Rules Explained: Armor and Weapons and Stats

The purpose of this post is to explain some of the basic gameplay mechanics working behind the scenes in Chain Knights. I hope you like charts!

WEAPONS

There are a total of 25 different weapons in Chain Knights, divided amongst 5 different Weapon Types and 3 and a half different Damage Types.

Chain Knights Weapon List!

Weapon Type | Damage Type | Weight | Damage

Blunt Objects:

1. Battle Mug | B | 2 | 2
2. Cricket Bat | B | 3 | 3
3. Mace | B | 4 | 4
4. Warhammer | B | 5 | 6
5. Bone Club | B+M | 6 | 7

Pointy Objects:

1. Punch Claw | P | 1 | 1
2. Anchor | P | 2 | 2
3. Bone Pick | P | 2 | 3
4. Spear | P | 3 | 4
5. Longinus Spear | P+M | 4 | 5

Swords:

1. Short Sword | S | 1 | 1
2. Curved Sword | S | 2 | 2
3. Buster Sword | S | 3 | 4
4. Bastard Sword | S | 4 | 5
5. Great Sword | S+M | 7 | 8

Axes:

1. Shovel | S | 2 | 2
2. Chopper | S | 2 | 3
3. Battleaxe | S | 3 | 4
4. Halberd | S | 4 | 5
5. Great Axe | S+M | 7 | 8

Exotic Weaponry:

1. Spine Whip | B/P | 1 | 1
2. Lobster Claw | B/S | 3 | 3
3. Nunchucks | B+M | 2 | 4
   
4. Wrecking Ball | B | 9 | 8
5. Buzz Saw | P/S | 4 | 6

Weapon Stats:

Weight, which opposes a Knight's Swing Speed stat. As the weight of his gear increases, a Knight can jump less high and swing his weapon less quickly.

Weapon Damage is the damage, in hit points, that the weapon causes when swung at full speed. Actual Damage is determined upon contact with a target. Actual Damage = Weapon Damage * (Actual Swing Speed /Max Swing Speed) [I think - - you get it]

Weapon Type affects the Damage Type a weapon causes and determines the proficiency that the weapon uses. Weapon Types include Blunt Objects, Pointy Objects, Swords, Axes, and Exotic Weapons. There is a proficiency for each Weapon Type, and each Weapon Type holds 5 weapons of increasing badassedness.

Damage Type determines the damage done by specific weapons to specific types of enemies. There are 3 regular damage types: Blunt, Pointy, and Sharp, as well as a Magic damage type that "stacks" with the others. Blunt Objects do Blunt damage, which is particularly effective against Leather armor but weak against Primitive armor (those savages have thick skulls). Pointy Objects do Pointy damage, which is good at finding chinks in Metal armor but weak against Leather. Axes and Swords do Sharp damage, which is effective against Primitive armor but not so much against Metal. Exotic weapons do different damage types depending upon the weapon (and some do more than one damage type!). Each Weapon Type contains a Magical weapon as well, which is especially effective against everything but Steam armor.

ARMOR

There are a total of 21 different armor sets (each set = a grouping of four quadrants) in Chain Knights, divided into 3 different "tracks," each of which affects a Knight's stats in different ways.

Chain Knights Armor List!

Weaponmaster | Rangemaster | Armormaster

1. Tribal (WM1, P) | Shamanic (RM1, P) | Turtle (AM1, P)
2. Masochist (WM2, P) | Beastmaster (RM2, P) | Light Leather (AM2, L)
3. Bone (WM3, P) | Buckle Monk (RM3, L) | Studded Leather (AM3, L)
4. Mercenary (WM4, L) | Explorer (RM4, L) | Spiked Metal (AM4, M)
5. Stone Warrior (WM5, M) | Heavy Leather (RM5, L) | Splintmail (AM5, M)
6. Samurai (WM6, M) | Chain (RM6, M) | Holy Knight (AM6, M)
7. Full Throttle (WM7, S) | Stovepipe (RM7, S) | Pauldron (AM7, S)

(WM = Weaponmaster, RM = Rangemaster, AM = Armormaster, P = Pointy, B = Blunt, M = Metal, S = Steam)

Armor Stats:

Weight, which opposes a Knight's Jump Strength stat (or his Swing Speed stat for weapons). As the weight of his gear increases, a Knight can jump less high and swing his weapon less quickly.

