Animal Stats
| Name | Health | Evade/Dodge | Attack | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rat | 6 | 5/5 | unarmed:6 | 2 |
| Spider | 9 | 10/10 | unarmed:6 | 4 |
Blog
Torso Armor Stats
| Name | Defense vs. bludgeoing | Defense vs. piercing | Defense vs. slashing | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloth | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leather armor | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Scale mail | 4 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Chain mail | 8 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| Plate mail | 6 | 10 | 12 | 5 |
Melee Weapon Stats
| Name | Bludgeoning | Piercing | Slashing | Tile range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | 4 | 2 | ||
| Dagger | 4 | 1 | ||
| Flail | 6 | 2 | 3 | |
| Greatsword | 6 | 6 | 3 | |
| Halbert | 8 | 4 | 5 | |
| Longsword | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Mace | 8 | 2 | ||
| Quarterstaff | 4 | 2 | ||
| Short Sword | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Spear | 10 | 4 | ||
| Unarmed | 2 | 1 | ||
| Waraxe | 12 | 2 | ||
| Warhammer | 12 | 2 | ||
Attribute
Attributes are a resemblance of the characters genetical ability.
Amount of attribute point is fixed and are distributed deliberately
Skills can’ be trained higher than the amount of the corresponding attribute levels accumulated.
Attributes determine the training costs of a skill:
- if the attribute is greater than 20 it reduces training cost by 2 xp per point
- if the attribute is lesser than 20 it increases training cost by 3 xp per point
| Attribute | Effect on | Associated skills |
|---|---|---|
| Agility: Reflexes & Flexibility | Attack Defense (Evade & Dodge) Initiative Movement | Armor Weapon |
| Charisma: it determines how easy or difficult it is for the PC to hold together a party of differing alignments, and it determines who the PC can romance. I would cast “Friends” to up the charisma of the lead character and the party talked their way out of more combats. Charisma can also increase locally by doing heroic acts in the relevant town. It is not about beautiy but more about personality and negotiation | Ascension Prayer | Haggling/Barer Leadership Persuade |
| Dexterity: Hand eye coordination | Critical Strikes | Crafting Lockpicking Traps Weapon (esp. Bow) |
| Intelligence, Sagacity: Knowledge & Memory | Spells (Amount, Tier) | Bartering Languages Lockpicking Persuasion Talking ( Dialogue options ) Traps Persuasion |
| Intuition; Resistance to stress, Make the right decision, Guide others | ||
| Perception: | Vision Range | |
| Strength: | Attack Bash doors Carrying capacity (10kg – 50kg, normal 20kg) Damage Movement Poise | Armor Weapon |
| Vitality: | Hit Points Movement Resistance to Poison / Disease Stamina Vision Range | Armor (Cloth) |
Attribute levels
| Value | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 10 | not possible | |
| 10 – 14 | poor | crippled, cursed |
| 15 – 19 | below average | starting value when creating a character |
| 20 – 24 | average | |
| 25 – 29 | able | trained or talented |
| 30 – 34 | outstanding | trained and talented |
| 35 – 39 | master | trained and talented, main focus of self improvement |
| 40 – 44 | ascended | only reachable if ascended |
| 45+ | divine |
Raising an attribute
There are two ways to raise an attribute:
- Advancement in the characters class (+1 class specific attribute, e.g. warrior gets +1 strength)
- Spend attribute value * 100 xp (raising an attribute from 14 to 15 costs 14 * 100 xp = 1400 xp)
Improvements
Traits: This note detailed the old Class and Traits system. Originally, genetic traits did not exist in the game and instead, traits were more like “talents”. A character could have major talents which give massive bonuses to mana, and minor talents which gave small bonuses to other areas.
Negative attributes: I think the most innovation in attribute scores is that it adds negative attributes (things like avarice or superstition) to the mix. Makes up for some pretty fun gameplay situations.
Declined
Random increases: Your characters also get stat increases on level-up, but they are completely random. Apparently this leads some power-gamers to save before a level-up and re-load their game if they don’t like the stat increases.
Randomness in Character creation: There is really no need to keep random values in character generation and development – all you do is forcing players to endlessly reroll the dice, reload the gamestates until finally the results are acceptable. Character management should by complex and interesting enough without such shenanigans.
Table of contents
Design
Skill
There are a variety of skills that your character can train and learn. Each skill has a list of three associated attributes, which contribute to your maximum skill level. The higher the associated attributes are the lower the cost of learning the skill is.
