Effects of Armor, Resists, and Vulns on Magic

There has been much controversy over the effects of armor, resistances, vulnerabilities, racial resistances, and racial vulnerabilities on damage. Now, after many days of testing, information has been uncovered that will put these controversies to rest.

First off, resistance caused by armor had been tested previously, but there were some that did not believe those results. What complicated those results is the fact that the help file is very general in its information. The new sets of tests were performed initially to understand how the change in PV alters the resistance of physical damage, but then extended to determining if the old results were accurate. Below is a table containing the old and new results for comparison.

All tests were done using an experienced mage or alchemist, all damages used in the calculation were confirmed, the test subject had over 1000 PV, and the elemental balance had been previously determined by an outside source. Test subjects were donned in bulk 2 gear or less.

Damage Type Old Results New Results Help File Description
Physical 50% 50% Very Strongly
Acid 35% 40% Strongly
Fire 25% 25% Moderately
Cold 25% 25% Moderately
Disint 15% 12.5% Somewhat
Poison 7% 7.5% Very Little
Electric 7% 7.5% Very Little
Illusion 0% 0% No Effect
Asphyx 0% 0% No Effect

It was also found that the effects of PV act linearly in relation to resistance. Meaning, with 100 PV, for example, the user would have 5% physical resistance when not in conjunction with resistive spells.

While determining the resistance caused by armor on different damage types, patterns started to form. The formula for which damage is calculated was discovered. This formula, which can theoretically be used for all forms of damage, can only be easily understood for highly precise damages, ie those from well experienced spell casters. Damages caused by low level casters, melee users and ranged users have too much variation caused by RNGs to be accurately determined by this formula.

Many tests were performed on many different circumstances. These tests were performed to determine how spell invoked resistances, spell invoked vulnerabilities, equipment resistances, equipment vulnerabilities, racial resistances, and racial vulnerabilities are placed within the formula. The following equation was concluded by the results:

(1)
\begin{align} A = B\times C\times (1-D)\times\bigl(1-\max(0.7,E+F+G)\bigr)\times(1-H), \end{align}

where:

 A Damage B Maximum Damage C Elemental Balance D PV Resistance E Spell Resistance F Equipment Resistance G Equipment Vulnerability H Racial Resistance or Vulnerability

The sum of spell resistance and equipment resistance and vulnerability have a maximum amount of 70% or 0.7. The vulnerabilities are considered to be negative amounts, ie 20% vuln is -0.2.

All test data taken was ordered onto a table and includes the actual damage taken, the calculated damage, the different resistances and vulnerabilities caused by equipment, spells, and race, and the elemental balance at the time. Below is the table.

Max   End         Max   Dmg   PV     Sp    Gear   Gear         Ele    Calc
HPS   HPs   Dmg   Dmg   Type  Res    Res   Res    Vuln   Race  Bal    Dmg

2012  1771   241   568  Phys  0.5    0.15  0      0      0     1      241.4
2012  1842   170   568  Phys  0.5    0.4   0      0      0     1      170.4
2012  1870   142   568  Phys  0.5    0.5   0      0      0     1      142
2012  1913    99   568  Phys  0.5    0.65  0      0      0     1       99.4
2012  1927    85   568  Phys  0.5    0.9   0      0      0     1       28.4

2036  1631   405   527  Dsnt  0.125  0     0      0      0     0.877  404.406
2036  1733   303   527  Dsnt  0.125  0.25  0      0      0     0.877  303.304
2036  1834   202   527  Dsnt  0.125  0.5   0      0      0     0.877  202.203
2036  1915   121   527  Dsnt  0.125  0.75  0      0      0     0.877  121.321

2012  1677   335   527  Acid  0.4    0     0      0      0     1.058  334.539
2012  1761   251   527  Acid  0.4    0.25  0      0      0     1.058  250.904
2012  1845   167   527  Acid  0.4    0.5   0      0      0     1.058  167.269
1949  1849   100   527  Acid  0.4    0.75  0      0      0     1.058  100.361

