There are two types of characters in MUSTRO. The character is one and the creature is the
other. The character is the character played by a human using a computer console. The
creature is a character controlled by artifical intelligence. Character and creature
will be used interchangably throughout these help files to refer to characters
in general, but there are a couple of differences between the human played and the
artifical. The human played character has a class(fighter, healer, sorceror, etc)
which has skills and spell defined for it. The artifical character doesn't have skills
and spells. The human played character can advance in level making it more powerful as
time passes and experience is gained. Other than these characteristics the human
and artificial creatures are the same, so the help files will use "characters" to
identify both human and artificial characters.
Here is a general idea of what Characters are made of:
Race
The physical attributes of the race. The height, ability to connect when it
attempts to attack something, damage inflicted when contact is made, natural
armor, magic consistancy, and racial advantages and disadvantages.
Class
The profession that the creature is practicing. The skills and spells, health
gained per level, number of swings per attack, and class based advantages and
disadvantages(no class based advantages or disadvantages at this time).
Statistics
The creatures physical, mental, and luck ratings.
Equipment
13 equipment locations from head to foot.
Level
The expertise earned by the creature.
Affects
The affects that skills and spells can cause.
The height of a character determines several combat attributes. The first is reach.
Reach is the distance that a character can attack. Every 8 feet of height adds
an extra block of distance that a character can attack(NOTE:reach has currently
been disabled; a character must be one block away to attack). The height of a character
also helps avoid attacks. The amount of dodgability provided by size depends
on the size of the defender compared to the size of the attacker. The size of
a character affects the equipment that a character can equip.
Natural armor provided by race can be associated with how much damage is done
to a character when it is hit.
Magic consistancy has to do with magic weapons. If a character has a magic
consistancy of 3 then in order for a weapon to hit the character the weapon
will need to have +3 attack or greater to even have a chance of hitting. Another
thing to note is that just because a character may not be able to physically hit
a character with a magic consistancy does not mean that the character can not use
a skill or spell to do the job. Magic consistancy has no affect on skills or spells.
The racial attack and damage only count when the character is not holding something
else in its hands. If using hands as weapons than the magical consistancy is
measured against the racial hand attack.
The statistics ranges are as follows:
Terrible: 1-15
Bad: 16-25
Mediocre: 26-30
Good: 31-45
Great: 46-65
God-like: 66-70
Statistics are almost always measured against an opponent's statistics except
when determining how an item's weight might be carried or not and resisting
a skill or spell affect. Separate from resisting an affect many affects power
are determined by comparing the stats of the affected to the stats of the affector.
In this case it depends on the primary and secondary(if one exists) stats that
are assigned to a skill or spell at creation time. I recommend that you create
a variety of skills and spells that use a variety of prime and second stats
in order to balance the characters who focus on stats with the characters
who choose Advantages at creation time. Another note is that I created
the barbarian class to be a brute force class and that if you give them
too many skills that they may be unstoppable, so it is up to you to
take precautions if any are needed. The prime and second stat also affect
whether a character loses concentration of a skill or spell if distracted while
preparing to use it. For spells only the prime stat is always intelligence and
the second stat is always wisdom.
Here are some basic definitions of the stats and their properties:
Strength: Affects how hard a character hits and also how much a character can carry
including how heavy a weapon the character may wield. Also, affects damage bonus
for characters with a sufficiently high strength at character creation. The bonus
is as follows: Strength of 31 = +2, Strength of 46 = +5, Strength of 66 = +11.
The damage bonus is applied for all physical attacks including hand to hand.
Also, applied strength at time of attack affects damage as follows: For each
Strength point from 25 to 15 subtract 2%, For each Strength point from 15 to 0
subtract 5%, For each Strength point from 30 to 45 add 1.5%, For each Strength
point from 45 to 65 add 2%, For each Strength point from 65 to 70 add 4%.
Dexterity: Affects dodging capability and Reflex Advantage(if the character has it).
Also, affects hand to hand attack bonus for determining whether or not a
character can hit magically armored creatures. Elves, sprites, and goblins
can hit for +1 by default all the other races have +0. If a character has
a sufficiently high dexterity at character creation then a gain is applied
as follows: Dexterity of 31 = +1, Dexterity of 46 = +2, Dexterity of 66 = +3.
So, a human with dexterity 66 will have +3 attack and an elf with 46 will also
have +3 attack because of the +1 default for elves.
Also, dodge bonus for attacker vs defender is calculated as follows: If attacker
dexterity is higher than defender dexterity then -1.5% dodge for each point between
20 and 30 above and -1.0% dodge for each point between 10 and 20 above and -0.5%
dodge for each point between 0 and 10 above, If defender dexterity is higher than
attacker dexterity then +1.5% dodge for each point between 20 and 30 above and
+1.0% dodge for each point between 10 and 20 above and +0.5% dodge for each point
between 0 and 10 above.
