Nilgiri DikuMUD Area Creation Primer

Balance

Mobile Default Stats

Level	THAC0	AC	hitpoints	damage
0	20	10	1d8+2	1d4+0
1	20	9	1d12+10	1d5+0
2	19	8	1d12+22	1d6+0
3	18	7	1d12+35	1d7+0
4	17	6	1d12+47	1d8+0
5	16	5	1d12+60	2d4+0
6	15	4	1d12+72	1d8+1
7	14	4	1d12+85	2d4+1
8	13	3	1d12+97	2d5+1
9	12	3	1d12+110	2d5+1
10	11	2	1d12+122	2d6+1

Level	THAC0	AC	hitpoints	damage
11	10	2	1d12+135	2d6+1
12	9	2	1d12+147	2d7+1
13	8	2	1d12+160	2d7+1
14	7	1	1d12+172	2d8+1
15	6	1	1d12+185	2d8+2
16	5	1	1d12+197	2d8+2
17	4	1	1d12+210	3d6+2
18	3	0	1d12+222	3d6+2
19	2	0	1d12+235	3d6+3
20	1	0	1d12+247	3d6+4

Level	THAC0	AC	hitpoints	damage
21	0	-1	3d30+260	3d7+4
22	0	-1	4d12+350	3d8+4
23	0	-2	4d12+400	3d8+4
24	0	-3	4d12+450	3d8+4
25	0	-4	4d12+500	4d6+4
26	0	-6	4d12+550	4d6+4
27	0	-7	4d12+600	4d6+4
28	0	-8	4d12+650	4d6+5
29	0	-9	2d100+700	4d7+5
30	0	-10	1d100+900	4d8+5

Balance Matrix

mobile level ranges	1-4 (low)	5-9 (mid low)	10-14 (mid high)	15-19 (high)	20-24 (advanced)	25-30 (expert)
usable by all alignments total apply modifiers	1	1	2	3	4	5
usable by two alignments total apply modifiers	2	2	3	4	5	6
usable by only 1 alignment total apply modifiers	3	3	4	5	6	7
maximum weapon avg. damage	4.5	6.5	9.5	12.5	15.5	18.5
maximum ac-apply (before multipler)	2	4	6	7	8	9
spell affects	detect magic infravision light	detect align water breath water walking anti-summon farsee?	invis sense life protection from align sneak evade hide	sanctuary globe haste hide-eq (uses 4 apply mods) noloc-eq (uses 2 apply mods)	non-detect allsight
protection affects				resist elements		immune elements
maximum treasure gold value	50	250	500	1000	2500	4000

Additional apply modifiers or increase of existing ones can be done by adding decreasing apply modifier inside the same functional group. For example, a ring with +1 strength can be changed to +2 strength -1 dexterity, or +1 hitroll +1 str -1 dex.
Consider damroll at a 1:2 ratio, meaning it takes two apply modifiers to increase damroll by 1. The inverse is true as well.
Damroll will not be counted against available apply modifers for an object of type weapon but rather used to adjust the maximum average damroll which is a function of ((((<x> * <y>) + <x>) / 2) + <damroll appliy modifiers>). For example, a sword that is 2d3 +4 damroll would have an average damage calculated by ((((2 * 3) + 2) / 2) + 4) which would equal 8.
Consider mana, max-hit, hitpoints, move and armor at a 5:1 ratio meaning it takes 1 apply modifier to raise 5 mana points or 5 movement points. The inverse is also true.
The maximum for any single apply modifier is +6, the minimum is -6.
Spells on wands/staves/potions must be of corresponding level in level range for area or mob the object is loaded on. Charges are 10 to 1 ratio for apply modifier for level range.
Maximum 1 spell affect or protection flag per object and it costs 2 apply modifiers.
If weapon is two-handed, allow 1 more apply modifer and 2 more to the average damroll
If the reset chance is between 10-15, add 1 the number of available modifiers for the object. If the reset chance is between 1-9, add 2 modifiers.
Regarding anti-class object flags, if the object is usable by one class add 2 modifers. If it is usable by 2 or 3 classes add one modifier. This modifier bonus does not count for clerics and edged weapons or any other object class restriction in the game not directly associated with the anti-class object flags.

Apply modification functional groups

magic	int, wis, mana
melee combat	str, dex, max-hit, hitpoints, hitroll, damroll, armor
essence	mana, max-hit, hitpoints, movement
misc	con, movement, saving throws