Dragon Quest Aeons Player's Guide v 0.02

# Dragon Quest Aeons Player's Guide

## Table of contents

1.  [Frequently Asked Questions](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-frequently-asked-questions)

2. [Stats](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-stats)

2.1 [Description of Stats](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-stats-description-of-stats)
 
 2.2 [Stat Gain](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-stats-stat-gain)
 
3. [Classes](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes)

3.1 [Soldier](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes-soldier)
 
 3.2 [Fighter](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes-fighter)
 
 3.3 [Ranger](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes-ranger)
 
 3.4 [Priest](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes-priest)
 
 3.5 [Wizard](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-classes-wizard)
 
4. [Locations and NPCs](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-locations-and-npcs)
 
 4.1 [Important NPCs not linked to a location](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-locations-and-npcs-important-npcs-not-linked-to-a-location)

4.2 [Tantengel Castle](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-locations-and-npcs-tantengel-castle)
 
  4.3 [Brecconary](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-locations-and-npcs-brecconary)

5. [Quests](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-quests)

5.1 [Personal Quests](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-quests-personal-quests)
 
 5.2 [Character Building Quests](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-quests-character-building-quests)
 
 5.3 [Civic Development Quests](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-quests-civic-development-quests)
 
6. [Combat](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-combat)

6.1 [Combat Actions](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-combat-combat-actions)
 
 6.2 [Combat grouping](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-combat-combat-grouping)
 
 6.3 [Experience and Gold rewards](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-combat-experience-and-gold-rewards)
 
 7 [Skill Tables By Class](#dragon-quest-aeons-players-guide-skill-tables-by-class)

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## Frequently Asked Questions
<b>Q:</b> What IS Dragon Quest Aeons?

<b>A:</b> Dragon Quest Aeons is a Multi-User Dungeon (or MUD) based on the popular Dragon Quest franchise. It is also a spin-off of a similar game named Dragon Quest Cosmos, which is ran on the Dragon Warrior message board at gamefaqs.com . DQA can be thought of as an alternate reality to DQC, with some overlapping elements and some changes. The biggest changes are updated mechanics DQC is very strictly based on the original Dragon Quest's mechanics, DQA's mechanics are more in line with later games in the franchise along with some home brew mechanics designed to make the game simpler to play without a battle simulator. Additionally, while both DQC and DQA are based off the same game both have very different plots from the base game AND from each other.

<b>Q:</b> How do you play DQA?

<b>A:</b> As a forum game, DQA is not played out in real time. Instead, it is manually updated by the game's GM several times per week. Players have until the update deadline to enter in their next set of commands, which will be processed by the GM during the update. Players can often combine several commands into a single update such as sleeping in an Inn AND shopping AND talking to NPCs AND taking on a new quests by inputting all of their actions to be processed in the update.

The core of any MUD's gameplay is in its combat and DQA is no exception. Combat is turn base, with every player and enemy in an encounter getting a turn each round. However, rather than perform a single turn of combat per update players can enter auto-battle commands to be performed for the update. This often takes the form of a series of actions and contingencies to be taken for unusual occurences. For example:

Player A: <b>##COMMAND: ERDRICK</B> Erdrick will cast Blaze on the Drakeema until it dies before Attacking the Fangslimes. If his HP drops below 10 he will cast Heal on himself.

The "<b>##COMMAND: (character name)</b>" format is used to make it easier for the GM to find player commands.

<b>Q:</b> What is the GOAL of DQA?

<b>A:</b>Let's take a look at the setting for the original Dragon Warrior.

Centuries before the game starts, the legendary warrior Erdrick fought a great evil with the aid of a magical item known as the Ball Of Light. Afterwards, the Ball Of Light was left in the possession of the royal family of Tantengel and Erdrick faded into the mists of legend. Just prior to the start of the game, the Dragon Lord attacked Tantengel Castle, stole the Ball Of Light, and kidnapped Princess Gwendolin. The player controlled a descendant of the line of Erdrick tasked with defeating the Dragonlord and retrieving the Ball Of Light.

DQA starts off much the same way, except that there are MANY descendants of the legendary hero Erdrick running around in the centuries since Erdrick's time. King Steve of Tantengel has put out a call to all descendants to fufill their birthright and save the kingdom. You, as a player, have answered that call (although your character need not be of legendary lineage if you choose not to be). The kingdom will provide you with some resources to get you started and from there its up to you how you will pursue the game!

**Q:** What do I need to start playing?

**A:** Pick a name, class, and two stats to have bonus growth in as you level up. That's it! Backstory and the like is good to have, especially from a Personal Quests point of view, but not needed.

**Q:** Ok, but WHICH class should I pick?

**A:** Depends on your play style.

Soldiers are tanky with good weapons, and their skills mostly let them hit one target really hard.

Fighters are naturally strong and fast, and their skills let them do lots of special attacks.

