Dungeons Of Dredmor Quirks

Dungeons of Dredmor (available on Steam) is a confusing game. Dredmorpedia is a good place to learn about the game and see all the numbers. This page explains how those numbers and mechanics interact. I'll tell you now, it's messy! All this data has been verified on the latest version of the game (1.1.4) with all three expansion packs (Realm of the Diggle Gods, You Have To Name The Expansion Pack, Conquest of the Wizardlands).

Jump to a section: Heroic Archetypes, Primary Attributes, Secondary Attributes, Attacks, Defenses, Weird Skill Interactions

Heroic Archetypes

Every skill line belongs to one of three Heroic Archetypes: Warrior, Wizard, Rogue. The skill selection screen doesn't say which Heroic Archetype each skill line belongs to.

Warrior skills

Swords
Axes
Maces
Polearms
Staves
Unarmed Combat
Dual Wielding
Shield Bearer
Berserker Rage
Master of Arms
Smithing
Big Game Hunter
Killer Vegan
Clockwork Knight
Battle Geology
Communist

Wizard skills

Vampirism
Golemancy
Fleshsmithing
Mathemagic
Psionics
Necronomiconomics
Viking Wizardry
Astrology
Promethean Magic
Magic Training
Blood Mage
Ley Walker
Alchemy
Wand Lore
Emomancy
Warlockery
Egyptian Magic
Magical Law
Tourist

Rogue skills

Daggers
Archery
Thrown Weaponry
Artful Dodger
Perception
Burglary
Assassination
Fungal Arts
Archaeology
Tinkering
Werediggle Curse
Piracy
Demonologist
Rogue Scientist
Bankster
Paranormal Investigator

Primary Attributes

Each skill you learn grants you Primary Attribute points depending on the Heroic Archetype of the skill.

Primary AttributeWarriorWizardRogueEach point adds...
Burliness2111Life Points0.333melee power0.175block chance
Sagacity1212Mana Points0.5Magic Power
Nimbleness1120.175Counter Chance0.5Dodge Chance0.333Enemy Dodge Reduction0.75Sneakiness
Caddishness2121life point0.5Critical Chance0.175Counter Chance
Savvy1220.5Haywire Chance0.75Sneakiness
Stubbornness2210.75Magic Resistance0.175block chance

Secondary Attributes

Gear and skills give increase Secondary Attributes directly, but Primary Attributes also contribute.

All fractions are rounded down. Miminum of zero. Usually.

Secondary AttributePrimary Attributes add...
Life PointsBurliness + Caddishness - 5
Life Regennothing
Mana Points(Sagacity * 2) - 5
Mana Regennothing
Melee Power(Burliness - 5) / 3
Critical ChanceCaddishness / 2minimum 1
Counter Chance((Nimbleness + Caddishness) * 0.175 ) - 2
Magic PowerSagacity / 2
Haywire ChanceSavvy / 2
Magic ResistanceStubbornness / 2
Armour Absorptionnothing
Block Chance((Burliness + Stubbornness) * 0.175) - 2minimum 6
Dodge ChanceNimbleness / 2
Enemy Dodge ReductionNimbleness / 3minimum 5
Sneakiness((Nimbleness + Savvy) * 0.75) - 20
Visual Sight Radiusnothing
Trap Sight Radiusnothingminimum 1
Trap Affinitynothing
Wandcrafting Levelnothing
Smithing Levelnothing
Alchemy Levelnothing
Tinkerer Levelnothing

Attacks

Mundane damage types

The "mundane damage types" are Blasting, Crushing, and Slashing. These damage types get special treatment in both attack and defense calculations.

Melee Attacks

Melee attack damage =

This is all added up on your character sheet, except "Melee Power" is tacked onto the end as "+XX". The damage inflicted by a melee attack appears in the message log.

Melee Power

Melee Power adds damage to attacks with melee weapons and thrown weapons. Melee Power is divided evenly across the mundane damage types of the attack. Melee Power doesn't add any damage types that aren't already in the attack, and doesn't affect non-mundane damage types.