Skill tiers
To level up a skill you have to apply the skill. Once you have reached enough experience through application you need a teacher who helps you to further advance in your skill. The first 6 levels of a skill level can be gained through practice or training, but to reach a new tier you need a trainer. The trainer must at least have the tier you want to learn. After reaching the Grandmaster tier you still may advance in your skill by practice forever, but gaining practice at that level is very hard.
E.g. you just have trained with a trainer and you advanced from Apprentice to Journeyman. You now have level 30 in your skill. You have to gain experience in the skill until you reach level 36. Then a trainer can teach you and you can advance to the Craftsman tier, gaining 4 levels in your skill.
| Skill level | Tier |
|---|---|
| under 10 | Untrained |
| 10+ | Novice / Neophyte |
| 20+ | Apprentice |
| 30+ | Journeyman |
| 40+ | Craftsman |
| 50+ | Artisan |
| 60+ | Adept |
| 70+ | Expert |
| 80+ | Master |
| 90+ | Archmaster |
| 100+ | Grandmaster |
Available skills
| Skill | Type | Default | Attribute | Attribute | Attribute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cloth | armor | 10 | agility | agility | agility |
| leather | armor | 0 | agility | agility | strength |
| armor | 0 | agility | strength | strength | |
| plate | armor | 0 | strength | strength | strength |
| shield | armor | 0 | agility | strength | strength |
| carrying_capacity | body | 20 | strength | strength | vitality |
| health | body | 20 | agility | intelligence | vitality |
| initiative | body | 10 | agility | intelligence | perception |
| perception | body | 20 | intelligence | intelligence | intelligence |
| movement | body | 20 | agility | strength | vitality |
| stamina | body | 20 | agility | strength | vitality |
| vision_range | body | 20 | perception | perception | perception |
| alchemy | craft | 0 | dexterity | intelligence | intelligence |
| blacksmith | craft | 0 | dexterity | strength | perception |
| backstab | criminal | 0 | agility | dexterity | strength |
| hide | criminal | 0 | agility | intelligence | perception |
| lockpicking | criminal | 0 | dexterity | dexterity | intelligence |
| pickpocket | criminal | 0 | dexterity | dexterity | intelligence |
| sneak | criminal | 0 | agility | agility | perception |
| evade | defense | 10 | agility | agility | perception |
| dodge | defense | 10 | agility | perception | perception |
| poise | defense | 10 | strength | strength | vitality |
| enchanting | magical | 0 | intelligence | intelligence | intelligence |
| rune_lore | magical | 0 | intelligence | intelligence | intelligence |
| spell_lore | magical | 0 | intelligence | intelligence | intelligence |
| first aid | medical | 0 | dexterity | intelligence | intelligence |
| herb_lore | medical | 0 | intelligence | intelligence | perception |
| praying | religious | 0 | charisma | charisma | intelligence |
| haggle | social | 0 | charisma | charisma | intelligence |
| languages | social | 0 | charisma | intelligence | intelligence |
| leadership | social | 0 | charisma | charisma | intelligence |
| persuasion | social | 0 | charisma | charisma | intelligence |
| track | survival | 0 | perception | perception | perception |
| set_and_disarm_traps | survival | 0 | dexterity | intelligence | perception |
| battleaxe | weapon | 0 | dexterity | agility | strength |
| bow | weapon | 0 | dexterity | perception | strength |
| crossbow | weapon | 0 | dexterity | perception | intelligence |
| dagger | weapon | 10 | dexterity | dexterity | strength |
| greatsword | weapon | 0 | agility | strength | strength |
| mace | weapon | 0 | dexterity | strength | strength |
| quarterstaff | weapon | 10 | dexterity | agility | agility |
| spear | weapon | 0 | dexterity | agility | strength |
| sword | weapon | 0 | agility | dexterity | strength |
| unarmed | weapon | 10 | agility | dexterity | strength |
| waraxe | weapon | 0 | agility | strength | strength |
| warhammer | weapon | 0 | agility | strength | strength |
Attack
The outcome of an attack depends on the following things:
- Determine if ranged or melee attack (range > 5 tiles means ranged and therefor dodge is the defense skill otherwise evade)
- Calculate base hit chance
- Roll (random factor) for Attack quality and calculate bonus
- Calculate defense bonus
- Roll a d100 and if result <= hit chance attacker hits
- Calculate damage (weapon damage – armor defense)
Base hit chance
Decisive for the hit chance is the difference from the attackers weapon skill to the defenders evade or dodge skill. The attacker gets a bonus to her base chance of 66% up to a maximum chance of 99%.