Vitality: Can give bonus health points or subtract(if vitality is low enough)
health points at level up. Has an effect on attacks which land exceptional contact.
Also, affects recovery of health and stamina over time.
If a character has sufficiently high vitality at character creation time then
a gain is applied as follows: Vitality of 31 = Stamina +5 and Health +10,
Vitality of 46 = Stamina +20 and Health +30, Vitality of 66 = Stamina +50 and
Health +80.
Health bonus for vitality at level up as follows: For each 10 points above and
including 30 a random number chance of 75% that an extra health point gained,
For each 5 points below and including 20 a random number chance of 15% that
an extra health point lost.
Resilience: Helps character resist effects or at least withstand some of the effects
properties. Also affects recovery of health and stamina over time.
If a character has sufficiently high resilience at character creation time then
a gain is applied as follows: Resilience of 31 = +15 natural armor, Resilience of
46 = +35 natural armor, Resilience of 66 = +65 natural armor.
Wisdom: Affects the amount of magic regained over time. If wisdom is high enough
it can also have great effects on the concentration time needed to cast a spell.
If a character has sufficiently high wisdom at character creation time then
a gain is applied as follows: Wisdom of 31 = +5 magic, Wisdom of 46 = +20 magic,
Wisdom of 66 = +40 magic.
Intelligence: The prime stat for casting spells. It can also have an affect
on concentration time needed to cast a spell.
Luck: The stat of all trades. Luck has an impact on many things. They include
dodging, exceptional contact hits, and resisting affects.
On each physical attack a percentage modifier is calculated depending on
the luck of the attacker vs the luck of the defender it is calculated as
follows: If attacker luck is greater than defender luck then for each 5
points difference between attacker luck and defender luck the chance of
dodging decreases by 1%, If defender luck is greater than attacker luck
then for each 5 points difference between defender luck and attacker luck
the chance of dodging increases by 1%.
When attempting to resist an affect, for each luck point above 40 increase
the chance of resisting the affect by 1%, and for each luck point between
40 and 25 increase the chance of resisting the affect by 0.5%.
Combination:
Strength, Vitality, and Luck: Exception contact which lands on 5% of all
physical attacks.
For Strength: From 30 to 45 add 3.5% each, From 45 to 65 add 5% each,
From 65 to 70 add 7.5% each
For Vitality: From 30 to 45 add 1.75% each, From 45 to 65 add 2.5% each,
From 65 to 70 add 3.75% each
For Luck: From 30 to 45 add 1.75% each, From 45 to 65 add 2.5% each,
From 65 to 70 add 3.75% each
Vitality, Resilience, Intelligence, and Wisdom: Recovery of health, magic,
and stamina at recover tick. Default recovery per tick is health 20%,
magic 30%, and stamina 20%.
For Vitality: Less than 15 remove 4.8% from health and stamina
Less than 25 remove 1.5% from health and stamina
Greater than 30 add 2% to health and stamina
Greater than 45 add 6% to health and stamina
Greater than 65 add 12% to health and stamina
For Resilience: Less than 15 remove 4.8% from health and stamina
Less than 25 remove 1.5% from health and stamina
Greater than 30 add 2% to health and stamina
Greater than 45 add 6% to health and stamina
Greater than 65 add 12% to health and stamina
For Intelligence: Less than 15 remove 4.8% from magic
Less than 25 remove 1.5% from magic
Greater than 30 add 2% to magic
Greater than 45 add 6% to magic
Greater than 65 add 12% to magic
For Wisdom: Less than 15 remove 4.8% from magic
Less than 25 remove 1.5% from magic
Greater than 30 add 2% to magic
Greater than 45 add 6% to magic
Greater than 65 add 12% to magic
There are 13 equipment locations. They are:
holding right
holding left
head
shoulders
left arm
right arm
left hand
right hand
body
waist
legs
left foot
right foot
Weapons may be equipped in holding right, or holding left. Armor can be equipped anywhere.
If only one weapon is being wielded it should be equipped in holding right because if
it is equipped in holding left then there will be a dual wield penalty(+40% chance of
dodging unless character has special advantage dual wield in which case +15% chance
of dodging) on each attack. Equipment can be one of four sizes. Small, medium, large,
or extra-large. Bigger weapons do more damage than smaller weapons(or at least the standard
ones do). This is intentional because it helps balance the smaller characters ability to
dodge better than the large character, and it also just makes sense for a big weapon to
do more damage. Items may have advantages or disadvantages contained in them.
Use them sparingly(or maybe not at all for the advantages that characters can
choose at creation time because they must spend precious creation points to gain
these advantages).
