Helovia has adopted a stats system for its fighting for a variety of reasons, which this tutorial will hopefully guide you to understanding!




The stats exist to differentiate the different ways characters will fight and the direct influence that their breed, height and description will have in battle. With the stats system, characters that have fighting accomplishments are directly rewarded through increased stats; the more your character fights, the better it will be at fighting.

■ Character skills – stats are created specific for your character and help define that character's skill sets, both their weaknesses and their strengths. By utilizing stats we can also ensure that simply because a player may be good at fighting, their character needs to be practicing the art to successfully develop.


Before you can participate in a fight that will be judged and awarded VP, you will need your character's stats. You can find the thread to request for stats in the Updates board, titled :: Character Stats Requests and Updates ::.

■ Receiving stats – within the stats thread there is a form you fill out to receive your stats, easy peasy! Remember to only include items/magic/companions you currently have, as staff will be cross referencing with the character records for accuracy. Make sure to include your companion's age! Similarly when describing your character, you only need to include physical traits that would influence the stats.

■ Updating stats – over the course of gameplay your character will begin to earn some things that will alter their stats. It is your responsibility to notify staff within the stats thread when this occurs so that the values can be adjusted. Usually these changes are things that will improve your stats! Changes that are important to stats include: battle buffs (VP), magic, companions, offensive or defensive items, or a change of some ranks.

*Note: whatever stats you start a fight with are what will be applied for that entire fight. If your stats do change those changes will not be applied in the middle of a fight, but will be in the next fight that starts.


You as a member need not worry about the numbers behind the stats, but for the sake of transparency and understanding they are explained here.

■ Creation of stats – once the stat request form has been posted a staff member will do some research on the breed, comparing with similar characters that already have stats. A new tab will be made on the stats spreadsheet for your character, where the values are automatically calculated by the formulas to make sure all the math is correct. Staff will discuss with you any changed to the base stats numbers as needed to match the description you provide of your character and the breed guidelines. Once satisfactory values are achieved for yourself and the staff member, the stats will be approved. They aren't official until added to your profile!

■ Formulas – the formulas were designed by Tamme who thoroughly researched similar systems used by other games, like Dungeons and Dragons, along with the differences in horse breeds, many of which came about through history for a specifically desired trait, or in our case, a desired stat! The first couple of months the stats system went through its beta testing and the formulas were rearranged at times based on player feedback and results admin saw in the different fight pairings and judgement results of characters.

• Base stats: strength, speed, agility, and endurance.
  This is where admin really consider the breed and description of your horse to design these stats. Admin can apply a value anywhere from 0 to 10, with the average being a value of 4, 5, or 6.
  
  Once each base stat has been assigned a value, they're all totaled and cannot exceed a range of 20 to 22. The higher sums are saved for "battle breeds" which have historically been bred for use in battle.
  
  
  
  
• Asset stats: offensive item, defensive item, magic, companion
  Only items which would benefit in a fight are included, hence the significance of calling them offensive and defensive items.
  
  The average character can have 2 abilities, and each ability can be upgraded once. A value of 0.5 is applied for each magical ability and upgrade a character has.
  
  The average character can have 1 companion, and each companion reaches their ability in monthly stages, so a value of 0.5 is added for companions at ages 0 months, 4 months, 8 months and 12 months.
  
  The items, magic and companions have a maximum value of 2. The exceptions to this are the Hunter and Mage buffs, which give companion and magic a maximum value of 3, and demi-gods, which can have a magic maximum of 3. The reason these items are capped is because they do not inherently improve a fighter, but do provide some advantages which should be numerically accounted for. However the bulk of their worth is applied in post with how you write their use.
  
  
  
  
• Hit Points (HP): the amount of damage your character can tolerate before fainting (0 HP), or in other words, their health.
  
  HP = [(strength+speed+agility+endurance+offensive item+defensive item)*2] + 20 + (Magic+Companion) - (strength+speed+agility+endurance penalties) + (1 for all buffs except Pinnalce) + (5 for Pinnacle Buff)
  
  The first part of the HP formula: [(strength+speed+agility+endurance+offensive item+defensive item)*2] + 20
  All the values for the base stats are added up, plus any offensive or defensive items. That total is then multiplied by a value of 2 and a sum of 20 added, which will ensure you'll have enough HP to last through a fight without fainting.
  
  The second part of the HP formula: + (Magic, Companion)
  The values for magic and companions are then added in. These are not multiplied by 2 because having magic or companions doesn't inherently make a character a better fighter, so they should not be given the same numerical weight with the stats.
  