| Chance | Condition |
|---|---|
| 66% | Base hit chance |
| 4% | Per skill level difference from 1 to 6 |
| 3% | Per skill level difference from 7 to 12 |
| 2% | Per skill level difference from 13 to 18 |
| 1% | Per skill level difference from 19 to 30 |
| -2% | Per skill level difference below 0 |
| 99% | Maximum hit chance |
Attack bonus
The attack quality is the random element an can have positive or negative effects on the attack value.
| Chance | Displayed text | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1% | Very unlucky attack | +60 Attack |
| 1 % | Very lucky attack | -60 Attack, Drop weapon |
| 3% | Lucky attack | +40 Attack |
| 3% | Clumsy attack | -40 Attack |
| 5% | Powerful attack | +20% Strength |
| 10% | Successful faint | +20 Attack |
| 10% | Unsuccessful faint | -20 Attack |
| 67% | Normal attack |
Defense bonus
| Prerequisite | Result |
|---|---|
| Flanked by enemy | -15 defense per agent |
| Flanked by allies | +5 defense per agent |
The attack value is calculated by applying the quality of the attack to the skill value of the weapon which is used for the attack.
Experience
Experienced gained from
- Successful combat
- Revealing secrets in conversations
- Solving quests
- Exploration
Possible extensions
Experience varies: E.g. the character who actually killed the enemy gets twice what everyone else gets. Or depends on outcome of action:
- 2 experience points for every successful regular attack against a foe
- 6 experience points for every critical hit against a foe
- 1 experience point for every successful casting of a spell per points put into the spell, so for a 15-point “magic bolt,” I got 15 experience points. What’s also cool is this applies to defensive and healing spells, too.
- 35 points for each kill
Dump experience in skills: The ability to dump experience directly into skills means that development is constant and palpable.
Decisions based on
You get experience only for things which challenge you. Killing an orc with a +15 sword and level 50 will give you nothing as a reward.
This is a good system ,though I personally prefer if games give you XP relative to the player’s and enemy’s level. Although that’s probably difficult to ballance well. Tactics Ogre has a great system, where you always need 100 XP to advance a level, but the amount you get varies strongly, depending on player and enemy level. One attack against a higher level enemy might give you 20 XP – a fifth of a level, but if you want to mindlessly grind against weaker enemies, you’ll only get one XP per hit, so you’d have to defeat 50 to 100 enemies to gain one level
Characters get experience for casting spells outside of combat, as well as for talking with NPCs. That’s a great system.
One thing I like about the game is the way experience points are earned, which is based on successful action rather than just a “kill.” I spent some time in a recent battle trying to figure out exactly what I was getting for each action. For all I know, the numbers vary considerably given the type of foe and other considerations, but for my battle with a couple of ogres, my characters seemed to get:
- 2 experience points for every successful regular attack against a foe
- 6 experience points for every critical hit against a foe
- 1 experience point for every successful casting of a spell per points put into the spell, so for a 15-point “magic bolt,” I got 15 experience points. What’s also cool is this applies to defensive and healing spells, too.
- 35 points for each kill
I do like the game’s approach to distributing gold and experience after battles. Where most games either give them to the character who struck the killing blow (Ultima IV) or distribute them evenly among party members (the default), Xyphus adopts a hybrid: the character who actually killed the enemy gets twice what everyone else gets.
You get a small amount of experience for disarming traps. I can’t remember a previous game that does this.
The ability to dump experience directly into skills means that development is constant and palpable.
Since you get experience from every battle and can spend it more-or-less immediately, character development is swift and constant
Firstly you receive half the experience for any hits you land on an opponent e.g. if you hit for 6 points of damage you would instantly gain 3 points of experience.
Directly buy power (spell and weapon skill) with XP
Secondly on winning an encounter you appear to get an experience bonus which is based on the opponent’s initial hit points multiplied by a factor – in many cases this is two but in the case of say a Ghost this could be as high as eight.
Success is heavily dependent on developing a couple dozen magic, combat, and adventuring skills, on which you directly spend experience.
I’m discovering that the game awards both individual experience (for successful actions like casting spells) and party experience. We’ve had games that have done one or the other before, but I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a game that does both.
As in Crown, accumulated experience points are spent directly on improvement of skills an attributes. Some of the weaknesses are here, too, including a sense of micromanagement that I admit might leave my final review echoing CGW’s if the game lasts too long
You gain experience when you kill monsters in the dungeon, but you have to rest at an inn to “absorb experience” and thus gain levels.
