RPG Combat System Documentation

----------CHARACTER SHEET OVERVIEW----------
Level (LV)
--Experience Points (XP)
--Attribute Points (AP)

Power (POW)
--Attack (ATK)
--Critical Hit Multiplier (CHM)

Constitution (CON)
--Hit Points (HP)
--Defense (DEF)

Skill (SKL)
--Technique Points (TP)
--Special Power (SPC)

Mind (MND)
--Special Resistance (RES)
--Special Evasion (SEV)

Dexterity (DEX)
--Accuracy (ACC)
--Critical Hit Rate (CRT)

Agility (AGI)
--Initiative (INI)
--Evasion (EVA)

Other
--Skill Points (SP)


----------CHARACTER PARAMETERS----------
There are 7 core parameters that define a character's abilities, the first being the Character Level, which governs the 6 Core Attributes, which govern 2 Derived Parameters each, as outlined in the Overview.

-----LEVEL-----
Represents a character's overall combat proficiency. Generally begins at 1, and can be raised as high as 100 through acquiring Experience Points (XP) by defeating enemies in combat. Increasing a character's level awards the character additional Attribute Points (AP) and is used in several calculations detailed below.

---EXPERIENCE POINTS---
For each enemy defeated in combat, each character in the party gains XP equivalent to the following formula:
BL^3 / AL * M
BL = Enemy's Level
AL = Character's Level
M = Experience Multiplier
The base Experience Multiplier is generally 1.0 for most standard enemies and 8.0 for bosses. Additional values are applied to this multiplier when the appropriate conditions are met:
--If a character is in the Reserve party and did not participate in combat: x0.5
--If a character is incapacitated at the end of battle: x0
--If a character was incapacitated at any point of the battle but alive at the end: x(Rounds Active/Total Rounds Elapsed)
--For balance purposes, the amount of XP that may be gained from a single battle may be capped at 99,999.

The formula for the amount of XP needed to go from Level 1 to Level X is expressed as:
(X^Y)*Z
X = The desired Level. If this is 1 or 100, -1 XP to the final result.
Y = 3.5 by default. May differ between characters.
Z = 1.0 by default. May differ between characters.
--The XP amount expressed in this formula is cumulative. For example, a character using the default formula would need 11 XP to go from Level 1 to 2, 36 XP to go from 2 to 3 (47 XP in total), and 81 XP to go from 3 to 4 (128 in total). To reach the maximum level of 100 under the default values, a character will need to accumulate 9,999,999 XP in total.

---ATTRIBUTE POINTS---
Attribute Points are spent on the character's 6 Core Attributes: POW, CON, SKL, MND, DEX, and AGI. A starting Level character will have between 10 and 30 points in each Attribute, and can increase any given Attribute as high as 255 through gaining Levels. The amount of AP that a character will have at a given level can be expressed through the formula:
100 + (Level * 11)
A Level 1 character will start with 111 AP to distribute between the 6 Attributes, and will gain an additional 11 AP to spend upon gaining a Level, for a total of 1200 AP at the maximum Level of 100, averaging 200 points per Attribute. There are two character growth types that determine how AP is distributed: Automatic and Manual.

An Automatic Growth character's growth rates for each Attribute are automatically distributed according to the following formula:
Base + (Growth Rate * Level)
The Base values for all 6 Attributes will add up to 100, and generally range from 10 to 26 each.
Growth Rate is expressed for up to 2 decimal places, and can generally vary between 1.40 and 2.24. The total values for all 6 Attributes will always add up to 11.00.
The final score for all 6 Attributes are rounded up or down to whole numbers to ensure that the character has the appropriate amount of total AP as described above.

A Manual type character's growth rate is determined by the player.
A Level 1 Manual character begins with 10 points assigned to each Attribute, and the player has an additional 51 points to distribute between these six Attributes. Up to 20 additional points may be put into any given Attribute, for a total of 30 points per Attribute.
Upon gaining a Level, all of the characters Attributes will increase by 1, and the player is given 5 AP to distribute among the 6 Attributes as they see fit, for a total of 11 AP in growth.
If one of the character's Attributes is already maxed out at 255, that Attribute will no longer increase with Level, and the player will be given 1 extra AP at Level Up to compensate. If two Attributes are maxed out, the player will be given 2 extra AP per Level, and so on.


