MRPG Combat and Magic old 2
This page contains the primary formulas for combat and magic use.
In Mage Wars RPG, a lot of percentages are used; all numbers are always rounded DOWN to the nearest whole-number or unit.
Contents
Combat
Combat is based around 2 things: Attack and Defense(hereto reffered to as AV and DV). It all comes down to your AV and DV scores. Player's have passive AV and DV scores(Base AV and Base DV); when a player makes an attack, their Variable AV(Var-AV) is calculated. if Var-AV is higher than the target's Variable DV(Var-DV), the attack is successful and goes on to damage calculation.
Calculating Base and Variable Values
AV and DV values rely on a variety of proficiencies and stats, as well as modifiers.
Base Attack Value
Base AV is as simple as (Mod x Weapon Proficiency) + (Mod x Special Weapon Proficiency)(if applicable).
As covered under Proficiency Modifiers, proficiencies are increased according to applicable stats. For the purposes of Base AV, use the modified score.
Variable Attack Value
VAR-AV is determined each time the player makes an attack. The player gets 1d20 per-rank + Weapon Dice
Mage Wars PnP: A level-9 warrior would role 2d20 and add his Special Proficiency: Melee
Mage Wars RPG: A level 9 warrior gets 2-40 Var AV + Special Proficiency: Melee
A player without an applicable special proficiency does not get to add that bonus to Var-AV.
Some Facets will allow the player to use the modified stat at this stage or to add in various stats.
The weapon also has a number of damage-dice associated with it(Example: a normal longsword is 1d6). These dice are rolled once for Var-AV and again during damage calculation.
Calculating Defense Value
Defense values are based primarily on AC, so mages and other non-armor-wearers will have much lower DVs than warriors or armor-wearing players.
Base Defense Value
Base AV is applicable armor-proficiency + (AC x Buffed Dexterity Modifier). Each piece of armor is assigned its own AC-Value, which is totaled for the purposes of AC calculation. In order to get max AC, the player needs to match all armor-weights. The armor proficiency used is determined by the player's chest-piece; whatever armor weight(light, medium, heavy) they wear on their chest determines which proficiency will be used. ONLY armors of this weight are used in calculating base AV.
Example: a player is wearing a (heavy)plate-armor chest piece and (light)leather boots. Armor Proficiency: Heavy is used and the AC of the boots is not included in the total base DV calculation.
Variable Defense Value
Players have a Var-DV of buffed (Strength Modifier)d10 and (Dexterity Modifier)d6. So a player with 20 STR and 10 DEX would role 2d10 and 1d6.
Melee Damage Calculation
Melee and ranged weapons deal Mortal damage. Each weapon has it's own damage-calculation for base damage, this is then multiplied by your Stat Modifier, the buffed stat is also added. Various Facets and other factors can affect this damage.
Once total Mortal damage is calculated, the target's AC is subtracted, hoever damage is not yet applied.
Each weapon can carry a variety of enchantments which add additional non-mortal damage(see: Damage Types). Six damage-types are magical and are calculated according to the player's spell resistance. Resistences are percentage-based and ALWAYS ROUNDED DOWN.
There is also untyped or "supplemental" damage.
Once ALL damage is calculated, final damage is totaled and applied.
Magic
Magic is based on Success and Resistance and uses a very similar system to melee damage. All characters calculate Success and Resistance values(SV and RV) regardless of whether or not they are a mage. Obviously non-mages will have significantly lower RV than mages.
Just like in melee combat, if the caster's success is higher than the target's resistance, the spell is successful and hits the target.
Calculating Success Values
Since mages lack Special Proficiencies, the calculations work differently.
Base Success Value
All magic uses the Intelligence-stat as a modifier in calculating Success and Strength in determining final damage. Hence, mages must be both strong and smart. Base Success is Intelligence x Buffed Intelligence Modifier + Magic Proficiency + Lore if casting from a spellbook, and Intelligence x Buffed Intelligence Modifier + Magic Proficiency X 2 if casting from memory. Exo-Mages also add their buffed Intelligence again to the final Base Success Value.
All endo-magic proficiencies use the buffed skill while exo-mages use unbuffed. This means endo-mages will land their attacks more often but exo-mages do more damage.
Variable Success Value
Variable Success is Base + (Rankd20 x Intelligence Modifier). Exo-mages also use their Buffed Intelligence in this calculation.
Again various facets and factors can modify this.
Calculating Resistance Values
All characters have a Resistance Value or RV. RV is a generic value and is unrelated to damage types.
Base Resistance Value
Unlike DV, Resistance is based more heavily on stats. Vase RV is (Buffed Inteligence x Unbuffed Inteligence Modifier) + (Strength x Buffed Strength Modifier)
Variable Resistance Value
Each class-type has a different Variable RV-dice.
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Variable Resistance Values use the Buffed Intelligence Modifier, rounded down, to determine the number of dice rolled. So a mage with buffed intelligence of 30 would roll 3d20 to determine Var-RV. Note that using proficiency-swaps does not change your Var-RV dice. A Warrior who has traded proficiencies 8 times to become an Endo-Mage still uses a d8 for RV checks. |
Area of Effect Spells
Area of Effect(AOE) spells begin either at the mage or at a specified target. Success Value for the mage is rolled only once with AOE, while each target makes a seperate Resistance-check.