Rangers are very resistant to status effects and otherwise well balanced. Their skills help them with travel and hunt down certain types of monsters. They're the most well rounded class, but aren't especially good at anything except being self-sufficient.

Priests are also pretty well rounded, and their skills are mostly healing and buff spells. They also have exclusive access to Wind element spells and instant death attacks, which are more effective than you might expect.

Wizards are pure glass cannon blasters. Almost all of their spells deal damage, many of them to entire groups of monsters or even ALL enemies in a fight. They're also extremely squishy.

There are tables with every classes skills at the end of the Guide!

**Q:** What happens if my character dies?

**A:** If you're alone then you revive in Tantengel Castle at the end of the update. If you're part of a group then you'll remain dead until either your group can revive you OR they can get you back to Hex for reviving. You can ALSO choose to abandon your group and respawn in Tantengel.

There is no penalty for death. You will not lose any Experience or Gold upon reviving, and Hex also does not charge to revive someone.

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## Stats

Player statistics affect the results of each player's actions in a number of ways. A big change from DQC is to take a granular, holistic approach to stats rather than them being the be-all end-all of a character's existence.

### Description of Stats

**Strength-** Affects damage with weapon attacks. See the Combat chapter for more information

**Agility**- Agility affects several things. First, it determines turn order in combat. Turn order is a literal Agi check. Highest Agi in a fight acts first, second highest next, etc. In a result of equal Agi stats (which will be common for monsters), equal Agi's on the same side of a fight will act in order (Meaning Slime A before Slime B. In the case of players then Position or Group 1 will act before Position 2, etc). This leads to predictability in combat and as such favors players since they can accurately plan out combat rounds (other than the possibility of SpeedUp spell changing turn order).

Also, a big change from DQC is that Defense is no longer based off Agi. The Resilience stat from later games will now cover Defense. Instead, Agi determines your BASE EVADE RATE. Base Evade is equal to Agi/12 (for a max base Evade of 21%). This can be modified further by gear. Note that while that may sound low, a dodged hit is basically the equivalent of having 255 Def for that attack and players have MANY more attacks leveled at them than monsters. Even a 5% dodge rate would be pretty good. This change allows us to differentiate between classes who are *tanky* (like Soldiers) and classes who are *dodgy* (such as Fighters).

**Resilience**- Takes Agility's place in the Defense formula. Important for classes that are trying to hit high plinking values. It also effects HP gain and Physical Ailment resistance (more on that below). Every 6 points of Res adds 1 to your max HP. Base Phys Ail resist = Res/8 (for a max of 31% base).

**Intelligence**- Effects MP growth and Mental Ailment Resist. Every 6 points of Int adds 1 to your max MP. Base Ment Ail resist = Int/8

**Damage resists**- Damage resistances have been changed considerably from DQC. Elemental resistances(such as Fire, Ice, Electric, etc) no longer work as a dodge rate for that kind of attack. Instead, they are DAMAGE MODIFIERS. This is done to reduce randomness of combat, which favors players. A character with 50% Fire resist and 50 HP should not be at risk of getting one shot by Blazemore literally on a coin flip. Likewise, if a player casts Firebane and does trivial damage she will be able to note that an enemy has high Fire resist and can choose a different spell rather than risking spell fizzle. NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT CHANGE AVERAGE DAMAGE. 50% fire resist has the exact same average damage as 50% fire dodge over a number of hits. If you get 4 Blazes cast at you you can expect to take roughly 17 damage from it either way. Can also be a negative stat to make creatures more highly damaged by that element type.

**Ailment Resists**- Now broken neatly into two stats, Physical and Mental Ailment Resists. All players have a base 15% resistance to Physical and Mental Ailments, and a base 35% resistance to Death attacks. These resistances can be brought up by increasing your Res or Int, completing certain quest chains, and by equpping gear that boosts resistances.

**Physical Ailments**- Poison, Paralysis, Stopspell

**Mental Ailments-** Sleep, Surround, Confuse, Fear

**Death Resistance**- Chance to avoid instant death effects such as Beat/Defeat/Sacrifice.

Resistance is literally a chance to avoid these effects.

**Magic Evasion**- Effectively Evasion for magic attacks. Players do not get a base resist for this but might be granted it from equipment. Not all monsters will have it but some will. This is more important than it might seem because Bang class spells do typeless damage.

### Stat Gain

Characters will gain stats based primarily on their class. Every stat that grows on level up will be divided into one of three categories for each class. These are High. Normal, and Low. With the exception of HP growth for each stat will be 4.5 per level for High growth, 3.5 per level for Normal growth, and 2.5 per level for Low growth. This produces an average total of 180 for a high growth stat, 140 for a normal growth stat, and 100 for a low growth stat. HP will grow at a rate of 5.5, 4.5, and 3.5 for high/norm/low respectively.

