CHARACTER STATISTICS EXPLAINED

When we set out to design The Chronicles of Spellborn we always kept one specific goal in mind; 'Easy to learn, hard to master'. So when designing the game's basic player statistics, we worked towards a system that would allow for easy and quick information reference but offer a world of numbers crunching for those that enjoy tweaking their statistics.

Before the whole system can be explained, let's look at the system's components.

Attributes

The basis of the characters statistics are the three main attributes being Body, Mind and Focus. These main attributes are linked to the class archetypes. Warriors have body as basic attribute, rogues have the focus attribute and casters have the mind attribute.

Each class archetype has three specialized classes. The specialized classes each have the basic attribute from their archetype class plus a second attribute. This allows each specialized class to have to 2 attributes as shown in the list below.

Warrior:
- Blood Warrior (body + body)
- Furyhammer (body + focus)
- Champion (body + mind)

Caster:
- Rune Mage (mind + body)
- Ancestral Mage (mind + mind)
- Oracle Disciple (mind + focus)

Rogue:
- Trickster (focus + body)
- Facedancer (focus + focus)
- Dead Hand (focus + mind)

The second attribute has a bigger impact on the characters basic attribute values then the archetype attribute. A Furyhammer for instance will have basic values of 10 for body, 20 for focus and 5 for mind. While a Ancestral mage will have 5 for body, 5 for focus and 30 for mind (These numbers serve as an example).

Resistances

The system offers 2 kinds of basic resistances; Attack resistance and magic affinity. Attack resistance is split up in melee, magic and ranged resistance. The attack resistances are not linked to the character's attributes. Magic affinity is split up in Rune, Spirit and Soul affinity. These magic affinity types are linked to the character's attributes. Body is linked to rune, mind is linked to spirit and focus is linked to soul. Higher attribute values result in higher magic affinity values. An Ancestral Mage will have a very high spirit affinity and an Oracle Disciple will have a high soul affinity and a moderate spirit affinity.

The attack resistances and magic affinities can be further improved using skills, potions and tokens.

States

Each character has 3 basic states that have impact on the character's performance. These states are physique, morale and concentration. Physique has impact on the character's run speed. Morale impacts the damage output. Concentration impacts the character's attack speed.

Each state has a range of -5 to +5 ranks with rank zero being the point where the state has no positive or negative effect. The state bar will always go back to rank zero over time. A +5 rank to morale will give the character a 50% boost to its damage output. A -3 rank to physique will slow the character down with 30% until the state returns to rank zero over time.

The regeneration and degeneration speed of the states are linked to the character's attributes. Physique is linked to body, morale is linked to mind and concentration is linked to focus. A Blood Warrior will have a quick regeneration when its physique will go below rank zero and a slow degeneration when his physique will go above rank zero.

Rank zero to rank +5 is an exponential curve divided in 64 points. The same goes for rank zero to rank -5.

Skills

Skills are linked to one of the three attributes. Warriors will generally have a lot of skills that use the Body attribute. The higher the value of a attribute, the better the effect of the linked skill will be. Since most classes are a combination of two different attributes, players can create a balance that makes their skill deck suitably effective.

Developing attribute values

Since the attributes also define the skill effectiveness, players will want to be able to develop their attributes. Every three levels the character receives a number of points that can be used to boost their attributes. Certain tokens will also boost the character's attributes. Of a more temporary kind are the many attribute boosting skills and potions that characters can use to create an advantage in combat.

Developing state values

Because the attributes only have a direct impact on the states by modifying the regeneration and degeneration rates, players need other means to develop their states.

There are many skills and potions that give a temporary boost to the character's states. A more lasting boost can be attained by gaining higher PeP ranks.

PeP system

The Personal experience Point (PeP) system grants characters bonuses to the attributes and states if the character stays alive and gains experience in combat. When a character dies all bonuses are lost and the PeP rank is reset. The bonuses are given based on the ranking below.

Rank 0 - No bonus
Rank 1 - state bar zero point +1
Rank 2 - Minor body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point +1
Rank 3 - Minor body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point +2
Rank 4 - Moderate body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point +2
Rank 5 - Moderate body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point +3

When the states zero points are raised, the generation and degeneration effects will shift to these new points.

Hit points

The attributes and states have no direct impact on the character's hit points. Additional hit points are granted upon reaching the next level. Skills and potions can give additional hit points. When out of combat the character's hit points are regenerated at a moderate speed. When sitting down with the weapon sheathed the hit point generation is extremely fast. Because characters are immobile and
unarmed at this point, they will receive a damage penalty of 200%.

In conclusion...

This statistic system offers players a quick overview of their character's statistics while still offering deep strategic tweaking. Any questions and comments are of course welcome in the forum thread linked below.