Grab Bag - March 28, 2008

Here we go:


I killed Field Marshall Deborah Ardgall in Dartmoor the other night while farming the Dragonsworn. I received a Confidential Field Report from her. Is this a quest item? I could not find any information about quests associated with her on the web, and neither of the two NPC's mentioned in the report take the item.

The Lady of the Jewels was more then happy to solve this mystery for you: Field Marshall Deborah Ardgall is a Dragonsworn Lieutenant who is involved in the quest 'Child of Rage', attainable at levels 48 to 50. It is given by Sir Gregory in Humberton Castle. As for the Confidential Field Report, this is simply a flavor item for the Dragon Campaign. All the Dragonsworn Lieutenants drop a similar item.

Ok I have a question. When down in Darkness Falls Leveling my Minstrel, I charmed an Infernalist (the one that is a Friar) and it uses Holy Staff style, does it get the HoT like Friars do? This question has just been bugging my brain to death.

Thy brain will no longer be bugged, for The Balancinator has thy answer: Yes, we use the same styles that the players use on many of our monsters. In this case, the "Holy Staff" healing over time spell will affect the pet.

I'm playing a Heretic and I'm in a duo with a Friar who has Bodyguard on me. The Heretic Level 48 spell Torrential Blaze is uninterruptable by magic damage, but when other players are nearby and start to melee me, I get interrupted. If I am bodyguarded, then how is it I am getting interrupted?

The Balancinator smiled and jumped right on in to explain: I appreciate your feedback. I think a common misconception about the "uninterruptible"(I dare you to find that word in a dictionary.) or "UI" spells is the definition of the word "ranged". The word "Ranged" represents your geographical location in comparison to the position of your opponent and not the type of attack. It is possible to have a spell interrupt your cast if they are within 100 units of you.

Someone told me that if I didn't get out of the dragon lair and kill my pet they would appeal me. I was healing and rezzing people not looking for any prizes. And from what I have read pets don't create any problems with the dragon. I had tried to get into the BG but no one would invite. My question is that if a raid is going on, that I have to leave the area. Would like a answer please because in the future I don't want to create any problems but I didn't know that you had to have permission to play in certain areas. Is this true?

I ventured into the cave of the Lord of the Underdark and he responds: It is not a violation to simply be in the dragon's lair if you are not in the BG that is doing the encounter.

However, you should not engage, or have your pet engage, in any combat if the monster that you would attack is already engaged in combat by the BG, or anyone not in your group. This would be considered Killstealing, regardless of your intention to help. You are free to stay in the area and watch the encounter being done by another group/BG, but you should protect yourself and your account by not engaging in the combat in any way.

When you select "Style Library" on the Herald and look at 2-handed styles, Doubler has no information for "effects", is that correct?

I wanted to make sure that the information was correct, so I asked the Balancinator who replied: I think you looked at the wrong line. The "Doubler" info on the Herald exists, but right above it, the style "Obfuscate" shows no info. This style has no effect.

Hi, a friend and I lately were arguing about whether or not one's own weaponskill has any affect on one's own evade-chance/rate. He said that your own weaponskill doesn't have any affect on your own evade. I thought I read something about it being otherwise. Which one is correct and how does weaponskill affect:

- Your own offense/defense
- Opponent offense/defense


In any combination and to which degree?

The Balancinator says: 'Weaponskill' only exists as an expression of multiple factors such as statistics and weapon specialization. It does not affect your evade and parry rates, but some of the statistics that factor into weaponskill do factor into those defensive rates.

Does bonus of magic skill increase the damage of a direct damage ? and increase the possibility of resist?

Searching through the Herald, the Balancinator found this from a Grab Bag in 2005:

A long time ago...in a grab bag far, far, away...(yeah, corny, but so are your grab bag titles). :-P

You posted about how damage variances worked:

1 spec: 25 - 100%
1/3 of level: 50 - 100%
2/3 of level: 75 - 100%
spec = level: 100 - 150%


Do those still apply after four years (!) and if so, what is the percentage a percentage OF?

TK: Corny?! I'm hurt! Except not really.

I asked the Code Warrior, and we discovered that damage variance as pertaining to spec level has managed to stay the same over the years. As for what the number is a percentage of' well, jeez, you just had to ask me a hard one. It's the NUMBER, of course.

Okay, the number that represents the damage range (the raw number of points you have the potential to inflict every time you take offensive action) is made up of a lot of things. I can't tell you exactly, because it's not a nice simple formula, but rather something like a jellyfish with tentacles all over the place. It would take hours to track down all the possible minor influences, but the major influences are:

Your level Target's level Delve value of spell and/or damage of weapon Any bonuses due to applicable attribute (strength, acuity, dex, etc) Armor of target

Remember, that list is NOT complete, but the things I did not include probably don't make more than a few points of difference.

Our Balancinator added: Your question does not ask for this information, but it pertains to your question. The bonuses to magic skill increase your specialization and improve your variance levels. Yes, magic bonus will affect the damage that you do. Your spells chance to be resisted is determined, largely, by the level of the spell versus the level of the opponent. Magic bonus does not increase the level of the spell; it only affects the bonus to magic specializations.

I have misplaced my Mariasha's sharkskin gloves, is there any way i can clear the credit for the encounter so I may complete it again to recieve the artifact?

This was a question for the Lord of the Underdark who answered after taking a swig of caffeinated beverage: While a CSR cannot remove Encounter Credit from a player, we can attempt to restore the artifact to you. Please file an Emergency appeal from your artifact owner, explain the issue, and ask if we can attempt to restore the artifact to you. Please make sure to reference the artifact name(s) in the appeal.

Okay so what is the + to cap when you hover your mouse arrow? I got 101/101 str with 10 cap, I swap out weapons and I have 101/101 strength with a 25 cap but my strength never goes above 355. Both weapons have + to strength. I am confused and my /as said it means I am over cap. Is the cap 101 and the over cap telling me I need to lower my strength?

The Balancinator wanted to help clear your confusion, he explains: The line you are talking about will probably read something like this: + 101/101 Item Bonus (25 over the cap). This portion, (25 over the cap), is the amount over the 101 point Item bonus. This means while using that set of weapons, you have 25 points of strength that provides no benefit to you. The limit is 101 strength, but you have 126 strength points in your armor and weapons.

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