Defensive strength

Defensive strength is a numerical value of a character's defenses. This number comprises of three main categories: parry defense, shield defense, and evade defense. A character's DS can also be enhanced by various spells, some of which merely add a flat DS bonus, while others may indirectly add to DS via Dodge ranks, such as the Mass Blur spell in the Wizard Base spell circle. Enchanted shields and armor provide a permanent bonus, as long as the item is being used.

Formulas to Determine a Character's Defensive Strength

To calculate a character's Defensive Strength, one adds the values from the three categories, listed above.

• Parry defense can be found in either the Parry article or no various other pages, such as Two Weapon Combat where it lists the parry defense formulas for both primary hand and off-hand weapons.
• Shield defense calculations can be found on the Shield Use page.
• Evade defense is a function of the Dodge skill, and therefore the formula can be found there.

Environmental Conditions

Room lighting and fog conditions have been shown to affect DS. These bonuses/penalties are independent of the defender's stance. The spells Light (205) & Darkness (206) produce bright and dark rooms respectively. The environmental effects are outlined below:

Condition	Effect	LM SENSE messaging
Average	+0 DS	pretty average lighting
Bright	-10 DS	extremely bright
Dark	+20 DS	rather dark
Foggy	+30 DS	pretty foggy

References

• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/combat_guide/factors.asp#DS