Skills Items Combat

4. Skills, Items, Combat


SKILLS


Mystic Realms is designed with a 'skill based system'. In other words, unlike many fantasy
role-playing games, one generally does not gain additional abilities when one goes up
character levels. Instead, the abilities that a character has in the game, as well as the
resolution of events occurring in the game, is a matter of what 'skills' the characters
(including the monsters) have, and what levels they have in those skills.

In theory, any character may train in any skill at any trainer. However, in practice there
are certain stat requirements required for certain skills, particularly cleric prayers and
magic user spells, and as such a character may not be able to learn a skill simply because
they do not meet the stat requirements. Furthermore, dedication to a class and a skill (if
offered for that class) significantly reduces the cost for training for the skills taught
by that trainer. So, in practice, characters typically dedicate to a class and pretty much
stick to the skills for that class.

The way that a character obtains skills and goes up levels in those skills is by 'buying'
skill levels with 'training points' (TRP). This entails understanding how much it costs to
buy the skill level, purchasing TRP if necessary, and then purchasing the skill level.

The training centers located throughout the land each contain a 'Book of Skills' for the
skills trained by the trainer there, and you can find out what levels your character is in
those skills, what the cost in training points is to buy the next level in that skill, and
other important information, simply by moving to a square with a Book of Skills and
entering the command READ.

One of the lines displayed with the READ command is 'TRAINING POINTS', with two numbers
separated by a slash. The first number represents how many TRP are available NOW and can
be spent on skill levels. The second number represents how many new TRP can be bought. The
basic idea here is that 1 Experience Point plus 10 Copper Pieces buys 1 TRP. So, as a
player adventures in the game and gains experience the second of the two numbers will go
up. You may then purchase TRP by going to the seller in that (or any) training center and
saying <seller name>, BUY <number>. The number is the number of TRP that you wish to buy
and cannot be greater that the second TRAINING POINTS number and you must have enough
copper pieces in your bank account to cover the monetary cost. Assuming this, after
entering this command your bank account will be down in copper pieces ten times the number
entered and, if you go to the Book of Skills and enter the READ command again, you will
find that the first TRAINING POINTS number has gone up by the number entered and the
second number has gone down by that amount. As the first number represents the TRP
available to buy skill levels with, you now have that many more TRP available for that
purpose.

As a service, the sellers in the training centers allow the depositing of coins as well as
taking gear and giving a fair price for it. This is accomplished by putting the coins
and/or gear on the seller's counter and saying <seller name>, DEPOSIT.
The seller will take the coins and/or gear and deposit the value in your bank account. The
sellers are also capable of telling you what your bank account balance is, which is done
by saying <seller name>, BALANCE. In fact, the only thing that sellers will not do that a
bank will do is the withdrawing of coins.

When you have decided to buy a level in a skill, and have enough TRP for it, just say to
the trainer there <trainer name>, TRAIN <skill name>, and he will raise you the level in
that skill. After this, if you read the Book of Skills again you will see that your level
for that skill has gone up one and your available TRP has gone down by the cost for that
skill level.

Besides the TRP situation and the levels and costs for the next level for skills, some
other information is displayed by the READ command, including a character's name and
level, what class they are, etc. The important item here is the character's level. This is
independent of character class and goes up automatically based on experience gained in the
game. As stated previously, character's do not gain new skills or abilities when they go
up levels. However, a character's level is a direct modifier to ALL saving throws (things
like resisting a charm prayer or an illusion spell, not getting knocked unconscious in
combat, etc) and as such a character's level is a very important stat in the game.

Lastly, although characters do not gain additional skills when they go up levels, it is
rumored that additional skills will be obtained when one gains stats above 18. What these
skills are and what classes might have them, is not something that is necessarily known.


ITEMS


The Front End Interface functions provided to move items around are described in chapter 2
under the heading 'Inventory'. There are however, some restrictions in where you can or
cannot put the various items and these are described here
based on the location where you might put the item.

BODY

The body location represents what you are WEARING on your body, and there are significant
restrictions on what can be worn.

First of all, to be able to wear primary armor (e.g. leather vest, plate armor, etc) you
must be trained in the Armor skill (see chapter 5) for that armor. Also, you must not be
wearing any other armor to be able to remove or put on primary armor.