Possible conditions for all agents
| When does effect occur | Effect | |
| dead | Depends on disease | |
| encumbered | https://twilightends.com/encumbrance/ | |
| experienced | The agent has enough experience to advance a level | Can level up Dotted, yellow border around agent name in party window |
| fatigued | Stamina < 20%, no sleep for 2 days | -20% penalty to every action, – 2 AP |
| has_parried | ||
| party_encumbered | https://twilightends.com/encumbrance/ | |
| poisoned | – Poison has to build, only when a certain threshold is reached it has consequences – Poison causes attribute drains or continual health loss, which is bad enough – Not: a poisoned character “dies” instantly – You have to drag him back to a temple for healing – Counter Measure: Resistance, Herbs, Do not move, Spell “slow poison” – Countner is reduced by one every hour – | If poison counter < 50: Effect is none when agent is sitting still, movements makes the poison wander around the body and cause damage to health |
| unconscious | Stamina < 10% Health <= 0 && Health > -10 If a character’s hit points go to 0, he doesn’t die immediately. Instead, he gets knocked unconscious. If at that point he takes any more damage, he dies, but melee opponents don’t target unconscious characters. Thus, the only real danger is 1) if all the members of your party are knocked unconscious; or 2) if your foes have a “party effect” attack like fire breath or acid spray, which will turn unconscious characters into dead characters. If the character’s hit points reach 0, he falls unconscious. Less than 0, he becomes seriously wounded. Unconscious characters regenerate hit points as time passes and wake up, but seriously wounded characters get worse as time passes, progressing to critically wounded, mortally wounded, comatose, and finally dead. The “medic” skill can reverse the process, but I only gave my characters level 1 in the skill, and apparently you need a higher level to turn someone from “critical” (which Jackie was) to just “unconscious.” Looks like I need to invest more in medical skills. | The agent can’t act anymore. She loses one point per round until she reaches -5, at which point he dies. She can die immediately if the damage is serious or an assasination attempt. |
Not implemented yet
| When does effect occur | Effect | Visual | |
| Action Points | Add or remove x AP | ||
| Armor Set mismatch | Armor is mismatched, which indicates that the wearer is scoundrel | suffers different penalties in NPC interactions | |
| Attribute Modifier < Agility, Charisma, Intelligence, Strength, Vitality > | Debuffs | ||
| Aging | |||
| Bleeding <Normal, Serious> | Bleeding is substracted from lifepoints each time it is that character’s turn. Normal bleeding is 1 point per point, serious bleeding is 2 lifepoints per point. Stopping the bleeding requires taking a round to bandage the fallen comrade Stop bleeding needs the first aid skill | ||
| Blinded | |||
| Coughing | |||
| Crippled | If you get hit in your arm, your accuracy goes down. Hit in the leg, you slow down. Hit in the head, vision gets blurred. Hit in chest/torso slower to recover. Broken amrs or legs, needs first aid skill to be cured | ||
| Critical | Health < 75% | Can’t do anything else than walk | |
| Disabled | paralyzed | ||
| Diseased | Depends on disease | ||
| Drunk | -30% penalty to every action | ||
| Exhausted | Stamina < 20%, no sleep for 2 days | -20% penalty to every action, – 2 AP | |
| Fear <level> | Action Points are reduced. You fight enemies, but they’re ghosts and slimes and such, and instead of damaging your hit points, their attacks raise your fear score. | APs are reduced by 2 for each fear level | |
| Freeze | Freeze in terror when against a mythical monster, but only in melee. | ||
| In love | |||
| Injured | Crippled | ||
| Invincible vs. Physical attacks | Nifts protect you against three physical attacks, and the simplest method of winning combat is to always have these in your system. They don’t “stack,” unfortunately, so if a single character gets hit more than three times in one round, you inevitably take damage. When my health is low, eating a Nift vies only for casting a “Shield” spell (depending on the enemy I’m facing) for priority. | ||
| Knocked down | Must stand up, takes 1 AP | ||
| Level Drain | |||
| Morale <Very Bad, Bad, Normal Good, Very Good> | The longer the combat takes, the more your characters’ “morale” score dips, making them less effective at all of their skills. | A 10% penaltiy to every action | |
| Movement | Add x tiles to agents movement | ||
| Paralyzed | Can’t act anymore until cured | ||
| Radiation | Whether through storms, walking through radiated areas, or fighting radiated monsters, it’s fun to see the various negative (stupidity, blindness, instant death at the next irradiation, attribute drains) and positive (laser eyes, attribute increases, double speed, radiation immunity) effects that radiation confers in the game. In addition to hit points, you have “radiation points” that you want to keep above 0, else you suffer disease and mutation–although some mutations, apparently, can be helpful. | ||
