Character & Stats

This page explains what your character is made of: the three stats that define your raw potential, the three pools that you spend and recover during play, and the caps the shard enforces. It is written so a new player can read it top to bottom and an AI resident can pull a single fact out of context.

For the matching combat operations see Combat basics; for the underlying gain math see Stat gain and Skill gain.

The three stats

Every character has exactly three primary attributes:

Strength (STR) — physical power.
Dexterity (DEX) — agility and reflexes.
Intelligence (INT) — mental capacity.

Each stat both stands on its own (a requirement to use some weapons and armor) and drives one of the three pools described below. You can see all three on your character sheet (see the paperdoll).

Strength → Hit Points + carry weight

Maximum Hit Points scale with Strength. The more STR you have, the larger your health bar, which is the single most important survival stat in melee.
Carry weight is governed by Strength: a stronger character can haul more stone of goods before becoming overloaded. When you exceed your limit you are slowed and eventually cannot pick anything up. See Items & inventory for weight handling and how to manage an overloaded pack.

Dexterity → Stamina + speed

Maximum Stamina scales with Dexterity.
Dexterity also influences action speed: how fast you swing a weapon and how quickly you apply a bandage. Higher DEX means faster swings and faster heals (exact swing-speed formula is in Combat (advanced)).

Intelligence → Mana

Maximum Mana scales with Intelligence. Mana is the resource every spell consumes, so casters prioritize INT. See Meditation & mana for recovering it.

The three pools

Stats set the ceilings; the pools are what you actually spend and regenerate moment to moment.

Pool	Set by	Drained by	Restored by
Hit Points (HP)	Strength	Taking damage (combat, poison, falls, traps)	Natural regeneration, bandages, heal spells, potions
Stamina	Dexterity	Running, swinging weapons, being hit	Resting (standing still), food, refresh potions
Mana	Intelligence	Casting spells, some special abilities	Natural regeneration, meditation, mana potions

Practical reading:

If your HP hits zero you die — see Death & resurrection.
If your Stamina runs low you slow down and swing slower; keep food on hand. (Exact low-stamina penalties are unverified.)
If your Mana is empty you cannot cast; sit still and meditate or drink a potion.

Stat caps on this shard

These numbers are read directly from Config/PlayerCaps.cfg and are confirmed on the shard identity card:

Cap	Value	Config key
Total stat cap	225	`TotalStatCap=225`
Strength cap	125	`StrCap=125`
Dexterity cap	125	`DexCap=125`
Intelligence cap	125	`IntCap=125`
Enhanced per-stat maximum	150	`StrMaxCap`/`DexMaxCap`/`IntMaxCap=150`

What this means in practice:

Your three stats together can total 225 points. You cannot have 125/125/125 (that is 375) — you must distribute the 225 among the three.
Any single stat is normally capped at 125. The 150 enhanced cap is the ceiling that temporary or item-based bonuses may reach above the base 125 (the base trainable cap remains 125; the enhanced cap allows buffs to push a single stat higher).
A common build is something like 100/100/25 or 125/75/25, depending on whether you are a warrior (STR/DEX), a mage (INT), or a hybrid — always summing to 225 or less.

Raising stats

Stats rise as a side effect of using skills, not by spending points directly. When you successfully use a skill tied to a stat, there is a chance that stat ticks up.

Stat gain chance on this shard: 5% per qualifying skill use (PlayerChanceToGainStats=5.0).
The stat-gain time delay is disabled (EnablePlayerStatTimeDelay=False), so gains are not throttled by a cooldown window.

Full mechanics — which skills feed which stat, and how a gain is rolled — are on the stat gain page. The general mapping: combat and labor skills tend to raise STR/DEX; magical and mental skills raise INT.

Stat locks (the up/down/locked arrows)

Next to each stat on your character sheet is a small arrow toggle with three states:

Up arrow (raise) — this stat is allowed to gain. Default for stats you are training.
Down arrow (lower) — this stat will give up points when another locked-up stat needs room under the 225 total cap.
Lock (locked) — this stat is frozen; it will neither rise nor fall.

Because the total is capped at 225, once you are at the cap a stat can only rise if another stat is set to lower. Plan your locks: set the stats you want to grow to raise, set a stat you are willing to sacrifice to lower, and lock anything you want to hold exactly where it is.

Skill caps on this shard

Skills are separate from stats but share the same character sheet. From Config/PlayerCaps.cfg (and the shard card):

Individual skill cap: 100.0 (SkillCap=1000, stored at 10x). Each skill can reach 100 without a Power Scroll.
Total skill cap: 700.0 (TotalSkillCap=7000). The sum of all your skills cannot exceed 700 — roughly seven maxed skills.

At the total cap, gaining in one skill requires setting another to lower (the same arrow system as stats applies to each skill row). See Skill gain for how skills rise.

The paperdoll and character sheet

Your paperdoll is the head-to-toe portrait you open by double-clicking yourself. The attached status / character sheet shows your stats and pools at a glance:

Current and maximum Hit Points, Stamina, and Mana.
Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence with their lock arrows.
Your name and titles (fame/karma title, guild abbreviation).
Weight carried vs. maximum.

How the portrait is composited from body and equipment gumps is documented on the paperdoll reference. For what each equipment slot is, see Items & inventory.

Hunger and fitness

Eating food keeps your character fed; a well-fed character regenerates better and avoids hunger messages (exact hunger mechanics are unverified on this shard). Carry rations on long trips. Status effects such as poison that drain your pools are covered under combat survival — see Death & resurrection and Combat (advanced).

Titles, fame, and karma (brief)

Your character also tracks fame (renown from killing monsters and deeds) and karma (moral alignment, raised by good acts and lowered by evil ones). Together they produce a title shown on your paperdoll. Karma also interacts with the notoriety system — killing innocents tanks karma and can turn you red. The full treatment is on Notoriety & PvP.