NPC Auto-leveling and Auto-Require stats

[edge2054]

I made an interesting discovery tonight while working on some NPCs. Even though I set the NPC dex rating to 10 and used an auto-leveling scheme that only level dex one point per level, my NPC was still generating with nearly 60 dexterity.

What was happening is that because auto-require is called before auto-level up the stat was getting set to the equipments requirement level and then the autolevel scheme was being applied.

Which wouldn't be an issue really, because auto-require subtracts from the unused_stats pool on the actor, but the auto-level schemes don't check the unused_stat pool.

I think this is a major reason master skeleton archers are so deadly. The auto-level scheme they use invests 2 points in dexterity and 1 point in strength each time they level. I generated four in dreadfell and each one generated with between 48 and 60 Dexterity at monster level 15 - 18 ( I was on a level 1 test character).

On a level 25 character, one more appropriate to the zone, I'm generating master skeleton archers that are level 29-31 with 72 and 74 dexterity with the difference between these two points being what weapon they generate because they've already hit the stat cap. In other words, depending on the weapon they generate with these level 29 skeleton archers are being given a free 12 to 23 points in Dexterity. Combined with the imbalance in bow egos (greater speed), arrow egos (100% crit chance), and the bows general high attack speed, we're seeing more burst out of master skeleton archers then most other monsters in the early game.

My suggestion would be for the autoLevel scheme to make sure it has unused stat points before it does anything. I understand that auto-require is meant to supply a sense of realism but allowing monsters to get free stat points out of gear and then spend their stat points as they normally would can cause some unpredictable behavior and had me scratching my head quite a bit tonight trying to figure out why the monsters I'd been working on seemed so disproportional to how I'd coded them.