On Sun, 4 Jul 1999, Tim and Mary Steed wrote:

> /RANT
>
> I've been hanging out in Cazic Thule for a few weeks, and we get our fair
> share of casters there. It amazes me, day after day, how a low level mob (to
> us) can sustain over 100 points of damage in a split second, and STILL get
> their spells off 90% of the time, while a bard is bashed for a single point
> of damage and their song ends, or a spellcaster is smacked for as single
> point of damage and their spell is interrupted. Is this something Verant did
> to "give the monsters a chance"? Kinda like how a low level mob can smack

It's usually due to game balance reasons. It's easier to
balance a game when tweaking monsters does not result in
changes for the players, and vice versa. So most RPGs end up
with different rules for players than for mobs. One of these
days someone will make a game where this is not the case, and
everyone plays by the same rules...

> And does anyone know how "stunning" works? It seems like whenever I am hit,
> I am auto-stunned half the time, whether it was for 50 points, or 1 point of
> damage I receive. Does it have anything to do with my armor? With my Stamina
> or Strength scores? Any ideas?

I think it just depends on the monster's level compared to
yours. Stuff that used to stun me all the time when it was
white or yellow either never or rarely stuns me when it's
green, even if I'm running around without any armor. Bashes
knock you out of your song every time, regardless of how much
damage it does.

I'll also point out that stunning is why melee classes are so
screwed on the PvP server. The game is designed so that
casting classes are balanced if the things they are fighting
can stun the caster frequently. Aside from the few
classes/races which can bash, players cannot stun each other,
and so the melee classes become sitting ducks to the casters.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...