Other armor that can be worn on the body is based on where you might wear it as follows:

HEAD: A helm or cap.
NECK: A cape, cloak or amulet.
SHOULDERS: A rope, epaulettes (shoulder armor), or amulet.
WAIST: A belt, armored kilt or girdle.
LEGS: Leggings or leg bracers.
FEET: Boots.

Besides the position restrictions, some armor may be worn in conjunctions with other
armor, and in particular epaulettes and leggings cannot be worn if you are wearing plate
armor as your primary armor. Also, some of this armor requires a particular armor skill
and may thus not be wearable. There are NPCs in the game (if you find them) that can tell
you the requirements of a particular piece of armor.

HANDS

The hands image in the Inventory destinations display represents what you are WEARING on
your hands/wrists/fingers as opposed to what you might be CARRYING in your hands which is
handled by the hands displays in the Melee Combat display. What you can or cannot wear on
your hands/wrists/fingers is as follows:

Gloves/Gauntlets/Wristbands - One of these may be worn.
Rings/Bracers - One set of bracers and up to 6 rings may be worn here.

The difference between bracers and wristbands, as defined here, is that wristbands give
armor protection but bracers do not, instead typically being very light but giving some
magical protection of one sort or another.

BELT

The belt represents what you are CARRYING on your body as opposed to what you might be
WEARING on your body, and can include gear that you might be wearing on a belt, on a
sheathe, over the back or shoulders, in pockets, etc. Items that can be put on your belt
include most weapons and shields (those two large, such as pikes and body shields, are
excluded), potion bottles or other things that might be carried in pockets, and other
containers including:

SACK - Anything can be put in a sack (they are magical) but the only way to get
anything out is via the DUMP command.
PACK - Small and medium sized items may be put here, but you cannot get the
items individually while it is on your belt, but need to remove it to another location
(hands, ground or counter) to access the items.
POUCH - This may only contain small items, such as coins, gems and sling stones, but you
may access it at any time.
QUIVER - May contain up to 30 arrows.
BOLT CASE - May contain up to 30 crossbow bolts.
SCROLL CASE - May contain up to 10 scrolls.


COMBAT


This remainder of this chapter describes the systems that pertain to combat, including
Fatigue, Stress, Other Combat Affects, Dieing, and Combat Intensity, and then goes on to
describe the combat system itself.


FATIGUE


Fatigue can affect each of the endurance stats (Stamina, Karma and Mana) and is shown in
DARY GRAY on your own endurance bars and in LIGHT GRAY on the hearts, crosses and diamonds
on the character rectangles. In practice, Karma fatigue is only incurred when reciting
prayers and Mana fatigue is only incurred when casting spells, and thus these types of
fatigue are only important to those performing those actions. Stamina fatigue, on the
other hand, is incurred by anyone performing any of various physical actions, and in
particular when fighting in melee combat, and is thus significant to all characters in the
game.

The first thing to understand about fatigue is that the only affect fatigue has on the
game is that, if you do not have enough non-fatigued endurance remaining to perform a
given action, you will simply not be able to perform it. Again, this is the ONLY affect
fatigue has on the game, but oftentimes this is quite significant in being unable to
attack, recite a prayer or cast a spell simply because you are too tired.

At the start of each turn, AFTER you have gotten your latest status as displayed on your
endurance bars, you recover fatigue at the rate of one eighth of your total endurance
(fractions rounded down) plus one (this is known as your Fatigue Recovery Rate, or FRR).
So, if your Stamina is 80 you will recover 11 at the start of each turn. Then, if you do
not take ANY actions in the turn, you will recover this much and it will be shown on your
endurance bars at the end of the turn. However, if you do take actions in the turn you may
incur fatigue for those actions and if so will end up recovering less or having a net loss
in your total fatigue.


STAMINA FATIGUE


As stated previously, Stamina fatigue affects all characters in the game, and is thus a
significant factor to all, but is particularly important to fighting class characters,
and is most significant when involved in melee combat. (Note: In the remainder of this
section the term 'fatigue' refers to Stamina fatigue only.)

At the start of a turn, after fatigue recovery, if you are involved in melee combat you
will incur fatigue just for being involved in that combat. Furthermore, if you attack that
turn, you will incur more fatigue. However, if you select a non-attack option, such as
parrying, targeting or covering, then you will not incur the second fatigue increase.

In practice, what this means is if you attack your fatigue will increase, but if you
parry, target or cover your fatigue will decrease. So, if you start becoming too fatigued
to attack, the thing to do is simply select one of the non-attack options until you have
recovered enough fatigue to attack again.