Stat Seeds assigned at start will add flat bonus growth per level to a stat. Each seed assigned to a stat will add +1 to that stat at EVERY LEVEL UP, meaning the two seeds max on a stat will add 80 points over the course of the game.

In addition, completing quests will function as a non-level based way to boost stats. For example, completing all the Herbologist quests in a region would permanently boost that characters Phys Ailment Resist. Likewise, completing all the Hexologist quests in a region would permanently boost a character's Mental Ailment Resist. Other quest lines could potentially add elemental resists, or even pure Str/Agi/Res etc boosts.

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## Classes

Classes will be going through CONSIDERABLE changes from DQC, mainly due to reworking spells.  All characters pick their class at level 1. The goal is to make every class feel unique and strong in its own way while also letting EVERY class be functional both from a grouping and solo standpoint. While some classes will absolutely be able to deal out more damage than others, NO class should be flatly unable to contribute damage to a fight.

### Soldier 
The soldier can now equip ALL gear that is not class specific (for instance, most Fighter gear is class specific, but the Wizard Wand is a Staff and can be used by both Wizards and Priests. Now Soldiers can equip it too if they want). They are the go-to equipment based class and are the only class capable of equipping the heaviest armors. They are the class most subject to getting plinked at. Their skills mostly act as modifiers on the basic Attack command in some way.

**High stat growth**: Res, HP

**Normal stat growth**: Str

**Low stat growth**: Int, MP, Agi

**Stats note**: Soldiers are strong and tanky, with great weapon selection. They are not fast or dodgy, with average to below average ailment resistance.

**Skill examples:**

*[Elem] Slash*- Deals 125% damage of the specific element. Is subject to both DEFENSE and ELEMENT resist making it subject to plinking if element is chosen badly, but can add A LOT of damage if striking at a weakness. Costs 4 MP

*Mercurial Thrust*- 80% Atk power BUT always goes first in turn order, ignoring Agi. Subject to plinking due to lowering Atk, not Dmg.

*Double Edged Slash*- 150% damage but user takes 25% of the damage dealt.

*EvilSlash*: Crit or miss, subject to Evasion making it literally impossible to get a hit in.

Ultimate Skill *Gigaslash*: 2x Atk power attack vs an entire group. High MP cost.

### Fighter
The fighter class hits hard and fast, with higher than normal crit chance. The trade off is that they can't soak damage as well as other classes due to limited armor selection. Limited to Spear, Claw, and Knife type weapons and Light armors (although Fighter specialty armors have better Defense values than most Light armors). They cannot equip shields. Their skills tend to focus on special moves that change their combat options up rather than making a single powerful attack.

**High Stat growth**: Str, Agi

**Normal Stat growth**: HP, Res

**Low Stat growth**: Int, MP

**Stat notes**: Fighters are strong and fast with good physical ailment resistance and slightly above average tankiness due to slightly above average HP. Their MP pool is extremely limited.

**Skill examples:**

*Roundhouse kick*- Attack vs a single group using the Boomerang class weapon formula.

*Battlecry*- Fear vs one group of enemies

*Karate chop*- 150% damage attack

*Thin Air*- Wind damage attack-all skill with damage based on level rather than strength. The formula for it is quite complicated so I'm going to give a look to simplifying it.

*Mens Sana*- Meditate to remove all status effects/debuffs

### Ranger

Serves as the All Around jack of all trades class with a focus on field spells. Can equip Swords, Bows, Boomerangs, Light armor, Medium armor, and Shields (if not using a bow).

**High growths stat**: Res, Int

**Normal stat growth**: Everything else

**Stat notes**: As befitting a jack of all trades class, Rangers are good at everything, bad at nothing, and top tier at resisting status effects. The class is extremely reliable at all points, but not especially flashy.

**Skill examples**:

*Heal/Healmore*- Heal now heals for 30 HP BASE and ranges up from there.

*Blaze, Blazemore*- The Blaze family of spells deals Fire damage to a single target. Blazemore does significantly more damage than Blaze.

*Outside-* Warps the Ranger and his party out of the currenty dungeon.

*Return*- Returns the Ranger and his party to Tantengel Castle.

*Repel*- Stops weak enemies from even starting encounters.

*Stepguard*- Prevents damage from stepping on traps and damaging floor tiles.

*Radiant*- Provides brilliant light inside dungeons, much larger than can be achieved with a Torch.

### Priest
Priest is your best bud class, helping everyone do their role better. Priest gets a few good debuffs, buffs, heals, and they get the Infernos family of damage spells so they can contribute damage in some way. Their gear options are Staves, Spears, Hammers, Light armor, Medium armor, and shields.

**High Stat Growth**: Res, MP

**Normal Stat growth**: Int, Str, Hp

**Low stat growth**: Agi

**Stat notes**: Priests are extremely tough and fairly strong. They don't have access to the most powerful weapons or armor, but they can hold their own in a fight. Unfortunately, they're extremely slow.

