Difference between revisions of "Guaranteed damage reduction"
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| − | Wearing any body armour with AC greater than 2 provides you with an amount of '''guaranteed damage reduction (GDR)''' in melee combat. Normally, each attack that hits you is reduced by a random amount up to your AC. GDR is a form of insurance against poor AC rolls; if you have sufficient AC, you are guaranteed to reduce the damage taken by a percentage of the enemy's maximum attack damage equal to your GDR up to half of your AC. As an enemy's damage output is about as variable as your AC, a high GDR will allow you to completely negate an enemy's attacks much more often than normal, and those attacks that do get through will always be significantly diminished. | + | Wearing any body armour with [[AC]] greater than 2 provides you with an amount of '''guaranteed damage reduction (GDR)''' in melee combat. Normally, each attack that hits you is reduced by a random amount up to your AC. GDR is a form of insurance against poor AC rolls; if you have sufficient AC, you are guaranteed to reduce the damage taken by a percentage of the enemy's maximum attack damage equal to your GDR up to half of your AC. As an enemy's damage output is about as variable as your AC, a high GDR will allow you to completely negate an enemy's attacks much more often than normal, and those attacks that do get through will always be significantly diminished. |
==Calculating GDR== | ==Calculating GDR== | ||
| − | In most cases, your GDR% = (14*(Body Armour Base AC-2)^(1/2))%. | + | In most cases, your GDR% = (14*(Body Armour Base AC-2)^(1/2))%. While other types of armour can provide additional AC, only your body armour can provide GDR. [[Gargoyle]]s instead calculate GDR after adding 5 to the Body Armour Base AC; this results in far greater GDR than usual, especially when wearing light armour (which combos well with their natural AC bonus). |
===GDR of Various Armours=== | ===GDR of Various Armours=== | ||
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| − | There are also three [[transformation]]s which grant GDR despite effectively disabling your body armour: [[Dragon Form]] (34%), [[Statue Form]] (39%), and [[Tree Form]] (48%). | + | There are also three [[transformation]]s which grant GDR despite effectively disabling your body armour: [[Dragon Form]] (34%), [[Statue Form]] (39%), and [[Tree Form]] (48%). Using these forms is the only way that species that cannot wear body armour ([[draconian]]s, [[octopode]]s, and [[felid]]s) can have GDR. |
==What GDR Affects== | ==What GDR Affects== | ||
| − | GDR only works against one thing: physical damage dealt by monsters attacking you in melee (including via [[reaching]]). It does not work against any sort of ranged attack, be it from a physical launcher or a [[Conjurations]] spell that deals physical damage. Neither does it work against elemental melee damage, such as an [[ice beast]]'s cold damage; however, most such elemental attacks need to deal physical damage to you before their added effects trigger, so high GDR will make them happen less often. | + | GDR only works against one thing: physical damage dealt by monsters attacking you in melee (including via [[reaching]]). It does not work against any sort of ranged attack, be it from a physical launcher or a [[Conjurations]] spell that deals physical damage. Neither does it work against elemental melee damage, such as an [[ice beast]]'s additional cold damage; however, most such elemental attacks need to deal physical damage to you before their added effects trigger, so high GDR will make them happen less often. |
==Guaranteed Damage Reduction Cap== | ==Guaranteed Damage Reduction Cap== | ||
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For example, let's say you have 48% GDR and 100 AC, and you're facing an opponent capable of dealing up to 50 damage in a single hit. This would give you a guaranteed damage reduction of 24 (48% of 50), taking full advantage of the 48% GDR. The same 48% GDR coupled with 20 AC would only give a guaranteed reduction of 10, a mere 20% of the enemy's max damage, because it is capped at 1/2 of your AC. If you are instead facing an opponent capable of dealing 200 damage, then even at 100 AC, you'd only be guaranteed 50 damage reduction (25%), while the 20 AC character would still be stuck with 10 (which is now only 5%). In each of these cases, the GDR is still helping; even in the case of 20 AC vs. 200 max damage, it still mitigates the worst possible rolls. | For example, let's say you have 48% GDR and 100 AC, and you're facing an opponent capable of dealing up to 50 damage in a single hit. This would give you a guaranteed damage reduction of 24 (48% of 50), taking full advantage of the 48% GDR. The same 48% GDR coupled with 20 AC would only give a guaranteed reduction of 10, a mere 20% of the enemy's max damage, because it is capped at 1/2 of your AC. If you are instead facing an opponent capable of dealing 200 damage, then even at 100 AC, you'd only be guaranteed 50 damage reduction (25%), while the 20 AC character would still be stuck with 10 (which is now only 5%). In each of these cases, the GDR is still helping; even in the case of 20 AC vs. 200 max damage, it still mitigates the worst possible rolls. | ||
| − | + | Guaranteed damage reduction is effectively a minimum AC roll. If your damage reduction is 24 (as in the first example above) and you roll a 1 on your AC against a given attack, your roll will be boosted up to 24 instead. But if you roll a 36 on your AC, you won't get any bonus from GDR because you're already above the minimum. | |
==Strategy== | ==Strategy== | ||
Revision as of 19:45, 21 July 2020
Wearing any body armour with AC greater than 2 provides you with an amount of guaranteed damage reduction (GDR) in melee combat. Normally, each attack that hits you is reduced by a random amount up to your AC. GDR is a form of insurance against poor AC rolls; if you have sufficient AC, you are guaranteed to reduce the damage taken by a percentage of the enemy's maximum attack damage equal to your GDR up to half of your AC. As an enemy's damage output is about as variable as your AC, a high GDR will allow you to completely negate an enemy's attacks much more often than normal, and those attacks that do get through will always be significantly diminished.