Weight should increase based on the level of the armor and the type of material it is made of. An example formula for this might be Weight = Armor Level + (0 for Primitive, 1 for Leather, 2 for Metal, 3 for Steam). Using this example, a set

Armor Strength is the # of hit points a piece of armor has. Collecting 200% of the armor's hit points allows it to evolve.

Armor Material determines which damage types are strong against the armor, and which are weak. As stated above, Primitive Armor is strong versus Blunt damage but weak versus Sharp and Magic, Leather Armor is strong versus Pointy but weak versus Blunt and Magic, Metal Armor is strong versus Sharp damage but weak versus Pointy and Magic, and Steam Armor is strong versus Magic and not weak versus anything.

--A handy chart!--

Armor Material | Good vs: | Weak vs:

Primitive (light) | Blunt | Sharp, Magic

Leather (medium) | Pointy | Blunt, Magic

Metal (heavy) | Sharp | Pointy, Magic

Steam (superheavy) | Magic | None

Armor Track adds stat bonuses based on the "chain" of armor progression the piece of armor belongs to, as well as its "level" in that chain. There are three different Armor Tracks: Weaponmaster (Berserker), which adds to Weapon Damage and Swing Speed; Rangemaster (Scout), which adds to Chain Length and Jump Strength, and Armormaster (Tank), which adds to the disposable shield objects' hit points and gives a small overall damage resistance per level.

Armor Level tells how much of an Armor Track bonus this particular piece of armor gets. For example, a piece of Level 3 Scout Armor might add +3 chain links and +30% jump strength. That's not exactly how the progression will go, but you get the idea...

How Armor Progression Will Maybe Go:

(Each bonus listed is TOTAL bonus for that level armor, not bonus accrued for that level)

Weaponmaster | Rangemaster | Armormaster

Level:

1. Swing Spd + 1 | Jump Height + 1 | Shield HP +10%
2. SSpd + 1, Weapon Dmg +0.25| JmpH +1, Chain Lngth +1 | ShHP + 10%, DRes + 5%
3. SSpd + 2, WDmg + 0.25 | JmpH + 2, ChnL + 1 | ShHP + 20%, DRes + 7%
4. SSpd + 2, WDmg + 0.50 | JmpH + 2, ChnL + 2 | ShHP + 20%, DRes + 9%
5. SSpd + 3, WDmg + 0.50 | JmpH + 3, ChnL + 2 | ShHP + 30%, DRes + 11%
6. SSpd + 3, WDmg + 0.75 | JmpH + 3, ChnL + 3 | ShHP + 30%, DRes + 13%
7. SSpd + 4, WDmg + 1 | JmpH + 4, ChnL + 4 | ShHP + 50%, DRes + 15%

Note that the bonuses listed are for one piece of that armor, so, for example, a full set of 4 Level 7 Armormaster quadrants would increase one's shield hit points by + 200%, and their damage resistance by 60%!

Also note that these probably need to be fiddled with. They are just harmless examples.

CHAIN KNIGHTS HAVE STATS TOO

Chain Knights carry a certain amount of stats with them, as well. Weapon Proficiencies can be built up by hitting things with corresponding Weapon Types, and Armor Proficiencies can be gained by having corresponding quadrants of armor get hit by things.

Chain Knight Permanent Stats:

Chain Length is, obviously, the length of the Knight's weapon's chain. A bonus of +1 in this stat adds a single link to the chain.

Jump Strength is the maximum height the Knight can jump, without armor.

Swing Speed is the maximum speed (in rotations or whatever you like) that a weapon can be swung around the Knight, as well as how sensitive the swing control is (if a Knight's Swing Speed is maxed, he should be able to swing his weapon blindingly fast with little mouse/joystick effort; the sensitivity is basically a function of the max speed).

Weapon Proficiencies (for each stat point in a proficiency, Weight decreases and Damage increases by a set amount when wielding that weapon type):

- Blunt Objects -

- Pointy Objects -

- Swords -

- Axes -

- Exotic Weaponry -

Armor Proficiencies (for each stat point in a proficiency, damage taken when wearing that armor type is reduced by a small set amount- say 2%):

- Primitive Armor -

- Leather Armor -

- Metal Armor -

- Steam Armor -

Quick Refresher

Okay, I'm going to start posting the actual design stuff here and keep the art stuff on my art blog.

(Links go to a refresher of Chain Knight art done so-far.)

Welcome to the development of Chain Knights, a game about godless, sweaty paraplegic psychopaths dismembering one another and everything else they find!

RESET

Okay, this time for real.