**Skill examples**:

*Heal, Healmore, HeallAll*- The basic single target healing family of spells.

*Purify*: Removes all Status Effects except Cursed.

*Infernos*spell line- Similar to Firebal spell line except slightly less damage, slightly more MP cost, and Wind element.

*Vivify/Revive*- These spells can revive a character who has died.

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*HealUs/HealUsMore/HealUsAll*- The HealUs family of spells heals an entire group of targets.

*Upper/Increase*- Upper raises a target's Defense by 50%. Increase raises an entire group's Defense by 25%. These stack up to a 100% increase.

*Expel*- Forces a group of enemies who are weaker than the caster to flee.

*Beat/Defeat/Sacrifice*- Unleashes a sacred blast to eradicate enemies. Beat targets a single enemy, Defeat targets an enemy group, and Sacrifice kills the caster to try to destroy every enemy.

### Wizard
Masters of destructive magics, Wizards bring the boom. They've got Mp oozing out of every pore and enough firepower to level a small stronghold... But can't take a hit to save their lives. Wizards can equip Staves, Knives, and Light Armor.

**High Stat growth**: Mp, Int

**Normal Stat growth**: Agi

**Low Stat growth**: Str, Res, Hp

**Stat notes**:  Wizards get great MP pools to spam their powerful spells and decent speed to try to murder things before they can be murdered in turn, but all of their physical stats are underwhelming.

**Skill examples**:

*Blaze/BlazeMore/BlazeMost*- These spells do single target Fire damage. BlazeMost will incinerate all but the strongest foes.

*Firebal/Firebane/Firebolt*- Group target Fire spells.

*Icebolt/SnowStorm/Blizzard*- Icebolt is a single target Ice damage spell that is stronger than Blaze but weaker than Blazemore. SnowStorm and Blizzard are group target Ice spells. Snowstorm is between Firebane and Firebolt in power, Blizzard is stronger than Firebolt.

*Sleep/SleepMore*: Errata change. Sleep now targets a single target only. SleepMore targets groups.

*Sap*: Removes 50% Def from one target

*Defence*: Removes 25% Def from a group. (Increase is also a 25% buff now)

*Bang/Boom/Explodet*- Deals typeless to all enemies. Not subject to damage resistance, but can be dodged with Magic Evasion.

Ultimate spell *KaBoomle*- Extremely high typeless damage vs all enemies.

## Locations and NPCs

All of the locations from the original Dragon Quest game have been carried over, although most have gone through some level of change.

### Important NPCs not linked to a location

Rubiss: Rubiss is the Goddess worshipped by most of Alfegard. Her Priests serve the faithful, and some take the holy fight directly to the servants of evil. Rubiss has watched over Alfeguard since time immemorial and without her help Erdrick would never have defeated the ancient evil. Her sign and symbol is a rainbow.

### Tantengel Castle
The starting location for all players, Tantengel serves as Alfegard's central ruling government. It exists directly across the Bay Of Sorrow from Castle Charlocke, the forbidding palace that the Dragonlord calls home. Tantengel is a strong stone castle with many soldiers guarding it. This did not stop the forces of the Dragonlord from overrunning it, stealing the Ball Of Light, and kidnapping Princess Gwendolin.

*Notable NPCS*-

King Steve ne' Tantengel XIV: King Steve is the latest descendant of the long lasting Tantengel royal line, tracing his lineage all the way back to the time of Erdrick. Unfortunately, he's not the brightest crayon in the box and without his much more competent daughter around the kingdom is coming apart at the seams.

Princess Gwendolin Tantengel- Heir to the throne, Gwendolin was raised from birth to be ready to take over the rulership of the kingdom from her father. Fortunately, she gets her brains from her mother's side. She's been kidnapped by minions of the Dragonlord for unknown purposes. Her whereabouts are also unknown.

Chancellor William- Formerly one of Gwendolin's tutors, William has been press-ganged into helping run the kingdom in her absence. Poor guy is doing his best but is overworked, underappreciated, and in desperate need of help.

The Templar Of Light- Years ago the Templar showed up at the castle, flashed the Rainbow sigil necklace typically associated with Rubiss, and took over a section of the castle courtyard. Certainly not a Priest, the Templar nevertheless has powers beyond mortal understanding. Once a character is strong enough he is able to send them on a visionary quest to help guide them in their life's work.

### Brecconary
The hamlet of Brecconary is just outside Tantengel's castle walls. It is usually the first stop travellers make after leaving the castle. It consists of an Inn, a few shops, and the homes of several unique and eccentric individuals. With Castle Charlocke looming in the distance, Brecconary is often a somber place.

*Notable NPCS*-

Gawain The Guard- Gawain is a long serving soldier from Tantengel sent to Brecconary to help keep the peace. He might have some useful tips for adventurers who want to keep their heads on their necks and guts on the inside.

