                           BALANCE DOCUMENTATION v2.0
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I.      Newbie Monsters
II.     Higher Level Monsters
III.    Quest Points


Some of the wizzes have asked about game balance in terms of the monsters 
that they code.  Here some guidelines to think about when you are 
designing your monsters.


I.  Newbie Monsters

First, think about the level of player that you are targeting this monster
at.  A level 1 player has around 100hp.  Therefore, a level 1 monster 
should only have from 100-200 hp.  Here is a chart detailing some ballpark 
figures for newbie monsters.



Level         exp             gold              skills             hp
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1             100-200         under 100         10-20%             100-200

3             300-500         100-200           20-35%             300-500  

5             500-1500        200-300           40-50%             500-700


This is about as high as newbie monsters should go.  The monster's stats
and exp are automatically set according to the monster's level but the
wizard can set them manually also.  The main skills for a monster are 
attack, parry, and dodge.  A rule of thumb when it comes to gold is this, 
a monster should NEVER have more gold than hp.  A monster that carries 
equipment should carry less gold.



II.  Higher Level Monsters

When you design a higher level monster, keep in mind that their skills and 
stats need to be higher.  That is very IMPORTANT.  A monster with a lot of 
hp can be slaughtered by a lesser player with good skills.  Monsters that 
are very high, such as level 19 or 20 monsters should have skills around 
100.  You should also consider giving them spells and the sp to use them.  
Monsters that do not cast spells should have better physical attack as 
well as have more hp. These monsters should give good xp in the range 
of 300K-800K but they must also be almost impossible for a solo player of 
under 20th level to kill.  Such monsters should have at least 2500hp.

Here is an example of a basic 20th level monster:

Level 20        exp:500K        gold:2000       hp:2500

skills: attack 100%     weapon skill 100%
        parry  90%      spellcasting 90%     
        dodge  90%
        
stats:  str 90  dex 90  

spells: heal*6
        harm*6
        blizzard*6

This monster would be tough for a 20th level character and would probably
require a party.  That should be the case for any monsters of 20th level
and giving hundreds of thousands of xp.


III.  Quest Points

Many of you are designing quests for your areas.  For easy quests, you should
give no more than 10-15 quest points.  Easy quest means that a newbie player
of level 5 or under could solve it.  An average quest for medium level 
characters should only give 25 points or under.  Regardless of difficulty, 
no quest should really give more than 50 points.  If you have coded a quest 
that you believe deserves more than 50, talk to an arch.  For an idea of what 
quest points can do, look in the Quest Point Shop in the city.