As far as fatigue for actions outside combat, usually the only affect there is slowing
down your fatigue recovery. So, if you finish combat and are very fatigued but immediately
start searching corpses, etc, well, you may still be very fatigued afterwards and may thus
need to 'rest on your sword' for a turn or two before continuing to adventure.

Now, the most important thing to understand about fatigue, as far as HOW MUCH fatigue you
lose given a particular action, is that it is based on a number of factors, the most
significant of which are the armor you are wearing and any weapon and shield that you are
carrying in your hands.

All armor, weapons and shields are rated as to how much fatigue they cause, and these
'Fatigue Factors' can be determined (if you find the right NPC) in the game and one's
'Total Fatigue Factors' (TFF) can be calculated. A base level (e.g. without anything else)
of 8 is used, and to this are added the Fatigue Factors for each piece of gear. The rule
of thumb is that one's TFF should be greater than one's FRR (Fatigue Recovery Rate as
explained above), but less than TWICE one's FRR.

Trying to determine what gear one should wear this way can become a bit tedious and, in
practice, a much simpler method is used. Simply, if you are not fatiguing much in combat,
well, you can go ahead and add some more armor if you so desire. On the other hand, if you
start fatiguing too much in combat, well, you probably need to take something off. This
method is the one most players use but, the 'analytical' method described above is
included for those desiring to deal with things on the more detailed level.

Besides armor, weapon and shield, other factors that contribute to your TFF are Combat
Intensity and Encumbrance. For the former, each level of CI gives a +1 to both attacking
and defending, but there is a fatigue cost equal to 24 minus ones Willpower. For
Encumbrance, each level of encumbrance contributes one fatigue factor.

When first starting, it is important to know that you do not have that much Stamina and
thus cannot wear much heavy armor. In fact, starting characters usually have only barely
enough Stamina to handle minimum armor, weapons and shield. However, as you progress in
the game you will be able to train in, and thus increase, your Stamina. This not only
allows you to take more damage in combat before dieing, it increases your Fatigue Recovery
Rate and thus allows you to wear heavier armor (or to increase your CI).


KARMA AND MANA FATIGUE


Like Stamina, Karma and Mana can become fatigued. However, how this occurs is different
than Stamina fatigue. Simply put, Karma fatigue occurs ONLY when reciting prayers, and
Mana fatigue occurs ONLY when casting spells. How much fatigue is incurred depends on the
specific prayer or spell. If you do not have enough non-fatigued Karma or Mana required to
recite the prayer or cast the spell, then you just won't be able to do it. Like Stamina
fatigue, Karma and Mana fatigue recover at the beginning of the turn (AFTER your endurance
bars have been updated) at the rate of one eighth of your total Karma or Mana plus one.


STRESS


Like fatigue, stress affects each of the three endurance stats. On the bar graphs and
character rectangles, stress is shown in black, replacing the colored portion of the graph
for the particular endurance to the extent of the stress. Also like fatigue, stress may
inhibit a character from taking a particular action, in that it reduces the total
endurance available and there may not be enough to contain the amount of fatigue necessary
to do the action. More significantly, if a character's stress in any of the endurance
stats reaches or exceeds the total amount of that endurance, the character is dead.

Unlike fatigue, stress does not become reduced automatically. Instead, one must find
another way to reduce it. The most common way is sleeping in one's bed (moving to the
square where one's bed is and entering the command SLEEP), which eliminates all stress.

Stamina stress can occur due to being hit in melee combat or as a result of the affects of
prayers and spells. Besides sleeping in one's bed, Stamina stress is reduced or eliminated
by the Healer prayer 'HEAL', which may be recited by a Healer and can also be found in
scrolls (useable only by clerics) and in potions (useable by anyone).

Stamina stress represents the significantly larger share of stress occurred in the game.
However, the Priest prayer 'DAMN' causes stress to the target's Karma, and the Wizard
spell 'ENERGY BOLT' causes stress to the target's Mana. Stress to either of these works in
exactly the same fashion as Stamina stress (albeit to a different endurance) including
causing death if the stress equals or exceeds the amount of the endurance. If you suffer
stress to either of these endurance stats but not enough to kill you, the way to get rid
of it is to 'sleep it off' in your bed.