Magetress Tara- Tara is a Wizardess who moved to Breconnary following the second razing of Haukness by evil forces. She is constantly researching magic, trying to find more effective ways to combat the forces of the Dragonlord.

Tamer Deleon- A former fighter who discovered he had an affinity for raising monsters, Deleon holds the title on a battle arena. For a fee, he's willing to help others learn to control monsters they might meet in the wild. Unfortunately, his arena's close proximity to Tara's tower has led to bad blood between him and spellcasters.

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Rubin The Herbologist- An elderly man who runs an Apothecary shop, Rubin spends much of his time tending plants. His best breeds only grow in the wild, however, and in these trying times he cannot tend his gardens as well as he would like. Rubin always has work for adventurers who can serve as bodyguards while he takes care of his healing plants.

The Hexologist- Or Papa Hex, as he prefers to be called. Hex has a hut dead in the center of town, and reality is... Odd nearby it. Time and space seems to shift in funny ways. Hex spends most of his time experimenting with magic, but no one knows why. All thats know for sure is that anyone who visits him will quickly find themselves in a fight, the latest guinea pig in Hex's experiments! He DOES pay good however, win or lose, and the guy is a certified genius. He specializes in dealing with curses and cursed objects.

*from a sign outside Hex's hut*: "Dead?  Cursed?  Questions of the magical variety?  The Hexologist is your man!  To take the Hexologist quest, all you have to do is survive a cage match while the Hexologist throws some spells around!  Possibly at you.  But don't worry!  "Ol' Papa's gotcher back!  Ha-HAAAAAA!!"

Tomas The Hunter: Tomas is a Ranger with an obsession for Scorpions. He often tries to raise hunting parties to go out and slay scorpions. FYI: Due to magical radiation leaking into the local ecosytems, the scorpions are roughly the size of horses. HAVE FUN :D

Hector The Zoologist: Hector was a respected scholar in Cantlin until one day he decided he would categorize and record the data for every monster in existence. Progress is slow, and he often looks to adventurers for help in hunting down rare specimens. No one knows more about monsters than Hector.

Emilia The Archaelogist: Emilia likes digging in rocks and caves, looking for rare artifacts of times long forgotten. Of late she's set her sights on Erderick's Memorial in a cave northwest of Tantegel. Unfortunately for her, monsters have moved in forcing her to stop digging. Plus its dark in there O_O

... To Be Continued for other regions ._.

## Quests

Quests are the meat of DQA, wher players will spend the majority of their time. Most quests involve a series of fights leading (and sometimes from) an objective. Some other quests may require players to fulfill certain criteria or explore a dungeon. All quests pay out a reward in Experience Points upon completion. Most quests also have a material reward of some kind. Completing an entire quest chain usually results is a permenant upgrade.

Quest come in three varieties

### Personal Quests

Personal quests are quests that are specific to an individual player. These may pop up due to something in a character's back story, actions a character has taken, or some other criteria specific to that player. The difficulty and rewards vary greatly and it is impossible to say ahead of time exactly what the details might be.

If you want to have more personal quests come at you, I highly suggest putting together a good backstory with the assistance of your GM.

And example of a personal quest is the Templar Vision Quest that every player can choose to take at level 10.

### Character Building Quests

These are the standard quests for most of the game where a player helps an NPC with their specific tasks. These quests give Experience upon completion and will usually pay out gold or items. In addition, completing these quest chains will permenantly improve your character in some way, be it by increasing base stats or unlocking special powers.

Examples of Character Building Quests include the Apothecary quests, the Hexologist quests, the Monster Tamer quests, and the Archeologist quests, to name a few.

### Civic Development Quests

Civic development quests are quests that the community works towards as a whole. Typically these can be done in conjunction with other actiResies and aggregate over time. Some can be done passively, some players must actively work towards. Occasionally, a Civic Development Quest will be an active quest, similar to how Character Building quests work. INEResABLY THESE QUESTS WILL BE THE MOST DIFFICULT THE COMMUNITY WILL ENCOUNTER. It is highly reccomended that players co-operate when working on Civic quests.

Rewards for completing Civic Development Quests vary, but they always involve unlocking new locations, adding new NPCs or shops, upgrading existing NPCs or shops, or some other large world changing event.

Examples of Civic quests involve the Herald questline offered by Chancellor William and the Slime Squasher quest offered by Gawain The Guardsman. Further Civic quests will be unlocked based on certain criteria.

