Bolt spell

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A bolt spell is any attack spell that is based on the caster's Spell Aiming skill. These spells benefit from a more offensive stance, but only result in a three (3) second cast roundtime, rather than a true three (3) second roundtime. There are two types of bolt spells: true bolt spells and ball spells. Bolt spells may be CHANNELed for a higher chance of hitting a vital area and subjects the attack to less critical randomization. The 3 second hard RT imposed by CHANNELing cannot be mitigated by any haste effect.

Lore Ranks and Damage Factor Bonus

The Damage Factors for many bolt spells can be increased by training in the appropriate lore skill. The DF bonus is based on the number of ranks trained. For the following spells the DF increase is 0.001 per rank up to 50 lore ranks, 0.001 per two ranks for ranks 51 to 100 and 0.001 per four ranks for ranks greater than 100. A character with 200 lore ranks would see a total DF increase of 0.100.

• Fire Spirit (111)
• Holy Bolt (306) (Undead only)
• Hand of Tonis (505)
• Hurl Boulder (510)
• Disintegrate (705)
• Balefire (713)
• Minor Water (903)
• Minor Fire (906)
• Major Cold (907)
• Major Fire (908)
• Empathic Assault (1110)
• Minor Cold (1709)

For the following spells the damage factor increase is 0.001 per two ranks up to 100 ranks and 0.001 per four ranks for ranks greater than 100. With 200 lore ranks the DF bonus is 0.075.

• Web (118)
• Minor Shock (901)
• Minor Acid (904)
• Major Shock (910)
• Minor Steam (1707)
• Major Acid (1710)

Ball Spells

Ball spells are a subgroup of bolt spells that do less damage on a single target but have the ability to perform additional splash damage on several creatures (including the original target) due to explosion of the ball upon impact.

There are four steps to determine the number of targets struck by a ball spell.

Step 1

A random number X is generated between 0 and 8, with lower numbers more likely to be chosen.

Step 2

Based on the caster's training in the appropriate Lore skill, a bonus is added to the initial X value.

The skills taken into account are:

• Spiritual Lore, Summoning for Fire Spirit (111)
• Sorcerous Lore, Demonology for Balefire (713)
• Elemental Lore, Water for Major Cold (907)
• Elemental Lore, Fire for Major Fire (908)
• Elemental Lore, Earth and/or Elemental Lore, Water for Major Acid (1710)

The exact bonus from lore is BONUS = (1 + sqrt(8 * Lore Ranks - 7))/2.

Step 3

Another random number Y is generated between 0 and (X + BONUS).

Step 4

The caster's training in Multi-Opponent Combat (MOC) is added to Y.

The final number of targets struck by the splash effect is the smaller of (X + BONUS) and (Y + MOC Ranks)

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For those who prefer a more intuitive explanation, the appropriate lore determines the minimum size of the explosion caused by the spell whereas MOC determines how well you can place the explosion such that it hits the most targets. (A practical example: water balloons. The appropriate Lore skill determines what size water balloon you can throw; MOC ranks determine how accurately you place it within the group of targets with which you are dealing.)

Resources

• Bolt spells (saved posts)
• Elemental lore review (saved posts)
• Lore chart

Damage Factors

• Bold indicates highest value, Minor Shock (901) has lowest DF value against all armor types
• V indicates varies with associated spell cast

Spell	Mana Cost	Robes	Soft Leather	Hard Leather	Chain	Plate	Splash	Lore DF Bonus
Fire Spirit (111)	11	0.400	0.333	0.270	0.256	0.244	Yes	Yes (Summoning)
Web (118)	9	0.520	0.420	0.330	0.300	0.210	No	Yes (Summoning)
Holy Bolt (306)(L)*	6	0.455	0.345	0.283	0.242	0.173	No	No
Holy Bolt (306)(U)*	6	0.750	0.500	0.405	0.400	0.265	No	Yes (Religion)
Hand of Tonis (505)	5	0.520	0.420	0.330	0.300	0.210	No	Yes (Air)
Hurl Boulder (510)	10	0.710	0.520	0.460	0.435	0.440	No	Yes (Earth)
Cone of Elements (518)	18	V	V	V	V	V	V	Yes (special)
Disintegrate (705)	5	0.525	0.383	0.314	0.350	0.197	No	Yes (Necromancy)
Balefire (713)	13	0.435	0.360	0.325	0.310	0.295	Yes	Yes (Demonology)
Minor Shock (901)	1	0.149	0.133	0.111	0.122	0.128	No	Yes (Air and/or Water)
Minor Water (903)	3	0.455	0.345	0.283	0.242	0.173	No	Yes (Water)
Minor Acid (904)	4	0.525	0.383	0.314	0.350	0.197	No	Yes (Earth and/or Water
Minor Fire (906)	6	0.667	0.455	0.345	0.323	0.303	No	Yes (Fire)
Major Cold (907)	7	0.445	0.350	0.245	0.217	0.208	Yes	Yes (Water)
Major Fire (908)	8	0.400	0.333	0.270	0.256	0.244	Yes	Yes (Fire)
Major Shock (910)	10	0.750	0.555	0.433	0.415	0.433	No	Yes (Air and/or Water)
Empathic Assault (1110)	10	0.680	0.490	0.365	0.280	0.205	No	Yes (Transformation)
Minor Steam (1707)	4	0.600	0.550	0.385	0.333	0.267	No	Yes (Fire and/or Water)
Minor Cold (1709) **	3	0.667	0.460	0.385	0.375	0.355	No	Yes Water
Major Acid (1710)	6	0.600	0.333	0.275	0.370	0.196	Yes	Yes Earth and/or Water)

