Damage and Duration Mechanics

[Men are from Slars]

How offensive ability strength is determined:

 

 

Damage

The base damage range (shown in the tooltip) is basically a good old die roll: for example, 4d6 + 5.

 

Die quantity = 1 + Character Level + Ability Skill (e.g. in Firebolt or Guarded Lunge) + Weapon Level (if a weapon-based attack)

Die size = fixed, depends on ability used.

Base damage = fixed, depends on ability used.

 

* If attacking unarmed with the Feisty Slap Gloves, Strength also adds to die quantity.

 

After rolling base damage, apply the bonus damage % (also shown in the tooltip).  Bonus damage % is mostly additive.  This is where you get +5% from Strength, +8% from Melee Weapons, etc.  Most sources are conditional, and the tooltips are not always precise as to when they apply:

 

Physical melee only: Strength

Physical ranged only: Dexterity

Any magical/elemental damage: Intellect

Melee Weapon attacks only: Melee Weapons

Ranged Weapon attacks only: Ranged Weapons

Melee/ranged attacks only: Guarded Lunge and Essence Lash modifiers

Spells only: Spellcraft

Spells of a particular school only: Battle Magic, Mental Magic, Blessing Magic, Healing Craft

Specific abilities only: the % bonuses certain abilities gain from extra skill, e.g. +25% per point in Firebolt beyond 1.

Everything: Statuses (War Blessing, Curse, Enraged, Overload, Rooted, etc.)

 

Everything (summed and then multiplied with the above total): flat % damage bonuses from equipment/charms (e.g. "+5% to melee damage")

 

* In the rare case that an ability does two types of damage (such as that one sword), the first damage type appears to determine which % bonuses are used for both damage components.

 

Duration

This is calculated basically the same way as damage.

 

Most status effects omit the dice component, and just have a fixed base duration.

 

Bonus duration % is much like bonus damage % with two exceptions:

1. Status duration always uses Intellect bonuses, never Strength or Dexterity bonuses.

2. Status duration uses "% to blessings/curses" equipment/charm bonuses rather than "% to damage" ones.

 

Bonus duration % is effectively applied with a little bit of variance, which is why you don't always get identical durations when casting the same spell, unless you have no such bonuses.

 

[alhoon]

So, Battle Magic adds the 8% and not to the dice you do with firebolt? 

[Randomizer]

Increasing the number of dices is done by adding spell or weapon shaping levels.

 

 

[Magenta]

This is actually very helpful. It gives me some simple "rules of thumb" to think about. I know there's more to it than that because you also have to decide whether to put points into the primary stats or the specific skills. But it helps.