## Combat

Combat is very straightforward in DQA. Combat is turn based, in rounds, and every player, NPC, and enemy will get to act in a given round. All inputs are given by all participants in a fight simultaenously and the GM then processes those actions. Turn order in a round is determined by the Agility stat, with the participant with the highest Agility stat acting first, then the next highest, etc. In the result of tying Agility scores (which is common for monsters), if the tie occurs on the same team then the tied participants will act sequentially (IE Slime A acts before Slime B, player 1 acts before player 2). If the ties occur on opposite teams then who goes first will be randomized. Certain actions, such as attempting to Flee or using the Defend command, ignore turn order and always are processed at the beginning of a round. These commands are considered to have PRIORITY, with Flee being the highest Priority, then a Defend command, then any special actions with Priority (such as the Soldier's Mercurial Thrust skill).

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### Combat Actions

Every player, NPC, and enemy posseses the same options for combat. The basic options are:

*Attack*- Attempt to assault your foes using your fists or whatever weapon you have equipped. The Attack action (and any action that works as a modified Attack command, such as the Soldier's Fire Slash) uses a complicated formula to determine damage but the simplified version is that it compares the attacker's Atk stat to the defenders Def stat and then adds a random percentage to the end result. If the attackers Atk is LOWER then the defenders Def then the result is called a "plink". Plinking results in either a Miss or 1 damage.

It should also be noted that Critical Hits completely IGNORE the defender's Defense stat, so even the weakest character can strike a powerful blow with a little luck. The Surround status effect dramatically lowers the accuracy of Attack actions.

*Spell/Skill*- Use whatever combat spells or skills your class learns. This almost always consumes some MP, so your ability to cast spells and skills is limited by your MP pool. The Stopspell status effect makes Spell/Skill use impossible. Note that not every spell can be used in combat.

*Item*- Use an item from your bag, or possibly use a piece of your gear as an active item.

*Defend*- Take no offensive action this turn and totally focus on protecting your self. This will cut incoming damage in half AFTER Defense, resistances, evasion, and everything else has been processed.

*Flee*-Try to run away from your enemies. Success is determined by comparing Agility stats. It IS possible to run away from enemies that are faster than you (or fail to run from enemies slower than you) but the odds are unfavorable for that outcome. It is worth noting that if ANY person in a party tries to Flee and succeeds then the entire party flees (whether they wanted to or not).

In addition, every party (regardless of the number of players)
can use Autobattle to process many commands during a single update. To do so, **EVERY PLAYER IN A PARTY MUST GIVE THEIR CHARACTER'S ACTIONS FOR THE DURATION OF THE AUTO BATTLE.** This generally consists of giving your immediate action for that round, followed by basic actions for following round. You can also add in contingency actions to use if certain criteria are met, like if someone drops below a certain HP threshold. Here's an example:

Soldier: I'm going to use Fireslash on the Wolflord until it dies and then use regular attacks on the Wolves. If my HP drops below 10 I eat a healing herb.
Priest: I cast Increase twice then begin attacking with my Spear. If anyone drops below 15 HP I cast Heal on them. If more than one person needs healing I cast HealUs instead. If anyone gets paralyzed I cast Purify on them. If I run out of MP I begin force feeding people herbs if they need healing.
Wizard: I cast Firebane on the Wolves. Next round I cast Firebal on the survivors. If anyone is left alive after that I begin using my Wizard Wand as an item to cast Blaze. If I drop below 10 HP I eat an herb.

Note that every player gave actions for their current round, what they would do afterwards, and contingency actions in case they took too much damage. Note that badly designed Autobattle commands can lead to death. For example, if you set your contingency healing value too low then it is possible you'll die before you can heal yourself. It is also possible to choose to auto battle for a specific number of rounds rather than an entire fight. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.  **The GM reserves the right to cancel or disable Auto Battle for any given fight without giving a reason**

### Combat grouping

How grouping in combat is determined is extremely important. Many spells/skills target a specific GROUP. To use these spells effectively, one must understand how grouping works.

For enemies, usually all similar enemies will be in a single group. For example, a fight against 5 Slimes, 2 Red Slimes, and 1 Drakee will consist of three enemy groups. A Group target spell would hit all 5 Slimes, the two Red Slimes, OR the one Drakee. A Target All effect would hit ALL eight enemies.

For Players, grouping is determined by Party. A Party consists of up to four players pursuing a similar objective. For example, if three players all want to take the same quest then they form a single Party. Players do not NEED to ever join a party if they do not wish to, but the game is balanced around the concept of a mixed team who covers each other's weaknesses. Each classes excels in some areas and is lackluster in others.

Knowing when to group up will be an intergal strategy decision. No more than 4 players can be in a single party, and typically only 1 party can be working in a specific area. Some quests (usually Character Building quests) can have as many different groups working them as choose to pursue them. Others (usually dungeon based ones) can only hold one party at a time. Very rarely quests will allow extraordinarily large groups. **YOU SHOULD PROBABLY ROUND UP AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE FOR THESE QUESTS.**

### Experience and Gold rewards

XP and GP rewards are adjusted by a multiplier based on the number of live characters in the current party. This multiplier is as follows

----For a solo party, the reward is multiplied by 4

----For a party of 2, the multiplier is 2.5

----For a party of 3, the multiplier is 1.66

----For a party of 4, the reward is multiplied by 1.25

However, since larger groups can expect to fight a larger concentration of enemies the XP gain rate OVER REAL TIME is faster for a solo player. Groups will gain more XP per fight but solo players can process fights faster. The odd numbers on the multipliers are designed to keep everything more or less even.

