Melee and ranged damage in PvP¶

This page lists what weapon swings hit another player for.

Player-vs-player weapon damage runs on rails: every landed swing rolls only the top half of the weapon's damage dice, and the target's armor takes a fixed, predictable bite out of it. There are no wild lows. A halberd that connects hits like a halberd every time, and nobody in armor ever eats a zero. Damage to and from creatures follows the standard Damage calculation instead.

How the number is built¶

PvP weapon damage

roll  = Random(top half of weapon dice)      // a 15-39 weapon rolls 27-39
      + magic damage level flat              // Ruin +1 .. Power +7 .. Vanq +9
scale = 1 + (Tactics - 50)/100               // +50% at GM
          + Str/500 + Anatomy/500            // +20% each at 100
          + (Exceptional craft ? 0.20 : 0)
hit   = roll x scale / 2                     // PvP halving
final = hit - floor(worn armor AR x 0.625)   // flat mitigation, no dice
result never drops below 1/5 of the hit (minimum 1)

Three things to know:

Every part of your build still matters. Tactics, Strength, Anatomy, Exceptional crafting, and magic or material damage levels all scale the number. Only the bottom half of the dice is left out.
Armor is a flat wall, not a roulette. The worn suit's total AR mitigates a fixed amount from every landed swing: a 16 AR suit always absorbs exactly 10, never 0 and never 16. No random armor piece is picked and no random amount is absorbed. Shields are separate and keep their parry behavior.
A landed swing always hurts. Damage never drops below one fifth of what reached the target's armor, minimum 1. Heavy plate still shrugs off daggers, but nothing lands for 0.

The table¶

Damage per landed swing against the reference target: a mage in a full leather suit showing 16 AR (absorbs a flat 10). Attacker has 100 Strength and GM Tactics; the two columns show the swing without and with GM Anatomy. Plain (non-magic, non-exceptional) weapons.

Weapon	Dice	No Anatomy	GM Anatomy
Halberd	15-39	14-25	18-30
Heavy Crossbow	15-39 in PvP	14-25	18-30
War Hammer	8-36	9-22	13-27
Crossbow	15-36	13-22	17-27
Bow	14-36	12-22	16-27
Viking Sword	6-34	8-20	11-25
Bardiche	14-34	11-20	15-25
Executioner's Axe	6-33	8-19	11-24
Axe	6-33	8-19	11-24
Hammer Pick	6-33	8-19	11-24
Black Staff	8-33	8-19	12-24
Mace	8-32	8-18	11-23
Battle Axe	13-31	9-17	13-22
Large Battle Axe	13-31	9-17	13-22
Two-Handed Axe	13-31	9-17	13-22
Maul	10-30	8-17	11-21
War Mace	10-30	8-17	11-21
Gnarled Staff	10-30	8-17	11-21
Double Axe	11-29	8-16	11-20
Broadsword	5-29	5-16	7-20
Quarterstaff	8-28	6-15	8-19
Cutlass	6-28	5-15	7-19
Longsword	11-27	7-14	9-18
Spear	11-27	7-14	9-18
War Axe	9-27	6-14	8-18
Short Spear	10-26	6-13	8-17
War Fork	10-26	6-13	8-17
Katana	5-26	4-13	6-17
Scimitar	10-24	5-11	7-15
Club	8-24	4-11	6-15
Kryss	9-22	4-9	6-13
Hatchet	2-17	1-5	2-7
Pitchfork	4-16	1-4	2-6
Dagger	3-15	1-3	1-5
Butcher Knife	2-14	1-2	1-4
Cleaver	2-13	1-2	1-3

The big two-handers hit hardest per swing but swing slowest; check Swing speed before crowning a winner. The Heavy Crossbow is the one weapon with its own PvP dice: its native 19-48 roll put it a full band above everything else, so against players it rolls the Halberd's 15-39 and lands the same numbers. Its native dice still apply against creatures, and its reload stays the slowest in the game.

Maces drain stamina¶

Every landed hit from a Macing-skill weapon (maces, war hammers, the war axe, and the fighting staves) drains the target's stamina by a quarter of the damage dealt (minimum 1), on top of the damage itself. A war hammer connecting for 24 also strips 6 stamina. Low stamina slows the victim's own swings, so a mace fighter grinds the opponent down on two bars at once. This is the macing family's PvP identity; it does not apply against creatures.

Magic and material weapons¶

A weapon's damage level adds its flat before all scaling, so it carries through to roughly the same amount on the final number. On the halberd line above (GM Anatomy, same 16 AR target):

Weapon	Per swing
Plain Halberd	18-30
Might Halberd (+3)	21-34
Force Halberd (+5)	23-36
Power Halberd (+7)	25-38
Vanquishing Halberd (+9)	27-40

Crafted material tiers carry a damage level too: Verm grants Might, Sun grants Force, and both Wyrm and Lyonspire grant Power. A Lyonspireite halberd is a Power halberd with indestructible durability, and an Exceptional craft adds a further +20% scale on top.

Against heavier armor¶

The flat mitigation is floor(worn AR x 0.625): a 30 AR chain suit absorbs 18, a 40 AR plate suit absorbs 25 from every swing. The one-fifth floor guarantees a landed halberd still deals real damage through plate, while a dagger tickles it, as it should.