Stat System
Requiem Shard enforces a statcap of 350 total points, that can be split as you wish between the six stats that physically shapes your character in game, and a single cap for each stat at 125 points.
Differently from most shards, in wich Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence are the three main stats, and Hit Points, Stamina and Mana derives from these main ones, in Requiem you have to decide how many points to devolve to each stat.
Since all the stats have specialized uses in game and synergize with skills, it is better to roughtly decide the distribution during character creation, so you won't have a wizard wich cannot cast spells as you have too low Mana, or a warrior wich cannot wear a plate armor as you do not have enough Strength.
Let's see the main differences between stats and their effects in game
- Strength (Str) : governs damage modifications for combat (melee and throwing mainly), is a prerequisite for certain heavy to use equipment as metal armors and weapons, determines your weight allowance for inventory and regeneration of Hit Points.
- Dexterity (Dex): it influences swing speed of any weapon, is a prerequisite for certain weapons (especially archery), modify dodge and parry chances and determines Stamina regeneration.
- Intelligence (Int): influences damage of spells and Mana regeneration rate, raises Grit cap, it is used to resist to certain effects that influences sanity of the character like Torment, and is used in some minor forms of crafting.
- Hit Points (Hp): since any damage you get is subtracted from Hit Points, they are fairly important for any character; a too low value here may bring you to face KO's way too many times, do not undervalue them.
- Stamina (Stam): everytime you use a weapon special move you loose some Stamina, thus having a good pool is essential in combat, it is also used to wear certain armors and running depletes it, so if you want to run away from enemies, you need at least a bit of it.
- Mana (Mana): this is used mainly in the casting of spells and other magic-related abilities, including special magical crafting.
When you create your character, you'll have a certain amount of points to spend between the stats: you need to allocate all of them to proceed between the Songmaker's creation process.
Once your character is ready and in game, there are a couple ways to raise your stats, the most easy are the use of Animus to raise them, and during play you have a 50% chance to gain 1 stat point everytime you gain a full Animus.
Most stats have some kind of thresholds that you may want to take into account during character creation and developement.
The most notable are 90 points for Str, Dex and Int, as their values above this level will yeld diminished returns.
Str up to 80 governs parry chances too, and after 100 it gives a special bonus to Hp regeneration, similarly Dex over 100 gives an additional bonus to Stam regeneration.
Every 10 points in Int gives an additional summoning control slot when you summon creatures via spells.