Combat Factors in GS4

 

Roundtime (RT)

 

A round is the time it takes to execute a single combat maneuver or action. Once you attack or act, the action is followed by a Roundtime (RT), an interval of a number of seconds (usually between 3 and 10) during which you can perform no other complex actions. During a Roundtime you can speak or look around, but do little else.

 

Each weapon has a base Roundtime that can be found in the Weaponry Guide. Weapons with a base RT of one have a minimum RT of three seconds. Weapons with a base RT of two or three have a minimum RT of four seconds. All other weapons have a minimum RT of five seconds. The minimum RT for ambushing is one second greater than the minimum RT for that weapon normally.

 

The Roundtime added to armor can be found in the Armor section of the Combat Guide.

Encumbrance

 

Encumbrance in GemStone IV is simply a measurement of how much your character is carrying and how well they can carry it. It is not just the weight of the items you might have in your inventory, but also the bulk and size of them. For example, carrying fifty pounds of sand in a backpack may be fairly easy, but carrying fifty pounds of feathers with be a bit more difficult due to volume. Many factors affect how much your character can carry, among them are: Race, size, strength, and certain spells.

 

You can determine your character’s approximate encumbrance by clicking on the “character sheet” link in the default quicklink bar in the new Stormfront front end. Your encumbrance should be listed at the bottom of the sheet under the category “Encumbrance.”

 

It is also possible to check your approximate encumbrance by typing the ENCUMBRANCE command in the command prompt.

 

Note: Checking your encumbrance no longer will incur a 5 second Roundtime.

 

The more encumbered your character, the harder it will be to perform certain actions in the game. Some examples are: Increased Roundtime for swinging a weapon, standing up, and difficulty when dodging maneuver attacks, climbing obstacles, and swimming.

Attack Strength (AS)

Your character, as well as the creatures you are fighting, has an Attack Strength (AS) in combat. This AS includes bonuses for stats, superior weapons, skill in the use of the particular type of weapon being used, and certain spells or magical items. The AS is added to attack rolls as described below.

Defense Strength (DS)

Defense Strength, or DS, is the total amount subtracted from a combat roll due to the defenders advantages. These include bonuses for evading, blocking, and parrying attacks, shields, superior armor, and certain spells or magical items.

 

Your character’s AS and DS are also affected by adverse conditions. For instance, if your character is prone (usually caused by being knocked down) a -50 modifier will be applied to both AS and DS. Being badly injured, which is based on a percentage of health points remaining and the severity of wounds taken, can also cause AS and DS penalties. Certain lighting, weather conditions, and spells can also affect AS and DS.

 

In addition, using shields judged to be large or tower shields imposes a penalty to DS.  Large shields generate a -5 DS and tower shields -10 DS.

Attack vs. Defense (AvD)

The weapon wielded by the attacker is compared to the armor used by the defender and a modification is made dependent on this comparison. For instance, it is difficult for a dagger to penetrate the protection of platemail, so this would have a negative AvD comparison. However, a lightning bolt against platemail would have a positive AvD. The AvD of weapons versus armor can be found in the Weaponry Guide.

Attack Roll

To determine whether any given attack is successful, GemStone IV rolls a virtual 100-sided die (d100). The attacker’s AS, the AvD and the die roll are added, and the defender’s DS is subtracted. If the total result is over 100, the attack succeeds; otherwise it misses or is deflected, parried, etc.

Example:

Cyper has an AS of 350 with his Lightning Bolt. Raemus has a DS of 150 in his platemail. Platemail is vulnerable to lightning, so the AvD of the attack is at +45. This attack would look like this:

AS = 350 - DS = 150 + AvD 45 +d100 (50) = 295

A hit, by 195 points.

Raemus is not very happy about being hit with a lightning bolt and swings his long-knife at Cyper. Raemus has an AS of 275 with his knife. Cyper is wearing Robes and has a DS of 150. The AvD determines that it is pretty easy for a knife to penetrate robes (+15), and a roll is made to hit:

AS = 275 - DS = 150 + AvD 15 + d100 (50) = 190

A hit, by 90 points.

Evade, Block, and Parry

Evade, Block, and Parry are the three new “behind the scenes” combat additions, each taking place before the AS/DS check, seen when a character attacks a critter or vice versa. These are passive defenses, so players do not need to actively enter commands to evade, block, or parry an attack.

