Combat System

Combat against dungeon monsters or other heroes is basic to WoD. The following chapters explain in detail how combat works. The entire combat system is based on rolls. Your attributes and equipment used determines your average roll, and this average roll is then used to calculate your actual roll each time. To see how the actual roll is determined, see Dice Rolls.

Action and attack order

Initiative roll

The initiative roll is used to determine who acts first, either by attacking or by healing/buffing his fellows. This is especially important when fighting against opponents which deal high damage in one hit, since everything else is worth nothing if you die before you get the chance to do something.

The basic average initiative roll is:

2 * agility + 1 * perception + 1 * initiative

although some skills like Alertness can change which attributes are used to calculate the average initiative roll, i.e. when Alertness is used the average initiative roll is:

2 * perception + 1 * agility + 2 * Alertness + initiative

For example, a hero who has 7 agility, 5 perception and 6 initiative will have an average initiative roll of:

2 * agility + 1 * perception + initiative
= 2*7 + 1*5 + 6
= 14 + 5 + 6
= 25

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

Another hero who has identical attributes but uses Alertness at skill level 5, would have an average initiative roll of:

2 * perception + 1 * agility + 2 * Alertness + initiative
= 2*5 + 1*7 + 2 * 5 + 6
= 10 + 7 + 10 + 6
= 33

Clearly, on average the second hero will act first, although depending on the random element of each roll the first hero's roll might be sometimes be higher, and in that round he will act first.

Some items lend an additional bonus or malus to initiative.

Here is an overview of the initiative skills of the classes:

class	initiative skill	calculation
Alchemist	no skill available	/
Archer	Alertness	2 x Perception + Agility + 2 x Alertness
Barbarian	Berserker	2 x Agility + Perception + 2 x Berserker
Bard	Alertness	2 x Perception + Agility + 2 x Alertness
Drifter	Alertness	2 x Perception + Agility + 2 x Alertness
Gladiator	Berserker	2 x Agility + Perception + 2 x Berserker
Hunter	Alertness	2 x Perception + Agility + 2 x Alertness
Juggler	Nimbleness	2 x Dexterity + Agility + 2 x Nimbleness
Knight	Berserker	2 x Agility + Perception + 2 x Berserker
Mage	no skill available	/
Paladin	Berserker	2 x Agility + Perception + 2 x Berserker
Priest	Zealous	2 x Willpower + Agility + 2 x Zealous
Scholar	Organization	2 x Perception + Intelligence + 2 x Organization
Shaman	Alertness	2 x Perception + Agility + 2 x Alertness

Subsequent actions

The initiative roll described above determines who will perform his first action first. If a hero has more than one action per round, subsequent actions have lower initiative.

The following table shows initiative for 4 heroes; 2 with 3 actions per round, 2 with 4 actions per round.

hero	initiative for action number
Hero1	101	63	37	18
Hero2	80	46	23
Hero3	50	29	14
Hero4	50	31	18	9

So the action order would be: Hero1 (101), Hero2 (80), Hero1 (63), Hero3 (50), Hero4 (50), Hero2 (46), Hero1 (37), Hero4 (31), Hero3 (29), Hero2 (23), Hero4 (18), Hero1 (18), Hero3 (14), Hero4 (9).

Melee Attack Order

Heroes specializing in melee combat are not able to choose in which order they attack the positions of the opponents. Only heroes with ranged and magical attacks benefit from these options.

A melee hero's attack order depends on their own position:

own positon	attack-order
front	front	center	back	left side	right side	behind group
left side	right side	front	center	back	left side	behind group
right side	left side	front	center	back	right side	behind group
center	front	center	back	right side	left side	behind group
back	behind group	front	center	right side	left side	back
behind group	back	center	front	right side	left side	behind group

Attack and Defense

Attack roll

The basic average attack roll is:

2 * primary attack attribute + 1 * secondary attack attribute + 2 * skill level

For example, Brawling has dexterity as its primary attack attribute, and agility as its secondary attack attribute.