OTHER COMBAT AFFECTS



BLEEDING


As early adventurers learn very soon, bleeding is an important consideration in melee
combat. If an attack causes you to start bleeding, you will see a message indicating so,
and will notice your Stamina going down each turn by a given amount. Simply put, if you
don't do something about this your Stamina stress will reach 100% (e.g. the red Stamina
bar will be entirely black) and you will be dead.

Regardless of what you might do about bleeding, you can't do it while you are trying to
fight in combat. Instead, you must first 'finish' the combat or 'retreat' to a place where
the hostile creatures can't get at you.

Once you have disengaged from combat, you may be able to BANDAGE (using the command by
that name) and thus stop the bleeding using your First Aid skill. If your First Aid skill
is greater than your character level +1 then you can stop bleeding up to -5, if it is
equal to your character level +1 then you can stop bleeding up to -4, if it is equal to
your character level then bleeding at -3 can be stopped, if at one less than you character
level then -2 can be stopped and if less than that then only -1 bleeding can be stopped.

If you cannot Bandage your bleeding, the other alternative is to drink a potion of Bind
that is high enough to stop the bleeding. The amount of bleeding that a Bind potion can
stop depends on what your character level is. If the Bind potion is at the SAME level as
your character level than bleeding up to -4 can be stopped. If the potion level is greater
than your character level than greater bleeding can be stopped by the amount of the
difference in levels, while if the potion level is less than your character level then
lesser bleeding can be stopped by the amount of the bleeding. Obviously, Bind potions at a
level less than your character level by four or more will not stop any bleeding on you at
all.


WOUNDS


Another possibly unpleasant result of combat (if it happens to you) is getting wounded. If
this happens you will receive a message indicating so and the shoulders on your bust will
turn blue, and a bright cyan number will light up just under the bust indicating the level
of the wound.

The affect of being wounded is a direct modifier to all attacking and defending by the
amount of the wound. This is the only affect but, depending on the extent of the wound,
you may find death as an indirect affect in a turn or two.

To mend your wounds, you must use a MEND potion, as can be bought or found in the game.
Similarly to BIND potions, a MEND potion at the same level as your character level will
mend wounds up to 4, while MEND potions at levels greater or less than your character
level will mend wounds greater or less than 4 based on the difference in levels.


MIND AFFECTS


Mind affects caused by melee combat include 'dazed', 'stunned' and 'knocked unconscious'.

If you are dazed you cannot take any action (including parrying) until the affect wears
off but are not otherwise penalized in defending attacks by others.

If you are stunned the situation is similar to dazed except all attackers get a +4 when
attacking you.

If you are knocked unconscious the situation is similar to the above except all attackers
get a +12 when attacking. If you are knocked unconscious your life expectancy is not very
great.


DIEING


When you die you fall dead to the ground and anything you are carrying in your hands is
dropped. Also, due to the system shock of experiencing the death, you lose Experience and
Training Points ('available' TRP, which may result in a negative value) equal to 1% of
your total Experience. At this point there are only two things you can do.

First, you can communicate with other characters telepathically via the 'TELL' command.

Second, you may enter the RECALL command. If so, you lose another 1% of your Experience
and TRP, but are raised from the dead and teleported to the church. If you leave the game
while you are dead this will be executed for you.

The Priests of the church are not able to execute RECALL while there is combat going on
within visible range of the dead character. Also, even after combat is stopped it takes
some time for the Priests to execute the prayer so the player may have to wait a bit
before becoming raised.

While a character is lying dead on the ground, the monsters may decide to take things from
that character. Due to magic protections provided to the player characters by the Powers
That Be, most monsters are only able to take stuff from the characters sack and coins
pouch. However, some of the more powerful monsters have the power to overcome these magic
protections and take other items from the character as well.


COMBAT INTENSITY


Combat Intensity (CI) is a means of raising one's combat abilities at the cost of greater
fatigue. Simply put, for each level of CI that you are fighting at, you gain a +1 to all
attacking and all defending.

The CI bar graph and + and - button are used to control the level of CI that you are
fighting at as explained in chapter 2. You must have trained in the CI skill to be able to
use it in the first place, and the highest CI level you can go to is equal to your level
in the CI skill. While you are in combat, you can raise your CI level but you cannot lower
it. As prayers cannot be recited and spells cannot be cast while your CI level is greater
than zero, CI is usually not something that is used by clerics and magic users.

