Glyphscape/Combat

Combat Overview
Each level you gain, you increase your character's ability to fight exponentially.


 * Vitality
 * Not a skill. Players always have the same amount of maximum hit points (100) because they are always at the same Vitality level (79).
 * NPC humans are also all at vlvl 79 and NPC humanoids (and humanoids you turn into) have very similar vlvl. Monsters and special units can have greatly varying vlvls.
 * Vitality can be permanently increased by drinking elixirs (non-tradeable quest rewards, of which there are only a limited number that a character can get). These each boost your vitality level by 1 and are very hard to get.
 * Each +1 final Vitality level increases maximum hit points by 6%.
 * Attack
 * This is passively trained by training any of your attack styles, but increases less than the Power level of the attack style you focus on.
 * Attack is augmented by your combat style, weapon, shield, and armors to give your final Attack level (fAl) for all attack styles.
 * Defense
 * This is passively trained by training any of your attack styles, but increases less than the Power level of the attack style you focus on.
 * Defense is augmented by your combat style, weapon, shield, and armors to give your final Defense level (fDl) for all attack styles.
 * Power of attack skills (Melee, Ranged, Air magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Fire magic)
 * Power is augmented by your combat style, weapon, shield, and armors to give your final Power level with a particular attack style (melee, ranged, magic types).
 * Resistance against attack skills (Melee, Ranged, Air magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Fire magic)
 * Not a skill.
 * Resistance is augmented to give your final Resistance level (fRl) for each type of damage you may take (melee, ranged, magic types).
 * Resistance against physical attacks for players and NPC humanoids is always augmented by a -50 for being made of flesh. This differs for other types of creatures and for defense against other elements. However, this is usually compensated for by the multiple pieces of armor players will wear (while monsters can't wear armor).

Combat calculations
fAl-fDl = (attacker's final Attack level of the attack type) - (defender's final Defense level against the attack being taken)

fPl-fRl = (attacker's final Power level of the attack type) - (defender's final Resistance level against the attack being taken)

Average damage per attack (DPA) = 0.1 * 1.06 ^ (fAl-fDl + fPl-fRl)
 * This number increases by 6% for each offensive level you gain.
 * Against unprotected humans fAl-fDl + fPl-fRl is usually >>0 for lethal or near-lethal damage dealt in just a second. Against humans fAl-fDl + fPl-fRl is usually <<0 for very low damage dealt per second. Against other creatures fAl-fDl + fPl-fRl is usually <0 for some damage dealt per second.

Chance to hit = arctan(fAl-fDl) / pi + 0.5
 * This number is 50% at par (fAl-fDl = 0) and changes the most at par. At the extremes it changes very slowly. In the high negatives it goes toward 0% but never quite gets there. In the high positives it goes toward 100% but never quite gets there.
 * Against unprotected humans fAl-fDl is usually >>0 for a nearly guaranteed hit. Against armored humans fAl-fDl is usually <<0 for a very low chance to hit. Against other creatures fAl-fDl is usually <0 for a somewhat low chance to hit.

Average damage dealt per hit = (Average damage per attack) / (chance to hit)
 * This number changes less against similarly powerful enemies but scales up dramatically against weaker foes, to compensate for the nonlinearity of chance to hit.

Chance to hit and damage dealt are based on ( When these two values are equal, average damage dealt is 1, and chance to hit is 10%. So for example:


 * In a mugging between two total newbies with no weapons or armor, fAl = 1, fPl = 1, fDl = 1, fRl = -50. DPA = 2. Each attack has a 50.0% chance to hit for 3.9 damage.
 * In a fight between a newbie and an unarmed martial arts expert, fAl = 1, fPl = 1, fDl = 100, fRl = -50. DPA = 0.0061. Each attack by the newbie has a 0.32% chance to hit for 1.9 damage.
 * Assuming weapons give fPl +60, fDl +10, when a newbie swordsman attacks an unarmed newbie, fAl = 1, fPl = 61, fDl = 1, fRl = -50. DPA = 64.4. So each attack has a 50.0% chance to hit for 129 damage.
 * Assuming shield gives fDl +10 fRl +10, and a full armor set gives fRl +80, when a fully equipped newbie attacks another, fAl = 1, fPl = 61, fDl = 21, fRl = 40. DPA = 0.106. So each attack has a 1.59% chance to hit for 6.7 damage.
 * In Runescape, being 45 levels higher than a creep meant being able to take out a few dozen enemies, instead of a couple, before dying. In Glyphscape, a 45 level advantage translates into being able to kill 2600 of them, and is a combat level difference of 135. In Glyphscape, a combat level difference of 45 translates into being able to kill 13.8 of them. This means that individual levels in Glyphscape matter a whole lot more than they do in Runescape - and hence that equipment (especially weaponry) matters a whole lot more in Glyphscape than in Runescape.

Combat Level
When you fight, you will have to choose between melee, ranged (both of which use the attack skill), air magic, water magic, earth magic, and fire magic as your mode of attack. You will probably choose the highest one of these in a serious battle. Therefore, only the highest one of these is chosen to assess combat level. Any stats that are "None" correlate to skills that cannot be used and thus aren't entered in the following equation. A combatant's combat level is:

Combat level = vitality + (highest fAl+fPl of (melee, ranged, air magic, water magic, earth magic, fire magic)) + (average of all fDl) + (average of all fRl)


 * New players start at 79 vitality, 1 attack and 1 power in melee, 1 average defense and -50 average resistance for a combat level of 32 in any combat style.
 * Maxed-out players without items equipped have 79 vitality, 100 attack and 100 power, 100 average defense and -50 average resistance for a combat level of 329. With items equipped, these stats can become much higher.