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In addition, EXP needed to gain levels AND granted from enemies has been massively changed from the base Dragon Quest game and Dragon Quest Cosmos. Each area of the game is designated as a Zone, and each Zone has a level range associated with it. For example, the Brecconary Zone has a level range of 1-6. Players level 6 or below will find that the XP gain there is sufficient to level up at a decent pace, but players level 7 and above will notice a STEEP drop off in level gaining speed. This is because the XP needed to gain levels 7+ has been increased exponentially, and the XP reward for later zones has likewise increased exponentially. The end result is that players cannot simply farm low level monsters for weeks to gain levels. In order to continue growing, they will need to venture into new areas.

Note that this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the top tier quests for a Zone usually push into the next Zone's enemy pool, so players need not leave Brecconary immediately upon leveling to 7.

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## Skill Tables By Class

##### Soldier
| Level |  Skill learned | Skill description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 3rd | Fire Slash | 130% DMG Fire Attack | 5 |
| 5th| Double Edged Slash| 150% DMG but 50% return DMG | 0 |
| 7th | Mercurial Thrust  | 80% Atk but always goes first | 6 |
| 8th| Ice Slash  | 130% DMG Ice Attack | 5 |
| 10th | Bladed Defense  | Defend and return damage if hit | 2 |
| 12th | Gust Slash  | 130% DMG Wind Attack | 5 |
|15th | Parallax  | Attack with a chance to paralyze one foe | 10 |
| 17th | Evil Slash  | Critical Hit or miss | 4 |
| 20th | Miracle Slash  | Heal for 50% of damage dealt | 10 |
| 25th | Helm Splitter  | Attack and lower enemy's defense | 10 |
| 30th | Falcon Slash  | 2x Attack on one enemy for 75% DMG | 25 |
| 40th | Gigaslash | 2x Atk vs an entire group | 40 |

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##### Fighter
| Level |  Skill learned | Skill description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 2nd | Battlecry | Strikes Fear into an enemy group | 4|
| 5th | Spirit Punch | Deals 150% DMG| 8 |
| 8th| Pressure Pointer  | Normal attack with a chance to instantly kill its target | 10 |
|10th | Eye Gouge  | Normal Attack with a chance to inflict Surround | 4 |
| 12th | Throat Jab  | Normal Attack with a chance to inflict Stopspell | 4 |
|14th | Roundhouse Kick  | Attack an entire group of enemies, dealing less damage to each one after the first | 10 |
|16th | Concussion  | Normal Attack with the chance to inflict Sleep | 4 |
| 18th | Rake and Break  | Normal attack that dispels all beneficial effects on the target | 5 |
| 22nd | Mens Sana  | Cure all status effects on self | 10 |
| 25th | Meditate  | Heal self for 120-150 HP | 15 |
| 30th | Thin Air  | Strong Wind Element attack vs all enemies | 30 |
| 40th| Multifists | Strike 4x against random enemies for 75% DMG per hit | 40 |

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##### Ranger
| Level |  Skill learned | Skill description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 2nd | Blaze | 3-8 Fire DMG to one target | 2 |
| 4th | Heal | Heals one target for 11-18 HP | 4 |
| 5th | Slime Smash  | Deals 150% DMG to Slime family monsters | 8 |
| 7th | Sleep  | Puts one target to sleep | 5 |
| 8th | Fly Swat  | Deals 150% DMG to Bug family monsters | 8 |
| 9th | Radiant  | Strongly lights up dark areas for a time | 3 |
| 10th | Stopspell  | Prevents a group of enemies from using spells | 6 |
| 11th | Stepguard  | Prevents damage from traps and damage tiles for a time | 5 MP |
| 12th | Outside  | Warps Party out of a dungeon | 3MP/party member |
| 13th | Return  | Returns Party to Tantengel Castle | 4 MP/Party member |
|14th | Branch Break  | Deals 150% DMG to Plant family monsters | 8 |
| 15th | Repel  | Prevents fights with weak monsters | 2 |
| 16th | Wolf Whistle  | Summons two wolves to attack two random enemies. Damage is level based | 8 |
| 17th | Insulate  | Reduces damage from breath attacks by 25% for entire party| 15 |
| 19th | Blazemore  | 16-25 Fire DMG to one target | 17 |
| 20th | Wing Clip  | 150% DMG to Flying family enemies | 8 |
| 22nd | Healmore  | Heals one target for 31-40 HP | 12 |
| 24th | Call Of The Wild  |Summons a group of wolves to attack four random enemies. Damage is level based | 15 |
| 30th | Backdraft | Next Breath Attack rebounds on enemies | 25 |
| 32nd | HealAll  | Fully heals one target | 20 |
| 36th | Blazemost  | Deals 101-120 Fire DMG to one enemy | 35 |
| 40th | Summon | Tap into your connection with nature to call forth a powerful spirit to help you! | 50 |

