Formulas

Most formulas used in DQA are either identical or closely related to formulas used in true Dragon Warrior. This list explains in detail how many of this game's mechanics work. All division is integer division (rounded off).

All Damaging Effects
All damaging effects are calculated in two steps.

Step 1: Outgoing damage- All damage calculations (such as spell base damages or executing the attack formula). Then the damage is modified by any multipliers applicable (such as 1.3x for Fire Slash or 1.5x for Spirit Punch). Finally, Magical Might is added to the end result. The damage is also assigned an Element (Fire/Ice/Wind/Lightning) and damage class (Attack/Spell/Skill/Breath) at this point if appropriate

Step 2: Incoming damage- After Outgoing damage is finished calculating, that number is plugged into the following formula

(Outgoing damage * DamageResistance) * BarrierRes * DefendCheck

DamageResistance = (100 - appropriate elemental resistance)/100

BarrierRes = (100 - appropriate damage class resistance)/100 (typically 1 unless the target is under the effect of something like Fendspell/Insulate/Wizard Ward/ etc)

DefendCheck = .5 if target is executing a Defend command and 1 if not

Sample damage calculations:

Atk 100 vs Def 70 (assume an average RAND roll of 128)

$$DAM = \frac{100 - 70/2 + \frac{(100 - 70/2 + 1) * \mbox{Rand}(0,255)}{256}}{4}$$

Damage = 24.5, rounded off to 25 Attack Class Physical Element damage

Outgoing damage = 25 Attack Class Physical Element damage

Against a not defending target: (25 * 1) * 1 * 1 = 25

Against a defending target: (25 * 1) * 1 * .5 = 12.5, rounded to 13

Fire Slash Atk 100 vs Def 70 (assume an average RAND roll of 128)

$$DAM = \frac{100 - 70/2 + \frac{(100 - 70/2 + 1) * \mbox{Rand}(0,255)}{256}}{4}$$

Damage = 24.5 * 1.3 = 31.85, rounded off to 32 Attack Class Fire Element damage

Against a not defending target with no elemental resistance = (32 * 1) * 1 * 1 = 32

Against a defending target with no elemental resistance = (32 * 1) * 1 * .5 = 16

Against a defending target with 35% Fire resistance = (32 * (100-35)/100) * 1 * .5 = 10.4, rounded down to 10

Blazemore with 25 Magical Might (5.5 is average RAND, rounding up to 6)

RAND(1, 10) + 15 + (Magical Might = 25) = 6 + 15 + 25 = 46 Spell Class Fire Damage

Against a non-defending target with no elemental resistance and no barrier = (46 * 1) * 1 * 1 = 46

Against a non-defending target with no elemental resistance and Wizard Ward = (46 * 1) * ((100-50)/100) * 1 = 28

Against a defending target with 35% Fire Resistance and Wizard Ward = (45 * (100-35)/100) * ((100 - 50)/100) * .5 = 7.3125, rounded off to 7

Against a defending target with 35% Fire Resistance and Fendspell = (45 * (100-35)/100) * ((100 - 100)/100) * .5 = 0 damage (Fendspell provides immunity to spells for a few turns)

Physical Attack
These are the steps followed to determine Physical Attack Damage.

Chance for Critical Hit
Critical = TRUE if Rand(1, 32) &lt; Crit Rate

In this case, Damage is given by the formula

$$DAM = ATT - \frac{ATT * \mbox{Rand}(0, 255)}{512}$$

Chance for Dodging
Dodge = TRUE if Rand(1, 100) &lt; Evasion

A successful dodge overrides even a critical hit, hence the infamous "Excellent move! It is dodging!"

Check for Plink
Plink = TRUE if ATT < 2 + DEF

In this case, there is a 50% chance of 1 damage and a 50% chance of a failed attack.

PLINKING IS IDENTICAL BETWEEN MONSTERS AND PLAYERS AS OF BETA

Damage Calculation
If none of the above happen, Damage is given by the following formula:

$$DAM = \frac{ATT - DEF/2 + \frac{(ATT - DEF/2 + 1) * \mbox{Rand}(0,255)}{256}}{4}$$

Magic & Ailment Resistance
Spells and abilities with negative effects have a chance of failing to apply that effect on targets. All players and creatures have individual resistance values that determine the chance of that happening.

Fizzle = TRUE if Rand(1,100) &lt; Appropriate resistance value

Saver type abilities (such as the metal scorpion's phys saver), gives a second chance to resist a spell/ability should they fail their first resistance check. This chance is 25%.

The following resistances fall under the PHYS saver ability:


 * Poison


 * Paralysis


 * Sap/Defence


 * Slow


 * Beat

The following resistances fall under the MENT saver ability:
 * Sleep


 * Stopspell


 * Surround


 * RobMagic


 * Chaos

The BURN saver and burn resistance value provide defence from damaging spells and abilities:
 * Blaze family spells
 * Firebal family spells
 * Fire Breath

Any attacks that cause ailments (e.g. Sleep Stike, Poison Strike) will still cause damage should the ailment be resisted.

PC resistances vary significantly between characters. Certain quests (Hexologist, Apothecary, Hunter, and Zoologist  excluding all others) from the towns can boost the natural resistances of the PC's that take them (the natural crit and the dodge rate can be improved as well).

Targeting
During battle, the ordering of the characters in the party formation is used to determine the odds of each person being targeted by a monster attack.
 * NPC Guest characters, in most cases, will form their own party. Monsters will generally have a 25% chance to target a Guest group.
 * Otherwise, if multiple PC groups are present, monsters have an equal chance of selecting each of those groups.
 * Magic used by the enemy has an equal chance of hitting each character.
 * Physical attacks, on the other hand, are weighted to target the character(s) in the front of the formation more often than those in the rear.


 * Once a group is selected, physical attack targeting works as follows:
 * 1 PC— 16/16 target chance
 * 2 PCs— 10/16 target(1st position), 6/16 target(2nd position)
 * 3 PCs— 8/16 target(1st), 5/16 target(2nd), 3/16 target(3rd)
 * 4 PCs— 7/16 target(1st), 4/16 target(2nd), 3/16 target(3rd), 2/16 target(4th)

Fleeing Battle
For PCs, the chance for successfully fleeing a battle is given by the following formula:

$$AGI_{Hero} * RAND(0,255) < AGI_{Monster}*RAND(0,255)* RunFac$$ SKYE NOTE: the LESSER sign should be a GREATER SIGN in this equation

RunFac is a factor assigned to a monster based on the difficulty running away from it. Obviously the tougher the monster the more difficult it will be to run away.

For Monsters, each turn in combat a monster will choose a target, and if the target's STR is equal to or greater than 2 * monster's STR, the monster will flee the battle 25% of the time.

Experience/Gold Multiplier
XP and GP rewards are identical to true Dragon Quest, but are adjusted by a multiplier based on the number of live, active characters in the current party. This multiplier is equal to 4 / x, where x is the number of characters. Examples:
 * For a soloist, the reward is multiplied by 4
 * For a party of 2, the reward is multiplied by 2.5
 * For a party of 4, the multiplier is 1.25
 * For larger parties, the multiplier is 1