The cost in fatigue for each level is CI is based on your Willpower, and is equal to 24
minus your Willpower. So, those with a Willpower of 18 incur 6 fatigue factors for each
level of CI that they are fighting at, while those with a Willpower of 14 would incur 10
fatigue factors for each level.


MELEE COMBAT


When you enter an area with hostile creatures in it, unless they cannot see you or are
engaged in combat with someone else, they will immediately attack, and you will receive
messages so indicating. If they are adjacent to you then they will engage you in melee
combat. Otherwise, they will usually charge.

If you are not engaged but are charged, you can bring up the Melee Combat display (by
clicking in the bottom of this area) and select READY if you so desire. This option allows
you to attack after the charging creature has attacked. In this case, the charging
creature will get a +2 on his attack, and then you will get a +2 on your attack. If you do
nothing then you are considered to be PARRYing and the charging creature will not get the
+2 but you will not get an attack yourself.

If you are not engaged, you may also choose to charge any hostile creatures yourself. This
is accomplished by moving your character to and into the square where the creature is
located. If that creature was charging they will stop and READY for your attack. In this
case you will attack first with a +2, and the hostile creature will then attack (if he is
still alive) with a +2.

Once you are engaged in combat the Melee Combat screen will come up and you select options
from there. Generally speaking, you can select attack options, defensive options, or other
options.

The attack options represent the attack capabilities of the weapon you are using. The
height of the bar represents the probability of a hit (but, this is YOUR die roll, and the
hostile creature gets defensive rolls that are unknown to you and thus the same roll may
miss on one turn and hit on another based on the hostile creature's rolls). However,
different attack possibilities do different damage so in many cases a lesser probability
for a hit may still be the best attack choice. What damage a particular attack does in
general is described in the HELP for that attack type (see HELP.TXT or do HELP <command>
while in the game). For the specifics on your particular weapon type, you may be able to
find an NPC in the game that can tell you this.

In any case, if you select an attack then you will receive a message indicating the
results of your attack, and then the hostile creature(s) will attack and you will receive
messages indicating the results of their attacks. In other words, you get to attack first.

If you select an attack option without selecting a target, then you are assumed to be
attacking the hostile creature that you last targeted, as is indicated by that creatures
name being in WHITE text in his character rectangle. You may also select another target
(but, if you are engaged you may only select those that are attacking you) by clicking on
an attack option and then clicking on the creature's character rectangle. In this case,
any attacking creatures will attack first and then you will attack but with a new roll for
your selected attack type. In other words, your attack bars ONLY apply to the creature you
are currently targeting and, if you select a different target, then the game will
determine a new die roll for your selected attack type.

Besides the attack bars (in bright cyan) there is a defensive bar (in light brown) on the
right side of the display that represents your vulnerability to attack by the hostile
creatures, and there are two defensive options that you may select here. If you select
PARRY you get a +2 to your defensive rolls but do not get to attack that round. If you
select COVER you get a +4 to your defensive rolls but do not get to attack that round nor
in the next round. Both of these options are generally selected when your defensive bar is
real low. Better to lose a turn or two of attacking than to die!

There are also a number of options which may be available at the top of the display,
including READY described previously, but also the following:

AGGRESSIVE - Choose this option and then an attack type and the critters will get to
attack you first at +2 but then you will attack at +2. Usually selected only when your
defensive bar is high. Also, there is an additional fatigue cost to use this option.

COUNTER - Choose this option and the critters will attack first, but then you can attack
with a new set of attack bars and the game selecting the one that got the 'best natural
roll' for you as your attack. Usually selected when you did not get very good attack bars
to start with.

TARGET - Choose this option to target your enemy. You will not get to attack this turn,
but will get a +2 in your attack bars for the next turn.

LOAD - This is used to load a ranged weapon.


DAMAGE INFLICTED


Mystic Realms differs from many Fantasy Role Playing games in that, in MR, given a
particular weapon and attack type, the better you hit, the more damage you do. As such,
the amount of damage typically varies over a large range, with the actual amount of damage
quantified in the message you get when you hit with the 'type' of damage indicating how
much was done as follows:

Glancing: The minimum amount of damage for that weapon and attack type.
Minor: 25 or less points of damage
Moderate: 26 - 50 points of damage
Considerable: 51 - 100 points of damage
Major: 101 - 200 points of damage
Severe: 201 - 500 points of damage
Mortal: Greater than 500 points of damage


RANGED WEAPON COMBAT


Ranged weapons include bows, crossbows, slings, thrown weapons, and some pole arms.

