E2: Combat Formulas

[Lauren CW]

I've been trying to figure out how the game engine works for combat. Does anyone have any help for this?

[Lilith]

Er, that's a pretty broad question. What bits in particular are you having trouble with?

 

Melee combat is pretty straightforward. Weapons do a random amount of damage from 1 to their damage value (plus bonus, plus additional bonuses for Strength and blessing). Monsters' melee attacks do damage pretty much as you'd expect: a "3d6" attack, for example, does damage equivalent to rolling 3 dice with 6 sides (although attacks consistently do 1 or 2 more points of damage than they "should" -- a 20d1 attack will do 21 or 22 damage to an unarmoured opponent). Armour blocks a random amount of damage from 1 to its protection value (plus bonus). All melee attacks do double damage to sleeping or paralysed opponents.

[Lauren CW]

I was mainly wondering about the number of damage, and chance to hit things, as well as for magic and ranged. I always have trouble getting a ranged character to do much damage (In my current game, my ranged character does more damage with a steel short sword and no edged skill than with his bow, and he's at 11 archery) And I'm curious about what determines magic damage, and how sometimes it only does half of a certain number and such. And I've always wondered what chance to hit was all about. I mean, what happens if the chance to hit % is over 100? And does armor have a chance of blocking attacks, or just reducing the damage? I'm all confuzzled, and I'm also trying to figure out how it would work to sort of blend Exile with D&D.

[Lilith]

Hit rate is a little odd. The character info screen only shows your bonus to hit, but your bonus to hit isn't your chance to hit. Your actual hit rate is equal to your bonus plus your base hit rate. (Base hit rate appears to be based on your Edged, Bashing or Pole skill -- bonuses from these aren't shown on the character info screen, but they clearly have a large effect on accuracy.) Missile weapons just plain miss a lot; as a result, they suck and you generally shouldn't use them.

 

Monsters with extremely high amounts of armour do seem to be slightly harder to hit, but in general armour doesn't appear to have a major effect on hit chance; it just reduces damage.

 

Magic damage is interesting. Damage appears to be based on your experience level and your Intelligence (although neither has a very large effect as long as your Intelligence is at least 4.) Obviously, you'll only do half normal damage if the monster has a resistance to the element of the spell you're attacking with. Monsters may also have a chance to reduce the damage further (a saving throw, if you will); I'm pretty sure this happens in either or both of Exile I or Exile II, but it's been so long since I've played that I can't remember which.

[MacCentris]

I believe this has to do with intelligence. If your PC has low intelligence forget it. However, even at Level 20 intelligence, mine can miss sometimes, that's honestly moves you lose when you would do a juicy spell instead. If you registered, use the editor to help.

[Princess Ruth]

Intelligence is to do with Mage/Priest skills, the higher it is, the more damage your spells will do.

Strength determines how hard you hit, and in E3, how much weight you can carry.

Dexterity helps you hit things, it also helps with using 2 weapons and disarming traps/lock picking.