Dodging
Dodge is the primary skill of the Evade portion of the Evade/Block/Parry system which helps determine a character's overall Defensive Strength (DS) against melee, ranged and bolt AS attacks. Although the terms dodge and evade are often used interchangebly they are not the same. Dodge is a trainable skill that is one of the factors used to determine a character's evade defensive bonus.
Because of the training point costs and skill ranks available per level, dodge is often a staple of the more physical professions while magic users will often forego it entirely. The decision for how much dodge training a character will have is usually a function of a character's particular training path.
Despite the skill's name, Dodge has no effect on most standard maneuver roll checks, whether creature special skills or various spells like Major Elemental Wave (435) or Boil Earth (917). Some specific maneuvers like Grasp of the Grave (709) may take the skill into account.
Ranks and Training Costs
| Type | Square | Semi | Pure | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profession | Rogue | Warrior | Monk | Bard | Paladin | Ranger | Cleric | Empath | Savant | Sorcerer | Wizard |
| Max Ranks Per Level | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Training Point Cost | 2/1 | 4/2 | 1/1 | 6/6 | 5/3 | 7/5 | 20/20 | 20/20 | - | 20/20 | 20/20 |
Dodge Ranks and Evade
The Dodge skill is a primary factor in evading an attack entirely. While in stance offensive, a character, singled trained (1 rank per level) in dodge, has approximately a 5% chance of evading an attack against a like-level foe. A character double trained (2 ranks per level) has a 10% chance and a character triple trained (3 ranks per level) has a 15% chance for an outright evasion. These percentages increase as a character moves to more defensive stances. The chance of an outright evasion also depends on a character's agility/intuition skill bonuses, encumbrance, and certain spells such as Mass Blur (911), Mobility (618) and Song of Mirrors (1019).
Dodge DS Formula (vs Melee Attacks)
The first step in determining the Dodge DS bonus is to calculate the Base Value.
The second step is to enter the Base Value into the Dodge DS formula with the values of the other factors (see tables below).
Note 1: Truncate results to integer values after each operation in the formula.
Example 1
Dodge DS for a character with:
- Dodge Ranks: 60
- Agility Bonus: 20
- Intuition Bonus: 18
- Armor: Brigandine Armor (0.94 factor)
- Shield size: Medium (0.70 factor)
- Stance: Advanced (0.80 factor)
- Step 1 (Base Value) Calculations
- 60 + 20 + trunc(18 ÷ 4) = 84 Base Value
- Step 2 (Dodge DS) Calculations
- 84(Base Value) × .94(Armor Hindrance) × .70(Shield Factor) × .80(ADV Stance) = 43 DS
Without truncating after each operation there would be an incorrect result of 44 DS.
Example 2
Dodge DS for a character with:
- Dodge Ranks: 60
- Agility Bonus: 20
- Intuition Bonus: 18
- Armor: Brigandine Armor (0.94 factor)
- Shield size: Tower (0.54 factor)
- Shield size penalty: -10
- Stance: Advanced (0.80 factor)
- Step 1 (Base Value) Calculations
- 60 + 20 + trunc(18 ÷ 4) = 84 Base Value
- Step 2 (Dodge DS) Calculations
- [(84 × 0.94 × 0.54) - 10] × 0.80(ADV Stance) = 25 DS
Dodge DS Formula (vs Ranged Attacks)
Note: Truncate after each operation. Round up final result.
Armor Hindrance Factors
The Armor Hindrance values to be used in the formula are:
| ASG | Name | Hindrance Factor |
ASG | Name | Hindrance Factor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Normal Clothing | 1.00 | 12 | Brigandine armor | 0.94 | |
| 2 | Robes | 1.00 | 13 | Chain mail | 0.94 | |
| 5 | Light leather | 1.00 | 14 | Double chain | 0.93 | |
| 6 | full leather | 1.00 | 15 | Augmented chain | 0.92 | |
| 7 | Reinforced leather | 0.98 | 16 | Chain hauberk | 0.91 | |
| 8 | Double leather | 0.97 | 17 | Metal breastplate | 0.90 | |
| 9 | Leather breastplate | 0.97 | 18 | Augmented breastplate | 0.88 | |
| 10 | Cuirbouilli leather | 0.96 | 19 | Half plate | 0.85 | |
| 11 | Studded leather | 0.95 | 20 | Full plate | 0.83 |
Note: Armor hindrance is equal to half the armor's action penalty.
Shield Factors
The Shield Factors to be used in the formula are:
| Size | Shield Factor |
|---|---|
| Small | 0.78 |
| Medium | 0.70 |
| Large | 0.62 |
| Tower | 0.54 |
Note: The shield factors are derived from the following shield penalties: 22% (small), 30% (medium), 38% (large) and 46% (tower).
Shield Size Penalty (melee)
For melee attacks only, there is a penalty to dodge DS depending on the size of your shield, if any:
| Size | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Small | 0 |
| Medium | 0 |
| Large | 5 |
| Tower | 10 |
Stance Modifiers
The Stance Modifier values to be used in the formula are:
| Stance | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Offensive | 0.75 |
| Advanced | 0.80 |
| Forward | 0.85 |
| Neutral | 0.90 |
| Guarded | 0.95 |
| Defensive | 1.00 |
Encumbrance Penalty
There is a 1% penalty to dodge DS for each 1% encumbered body weight.
Encumbrance Penalty Example
A character with a body weight of 200 lbs. and a defensive stance dodge DS of +100 will sustain a penalty of -1 DS for every 2 lbs. of encumbered weight. With 200 lbs. of encumbered weight, dodge DS will be zero. There is no additional penalty (negative dodge DS) when encumbrance is greater than total body weight.
Note: There is no block or parry encumbrance DS penalty.