Evade

 

The first step in combat will be the opponent’s opportunity to evade an attack altogether. Evasion success will be based upon a combination of factors, including the character’s Dodge skill, armor hindrance, encumbrance, Agility, Intuition, shield size (increased hindrance with larger shields), stance, the level of the opponent, and some spells, such as Mobility, Blur, and Song of Mirrors.

 

Increased Dodging skill will improve a character’s chance to evade an attack entirely, and if the outright evade fails, the Dodge skill still increases the character’s Defense Strength.

 

Training guidelines for Dodge for characters pursuing a One-handed weapon/Shield training path are shown below. Characters that pursue shieldless combat styles will be expected to have more Dodge skill than the typical OH/Shield users:

 

 

The above table shows what would be considered “typical training” for a given profession. Any player is free to train their character as they see fit, but this table provides a basic guideline for what the combat system expects.

Dodge Defense Strength (DS) bonus:

(Dodge Ranks + (AGiLity bonus) + (INTuition Bonus/4) + Spell Mods) = Base Value

 

Base Value * Stance Modifier * Shield Penalty * Armor Hindrance Penalty = DS bonus

 

Spells that improve attempts to Dodge include Mass Blur and Song of Mirrors.

Stance Modifier: 75% + Stance/4.

 

Example: In Stance Guarded (Stance = 80), the Dodge DS stance modifier would be 75% + (80/4) = 95%

Shield Penalty: Using a shield hinders attempts to Dodge. The penalty is 22% for a small shield, 30% for a medium shield, 38% for a large shield, and 46% for a tower shield.

 

Armor Hindrance penalty: Wearing heavy armor hinders attempts to Dodge. The penalty is 1/2 of the armor’s Maneuver Hindrance value.

 

The odds for an outright dodge are based on the defender’s Dodge ranks compared to the attacker’s level. It is affected by stats, certain spells, and stance. A character with 1x Dodge training can evade a like-level foe roughly 5% of the time in stance offensive. A character with 3x Dodge training and all other factors the same would have roughly a 15% chance to evade that same attack.

 

Evade DS bonus is increased by 50% against any ranged attacks (arrows, hurled, bolts). It is possible to evade ranged attacks completely, though the chance of a successful evasion is less than the chance against melee attacks.

Block

 

If the Evade attempt fails, the next step is the opportunity to block the attack. In order to block, the character must have a shield in their left hand. The Block attempt is based on a combination of factors, including the character’s Shield skill, , Dexterity, Strength, shield size (bonus for the larger shield), stance, and the level of the opponent. Shields provide more benefit when blocking missile and bolt spell attacks than they do against melee attacks. It is not possible, however, to block a bolt outright without using a specially enhanced shield.

 

Shield skill aids in two ways; first, increased skill will improve a character’s chance to block an attack entirely. Second, if the outright block fails, the shield skill still increases the character’s Defense Strength (DS).

 

There are four types of shields in GemStone IV. Shields have various names, but can be broken down into four categories:

·       Small Shield

·       Medium (standard) Shield

·       Large Shield

·       Tower/Wall Shield

Training guidelines for Shield Use (for characters pursuing a One-handed weapon/Shield training path):

 

 

The above table shows what would be considered “typical training” for a given profession. Any player is free to train their character as they see fit, but this table provides a basic guideline for what the combat system expects.

Shield Defense Strength (DS) bonus:

(Shield Ranks + (STR bonus/4) + (DEX Bonus/4))/(1.5) = Base Value

 

Base Value * Stance Modifier * (100% + Shield Size Modifier) = DS bonus

Shield Size Modifier Table:

 

 

Stance Modifier: 50% + Stance/2.

Example: In Stance Guarded (Stance = 80), the Shield DS stance modifier would be 50% + (80/2) = 90%

The odds for an outright Block are based on the defender’s Shield Use ranks compared to the attacker’s level. It is affected by stats, shield size, and stance.

 

A character with 1x shield training and a medium shield will block a like-level foe roughly 5% of the time in stance offensive. A character with 3x shield training and all other factors the same would have roughly a 15% chance to block that same attack.