To be used, bows must be 'loaded' with an arrow, crossbows must be loaded with a crossbow
bolt, and slings must be loaded with a sling stone.

Shortbows can be fired every turn. As such, if you shoot or loft an arrow with a shortbow,
it is loaded first for you. For this to happen, you must have a quiver with arrows in it
on your shoulder.

Other bows need to be loaded first, via the LOAD command. You must have a quiver with
arrows in it on your shoulder for the load command to work. Once loaded the bow may be
used to shoot or loft the arrow. Note that this means bows other than the shortbow can be
used at most every other turn.

Crossbows can only be used every third turn at most. Like bows they must be loaded (with a
crossbow bolt) with the LOAD command, but in the case of crossbows the bolt must be in the
left hand to be loaded. So, you must first move the crossbow bolt to your left hand, then
on the next turn load the weapon, and on the third turn it may be fired. Crossbow bolts
are usually kept in a bolt pack on the belt.

Slings are loaded like bows, except a sling stone must be available in a pouch on the
belt. The LOAD command is first executed and the sling is then ready to be used the
following turn.

The SHOOT command is valid for bows, crossbows and slings. This represents a direct fire
attack and as such there cannot be any intervening characters or the attack will be
disallowed. Bows also allow for the LOFT command, which can be used over intervening
characters but has the restriction that neither you nor the target may currently be
engaged in melee combat.

Thrown weapons include hand axes, spears, javelins, and daggers. These may be thrown, via
the THROW command, over intervening characters but neither you nor the target may
currently be engaged in melee combat.

Pole arms that can be used to attack at a range of two include the Pike, Two-handed Spear
and Fauchard. The only restriction on this type of attack is that you may not be currently
engaged in melee combat with others.


SAVING THROWS


When a player is attacked by prayers or spells, saving throws are granted. Generally
speaking, the way this works is the number of saving throws granted is first calculated,
then the percent chance of saving is calculated, and then a random number is generated for
each saving throw to determine if it is made or not.

To calculate the number of saving throws granted, the level of the attack prayer or spell
is compared to the target's level, plus any hero bonus (the number of stat increases the
player has gotten from the hero quest), plus any gain from the Witch Elegance prayer, plus
the target's 'saving throw adder' (from the target's class ring and holy symbol or other
special class item), plus a stat modifier based on the particular spell or prayer.

The stat modifier is based on the class of the attacking prayer or spell, with Strength
being used for Priest and Mystic attacks, Agility being used for Druid and Sorcerer
attacks, Constitution being used for Healer and Sage attacks, and Willpower being used for
Witch and Wizard attacks. The target's level in the particular stat is compared to 17 to
determine the net modifier, with 15 giving a modifier of -2, 16 a -1, 17 giving no
modifier, 18 giving a +1, 19 a +2, etc.

If the two numbers calculated above are equal, the target gets TWO saving throws. If the
level of the attack prayer or spell is greater, then just ONE saving throw is granted. If
the number calculated from the target's level, etc, is greater, then an extra saving throw
is granted for each level that this number is greater than the level of the attack prayer
or spell.

Once the number of saving throws is calculated, the percent change of making the saving
throw is determined. The same numbers calculated above are used, and if the same there is
a 50% chance of making the saving throw, with each difference of 1 increasing or
decreasing this chance by 5%. The target's Charisma is also used here, compared to 12,
with each level of difference here affecting the chance of saving by 10%. It should be
noted here that targets with high Charisma thus make a lot more of their saving throws and
thus take a lot less damage from attack prayers and spells.

For prayers and spells inflicting damage, each saving throw made means a reduction in
damage by 50%. Thus, if two saving throws are made, the target only takes 25% of the
damage they otherwise would have taken. For prayers and spells where there is no damage
but instead a 'level' of the affect (e.g. BLEED, WOUND, etc), each saving throw made means
a reduction of the level of the affect inflicted. For prayers and spells that are 'all or
nothing' situations (e.g. TURN, DAZE, etc), only one saving throw is granted but, if made,
then the attack has no affect.

An exception to the above is the MUTE prayer, which is an 'all or nothing' affect and thus
only one saving throw is granted, and Empathy is used as the stat modifier (compared to
12) with Charisma not coming into play here. SILENCE works similarly except Cognition is
the stat used. Because they attack 'affects' instead of a character target, there are no
saving throws granted for CLENSE and DISPELL.

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