Dodging

See also: Characteristic, Game Information, Positioning Spells

Formula: 300 * (CharAgi + 25)/(CharAgi + EnemyAgi + 50) – 100 CharAgi = Total Agility of the character attempting to dodge. EnemyAgi = Total Agility of the enemy the character is adjacent to.

A dodge roll occurs in combat when a character or monster who is standing adjacent to another character or monster attempts to move to a different square. When the dodge roll is successful, the move is carried out. When the dodge roll fails, the character attempting the dodge roll loses all MP, and a percentage of AP equal to the probability to dodge, using the equation above. For example, if the character has 6 AP and 50% chance to dodge, and the roll fails, the character loses 3 AP. If a character loses all of its AP this way, or had no AP when the dodge roll was attempted, the turn ends immediately.

(The term "dodge roll" might be a little confusing at first to players who are new to it. The word "dodge" makes it seem like a defensive action, but frequently you have already attacked and you are attempting to move to a stronger position for the next round; or, full of confidence, you might be attempting to move away from one enemy in order to attack another enemy. The word "roll" does not mean a somersault, but refers to the roll of the dice, i.e, when you attempt the move a random number is generated which is used to determine if the move is successful or not.)

In this context, adjacent means the characters or monsters are within range of 1 square of each other. In the diagram below if character X is on one of the 4 squares in relation to character O, then character X will need to make a successfull dodge roll in order to move away:

X   X = needs a successful dodge roll to move away XOX  O = waiting to see what X will do   X

Dodge rolls are known to be affected by the agility of the participants. (Level might also be a factor.) In other words, if your agility is higher than the enemy next to you, you are more likely to make a successful dodge roll--and your enemy is more likely to fail a dodge roll. Having high agility can "lock" opponents next to you, which is desirable for melee fighters (like Iops or Sacriers).

A lot of tactical decisions in a battle center around either avoiding or forcing dodge roll attempts. Many classes have pushback spells, like the Cra's Retreat Arrow, and any class can acquire Release. When an Iop without much of a range attack battles a Prespic, the Iop often has to use Jump to get adjacent to the Prespic, hoping that the Prespic will then fail a dodge roll. Sometimes the main reason for casting a summons is to keep a monster from reaching the summoner, either because the monster gets dodge locked by the summons or the monster detours around the summons to avoid getting dodge locked, but then doesn't have enough MP to reach the summoner.