Creature Properties

Overview

The creature property system is the heart of the rules engine and defines all the numerical values that make up a character in Dragon Age.

Detailed Description

Property Definitions

The two dimensional data array defined in Properties.xls defines numerical values that exist on every creature in the game. All properties are float32 and all rules logic of the game is based on with floating point math.

This dynamic data driven approach to rules relevant stats is new to Dragon Age: Origins and makes the engine extremely flexible for Designers. It enables the game to have a rules logic that is almost completely softcoded in script and data.

The following is an excerpt from the 2da that lists all rows present in the initial ship version of Dragon Age: Origins but only shows the most important columns. Note that DLC or expansion content may be overriding individual lines in the 2da.

ID	Stat	Type	Min	Max	Comment
int	string	string	float	float	comment
0	INVALID	INVALID	0	0
1	Strength	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	STR
2	Dexterity	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	DEX
3	Willpower	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	WIL
4	Magic	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	MAG
5	Cunning	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	CUN
6	Constitution	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	CON
7	Health	DEPLETABLE	1	9999	Hit Points
8	Mana_Stamina	DEPLETABLE	0	9999	Mana or Stamina, based on class
9	Attack	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	Attack Power
10	Defense	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	Defense
11	Armor	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	Armor Mitigation Potential
12	DamageScale	ATTRIBUTE	1	10	Based Damage Scaling (for difficulty settings and ranks)
13	SpellPower	ATTRIBUTE	0	1000	Spellpower (Max(MAG-10,0)+Effects)
14	Regeneration_Health	ATTRIBUTE	0	50	Health Regeneration Rate (Explore Mode) per tick.
15	Level	SIMPLE	0	99	Current Character Level.
16	Displacement	ATTRIBUTE	0	100	Chance to outright evade any physical attach attempt (aka Dodge)
17	Inventory_Size	SIMPLE	0	1000	Inventory Slot size (on party)
18	AI_BEHAVIOR	SIMPLE	0	1000	Selected AI Behavior
19	Experience	SIMPLE	0	186001	Experience Points
20	Flanking_Angle	ATTRIBUTE	0	180	The angle at which this creature is able to flank an enemy (default is 90)
21	Melee_Crit_Modifier	ATTRIBUTE	-100	200	The +melee crit modifier
22	Missile_Shield	ATTRIBUTE	0	100	Chance to avoid missiles (shields and some spells increase this)
23	Ranged_Crit_Modifier	ATTRIBUTE	-100	200	The +ranged crit modifier
24	Ranged_Aim_Speed	ATTRIBUTE	-3	6	The character's speed bonus or penality when aiming with ranged weapons
25	BaseAttackRating	SIMPLE	0	1000	The creature's cached base attack rating
26	BaseDefenseRating	SIMPLE	0	1000	The creature's cached base defense rating
27	CurrentClass	SIMPLE	0	31	The creature class (index into cla_base.xls)
28	Regeneration_Health_Combat	ATTRIBUTE	0	20	The creature's health regeneration rate (per tick) in combat.
29	Regeneration_Stamina	ATTRIBUTE	-20	50	The creature's stamina regeneration rate (per tick) in explore mode.
30	Regeneration_Stamina_Combat	ATTRIBUTE	-20	20	The creature's stamina regeneration rate (per tick) in combat mode.
31	AttackSpeedModifier	ATTRIBUTE	0	1.5	The creature's universal melee attack speed modifiers (used by haste, momentum, etc.)
32	Resistance_Mind	ATTRIBUTE	-100	100	Mental Resistance.
33	Resistance_Physical	ATTRIBUTE	-100	100	Physical Resistance.
34	Attribute_points	SIMPLE	0	100	Holds any unspent attribute points the creature has. If this is != 0, the UI shows the levelup button.
35	Skill_points	SIMPLE	0	100	Holds any unspent skill points the creature has. If this is != 0, the UI shows the levelup button.
36	talent_spell_points	SIMPLE	0	100	Holds any unspent talent points the creature has. If this is != 0, the UI shows the levelup button.
37	Background	SIMPLE	0	10	The character's origin (index into backgrounds.xls).