*(L) is living targets and (U) is undead targets.

**requires a cast of 512 to start, and 10 ranks of Water

AvDs

• V denotes a variable AvD. Actual AvDs are determined by the spell used with Cone of Elements (518)

Spell	Robes		Soft Leather					Hard Leather					Chain					Plate
AsG	1		5	6	7	8		9	10	11	12		13	14	15	16		17	18	19	20
Fire Spirit (111)	70		60	59	58	57		50	48	46	44		45	41	37	33		40	34	28	22
Web (118)	52		44	43	42	41		39	37	35	33		44	40	36	32		52	46	40	34
Holy Bolt (306)(L)*	30		30	29	28	27		29	27	25	23		31	27	23	19		25	19	13	7
Holy Bolt (306)(U)*	40		38	37	36	35		35	33	31	29		37	33	29	25		32	26	20	14
Hand of Tonis (505)	52		44	43	42	41		39	37	35	33		44	40	36	32		52	46	40	34
Hurl Boulder (510)	40		40	39	38	37		40	38	36	34		40	36	32	28		40	34	28	22
Cone of Elements (518)	V		V	V	V	V		V	V	V	V		V	V	V	V		V	V	V	V
Disintegrate (705)	40		38	37	36	35		35	33	31	29		37	33	29	25		32	26	20	14
Balefire (713)	65		55	54	53	52		45	43	41	39		38	34	30	26		30	24	18	12
Minor Shock (901)	35		25	24	23	22		30	28	26	24		33	29	25	21		36	30	24	18
Minor Water (903)	30		30	29	28	27		29	27	25	23		31	27	23	19		25	19	13	7
Minor Acid (904)	40		38	37	36	35		35	33	31	29		37	33	29	25		32	26	20	14
Minor Fire (906)	55		37	36	35	34		33	31	29	27		42	38	34	30		44	38	32	26
Major Cold (907)	65		55	54	53	52		45	43	41	39		40	36	32	28		35	29	23	17
Major Fire (908)	70		60	59	58	57		50	48	46	44		45	41	37	33		40	34	28	22
Major Shock (910)	50		40	39	38	37		45	43	41	39		48	44	40	36		51	45	39	33
Empathic Assault (1110)	55		45	44	43	42		30	28	26	24		15	11	7	3		7	1	(-5)	(-11)
Minor Steam (1707)	70		60	59	58	57		50	48	46	44		45	41	37	33		40	34	28	22
Minor Cold (1709)	45		40	39	38	37		35	33	31	29		40	36	32	28		30	24	18	12
Major Acid (1710)	65		55	54	53	52		45	43	41	39		42	38	34	30		33	27	21	15
AsG	1		5	6	7	8		9	10	11	12		13	14	15	16		17	18	19	20
Spell	Robes		Soft Leather					Hard Leather					Chain					Plate

*(L) is living targets and (U) is undead targets.

Behind the Scenes: Tactical Considerations

Analysis of the ball spells' splash situation leads to the conclusion that having at least one rank of the relevant Lore skill plus one rank of MOC will guarantee a splash to an additional creature--assuming that at least two creatures are in the room--because even if a 0 is rolled the first time the "possible" range is 0-1 (due to the full Lore benefit being added); on the second roll (a range of 0-1) even if 0 is rolled again then the rank of MOC will enable the splash effect.

Players might regard this as the effective spell-casting equivalent of MSTRIKE.

Given that all of the Lore skills that affect splashes are seed 1 progressions, the rate at which additional targets are added is quite quick. A modest investment of training points for ten (10) ranks of Lore skill yields +4 targets--a +50% addition to the "possible" target pool--and guarantees that at least four (4) targets will always have the capability to be splashed ("possible" roll will be 0-8 with +4 added).