If a hero has 3 dexterity, 5 agility and level 8 brawling skill, the average attack roll is:

2*dexterity + 1*agility + 2*brawling
=2*3 + 1*5 + 2*8
=6 + 5 + 16
=27

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

Defense roll

The basic average defense roll is calculated in a similar fashion:

2 * primary attack attribute + 1 * secondary attack attribute + 2 * skill level

Two skills are available for parrying attacks (Dodge blow, Use shield) or just natural defenses. See Natural Defense to find out which attributes are used.

If Dodge blow is used and the hero has 4 dexterity, 6 agility and level 6 dodge blow skill, the average defense roll is:

(2*dexterity + 1*agility + 2*dodge blow)*1.1
=(2*4 + 1*6 + 2*6)*1.1
=(8 + 6 + 12)*1.1
=26*1.1=28 (calculations in WoD are always rounded down)

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

If the attacker's roll is higher than the defense roll, the defender is hit and takes Damage.

Hit types

There are 3 types of hits in WoD, depending on how much the attack roll is greater than the defense roll.

Miss	attack roll below the defense roll.
Normal hit	attack roll above the defense roll
Good hit	attack roll at least 150% of the defense roll
Critical hit	attack roll at least 225% of the defense roll

Hit type plays a great role when Damage taken is calculated.

Melee Attack roll bonus/malus

The position your hero is standing in during combat determines if they receive an advantage or disadvantage during combat and defense. This pertains to melee heroes only!

                                                defender

                           front   left side   right side   center   back   behind group
           front              0      -20%        -20%        +20%    +20%       -30%
           left side        +20%     -20%          0           0     -20%       -30%
attacker   right side       +20%        0        -20%          0     -20%       -30%
           center           -20%     -20%        -20%        -20%    -20%       -30%
           back             -20%     -20%        -20%        -20%    -20%         0
           behind group     +30%     +20%        +20%        +30%      0          0

There are no effects for the other attack types!

For example, an attack (see Attack roll) when the attacker is in front and the defender is in center would be:

1.2 * (2*dexterity + 1*agility + 2*brawling)
= 1.2 * (2*3 + 1*5 + 2*8 )
= 1.2 * (6 + 5 + 16)
= 1.2 * 27
= 32 (calculations in WoD are always rounded down)

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

However, if the defender was on the left:

0.8 * (2*dexterity + 1*agility + 2*brawling)
= 0.8 * (2*3 + 1*5 + 2*8 )
= 0.8 * (6 + 5 + 16)
= 0.8 * 27
= 21 (calculations in WoD are always rounded down)

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

Hint: The position behind group can not be configured under normal circumstances. You will require a skill such as Ambush to reach this position during battle.

Equipment Attack/Defense roll bonus and malus

Certain equipment can increase or decrease both your attack and defense rolls.

For example:

• large shamrock and ribbon increases your ranged, melee, social and spell defense roll by 6
• large laurel and ribbon increases your ranged, melee, social and spell attack roll by 6
• quartz broad axe of dexterity decreases your melee defense bonus by 10%

Natural Defense

When attacked, a saving throw. The opponent attempts to guard themselves from being hit. As default the values are calculated with the attributes listed below.

If the defender has configured their defensive skills in the settings hero => settings => general => defense, the appropriate skill is used for the saving throw. Heroes may attempt saving throws with skills against melee, ranged, magic, and social attacks.

If no skill is specified, a skill level of 0 is used with the following attributes:

type	1st attribute	2nd attribute
melee attack:	dexterity	agility
ranged attack:	agility	perception
spell attack:	willpower	intelligence
social attack:	willpower	charisma
ambush:	perception	intelligence
activate trap:	perception	agility
explosion or blast:	agility	perception
force of nature:	willpower	agility
disease:	constitution	charisma
magic projectile attack:	intelligence	agility
curse attack:	charisma	willpower

Damage

If the attacker's roll is higher than the defense roll, the defender is hit and takes damage depending on the attacker's damage roll, any bonus/malus on damage the attacker might have through items (weapons or other) used, and any bonus/malus on damage defender might have through items (armor and other) used.

