Action Points
A character's Action Points (or "AP") determines how many "actions" the character may do before being required to rest. Nearly all activities (such as attacking another character, moving, opening doors, etc.) will require the expenditure of one or more Action Points.
When the character has run out of Action Points, he or she is "exhausted" and cannot perform any more actions until he or she regains an Action Point.
Every fifteen minutes, your character will "regenerate" an Action Point, up to the maximum total number of Action Points the character may possess. If the character is at his or her maximum AP total, any additional points regenerated will be lost.
For the most part, though, you can play each character twice per day - about every twelve hours.
All characters begin the game with a maximum of 50 Action Points. Starting at level 10, this maximum will increase by one for every level the character gains. Note that the rate of regeneration does not change: merely the number of Action Points the character can have "in stock".
Many activities require the expense of more than one Action Point at a time. In such cases, the number of Action Points required will be indicated on the action's button. In some cases, you will be allowed to perform actions that will bring you into negative Action Points. If this occurs, you will have to wait until you regenerate enough Action Points to bring you to a positive number before you can act again.
Hit Points
A character's Hit Points (or "HP") is a raw measure of how healthy he is. Whenever a character takes damage of any kind (like from an attack, or walking through lava), the damage is subtracted from the Hit Point score. If the character's Hit Point total reaches 0 or lower, he or she has died and must "Respawn".
Your character will start with an initial "maximum" Hit Point score of 50. Starting at level 10, this maximum will increase by one for every level the character gains. Hit Points do not regenerate (except in some special cases), but damage to your character may be healed (either by you or another character).
You may regain lost Hit Points by healing. This can be done in several ways: through a special skill, for instance, but the most common method for new characters is the use of First Aid Kits and by eating food.
It should be noted that "Demonic" characters (those who have chosen the Pariah or Defiler classes) are unable to be healed by other characters. It is an inherent weakness of demonkind.
There are additional ways to increase your maximum Hit Point total, such as the purchase of special skills.
Magic Points
Every character has a "battery" of magical power within them, and their Magic Point total is a measure of that. At the beginning of the game, a character's Magic Point (or "MP") total is of little relevance, but later on many skills and abilities are powered through the expenditure of 1 or more Magic Points.
Your character will start with an initial "maximum" Magic Point score of 20. This number will increase by 1 every level you gain.
Every fifteen minutes, you will regenerate 1 Magic Point (certain character classes have skills that will increase this number). Further, there are many other ways to "regain" spent Magic Points.
There are additional ways to increase your maximum Magic Point potential, such as the purchase of special skills, earning certain Cult Gifts, or finding a complete set of the Lore of Haldon.
Morality
Your morality score defines whether or not you are considered "good," "evil," or "neutral." This may not seem important at the beginning (and, in fact, it really isn't) but as you get higher in level (approaching level 10), you'll want to pay attention to the score - since your morality will define what kind of character classyou can become.
Morality is discussed in-depth on the Alignment help page.
Experience Points
A character's Experience Points (or "XP") is a rough measure of how advanced they are. The more Experience Points a character has, the higher his or her Level (see below). When your character has earned enough Experience Points, he or she will "level up", and gain a new level (as well as other benefits).
As a character's level increases, the number of Experience Points required to gain the next level increases as well, so it becomes harder to gain levels (which means your character should seek tougher challenges).
There are many, many, many ways to gain Experience Points. The most common way is through combat: attacking and killing other characters. Other popular ways include healing other characters (with First Aid Kits), reading books (which you can find in libraries and other places), repairing doors or power grids (using the Engineering skill), or crafting and repairing items.
You will find that, as you level, certain activities are worth less Experience Points than they used to be. This is mostly related to combat: attacking and killing characters who are 5 or more levels beneath yours will give you fewer Experience Points than attacking and killing characters near your own level (or higher).
A chart showing the Experience Points required per level is included on the Level help page.
Level
Your total Experience Points determine your character's level. When you earn enough Experience Points to gain a level, you will be notified that this has happened.
Gaining levels increases your character's overall power. With each level your character gains, additional benefits are provided, such as Character Points and maximum Action Points.
Character level is discussed in-depth on the Level help page.
Character Points
Character Points (or "CP") are a type of "currency" that your character may spend to purchase new Skills (or spells). Character Points are the primary method by which your character gains power.