-----POWER-----
Power (POW) represents the character's proficiency with weapons. It affects the damage done with standard unarmed or weapon-based attacks, as well as the effectiveness of Critical Hits. POW governs the two Derived Parameters ATK and CHM.

---ATTACK---
Equal to the character's POW plus the Attack bonus provided by equipment (usually weapons) and status buffs/debuffs. A Level 100 character will generally have around 300-500 ATK with their best equipment, but this value can be raised as high as 999 through temporary status buffs.
The amount of damage a character will do with their unarmed or weapon-based attacks can be determined through the formula:
ATK * (LV^0.5) * (100 + 9*LV - BD) / (100 + 9*LV)
BD = Enemy's DEF
The final result is multiplied by a random factor of +/- 20%, though certain abilities and equipment can modify this random variance to make the random spread larger or smaller, or roll twice (or more times) and pick the highest, lowest, or average of the results. This variation applies to ALL damage rolls unless otherwise stated.

---CRITICAL HIT MULTIPLIER---
When a character scores a Critical Hit on a weapon or unarmed attack, the damage they deal will be multiplied by the formula:
POW ^ 0.25
Generally somewhere around x2 for a starting Level character, but can be raised as high as x4 at 255 Power.


-----CONSTITUTION-----
Represents the character's hardiness and vitality, determining how much health the character has as well as how much damage they can take from standard attacks. Governs the Derived Parameters HP and DEF.

---HIT POINTS---
A measure of the character's current and maximum health. If a character's HP is reduced to 0, they are rendered Incapacitated until revived through various means. A battle always ends when all combatants of one side are rendered Incapacitated.
A character's maximum HP pool is determined through the following formula:
CON^1.6 + (LV*2)^1.5055
A Level 1 character will generally begin with around 50-200 HP, and based on their Constitution score, they can have anywhere from 5000 to 9999 HP at the maximum Level of 100.

---DEFENSE---
Reduces the amount of damage a character takes from standard attacks, as expressed in the Attack damage formula shown above in the ATTACK section. The percentage of damage reduced depends on the attacker's Level, so a difference between a character and enemy's Levels will make this parameter more or less pronounced. For example, a character with 100 Defense will absorb about 53% of the damage dealt by a Level 10 attacker (100 + 9*10 - 100)/(100 + 9*10) or (90/190), but will only absorb about 36% of the damage from a Level 20 attacker (180/280). As with Attack, Defense is the sum of the character's CON and Defense scores from equipment (usually armor) and status effects, and can be raised as high as 999, at which point the character would take only 1 point of damage from ALL standard attacks and absorb 99.9% of all standard attack damage from Level 100 opponents (1/1000).


-----SKILL-----
Represents the character's general proficiency with all Skills, most of which require Technique Points (TP) to use, and increases the character's TP pool. Governs the Derived Parameters TP and SPC.

---TECHNIQUE POINTS---
Each Skill has an associated TP Cost, which is drawn from this pool. A character can use Skills as long as they have this requisite amount. Their maximum TP pool is determined by the formula:
7 + (SKL * LV)^0.68
A starting Level character will always have at least 12 TP to begin with, and can raise their TP pool to as high as 999 if they max out both their Level and Skill.

---SPECIAL POWER---
Reflects the amount of damage (or healing) done with Skills. SPC is the sum of the character's SKL and equipment bonuses (usually weapons) and status effects, and can be raised as high as 999. The general formula for determining Skill damage is defined as:
(SPC * SPR * (SPC+SPR))^0.5 * (100 + 9*LV - BR) / (100 + 9*LV)
SPR = Skill Power. A value between 1 and 256 based on the individual Skill's attributes. Ranking up a Skill will usually increase SPR as well as the TP Cost.
BR = Target's Special Resistance (RES)
A similar random damage variance spread is applied to Skill based attacks and healing, as outlined in the ATTACK section above.


