Everything about game-play is math. I don't have an education--only highschooL--this is all self-taught. I'm seriously just very smart.
What is happening here, is that I am reverse-engineering the structure of the game and assigning arbitrary data values. The point is to find the way the device works, so really any set of numbers can do the job, its how they relate to one another that's important. The only problem I've encountered in breaking down this math is that I've basically ruined the battle axe. Statistically, its practically worthless, because you just do not need more than three attack dice. Totally not how it seemed before, but its really that way. There is barely any significant advantage in using four attack dice over three--you'll still produce the same unmitigated results. The battle axe It really comes down to enemy defense dice--which are basically worthless and practically do nothing (at 2 defense dice, and enemy has a better chance of you missing than himself defending). Three attack dice gives you a failure rate of 12% with an 80% chance to roll either 1 or 2 skulls, with a remotely 10% chance to roll 3. The battle axe takes away your shield (10%-15% reduction in defense) and reduces your failure rate by 6% while giving a 15% higher chance to roll 3 skulls (most enemies' do not have the BP to make this necessary, as 2 BP of damage is unlikely to be blocked by most of them). Forget rolling four hits, either, because you have only a 6% chance of squeezing it out, and even then an enemy would have to have 12 defense dice to even stand a chance of blocking it confidently.
What's the best weapon, you ask? I hope you all love the Spirit Blade, because she's it. Three attack dice is the most you'll ever need, and you get around the mummy's 50% chance to reduce damage by 1 point by hefting your attack dice up to 5 (5 and 6 attack dice are virtually the same, also). If you wear the helmet, shield and mail you will have five defense dice that give you a 1 in 3 shot of ignoring anything with less than 5 attack dice. You want your dice to come in odd numbers, as there are barely any real benefits from even numbered rolls comparatively (but those upgrades do cost money).
Each monster, in theory, is responsible for 1 BP taken from the Heroes per Quest. That's the deal.
Defense die, sadly, really comes down to how often you can reduce the damage you take by "one point". The whole "one point damage" concept is fairly ingrained, and seems to have been taken from the NA version to its detriment. It really is better, because statistically you are only going to take one BP damage from the majority of attacks. If I had to make an actual case for defense die, it would be: "to mitigate damage by 1 point or possibly more." It doesn't matter how many dice you roll, because attack dice statistically roll 1 success greater than defense dice--average damage basically indicates that successfully defending against an attack means that you only take 1 or fewer BP of damage. As far as monsters are concerned, for every 4 defense dice they get one hypothetical Body Point. 3 attack dice means that only chaos warriors, mummies and gargoyles can withstand you for very long.
Body Points are easy to place value on, because for each 1 that you have you basically get one chance at making it through an attack. The odds say that most monsters are going to suffer 1 without too much difficulty on part of the Heroes, so each BP past the first raise EQP by 1, though that begins to downscale once you get past 5 BP.
Body Points: EQP = '((BP+0.25)/1.5)'
I now understand how
scary-powerful Mind Points are, and have always been in the game. They're basically the equivalent to the Saving Throw. They don't get used often, but when they do, they're usually pass/fail:life/death. The brevity of each Quest means that when you do play against Chaos Spells its vital to the effort to not suffer them. If you come across one spell, one time, across 14 Quests, you should probably not get hit by it. Firestorm, for example, is pretty bad news, but Lightning Bolt is worse--2 damage and no save to all affected.
Mind Points: EQP = '(MP/2.5)'
| MP = 1, 2 | +0 EQP |
| MP = 3, 4 | +1 EQP |
| MP = 5+ | +1 EQP |
Beyond 5 MP you get no additional benefit from MP when it comes to breaking spells cast against you. You are practically immune to
Command, Fear, Cloud of Chaos and Sleep.Skeletons, zombies and mummies do not have MP. This is where that 'Var.' attribute comes into play. 0-MP monsters gain a +1 bonus to EQP that represents their immunity to spells that require them to roll based on their MP.
Posted: February 27th, 2014, 8:25 pm