For every level gained, your character will earn a number of Character Points. The number of Character Points gained depends on the level earned: higher levels grant higher numbers of Character Points. These points may be saved or spent immediately on skills or spells.
It should be noted that there is a Character Point "cap" that your character must be under before he or she can change Character Class (this is to prevent people from saving up Character Points from level 1 and then spending all of them at once when they reach level 20). You must have 40 or fewer Character Points before you are allowed to choose a "Tier 2" character class, and 70 or fewere Character Points before you are allowed to choose a "Tier 3" character class.
There are other ways to earn Character Points in addition to gaining levels. Finding an exploration badge, for example, will grant a single Character Point, while earning a higher-level achievement badge (see below) will grant several (usually 5 - 15). Character Points can also be earned by taking part in the slaying one of several powerful monsters, or by earning Cult Favor.
Favor
Favor is a statistic that is tracked for characters who are a member of a Cult. Favor does not affect characters who are not cultists, and characters cannot become cultists until they reach level 30.
Favor is discussed in-depth on the Favor help page.
Soak
The term soak is a measure of "damage resistance". This is nearly always applied to a specific damage type. Your soak to that specific type of damage is subtracted from the damage dealt before being applied to your Hit Point score. In effect, you have "soaked" or "resisted" that much damage.
All weapons and attacks deal damage of a specific type. For example, a sword will deal "Slashing" type damage, a pistol will deal "Ballistic" type damage, and a "fireball" spell will deal "Fire" damage.
Your character has a soak value for each type of damage. These are listed on the character's profile page. In many cases, this will be "0" - you will take the full damage from the weapon. However, you can increase your soak to various damage types by equipping different kinds of armor, purchasing certain skills, or (temporarily) though spells or potions.
Attack
Your Attack scores define how proficient your character is with certain kinds of weapons. This comes down to your "base chance" to hit another character with a weapon of some kind.
Your "total attack" with a weapon depends upon several factors (such as the type of weapon, applied status effects, or Faction bonuses). From this number is subtracted your target's Defense score (again, depending upon the weapon) as well as other things (such as attack penalties). A random number is then generated, and if the number is equal to or lower than the Attack score, the attack will succeed. Obviously, having higher Attack scores increases your chance to succeed.
Technically, there are several Attack scores that each character has. They are actually a tree, and increases to one will affect any children in the tree. The Attack scores are:
- Hand to Hand - Used for innate "close combat" weapons, such as fists, claws, or even tails. This is also used for "touch attacks", including touch-triggered spells.
- Melee Weapons - Used for "close combat" weapon attacks (pipes, chainsaws, clubs)
- Swords - Used for "sword" weapons (including sabers, cutlasses, and the like)
- Ranged Weapons - Used for all attacks versus distant targets (including flying targets)
- Small Arms - Used for pistols and sub-machine guns.
- Long Arms - Used for rifles and shotguns.
- Archery - Used for bows and crossbows.
- Thrown Weapons - Used for throwing knives, or rocks, or even cars.
- Ranged Spells - Used for targeted spells that are not "touch" attacks.
Defense/Dodge
Your Defense score (also called Dodge) determines how difficult your character is to hit in combat. Even when you are not logged in, your character will attempt to dodge attacks.
Your Defense score is subtracted from the attacker's "to hit" chance - his "Attack" score. A random number is then generated, and if the number is equal to or lower than the Attack score, you will be struck. Obviously, having some dodge abilities will increase your survivability.
Technically, there are two kinds of Defense: "ranged" and "melee". Ranged Defense is used against ranged attacks, like guns or spells. Melee Defense is used against all types of "close combat" weapons, from fists to swords to chainsaws. Which Defense score is used depends on the attack being used against you.
There are several ways to increase your Defense scores, though the most common way is by purchasing certain skills. Some magical items will increase your Defense score. Further, as they level up, your characters will gain "innate" dodge bonuses.
In addition to the above "game affecting" stats, there are several other "achievement" statistics that are tracked for characters. These statistics are accumlated as you play, and they watch certain things like the number of foes you have vanquished, or the number of doors you've repaired, or the number of books read, or even the amount of food you've eaten.
For all of these statistics, there are badges that are granted along the way, after you've reached certain thresholds (the number changes depending on the statistic).
These statistics have not bearing on game play in any way except one: if you get a high enough score, you'll earn badges which will include grants of Character Points. But it takes a lot of work to earn any achievement badge.