Hello everyone!
Today I’m going to tell you about many interesting new features. In this diary you’ll find some details about weapons properties, differences between damage types and also durability system.
Let’s start with weapons. There are 13 planned types of weaponry in Stoneshard. You’ll be able to equip whichever you like, as there won’t be any class restrictions. Aside from obvious differences (like daggers deal less damage than two-handed greatmauls etc.) each weapon type has its own unique critical hit mechanics.
| Swords | Parrying. Critical hits increase Blocking Chance by 75% for 1 turn. |
| Axes | Finishing strikes. Critical hits instantly slay target if its HP drops below 20%. |
| Maces | Powerful hits. Critical hits knockback and ignore target's Defence. |
| Greatweapons | Sweeping strikes. Critical hits deal AoE-damage to all targets in front of the character. Greatweapons also have more powerful properties of their one-handed counterparts. |
| Polearms | Impaling lunges. Base attack range is increased by 1 tile. Critical hits pierce the target, dealing 50% damage to any entity behind it. |
| Daggers | Stealth kills. Critical hits deal 350% bonus damage to unalarmed targets. |
| Bows | Crippling shots. Critical hits immobilize targets for 1 turn. |
| Crossbows | Armor-piercing shots. Critical hits ignore target’s Absorption |
| Wands | Energy concentration. Critical hits increase Miracle chance by 75% for 1 turn. |
| Staves | Energy transformation. Critical hits replenish 20% mana points. |
| Shields | Solid defence. Blocking absorbs 100% incoming physical damage. Allows ranged attacks to be blocked. |
Also, different weapons may have different damage types. For example, swords and axes deal slashing damage, while maces and staves deal blunt damage, and bows, crossbows and daggers have piercing attacks. Damage mechanics are worth discussing as well: it’s one of the core systems of our combat. To begin with, there are 17 different damage types, which belong to three branches: Physical, Magical and Natural.
Physical damage can be dealt with weapons and related skills. There are 4 types of Physical damage: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt and Tearing. Physical damage can be absorbed by Armor.
Magical damage, as you must have guessed, forms the basis of various spells. Also it can be dealt with usual attacks, if you were lucky enough to find suitable enchanted weapon. In total, you can master 7 types of magical damage: Arcane, Aether, Blessed, Eldritch, Chrono, Metamorphic and Psionic. Magical damage pierces Armor with ease, but can be lowered with specific resistances.
Natural damage unites those types of damage, typically dealt by the forces of nature itself. Some of them though are frequently used for conjuration and weapon enhancement. So, there are 6 types of natural damage: Fiery, Frost, Electric, Poison, Acidic and Blast. Natural damage can be nullified only by specific resistances as well.
Slashing, blunt and piercing damages in action
Each damage type also has a special effect. The more powerful your attack gets, the more likely that special effect will be applied. For instance, blunt attacks can ignore a portion of target’s Defense, electric damage – additionally chain to the nearest enemy, aether – temporarily blind everyone in a small zone, metamorphic – permanently decrease target’s attributes by painfully transmuting part of its body into gold.
Some damage types are also much more painful than others. For example, acidic and fiery damage deals three times more pain than piercing damage, which should be always taken into consideration when engaging toxic slugs or burning monsters in melee.
The next important feature is equipment durability, which decreases from active usage. Low durability means low stats – nearly broken item is roughly half as effective. Weapons will degrade from successful and fumbled hits, armor and shields wear out from absorbed damage, and boots fray from movement. The speed of deterioration is also affected by equipment material and received damage type. Fiery attacks burn out wooden shields and clothes quite fast, and attacking ooze slimes corrodes melee weapons.
It will be impossible to completely break an item though, so you shouldn’t worry about your favorite legendary sword – any item could be repaired to 100% durability again.
Stay tuned!