 

For Bolt DS, which includes all ranged attacks (arrows, hurled weapons, and bolt spells), the size modifier of your shield is increased by 50%. For example, a wall shield would have a 60% size modifier versus ranged attacks rather than the 40% versus melee attacks. Five DS is added for each size greater than medium, while small shields have a reduction of 5 DS. Normally, it is not possible to block bolt spells.

 

Guard

 

Guard allows a warrior to attempt to block attacks against another target (either player or creature).  A warrior can only attempt to guard one target at a time, and a target can only have one guard at any given time.  To start guarding a target, the warrior simply uses GUARD <target>.

 

When guarding, the warrior automatically (if not incapacitated) attempts to block attacks against the target with 50% of his or her normal blocking ability, at the cost of 25% reduction in chances to block attacks directed towards him or herself (i.e. if the warrior normally has a 20% chance to block an attack against themselves, then the warrior would have a 10% chance to block attacks against his or her guarded target and a 15% chance to block attacks against themselves.)

 

The above only applies to the chances to outright block an attack, it does not affect either party’s derived block DS.

Parry

 

Finally, if the attack has not been evaded or blocked, the opponent will attempt to parry. The character must have a weapon in their right hand to parry (bonus for an additional weapon in the left hand). It is not possible to parry missile weapons or bolt spells without using magically enhanced weapons specifically designed for such parrying (e.g., Rune Staves). The parry attempt is based on several factors, including the character’s relevant Weapon skill, Dexterity, Strength, stance, and the level of the opponent.

 

Parrying is handled similarly to Shield Blocking: increased skill will improve a character’s chance to deflect an attack entirely, and if the outright parry fails, the Parrying still increases the character’s DS. Parrying will require the defender to use a weapon unless the defender is a Monk. Parrying openhanded with Brawling skill will still provide the DS bonus but will not have a chance for the outright parry.

 

Training guidelines for a weapon skill:

 

 

Parry DS bonus:

(Weapon Ranks + (STR bonus/2) + (DEX Bonus/2)) = Base Value

 

Base Value * Stance Modifier * 2H weapon modifier + (Stance - 30)/2 = DS bonus

Stance Modifier: 20% + (Stance/2)

 

Example: In Stance Guarded (Stance = 80), the Stance Modifier would be 20% + (80/2) = 60%

 

The odds for an outright parry are based on the defender’s weapon ranks compared to the attacker’s level.  It is affected by stats, certain spells, and stance. A character with 2x weapon training would parry a like-level foe roughly 5% of the time in stance offensive.

 

Using a two-handed weapon provides a 50% bonus, otherwise no modifier.  The weapon enchant is applied before the 50% parry modifier for two-handed weapons is added.  For one-handed weapons, the bonus is plus/2, for two-handed weapons, the bonus is the plus (enchant of the weapon).

 

If using a hybrid two-handed/one-handed weapon such as a katana in a one-handed method, the 50% parry bonus will still apply, provided the left hand is free.  A -10 AS penalty is applied if the left hand is not free, as well as half the parry DS modifier.

 

If using a two-handed weapon, including two-handed polearms and hybrid two-handed weapons, without a free left hand, a penalty is imposed to parry DS, rather than a bonus.  The penalty is lower for hybrid weapons.

 

Using a shield with a two-handed or hybrid two-handed weapon will provide defense similar to in GemStone III.  Depending on training and the shield, the defense provided may be lower than having a free hand, but the shield will help defend against magical bolts and ranged attacks.

 

An target, once enraged, does not lose all parry DS.  They are, however, forced into an offensive stance and will not be able to parry attacks outright.

 

Protect

 

Protect allows a warrior to parry attacks against a target (either player or creature).  A warrior can only attempt to protect one target at a time, and a target can only have one protector at any given time.  To start protecting a target, the warrior simply uses PROTECT <target>.  To stop, the warrior may use STOP PROTECTING.

 

When protecting, the warrior automatically (if not incapacitated) attempts to parry attacks against the target with 50% of his or her normal parrying ability, at the cost of 25% reduction in chances to parry attacks directed towards him or herself (i.e. if the warrior normally has a 20% chance to parry an attack against themselves, then the warrior would have a 10% chance to parry attacks against his or her protected target and a 15% chance to parry attacks against themselves.).

The above only applies to the chances to outright parry an attack.  It does not affect either party’s derived parry DS.