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 (RT). 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 Bonuses

The Damage Factors (DFs) 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.

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.

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 ranks in the appropriate Lore, a bonus is added to the initial X value (see table below).

The skills taken into account are:

Lore rank thresholds/Potential targets
Lore ranks 1 2 4 7 11 16 22 29 37 46 56
Potential targets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Lore ranks 67 79 92 106 121 137 154 172 191 211 232
Potential targets 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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)

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.)

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 Cloth Leather Scale 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)
Holy Bolt (306)(Evoke) 6 0.600 0.410 0.310 0.290 0.270 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)
Telekinesis (1206)** 6 0.600 0.410 0.310 0.290 0.270 No Yes (Manipulation)
Telekinesis (1206)** 7 0.625 0.425 0.325 0.320 0.290 No Yes (Manipulation)
Telekinesis (1206)** 8 0.650 0.450 0.350 0.340 0.310 No Yes (Manipulation)
Telekinesis (1206)** 9 0.675 0.475 0.375 0.360 0.330 No Yes (Manipulation)
Telekinesis (1206)** 10 0.700 0.500 0.400 0.375 0.350 No Yes (Manipulation)
Astral Spear (1408) 8 0.650 0.450 0.350 0.350 0.310 No No?
Arcane Blast (1700) 0 0.149 0.133 0.111 0.122 0.128 No No
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.
**can be cast with a variable amount of mana, denoted in the Mana Cost column
***requires a cast of 512 to start, and 10 ranks of Water

AvDs

Spell Cloth Leather Scale 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)
Telekinesis (1206) 52 44 43 42 41 39 37 35 33 44 40 36 32 52 46 40 34
Astral Spear (1408) 52 44 43 42 41 39 37 35 33 44 40 36 32 52 46 40 34
Arcane Blast (1700) 35 25 24 23 22 30 28 26 24 33 29 25 21 36 30 24 18
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
*(L) is living targets and (U) is undead targets.

Critical Weighting

Critical weighting is applied to bolt attacks using the formula: trunc((INT + WIS) / 6).[1] The following table shows the aforementioned relationship.

Intuition + Wisdom Bonus 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90 96
Critical Weighting 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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).

Resources

References

  1. ↑ GM Naijin, "Conversation About Statistics-Related CER", GemStone IV Discord#Mechanics, 2020-03-26T05:35:00Z
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