Mythswayer features a moderately complex character and combat system that enables free progression through the attributes and skills with a strong emphasis on synergies between different stats, buffs, and enchantments from items. At the heart of this system are the three primary attributes: Vigor, Finesse, and Arcana, along with three dynamic secondary stats: Life (“health”), Tempo (“action points”), and Focus (“mana”), which are primarily derived from the former. In designing this system, our main goal is to keep it simple enough that every stat point and gear choice feels meaningful, while the interconnectedness of the various attributes still opens up the possibility of a plethora of different “builds.”

One key issue that arises from having a seemingly simpler system—that is also its strength and appeal at the same time—is the way synergies can be easily identified and exploited if guards are not in place. Working with smaller number ranges and simpler formulas for combat calculations breeds another problem: balancing enemies around it with player power progression in mind can be tricky, as foes ideally should neither overpower the player nor be seriously overpowered (“end game power fantasies” are another thing.)

“Critical Chance” is a concept in many RPGs and ARPGs. A concept we initially tried not to follow when designing the combat system of Mythswayer. Relying on more grounded, carefully balanced to-hit and damage ranges instead, all was good while testing with low-level player characters against low-level simple enemies. But as item bonuses, skill progression, and enemy scaling kicked in, things became a bit less appealing: many times, the player would have a (near) 0% to-hit chance as a foe had more Finesse (against melee) or Arcana (against magic attacks), or the other way around, goblins had no chance to ever hit the player again with their melee attacks. Of course, these issues only arise when the level gap between the player and the enemies opens up a little bit—but we want to create a game where you are not limited to following a carefully designed path, and can feel both weak or very powerful when wandering into an area of lower or higher danger. But feeling “weaker” or “stronger” shouldn’t mean the system itself breaks down to 0% or 100% chances.

We reiterated our approach to not having a Critical Chance-like component in the system. Having CC brings its issues very quickly; unchecked, an attribute like this can very easily become too powerful and too prominent, a stat that is mathematically so important that an item that could have it and does not virtually becomes worthless. Mythswayer’s more grounded combat system doesn’t need CC for absurd extra damages—we need it to add more flexibility for characters (both player and enemy) in situations where normal calculations would seriously upset combat balance.

In Mythswayer every combat action is based on a skill; "Melee attack" is a skill, and "Arcane bolt" is a skill. We have the luxury to easily introduce Critical Chance smartly by assigning a different base value and per-level progression for each skill that needs it. We also don’t need “crits” to do more damage: we just need them to be a guaranteed hit, to tip the scales a little bit and make balancing easier. We made Critical Chance rolls independent from to-hit rolls, so a CC of 10% means that skill always has at least a 10% chance to hit—more if your calculated to-hit stats are better. Though not initially obvious, this even helps in balancing the “endgame” fights: we can now have enemies with 50% or more CC that will hit you very often whatever you do (and can also have magic properties that help against this 😉), but this enhances the importance of stats like Protection and Magic Protection, and skills like Time Warp that can offset the Tempo (actions per turn) balance of an enemy can become more sought after. (Simple maths: preventing a third attack entirely that would have a 50% chance to hit is more valuable than preventing one with 20%).

This opens up an “arms race”, of course. Every stat, CC, in particular, should have guards against becoming obscenely powerful. We found a natural way to do it: the maximum bonus you can have on CC is now tied to your Finesse. This means that CC from skill progression is something you can count on (and can be balanced more easily), but if you want to be a hero who can bypass any defenses all the time, you need a lot of Finesse (and a lot of CC enchantments on gear, which means you’ll be lacking in other areas.) Or just have a bit of Finesse and enjoy your +10% bonus; or have fun with an item that gives a bonus to Finesse, also opening up your CC cap a bit as a welcome consequence.

Assigning this “capping” mechanism to Finesse in regards to Critical Chance made it—as a main attribute that also gives you the most Tempo per level—more appealing even for non-Finesse-based characters. It is very important that all three main attributes are equally powerful (and you have a choice, not a compulsion to increase one or the other), so we also had to re-evaluate the system with this in mind. Vigor gives abundant Life and melee skills scale with it, and Arcana gives the most Focus and is the base for almost all magic skills, but maybe that’s not comparable to Finesse’s effects on Tempo and CC. But here is where mid to late-game enemies and their ability to hit you through CC even if your defenses are high now comes in: you also need good protection. What if, like Finesse caps CC bonuses, Vigor should cap the physical protection you can gain from armor, and Arcana would cap the Magic protection you can have?

A fully Vigor-focused character will deal great melee damage, but will also receive a lot due to lack of Finesse (defense). But he’ll have a lot of Life and will also be able to gain physical protection bonuses from gear to the fullest. A fully Arcana-focused character will have very powerful protective spells, and their magic protection will be also high to shield them from elemental damage. A fully Finesse-based character will be difficult to hit and will hit their target very reliably. And, of course, no one needs to be a fully X-based character!