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##### Wizard
| Level |  Spell learned | Spell description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 1st | Blaze | 3-8 Fire DMG to one target | 2 |
| 3rd | Sap | Lowers one enemy's DEF by 50% | 3 |
| 4th | Icebolt  | Deals 7-12 Ice damage to one target | 5 |
| 5th | Accelerate  | Doubles one target's speed for determining turn order | 4 |
| 6th | Sleep  | Puts one target to sleep | 5 |
| 7th | Firebal  | Deals 7-12 Fire damage to one group | 7 |
| 8th | Defence  | Lowers one group's DEF by 25% | 8 |
| 9th | Accererattle  | Raises entire party's Agi by 50% | 10 |
| 10th | Wizard Ward  | Reduces incoming spell damage by 25% for one target | 10 |
| 11th | Bang  | Deals 13-16 DMG to all enemies | 10 |
| 12th | RobMagic  | Steals 5-10 MP from one target | 0 |
| 12th | Outside  | Warps Party out of a dungeon| 3 MP/Party member |
| 13th | Return  | Returns Party to Tantengel Castle | 4 MP/Party member |
|14th | Firebane  | Deals 8-24 Fire DMG to one group | 12 |
| 15th | X-Ray  | Examine a treasure chest without opening it | 5 |
| 17th | Blazemore  | 16-25 Fire DMG to one target | 17 |
| 18th | Sleepmore  | Puts one group to sleep | 12 |
| 20th | Snowstorm  | Deals 12-22 Ice DMG to one group | 20 |
| 21st | Bikill  | Doubles targets Atk stat | 12 |
| 22nd | Magic Barrier  | Reduces magic DMG for the entire party by 25% | 20 |
| 23rd | Boom  | Deals 15-24 DMG to all eneimes | 23 |

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##### Wizard
| Level |  Spell learned | Spell description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 24th | Bounce  | Causes spells to bounce off the target | 12 |
| 26th | Ultradown  | Lower's target's DEF and Agi by 50% and tries to inflict Surround | 20 |
| 27th | Chaos  | Confuses a group of enemies | 12 |
| 29th | Firebolt  | Deals 23-38 Fire DMG to one group | 30|
| 32nd | Blizzard  | Deals 23-38 Ice DMG to one group | 30 |
| 36th | Blazemost  | Deals 101-120 Fire DMG to one enemy | 35 |
| 38th | Explodet  | Deals 83-110 DMG to all enemies | 38 |
| 40th | Kaboomle | Deals 105-150 DMG to all enemies | 50 |

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##### Priest
| Level |  Spell learned | Spell description| MP cost |
|:---:|:---:|:---|:---:|
| 1st | Heal | Heals one target for 11-18 HP | 4 |
| 2nd | Expel | Banishes one group from the fight. No XP or GP awarded | 3 |
| 5th | Slow  | Reduce one group's Agi by 50% | 5 |
| 7th | Surround  | Inflict Surround on one group | 8 |
| 8th | Upper  | Increase's one target's defense by 50% | 6 |
| 10th | Stopspell  | Prevents a group of enemies from using spells | 6 |
| 1th | Purify  | Removes all status effects except Cursed from one target | 8 |
| 12th | Infernos  | Deals 8-20 Wind DMG to one group | 10 |
| 13th | HealUs  | Heals entire Party for 11-18 HP | 15 |
| 14th | Healmore  | Heals one target for 31-40 HP | 12 |
| 17th | Insulate  | Reduces damage from breath attacks by 25% for entire party| 15 |
| 18th | Increase  | Increases entire party's DEF by 25% | 15 |
| 20th | Fendspell  | Spells do not affect the target for a short time | 10 |
| 22nd | Beat  |Unleashes a sacred blast to an eradicate enemy  | 10 |
| 24th | Vivify  | Attempts to revive an ally with 50% HP | 18 |
| 25th |HealUsMore   | Heals entire party for 71-80 HP | 25 |
| 26th | Infermore  | Deals 4-40Wind damage to one group | 16 |
| 28th | Defeat  | Unleashes a sacred blast to eradicate a group of enemies  | 20 |
| 30th | HealAll  | Fully heals one target | 20 |
| 34th | Sacrifice  | Gives own life to summon a sacred blast to eradicate all enemies | 0 |
| 36th | Infermost  | Deals 7-70 Wind DMG to one group | 35 |
| 38th | Revive  | Revives one target with full HP | 25 |
| 40th | HealUsAll | Completely heals entire party | 60 |

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