Damage roll

The basic damage roll is:

primary damage attribute / 2 + secondary damage attribute / 3 + skill level / 2

For example, brawling has strength as its primary damage attribute, and constitution as its secondary damage attribute. If a hero has 4 strength, 6 constitution and level 8 brawling, the average damage roll is:

strength/2 + constitution/3 + brawling/2
= 4/2 + 6/3 + 8/2
= 2 + 2 + 4
= 8

(note: each roll will deviate randomly up or down, see Dice Rolls)

So the defender will lose between 0 and 8 hit points.

Effects of spells and skills are calculated in a similar manner.

Attacker damage bonus/malus

Equipment used by the attacker (primarily the weapon used to attack) can increase or decrease damage inflicted. This usually depends on the hit type (see Hit Types). For example if attacker uses chain whip he inflicts:

• 1 HP more damage for normal hit
• 2 HP more damage for good hit
• 3 + 17% of attacker level HP for critical hit

For example, if a level 6 hero attacked with brawling and chain whip, and hits critically, he would do between 9 and 25 HP damage (between 0 and 16 depending on Dice Rolls with an added 9 HP bonus for critical hit).

On the other hand, if the attacker uses Joshors ball, damage done will be reduced by 50% for all hit types.

Defender damage bonus/malus

Equipment used by the defender (primarily armor worn) can increase or decrease damage taken. For example if defender wears good penguin platemail tunic of agility his armor will absorb:

• 4 HP of lightning damage for normal hits
• 7 HP of ice damage for normal hits
• 2 HP of ice damage for good hits
• 1 HP of ice damage for critical hits
• 4 HP of fire damage for normal hits
• 12 HP of crushing/cutting/piercing damage for normal hits
• 2 HP of crushing/cutting/piercing damage for good hits
• 1 HP of crushing/cutting/piercing damage for critical hits

So in the example above, the brawling hero attacks, hits normally, and has an average damage roll of 8, the defender would take between 0 and 4 HP damage (damage is between 0 and 16 but armor absorbs 12).

On the other hand, alchemists gloves increase damage taken by fire attacks by 10%.

Hero health

Depending on the loss of hit points (hp), the hero is either wounded or struck.

Following grades are considered:

• 70% damage or more: severely wounded
• 40% damage or more: wounded
• 10% damage or more: slightly wounded

During calculation, percentages are always rounded down.

For example if a hero has 33 hp. He is

• struck down with a loss of 33 or more hp
• severely wounded with a loss of 24-32 hp
• woundedwith a loss of 14-23 hp
• slightly wounded with a loss of 4-13 hp
• in perfect health with a loss of 0-3 hp

Melee Combat Tactics

Defensive Melee Hero

To play melee as a defensive hero, it`s important to block the close-combat attacks of the enemies. Your strategy will be to stand in front of the group to fend off the brunt of the attacks so that your center is protected. The center is normally where the supporter heroes would stand.

Offensive Melee Hero

To play offense, you would position your hero the the left or right flank. You are not protecting your center, but you will attack your enemy's front with an advantage. Opponents standing on the left and right flanks are more likely to break through the front line to attack the center.

Dice Rolls

After the average value has been determined, there will be a simulated dice roll. Different dice with values from 0 up to a maximum value will be rolled. Fractions are rounded down.

Example:

die	average	value
D3	1	0, 1, 2
D5	2	0 - 4
D7	3	0 - 6
D9	4	0 - 8
D11	5	0 - 10
D13	6	0 - 12
D15	7	0 - 14
...	...	...
D (2 X +1)	X	0 - 2 X

Depending on the average value of the test roll, more than one die will be used. A D15 is usually the maximum dice value (dice value from 0 to 14) There will never be more than 6 similar dice at any given time. To make sure that the average roll equals the average value, an additional smaller die will be used in the calculation.

Example:

average	die
1	D3
2	D5
...	...
7	D15
8	D15 + D3
9	D15 + D5
10	D15 + D7
...	...
14	2 D15
15	2 D15 + D3
16	2 D15 + D5
...	...
42	6 D15
43	6 D15 + D3
44	6 D15 + D5
46	6 D15 + D7
47	6 D15 + D9
48	6 D17
49	6 D17 + D3
50	6 D17 + D5
...	...
53	6 D17 + D11
54	6 D19
55	6 D19 + D3
...	...