Dodging
Dodging 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 interchangeably they are not the same. Dodging 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, dodging 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.
Dodging has no effect on standard maneuver roll (SMR) version 1 checks, whether creature maneuvers or various spells like Major Elemental Wave (435). Some specific spells like Grasp of the Grave (709) may take the skill into account, and Dodging is a primary skill in SMRv2.
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 |
Dodging Ranks and Evade
The Dodging skill is a primary factor in evading an attack entirely. While in stance offensive, a character, singled trained (1 rank per level) in dodging, 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).
Dodging DS Formula (vs Melee Attacks)
The first step in determining the Dodging DS bonus is to calculate the Base Value.
The second step is to enter the Base Value into the Dodging 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
Dodging DS for a character with:
- Dodging 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 Modifiers
The Shield Factor and Shield Penalty vary by shield. A shield factor applies to all attacks, while the shield penalty only applies to melee attacks. These modifiers are:
| Size | Shield Factor | Size Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 0.78 | 0 |
| Medium | 0.70 | 0 |
| Large | 0.62 | 5 |
| Tower | 0.54 | 10 |
Note: The shield factors are derived from the following shield penalties: 22% (small), 30% (medium), 38% (large) and 46% (tower).
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.