Hitting the opponent is determined by your attacking skill versus their defending skill. To determine if you hit, or made a ‘telling blow’ the following factors are taken into consideration for the attacker:

• Attacker’s skill with the weapon being used. (Vitae, magic bonuses are taken into consideration here as well.)
• Modifications to the weapon. (Some weapons can boost the chance of landing a hit.)
• Range Modifier (For missile weapons)
• Accuracy Modifier (Missile weapons again – setting of the force bar)
• Maneuver modifier (Charging, or not, attacking from front or behind)

There are also factors that affect the resistance level of the defender:

• Melee or Missile Defense (Vitae and magic bonuses apply here as well)
• Modifiers for weapon that increases defense level. (Some weapons can boost the defense of a person)
• Activity of the defender. (Standing, sitting, combat mode, etc.)
• Modifier based on where the defender is attacking in response. (High, low, etc. If you counterattack where you are being attacked, you get a small bonus to defense.)
• If defender is being attacked by multiple attackers.
• A burden modifier.
• Stamina or no stamina modifier.

What about damage? Well, from Sybex’s Strategy & Secrets book, we learn the formula for damage..

Well that’s quite a mouthful.. What are all of the modifiers?

• MaxDmg is the maximum damage a weapon can do.
• PwrMod is the power modifier based on the position of the speed/power bar. From 50% (minimum) to 150% (maximum). For missile attacks PwrMod is always equal to 1.0.
• StrMod is a modifier based on the attackers strength. This is a negative number for strength lower than 55. Above 54 it is a positive number. At 100 Strength, the modifier is around 1.36.
• ArmMod is a modifier based on the defenders armor. Unarmored opponents would have a modifier of about 1.0 Someone wearing plate would have a modifier of about .38 which would reduce the damage to 38%.
• ShdMod is a shield modifier similar to the Armor modifier.
• VarMod is a combined random/critical hit modifier. If the attack ‘roll’ resulted in a critical hit, VarMod is equal to 2.0 Otherwise it is a random number based on the weapon variance.
• BowMod is the damage modifier used from a missile firing weapon to its ammunition. If you’re not using any type of ammunition, this will be 1.0

Ok, this still isn’t very clear, right? Let’s give an example. Let’s say Galahad, a fighter, swings his sword, and hits. How much damage does he do? His Sword lists damage as being from 2 – 8. His power bar is all the way to the right, meaning slow but full power. His strength is 100. He’s attacking a Shreth, which we’ll guess has an armor level equal to leather. (I’m making this up, I have no idea what a Shreth’s armor level is equal to, and I don’t know what the ArmMod would be, but for the purpose of illustration, pretend I know what I’m talking about) So we’ll say his ArmMod is about .8, which will reduce the damage to 80%. The shreth has no shield, so this will be 1.0. It was not a critical hit, so we’ll say that his VarMod was .7 And he’s using a sword, not a bow, so the BowMod will be 1.0 So our formula for damage should be:

Some of the variables are set, and others are controllable. What can you do to maximize your damage potential? Here are a few thoughts that I have, that may be worth checking into.

• Increase your main weapon skill, until it hurts. The higher your weapon skill, the greater chance to hit, and the greater the chance to get a critical hit.
• Keep vitae down to 0% at all times. This pretty much goes without saying, but it’s worth mentioning. Everyone gets vitae. When you die, and get that first 5%, do whatever it takes to work it off before tackling the same creature

Again. I know that sometimes I get angry at the monster that killed me, and go charging back from the lifestone only to get killed again. Don’t do this. The higher your vitae, the less chance for critical hit, and I think that critical hits are pretty key to taking out massive creatures. If your sword skill is 200, and you take even a 5% vitae penalty, your sword skill drops 10 points to 190. At 10%, it’s down to 180. That’s 20 points for dying twice. And against some creatures, those 20 points are what will make the difference between him evading, and you hitting.

• If you have a mage in your group, have them help you. There are so many ways a mage can help a group, without blasting the creature. I’m going to write a separate article on this, but for now, know that a smart mage can help you get crits against things that you may not normally be able to hit.

For damage, keep in mind the following:

• Always use the weapon with the highest possible damage.
• If you can score criticals on a creature, keep your power setting to low. In fact, it is the opinion of most people that you should almost always keep your speed/power bar closer to speed. If you’re unarmed, set it all the way to fast. Especially if you’re getting criticals. The faster you attack, the more attacks you get, and the greater the chance of scoring a critical. That’s one of the reason unarmed is getting a reputation of being ‘broken’. The weapon speeds are insanely low, and they get so many attacks in, hence more damage.
• Boost your strength until it hurts. The higher the strength, the greater the damage.
• Know the weaknesses of creatures. I don’t know exactly how this formulates into the equation above, but I would guess that the ArmMod is lower for creatures for certain attacks, depending on the creature. For example, a Mattekar may have an ArmMod of .3 against most attacks, but he would have an ArmMod of .5 against fire. Meaning he takes 30% of damage from most attacks, but from fire he takes 50% damage. Which brings up another point...

Monty / Hakeem