1976  1314   662  1027  Cold  0.25   0     0      0      0     0.859  661.644
1976  1480   496  1027  Cold  0.25   0.25  0      0      0     0.859  496.233
1976  1645   331  1027  Cold  0.25   0.5   0      0      0     0.859  330.822
1976  1778   198  1027  Cold  0.25   0.75  0      0      0     0.859  198.493

2452  1676   776   950  Cold  0.25   0     0      0      0     1.088  775.2
2536  1776   760   950  Cold  0.25   0     0.11  -0.09   0     1.088  759.696
2536  1970   566   950  Cold  0.25   0.25  0.11  -0.09   0     1.088  565.896
2536  2164   372   950  Cold  0.25   0.5   0.11  -0.09   0     1.088  372.096
2536  2304   232   950  Cold  0.25   0.75  0.11  -0.09   0     1.088  232.56

2006  1560   446   555  Poi   0.075  0     0      0      0     0.868  445.609
2006  1672   334   555  Poi   0.075  0.25  0      0      0     0.868  334.207
2006  1783   223   555  Poi   0.075  0.5   0      0      0     0.868  222.804
2006  1873   133   555  Poi   0.075  0.75  0      0      0     0.868  133.682
2036  1617   419   555  Poi   0.075  0     0.06   0      0     0.868  418.872
2036  1729   307   555  Poi   0.075  0.25  0.06   0      0     0.868  307.470
2006  1810   196   555  Poi   0.075  0.5   0.06   0      0     0.868  196.068

2036  1430   606   448  Illu  0      0     0      0     -0.2   1.127  605.875
2036  1582   454   448  Illu  0      0.25  0      0     -0.2   1.127  454.406
2036  1733   303   448  Illu  0      0.5   0      0     -0.2   1.127  302.937
2036  1855   181   448  Illu  0      0.75  0      0     -0.2   1.127  181.762

2089  1334   755   578  Illu  0      0     0      0     -0.2   1.088  754.636
2089  1327   762   578  Illu  0      0     0     -0.01  -0.2   1.088  762.183
2089  1516   573   578  Illu  0      0.25  0     -0.01  -0.2   1.087  572.996
2089  1704   385   578  Illu  0      0.5   0     -0.01  -0.2   1.087  384.511
2089  1863   226   578  Illu  0      0.75  0     -0.01  -0.2   1.087  226.182

1994  1499   495   527  Fire  0.25   0     0      0     -0.1   1.138  494.773
2036  1660   376   527  Fire  0.25   0     0.24   0     -0.1   1.138  376.028
2036  1784   252   527  Fire  0.25   0.25  0.24   0     -0.1   1.138  252.334
2036  1888   148   527  Fire  0.25   0.5   0.24   0     -0.1   1.138  148.432

2245  1408   837   950  Aphx  0      0     0      0      0.1   0.978  836.19
2245  1618   627   950  Aphx  0      0.25  0      0      0.1   0.978  627.142
2245  1827   418   950  Aphx  0      0.5   0      0      0.1   0.978  418.095
2245  1994   251   950  Aphx  0      0.75  0      0      0.1   0.978  250.857

2036  1550   486   416  Elec  0.075  0     0      0     -0.1   1.148  485.925
2036  1594   442   416  Elec  0.075  0     0.09   0     -0.1   1.148  442.192


Elemental balance shifts during the tests would be cause for the slight difference in calculated and actual values for damage. This shift can been seen by finding the difference between each damage reduction for each increase of 25% spell resist.

Tests were performed over the months of March and April of the year 2009. Thanks are given to those who assisted in the collection of the information described in this report.

In alphabetical order:
Alasdair - Abjuration
Azamir - Experienced Blasting
Firit - Test Subject
Kyle - Experienced Blasting
Melpurik - Abjuration
Reklaw - Test Subject
Rita - Experienced Blasting
Ryuchitoran - Abjuration
Sheenya - Abjuration
Silvana - Elemental Balance Determination
Syndic - Discovered Formula

page revision: 10, last edited: 06 Nov 2010 17:37
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