Contents
Calculating GDR
In most cases, your GDR% = (14*(Body Armour Base AC-2)^(1/2))%. While other types of armour can provide additional AC, only your body armour can provide GDR. Gargoyles instead calculate GDR after adding 5 to the Body Armour Base AC; this results in far greater GDR than usual, especially when wearing light armour (which combos well with their natural AC bonus).
GDR of Various Armours
| Armour | Base AC | GDR | Gargoyle GDR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robe, animal skin | 2 | 0% | 31% |
| Leather armour | 3 | 14% | 34% |
| Troll leather armour | 4 | 19% | 37% |
| Ring mail, steam dragon scales | 5 | 24% | 39% |
| Scale mail, acid dragon scales | 6 | 28% | 42% |
| Swamp dragon scales | 7 | 31% | 44% |
| Chain mail, fire dragon scales | 8 | 34% | 46% |
| Ice dragon scales, quicksilver dragon scales | 9 | 37% | 48% |
| Plate armour, pearl dragon scales, storm dragon scales, shadow dragon scales | 10 | 39% | 50% |
| Gold dragon scales | 12 | 44% | 54% |
| Crystal plate armour | 14 | 48% | 58% |
There are also three transformations which grant GDR despite effectively disabling your body armour: Dragon Form (34%), Statue Form (39%), and Tree Form (48%). Using these forms is the only way that species that cannot wear body armour (draconians, octopodes, and felids) can have GDR.
What GDR Affects
GDR only works against one thing: physical damage dealt by monsters attacking you in melee (including via reaching). It does not work against any sort of ranged attack, be it from a physical launcher or a Conjurations spell that deals physical damage. Neither does it work against elemental melee damage, such as an ice beast's additional cold damage; however, most such elemental attacks need to deal physical damage to you before their added effects trigger, so high GDR will make them happen less often.
Guaranteed Damage Reduction Cap
GDR is not a form of damage reduction independent from AC. If you have excellent GDR and terrible AC, it will do you little good. The damage reduction is capped at your GDR% of the enemy's maximum damage or 1/2 of your AC, whichever is lower.
For example, let's say you have 48% GDR and 100 AC, and you're facing an opponent capable of dealing up to 50 damage in a single hit. This would give you a guaranteed damage reduction of 24 (48% of 50), taking full advantage of the 48% GDR. The same 48% GDR coupled with 20 AC would only give a guaranteed reduction of 10, a mere 20% of the enemy's max damage, because it is capped at 1/2 of your AC. If you are instead facing an opponent capable of dealing 200 damage, then even at 100 AC, you'd only be guaranteed 50 damage reduction (25%), while the 20 AC character would still be stuck with 10 (which is now only 5%). In each of these cases, the GDR is still helping; even in the case of 20 AC vs. 200 max damage, it still mitigates the worst possible rolls.
Guaranteed damage reduction is effectively a minimum AC roll. If your damage reduction is 24 (as in the first example above) and you roll a 1 on your AC against a given attack, your roll will be boosted up to 24 instead. But if you roll a 36 on your AC, you won't get any bonus from GDR because you're already above the minimum.
Strategy
GDR's usefulness depends heavily on how often you find yourself in melee combat, how high your AC is, and how much you're willing to sacrifice your evasion defense (in general, the worse an armour is for your evasion, the higher its GDR will be). Unless you intend to wade into close combat whenever possible and you have no intention of training Dodging, you'll likely be better off avoiding super-heavy armour while focusing on optimizing your AC, EV, spells, and resistances to keep yourself alive. Characters that actively avoid melee, whether it be through fast movement speed or ranged attacks, will barely notice the effect of their GDR.