Magic Damage Calculation
Spell damage is a little bit more straight-forward than melee damage. most spells will have a single MRPG Damage Types Damage Type(example: fireball deals fire damage).
So, if a fire-spell is successful, damage for the spell is rolled(as all spells have a variable damage) x Strength Modifier, and spell resistance is applied.
Some spells might have multiple damage-types, in this case each damage-type is rolled separately and totaled.
Damage is ALWAYS ROUNDED DOWN to the nearest whole-number.
Dodge and Evasion
Armor class, high DVs, and damage reduction all help, but the best option is never to get hit. Dodge and Evasion are Rogue/Ranger proficiencies, but any class make take them through proficiency swap. While dodge and evade are heavily dependant on the proficiency, it is possible to succeed without them.
Dodge
Whenever DV is bypassed, the character will automatically make a dodge-attempt. Dodge can be thought of as similar to DV but with a different set of stats. Dodge is used to attempt to avoid a physical attack.
Armor determines how many dodge-dice are available:
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As you can see, the use of heavy armor effectively criples your dodge ability. The dodge-dice used changes according to rank. Rank 1 uses a d8, Rank 2 uses d12, and Rank 3 is d20. Dodge is also a factor of skill. As covered under stats, Dodge uses the unbuffed dexterity modifier as the base. Buffed dexterity is then added to the score as well as the dice. The final dodge-formula is: Dodge + (Dogde x modifier) + Dexterity + dice. Only rogues actually possess the dodge-skill by default. This does not, however, mean dodge is impossible. Mages(who typicall do not wear armor, may still succeed in the occasional dodge-check. Other classes will probably want to invest in a proficiency-swap. |
The final dodge number then has to exceed the Variable AV of the incoming attack in order to successfully avoid it.
Evasion
Evasion is essentially dodge for magic. Evasion relies on a combination of dexterity and intelligence, where as dodge is just dex-based. Whenever a player fails a resistance-check they will automatically attempt an evasion-check.
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Evasion uses the same system of dice as dodge, but all magic-users get an extra dice(since using magic makes you better at avoiding it). Also, just like in Resistance, changing proficiencies does not give you an extra dice. Just like in dodge, Rank 1 uses a d8, Rank 2 uses d12, and Rank 3 is d20 for evasion checks. The final evasion-formula is Evasion +(Evasion x modifier) + Intelligence + dice. |
Again the Evasion score must beat the Var-SV of the incoming spell to successfully avoid it.
Block
If you have a shield equipped you will automatically attempt to block any incoming melee attack. The block equation is Shield Proficiency + Strength + equipped Shield AC +1d20-per-rank. A successful block is the same as a dodge and negates all damage. Different types of shields block better, such as Tower Shields, but cause deficiencies in other areas.
Critical
The same critical rules apply to both weapons and magic.
Each d20 rolled in an attack roll is a chance for a critical(making quadruple-triple possible).
Weapon Criticals
Each weapon has a "Critical +" associated with it. this is added to the Buffed Dexterity Modifier to calculate the critical. In checking for critical hits, this number is added to the d20 roll, if the total number equals 20 or above, it qualifies as a critical.
Example: Longsword has a critical of +2, if the players rolls and 18 or higher, it counts as a critical hit.
Damage from critical hits is multiplied according to weapon size:
- Medium x 2
- Large x 3
- Very Large x 4
Total multiplied is added for each critical. So if a character were to roll three criticals with a Very large weapon, damage would be multiplied by 12.
Critical damage increase is applied only to the weapon's Mortal Damage.
If a critical is scored but the weapon does not successfully strike the enemy, the critical has no effect.
Spell Criticals
Spell criticals are similar in that they function based on the roll of d20s in Var SV. Spells do not have an individual critical-modifier, instead only the Buffed Intelligence Modifier is added. Spells will likely crit less often.
Only spell-damage is increased by a critical. Effect-based spells see no benefit from a criticals. In a spell critical, all final-damage is doubled.
DV in In Combat
Mage Wars RPG vs. Mage Wars PnP handle combat DV differently. See Mage Wars PnP Combat Instances and Rounds for the PnP Explanation.
In Mage Wars RPG, each time a player or mob is the target of a melee or ranged attack(an attack role is made against them), Base DV of the target is reduced by 10 points for 3 seconds, stacking. The next successful attack resets the timer.
So two successful attacks within 3 seconds would reduce the target's DV by 20. A third attack within 3 seconds of the second attack would make it 30, and so on. This can be combined with various other abilities to quickly strip-down a targets DV to make it easier for a large attack.
This does not impact AC.
Attack Speed
Attack Speed is determined by Speed, size modifier and base weapon speed. Basically, your weapon can attack every X seconds - Buffed Speed Modifier + Size Modifier.
Stance
Stance can be thought of as a barter-system, a series of trade-offs. Give up some of one thing to get more of another.
There are five stances in all, and everyone starts out in the Central Stance. Stances can be changed any time, instantly, through hotkeys. They can even be applied to macros and changed just for the instant of attack.
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The stances are:
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In detail:
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The stances also have an impact on how much threat your character generates.
Dual-Wielding
It is possible to(eventually) dual-wield any weapon in Mage Wars RPG, reguardless of practicality. See MRPG Dual-Wielding for complete rules.