-----MIND-----
Represents the character's mental fortitude and their ability to resist status defects. MND governs the Derived Parameters RES and SEV.

---SPECIAL RESISTANCE---
Reduces the amount of damage a character takes from Skill-based attacks. The damage reduction is part of the Special Attack formula shown in the above SPECIAL POWER section, and works similarly to Defense, as described in the DEFENSE section.

---SPECIAL EVASION---
Reduces the effect of status debuffs that the character takes, or may allow them to avoid special attacks outright. SEV is the sum of the character's MND and equipment bonuses (usually from armor) and status effects already applied to them.
The chance for a combatant to hit an enemy with any Skill is expressed in the following formula as a percentage:
[100 - (5 * SEV / SPC)]%
SEV referring to the target's SEV, and SPC referring to the attacker's SPC.
Combatants with matching SPC/SEV scores means the Skill will hit about 95% of the time, while bigger differences in comparing the two scores can affect accuracy dramatically.

When a character is afflicted with a status ailment, the ailment's properties (such as damage, points debuffed, or duration) may be determined by the following formula:
Base * SPC / SEV
The Base effect depending on the individual Skill and its Rank, SPC referring to the attacker's and SEV referring to the target's.


-----DEXTERITY-----
Represents the character's deftness and precision with their weapons. Increases the accuracy and critical hit rate of weapon-based attacks, and thus governs the Derived Attributes ACC and CRT.

---ACCURACY---
All attacks made with weapons or unarmed have the following probability to hit, expressed as a percentage:
[100 - (10 * AGI / DEX)]%
DEX refers to the attacker's DEX, and AGI refers to the target's AGI.
Combatants with matching DEX and AGI scores will yield a 90% accuracy rate, while greater differing scores will yield dramatically different accuracy rates.

---CRITICAL HIT RATE---
Every unarmed or weapon-based attack has the following probability to become a Critical Hit, in which case the resulting damage is multiplied according to the CRITICAL HIT MULTIPLIER section above. The probability of this occuring is expressed through the following formula as a percentage:
[1 + DEX^0.4]%
If the Critical Hit roll succeeds but the Accuracy roll does not, the attacker will instead deliver a "Glancing Blow" which is equal to the base damage outlined in the ATTACK section, with defense but not critical hit multiplier applied, and a factor of ^0.8 applied to the result for reduced damage.


-----AGILITY-----
Represents the character's general quickness, allowing them to act sooner in combat and avoid enemy attacks. Governs the Derived Parameters INI and EVA.

---INITIATIVE---
Each "Round" of combat refers to one pass of all active combatants taking their "turn". At the beginning of every Round, every active combatant is given an INI score, which is equal to their AGI +/- a random factor of up to 25%, a variance that can be modified under certain conditions as with damage spread.
All combatants take their turn in order from the highest INI to the lowest. Once this is done for all active characters, everyone is assigned a different INI score according to the random spread mentioned above, and the next Round of combat begins.

---EVASION---
Reduces the chance for a character to be hit by a standard attack. The probability for a standard attack hitting is detailed in the ACCURACY section above.


-----OTHER-----

---SKILL POINTS---
As with Experience Points, Skill Points are awarded to every character from each enemy defeated according to the formula:
BL^2 / AL * M
BL = Enemy's Level
AL = Character's Level
M = SP Multiplier. As with the XP Multiplier in the XP formula, this generally starts at 1 for standard enemies and 8 for bosses, and can be further modified by the characters' own presence/absence and from being incapacitated.

Every character has access to at least one or more Skill Trees where their accumulated SP is spent to learn or Rank Up their Skills. Each Skill and Rank has a specific SP Cost to buy. Increasing the Rank of a Skill will usually increase that Skill's SPR and TP Cost, and certain Ranks of certain Skills may have additional effects to bring to that Skill's properties.
A character going from Level 1 to 100 can expect to accumulate somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 SP over the course of the Leveling process, and the SP Cost of the Skill Trees as a whole should be balanced around this amount.