The level of a character is its proficiency in its class. The level determines how well
skills and spells work and also how easily a character can hit and dodge a character.
Both of these level factors are compared against the opposing characters level to
figure out who deserves what king of edge.
An affect is something that occurs from using a skill or spell. Most of these affects
can have an affect area matrix defined at creation time. There are a couple exceptions.
The hide affect can only be used on the character who uses the affect(the character cannot
hide some other character). Another is the transport affect. The transport affect teleports
the user of the affect to the target space. An affect has a level attached to it which
is the level of the user. This level determines the potency of the affect. The affect
also has a duration. The duration is the amount of times the affect will occur before
it dissipates naturally. The skill or spell using the affect has a range. This range
is the distance the target can be aimed at most. There is a concentration time which
must pass before a skill or spell can be used. This concentration time is equal
to roughly 2 seconds for every 10 levels for skills and roughly 2 seconds for every
5 levels for spells. During this time of concentration the user may get distracted
by being attacked physically or through a skill or spell. Whether concentration is
lost or not after being hit depends on the percentage of damage done compared to
the max health of the user and also on the prime stat and second stat of the user.
If more than 25 percent of the user's health is taken away then concentration will
be lost for certain.
Here are the affects that are packaged with MUSTRO for use in skills/spells:
Damage
Damage is inflicted.
Invisibility
Invisibility hides the target from view. There are two types of invisibility.
Standard invisibility hides the target from view, but if characters have
detect invisibility then they can see through it. Absolute invisibility
cannot be detected by anyone(this affect is one of the trade secrets of the
illusionist class as are a few other affects that if given to other classes
would make an illusionist class absolutely pointless so award the illusion
type affects to other classes with care and caution).
Detect Invisibility
See through standard invisibility.
Poison
A combination of poison and damage.
Cure Poison
Remove poison affect.
Disease
A combination of disease and damage. This affect can be transmitted to other characters
standing next to an affected character.
Cure Disease
Remove disease affect.
Blind
Remove the ability to see other characters. The character can still see the map. This
is because I know that at some point a hacker would find a way around the map removal
portion, so it makes sense to remove any exploitable benefit. I am open to suggestions
for map removal as well.
Cure Blind
Remove blind affect.
Paralyze
Holds a character at a location until the affect wears off.
Cure Paralyze
Remote the paralyze affect.
Hide
A character can only hide itself. Once hidden no characters will see it. A character
can only hide if no other character is in sight. If the character moves then the
affect of hiding is removed.
Levitate
The character will float. This will help if travelling over hills or shallow water.
Bless
The blessing helps the affected character resist the affects of harmful skills/spells.
Heal
Heal the character giving it more health.
Create
The calling card of the conjurer. This affect can create a golem, food, armor, or
a weapon.
Created
This is an affect that results from the Create affect. It affects a golem.
False Pain
The same as Damage except that a trick is played on the mind of the affected character.
When the duration time runs out the affected character will notice that it has been
fooled and will notice it is not as badly wounded as suspected(regaining a portion
of the health lost from the initial affect).
Transport
Teleport the user to a new location.
Grab
A character can grab another character and hold them to prevent movement to a new
location(useful for protecting a concentrating character from being assaulted).
Flee
Forces a character to flee. This affect is not fully implemented for human controlled
characters they will not be able to move.
Illusion
The user of this affect will appear to be a character from the archive of character
images(only the character image files starting with "creature`Ill`" will be available
to the illusion affect).
Death
The death affect attempts to slay the target with a single blow.
Dispel
The dispel affect attempts to remove the blind and/or paralyze affect inflicted on
the target.
Invincible
Protects the affected character from all types of harm. However it does not protect
against blind, paralyze, or similar affects.
Silent Cast
When affected by this affect a spell user can cast spells without characters within
ear shot knowing that a spell has been started. A note for this affect is that
there is an advantage that provides the same functionality making it questionable
whether this affect should ever be implemented in an affect form, but it is here
so use your own judgement.
Mirror Image
Creates mirror images around the target. The number of images created is 2 plus
one for every 20 levels of the affect level. This affect may also switch the
targets location to a location nearby to further confuse any on lookers.
Held
This affect happens as a result of a successful Grab affect. Both the grabber
and the held character will be unable to move.
Repel
The repel affect protects the affected character from physical attacks. The protection
saves 25% of the damage that would have harmed the character.
Influence(currently unavailable)
The influence affect prevents a character from harming the user of the influence
for the duration of the affect.
Trap
This is an affect which is used on a location. Once set the trap will affect whoever
is standing on the location when the recovery time occurs. A trap may only be set
if there are no other characters but the user within sight of the target location.
Force Field
This is an affect which is used on a location. A location affected by this will be
unpassable(except by transporting, teleporting, etc).