| Silence | Silence is great versus enemy mages and clerics (especially clerics, since they are effective with Hold Person). One trick I learned is to hit one of my own warriors with Silence and have them go stand next to the spell-casters (since the spell has a 15′ radius). Works great most of the time. | Can’t cast any spells and talk | |
| Sleeping | Effect of a spell, or deliberate state | Doesn’t act until she awaks | |
| Stoned | Effect of a spell | Can’t act anymore and needs special curing | |
| Stumbling | Happens from a particularly tough blow, or if the agent gets pushed | Looses 1 AP, thus reducing intitiative | |
| Stunned | Happens from a particularly tough blow | Looses 2 APs, thus reducing intitiative | |
| Tired | Stamina < 40%, no sleep for 1 day | A malus of 10% to every action, -1 AP | |
| Unfitting Armor <Cloth, Leather, Chain, Scale, Plate > | If the agent wears armor which wasn’t tailored for him. | The Debuff is different for each Armor Type. It raises stamina costs for each action | |
| Weak | Health < 75% | Spriting is not possible, all actions have an added stamina cost of 20% |
Armor
Encumbrance: Every suit of armor has an associated weight, and if the bearer isn’t up to carrying that much weight, strength-wise, it quickly exhausts him in combat. (Post about encumbrance)
Stats
| Fitted to | ID of the Agent |
| Defense vs. Slash | Amount of Damage Reduction |
| Defense vs. Strike | Amount of Damage Reduction |
| Defense vs. Thrust | Amount of Damage Reduction |
| Noise | Amount of Noise the armor generates. Noise reduces the stealth value |
| Visibility | A modifier which describes if the armor supports hiding or hinders it |
| Type | CLOTH, LEATHER, CHAIN, SCALE, PLATE |
Improvements
Destructible: Armor takes damages end deteriorates with usage.
Fitting: Armor needs to be fitted to the wearer. If not the wearer has the unfitting armor condition. Fitting an armor to the wearer costs and needs a person with the according craftman skills
Level: Every armor piece can be bound to an owner. She gets the level bonus.
Armor Set: If a agent wears a wild list of different armors, he will suffer in his reputation and NPCs will likely treat him worse, or even might mark him as an outcast.
Seperate body parts: There is no total armor class but rather an individual armor class (and hit point total) for each body part. As attacks pierce armor, they deduct from the hit point total of the underlying body part. Each body part has a different result when damaged, e.g. if legs have 0 HPs the agent can’t walk anymore.
Set bonus: I finished playing Dragon Age: Origins a few weeks ago, and I loved how you got bonuses for wearing different pieces of armor of the same style. It makes sense if solely from a fashion standpoint: my Morrowind character looks pretty silly with a leather cuirass, ebony boots, chain greaves, a glass pauldron on one shoulder, and a steel pauldron on the other.
Vision: Field of Vision depends on which helmet you are wearing.
Decision based on
Different races/classes can use any armour, but with factors like weight of the armours and wepons, characters’ strength, and fatigue from moving, attacking, defending and casting spells, it makes sense to have Dwarven and strong human fighters in heavy armour, tall and not very strong Kelden warriors in medium armour, archers and scouts in light armour and mages in only clothes. A better system than the arbitrary rules of most other CRPGs, although the end result is not so different in practice.
Coming up much sooner is Darklands where enemy alchemists throw acid potions across the map with 100% accuracy that ruin your armor. Good thing inventory is practically unlimited and unequipped items weigh nothing, so you can bring a few spare sets.
Amulets & Armor has wizards with ranged acid attacks that destroy random items from your inventory. If you’re lucky, it’s just a carrot, if not, it might be your hardened steel mail.
Unsere Rüstung kann kaputtgehen, verschmutzen oder mit Blut besudelt sein, was ebenfalls Einfluss auf unser Charisma oder unsere Bedrohlichkeit hat. Das wird dank hübscher Texturshadern gut sichtbar.
Weil es verschiedene Schichten gibt, empfiehlt es sich, diese schlau zu kombinieren. Ein weiches Unterhemd hilft, den Schaden zu mildern, den ein Prügel an einer Plattenrüstung anrichtet.
Wiederholte Schläge auf dasselbe Rüstungsteil mindern die Condition und richten folglich mehr und mehr Schäden an.
Declined features
Dexterity Bonus: Dexterity-based armor class modifiers. => Dexterity is accounted by parrying
Hit zones: Every armor has weaknesses, e.g. plate armor doesn’t protect the hollow of the knee. Hitting those weak spots is very difficult but neglects the effect of the armor => Is accounted by critical hits