A: Yes.

Q: What is the difference between enhanced damage and critical strike?
A: They're completely different skills. Critical strike is pretty rare, even at 100%, but when it does work, it adds a lot more damage to a hit. Enhanced damage at 100% adds a small amount of extra damage to every successful hit.

Q: What are the real effects of having the sharp and vorpal flags on weapons?
A: Sharp is awesome. It gives a significant chance of doing more than double damage. Vorpal literally does nothing. This is subject to change in the future.

Q: What is the chance of shattering someone's shield?
A: Although we are going to be answering a lot of questions about how things work, we don't want to get into specifics about exact chances or formulas, etc. There is -a- chance that it will work, providing the shield isn't unbreakable.

Q: Does the fear spell remove one extra attack?
A: No. It cripples second attack and outright removes third, fourth, and fifth attack. It doesn't affect extra attacks granted by spells such as haste.

Q: What about web, how does it work?
A: Web prevents the victim from moving or fleeing until the web is broken. Strength and dexterity impact a victim's ability to break free.

Q: Do templar maledictions cast at a higher level and land at a lower level?
A: No. However, judgment does have a higher chance of landing than regular maledictions (such as curse, blind, etc.). This was done to balance the penalty templars suffer in not being able to cast specific maledictions.

Q: How does chaotic dispersal compare to dispel magic?
A: There are chances that CD will cast at a much higher level, making it much more effective than a regular dispel. There is also a chance that it will dispel the caster.

Q: Wild summon is supposed to have the chance of doing something great if it works. What's the extra affect?
A: There are two affects. One very significant one is that the victim does not know he is being summoned. The other is that there is a small chance that the summoned person will be blinded during the summon.

Q: What's the purpose of giving constitution to adrenaline rush?
A: Adrenaline rush, like haste, slows down hp regeneration. Since higher con helps hp regen faster, I would say the Con boost is there to balance out the haste penalty to hp regeneration.

Q: Does energy drain have the same chance of landing as blind?
A: Yes.

Q: What is the minimum recommended saves for blended classes?
A: Saves requirements for blended classes are determined by how much mana a class gets per level. If you're getting about 10 mana when you level, you're considered a magic class as far as saves go. If you're getting about 5, then you have the saves requirements of a fighter class. Simple as that.

Q: Do some races/classes cast at higher or lower levels?
A: With the exception of a very few spells, no. Everyone casts spells at his level. One related thing of note: spell affects diminish over time. For example, when I cast curse on myself, I get -7 to hit and +7 to saves, and the affect is at level 60. As the spell ticks down though, its level decreases in addition to its duration, making it easier to dispel.