38	specialization_points	SIMPLE	0	2	Holds any unspent specialization points the creature has.
39	DamageBonus	ATTRIBUTE	-100	100	Universal physical attack damage bonus on the creature.
40	Threat_Decrease_Rate	SIMPLE	-1000	1000	The rate at which the creature's threat rating decays.
41	Fatique	ATTRIBUTE	-25	250	The creature's current Fatigue (% increase of ability cost).
42	Damage_Resistance_Fire	ATTRIBUTE	-100	75	The creature's damage resistance to fire. All fire damage is reduce by %.
43	Damage_Resistance_Cold	ATTRIBUTE	-100	75	The creature's damage resistance to cold. All cold damage is reduce by %.
44	Damage_Resistance_Electricity	ATTRIBUTE	-100	75	The creature's damage resistance to lightning. All lightning damage is reduce by %.
45	Damage_Resistance_Nature	ATTRIBUTE	-100	75	The creature's damage resistance to nature. All nature damage is reduce by %.
46	Damage_Resistance_Spirit	ATTRIBUTE	-100	75	The creature's damage resistance to spirit. All spirit damage is reduce by %.
47	Damage_Shield_points	ATTRIBUTE	0	9999	Magical, damage mitigating shield (all damage types) on the creature. Creature immune to damage until the shield is depleted.
48	Damage_Shield_strength	ATTRIBUTE	0	100	The maximum amount of damage the creature's magical shields can absorb (not used yet.)
49	Damage_OffHand	ATTRIBUTE	0	9999	Display only cache of creature's weapon damage potential. This value is only used to marshal data into the UI, it does not have any rules implications.
50	Damage_MainHand	ATTRIBUTE	0	9999	Display only cache of creature's weapon damage potential. This value is only used to marshal data into the UI, it does not have any rules implications.
51	Healing_Effect_Factor	ATTRIBUTE	100	200	Percentage modifier of how effective healing is on the creature. Blood magic does NOT use this field, it is coded in effect_heal_h instead.
52	Spell_resistance	ATTRIBUTE	0	100	Creature 'hostile magic resistance'. % Chance to avoid any hostile magic.
53	AP_BONUS	ATTRIBUTE	-100	100	Armor Penetration bonuses are stored her.
54	CriticalRange	ATTRIBUTE	0	200	The 'range' which critical hits use. 150 would mean up to 150% of normal damage.
55	Fire_Damage_Bonus	ATTRIBUTE	0	30	Percentage bonus to all fire damage dealt by the user (spells, staves, etc.)
56	Spirit_Damage_Bonus	ATTRIBUTE	0	30	Percentage bonus to all spirit damage dealt by the user (spells, staves, etc.)
57	Cold_Damage_Bonus	ATTRIBUTE	0	30	Percentage bonus to all cold damage dealt by the user (spells, staves, etc.)
58	Nature_Damage_Bonus	ATTRIBUTE	0	30	Percentage bonus to all nature damage dealt by the user (spells, staves, etc.)
59	Electricity_Damage_Bonus	ATTRIBUTE	0	30	Percentage bonus to all lightning damage dealt by the user (spells, staves, etc.)

Words of Caution Properties.xls is the most integral and powerful 2da in the game. Any changes to it have profound implications on the game and the chance of breaking existing savegames and introducing unwanted behavior. Removing Rows It is referenced from many other rules and UI related 2das and removing existing data can have severe consequences, including the invalidation of existing characters. You can NEVER remove rows from this 2da! Changing Rows Changing rows is not as dangerous as removing them, but still can have severe implications. The m2da system should be utilized to modify individual rows instead of overwriting the entire 2da. Especially the Min, Max and EngineLink columns hold a lot of rules relevant data that might not be obvious on the first glance (e.g. the Max value on 'Experience' defines the maximum XP the game will allow on a character. Any attempt to award more XP from script will silently fail.) Adding rows: Every row added to this file will reserve several Float32 data fields on every combat capable creature in the game. While a few floats might not sound like a lot, the impact on runtime area memory, savegame size and associated load times can not be overstated. While these issues are more pressing for the console versions of the game, they still do affect the PC version and I strongly advise not to add to this file unless absolutely necessary.