  The third part of the HP formula: - (strength+speed+agility+endurance penalties)
  Any negative values due to applied statistical penalties are subtracted to provide realism for any permanent impairments your character has, physical or mental. These penalties are determined at the creation of your stats based on the description of your character and their genetic health. Penalties can be removed with permanent healing of the malady, such as through a quest.
  
  The fourth part of the HP formula: + (1 for all buffs except Pinnacle)
  A value of 1 is continuously added to HP as your character unlocks buffs. this is the whole idea where the more your character fights, the better they get at it!
  
  The fifth part of the HP formula: + (5 for Pinnacle Buff)
  The final buff adds a value of 5 to the HP, a huge feat for your character and thus a huge reward!
  
  *Note: In the event that a fighter's HP does drop to 0, the battle will be stopped and judged to that point.
  
  
  
  
• Battle stats: attack, defense, and damage.
  These values are calculated by formulas utilizing your character's base stats, trait stats, rank, and buffs. Most of these formulas were configured by Tamme through multiple cross-references with other games and systems.
  
  Leaders have the ability to choose their bonus value, being able to apply +2 to attack, +2 to defense, or +1 to both attack and defense. This value does not directly increase the battle stat by that number, instead that is how much is added into the formula.
  
  Attack = 1/2 [(speed+endurance+offensive item) - (speed+endurance penalties) + (2 for lead or warrior rank) + (1 for buffs: Endure, Swift, Aim, Stay)]
  Ability to land a hit (how fast you can strike, how agile to make a hit)
  
  Defense = 1/2 [(agility+speed+endurance+defense item) + (1 for sneak rank) + (1 for buffs: Endure, Swift, Dance, Numb, Shield)] +1 (for everybody) - ((speed+agility+endurance penalties)*1/2)
  Ability to avoid a hit (how fast you can evade, how agile to evade, how much endurance to withlast your opponent)
  
  Damage = [((2*agility)+(3*strength))*1/5 + ((1 for buffs: Bulk, Dance, Sense) - (strength+agility penalties))*1/2] round to nearest 0.5
  How much a landed hit hurts the opponent (how agile you are, how strong you are)
  

As you fight, your character gains experience and this is reflected in the stats! This way, your character is rewarded for fighting and learning.

■ Battle Buffs – As you reach certain levels of VP, shown below, buffs are unlocked. These add into the stat formulas but also can be considered in your writing. If your character has the Endure buff, they will now have slightly more endurance than they did before. You can (and should!) utilize this to your advantage when fighting.

☼- 3 VP: Endure :: improved stamina - +1 stat to endurance
☼- 5 VP: Swift :: increased speed - +1 stat to speed
☼- 7 VP: Bulk :: increased strength - +1 stat to strength
☼- 10 VP: Dance :: increased agility - +1 stat to agility
☼- 13 VP: Aim :: increased accuracy - +1 stat to attack (the total)
☼- 15 VP: Hunter :: additional companion - +1 to companion
☼- 17 VP: Numb :: pain tolerance - +1 stat to defense (the total)
☼- 20 VP: Mage :: additional magic - +1 stat to magic
☼- 23 VP: Shield :: deflect attack - +1 stat to defense (the total)
☼- 25 VP: Stay :: decrease companion - +1 stat to attack (the total)
☼- 27 VP: Sense :: decrease opponent - +1 stat to damage (the total)
☼- 30 VP: Pinnacle :: battle boss - +5 overall HP

■ Rank Bonuses – Characters with certain rank magic in their herds are awarded bonuses to account for the training they would be doing.

• Govern - Characters in the 'Govern' rank class can choose to add +2 to attack, +2 to defense or +1 to both.
  
• Fortify - Characters in the 'Fortify' rank class are given +2 to attack.
  
• Sneak - Characters in the 'Sneak' rank class are given +1 to defense.
  

*Note: These bonuses are added to the formula, not the final calculated values. Therefore, if Character X has an attack of 5.5 and becomes a warrior, he has +2 added to his attack formula and his final attack value becomes 6.5.

■ Amulets – Amulets do not always add to the stats because they are a single-use item. Instead, the values listed below are added to the character's stats for a single dice roll after the amulet has been said to be used. Once the amulet is used, it breaks, and is removed from the character's stats. Be sure to note in your battle rolling thread that you have used an amulet or else it may be missed as the admin usually do not read the posts until they are being judged.

God of the Sun :: Storing Amulet :: +2 Attack, +2 Damage
God of the Moon :: Stealing Amulet :: +2 Defense, +2 Attack
God of the Earth :: Warding Amulet :: +4 Defense
God of the Spark :: Deflection Amulet :: +2 Defense, +2 Damage