Example:

Critical Hits

A Critical Hit doubles Melee Power. The Melee Power is distributed across the mundane damage types as normal.

Crossbow Attacks

crossbow attack damage =

This is all added up on your character sheet. The damage inflicted by a crossbow attack appears in the message log.

A critical hit with a crossbow bolt doubles the mundane damage types of the attack. Too bad Archery skills, crossbows, and crossbow bolts all add bonus Piercing damage, which is not increased on a critical hit.

Some crossbow bolts affect an area. The damage on the tooltip is applied like a normal crossbow attack. The area effect (which is not explained in the tooltip) is independent of the crossbow attack. It can't crit, and still happens if the attack is dodged.

Thrown Weapons

thrown weapon damage =

This is completely absent from your character sheet. The damage inflicted by a thrown weapon does not appear in the message log.

A critical hit with a thrown weapon doubles the damage bonus from Melee Power: 2x Melee Power (with Thrown Weaponry skill) or 1x Melee Power (without Thrown Weaponry skill).

Some thrown weapons, like bombs, affect an area. The damage on the tooltip is applied like a normal throwing attack. The area effect (which is not explained in the tooltip) is independent of the thrown weapon attack. It can't crit, and still happens if the attack is dodged.

Defenses

Defenses are applied in this order.

Dodge, Counter, and Block don't work on traps or spells. (All ranged attacks from monsters are spells)

Layered Defenses

Counter Chance and Block Chance are a bit misleading. Here's an example. 30% Dodge Chance, 20% Counter Chance, and 50% Block Chance add to 100%, but they don't affect 100% of attacks.

Dodge

Block Chance is the percentage of attacks that the defender will dodge.

When a defender dodges, the attacker's attack is completely avoided. The attacker inflicts no damage. The attack does not trigger procs for the defender or attacker.

Counter

Counter Chance is the percentage of attacks--that aren't dodged--that the defender will counter.

When a defender counters, the attacker's attack is completely avoided. The attacker inflicts no damage. The attack does not trigger procs for the defender or attacker. The defender immediately makes a melee attack against the attacker. This attack isn't special. It can crit and trigger procs, and the attacker's defenses apply against it.

Counters can be countered. Only the last creature to counter inflicts damage on the other.

If a critical hit is countered, both are negated. Neither the attacker nor the defender inflict damage. The message log says, "Critical hit - but you block it!" but you didn't block. You countered. Blocking a critical hit is a different interaction.

A build based on countering may seem roguelike, but high Dodge Chance will reduce the number of attacks that can be countered.

Block

Block Chance is the percentage of attacks--that aren't dodged or countered--that the defender will block. The attack can trigger procs.

Block multiplies the attacker's mundane damage types by 0.25. Only a quarter of mundane damage gets through a block. Block does not affect any other damages types.

Armour Absorption

Armour Absorption subtracts its value from the mundane damage types, in order: Crushing, then Slashing, then finally Blasting. If Armour Absorption completely absorbs one mundane damage type, the remainder overflows to the next.

Example:

Blocking before Armour Absorption is advantageous to the defender. Percentage reduction on a big number, then flat reduction from a small number.

If blocking and/or armour absorption reduce the damage of a hit to zero, the message log says, "The attack has no effect."

Resistances

Resistance subtracts its value from the incoming damage of the same type. A negative resistance increasing incoming damage. Resistance that exceeds the incoming damage will NOT heal the defender. Resistance to mundane damage types is applied after Armour Absorption, so mundane damage types may be reduced both by Armour Absorption and Resistance.

Weird Skill Interactions

Swords

Daggers

Axes

Maces

Polearms

Staves

Daggers

Unarmed Combat

Shield Bearer

Dual Wielding

Master of Arms

Warlockery


Dungeons of Dredmor and all images are (c) Gaslamp Games, Inc.