Builds: what you wear is what you fight with

Status: designed, not built (decisions #147, #148 and #149, 2026-10-26). The design document of Felucca's build system: how equipment becomes abilities, effects and numbers, how they combine into builds, how tiers multiply them, how every build gets away, and how builds complement each other in groups. It amends #145 (melee), #125 (gear, crafting chains, magic) and #93 (speed properties); what changes is listed in § 3.4. #148 revised the first version of #147, #149 sized the tiers (§ 22 lists what they changed).

Reading order:

Document	What it holds
`docs/builds.md` (this page)	the rules: principles, the combat frame, slots, damage maths, armour, escapes, clothing, jewellery, tiers, groups, PvE, power and balance, PvP, economy, UI, data model, plan
`docs/builds-catalog.md`	every weapon family and ability, armour class and set bonus, armour ability, escape, affix, clothing piece, jewel, keystone, rune, off-hand, cloak, surcoat, belt, consumable, state, reaction, role and example build (generated)
`docs/builds-tiers.md`	tiers, materials, crafts, recipes, designs and the power tables (generated)
`docs/builds/builds.xlsx`	the same tables as a workbook; the T1..T5 columns and the Power sheet are formulas on the Tiers sheet's multipliers (tuning levers)
`docs/builds/catalog.py`	the single source of truth: every number lives here; `docs/builds/generate.py` checks the rules and writes the CSVs (`docs/builds/csv/`), the workbook and both generated pages
`docs/melee.md`, `docs/combat.md`	the combat engine this builds on (#145, #68)

1. Vision

Felucca mixes three games' best ideas:

Ultima Online: the paperdoll with 20 equipment slots, everything crafted by players, full loot, a world you build and break.
Albion Online: you are what you wear. No classes; the weapon gives Q, W and E, the helmet D, the chest R, the boots F. Everything can be tried at a low tier; higher tiers make the same item stronger.
Path of Exile: abilities and items carry tags; modifiers scale tags, runes change how an ability behaves, jewels fire effects on events, keystones change a rule at a price. Builds are machines you assemble, and the best ones are discovered, not handed out.

The fantasies, in the user's words:

a quick dagger fighter becomes a machine that clears packs of monsters: every third blow throws blades into the pack, poison jumps from every corpse;
builds complement each other in mass fights: one soaks the enemy, the next electrocutes the wet ones; a shield wall is real cover for the archers behind it;
a complete build of the top tier is a god next to a pauper, not one and a half times stronger: a complete T5 build beats ten complete T1 builds (§ 15);
the fight is decided by the build and the player, not the dice (§ 4.5).

2. Principles

These decide every argument about a detail.

The mechanic is the item; the tier is the number. An iron Ring of Storms calls the same lightning on the same fourth blow as a valorite one. The tier multiplies the strength (x1..x5) and, at fixed thresholds, adds a jump, a projectile or a tile of radius.
The tier scales how hard, never how fast or how often. Damage, healing, shields, armour and hits multiply by the tier; chances, speeds, cooldowns, "every Nth", control durations and escapes never do. A pauper's stun stops a god for as long, and a pauper runs as fast.
A material only opens its tier. Valorite is T5 because it is T5, not because it is good at crits: no build needs one particular metal (#148, user directive). The bonuses come from the tier and from the kind of item.
Everything is available at T1. Every family, ability, armour class, clothing piece, jewel, keystone and rune exists at T1 and is cheap. Players experiment freely; the chase is for tiers, not for permission.
Build and skill, not luck. Damage rolls within ±10 %; every chance is a counter (25 % crit = every fourth hit, shown on the HUD); every trigger fires on its event or on every Nth one. A player can plan the blow that will crit.
Every build can get away. The boots always carry an escape, every weapon family has one, and clothing can build around them (§ 8).
Power multiplies. Each source of power is its own bucket; buckets multiply (§ 4.3), and the tier raises every bucket at once, so a complete T5 build beats ten complete T1 builds.
Readable in a crowd. Every effect has a visible source; large effects are telegraphed on the tactical grid (#145); counters and triggers are on the HUD. No screen flooding: pack clearing comes from chains and bursts, not from a hundred projectiles.
Groups multiply. States and reactions, auras, formations and roles reward different builds together. The same aura from ten cloaks counts once.
Bots are players (#3). Depth lies in reads, positioning and composition, not in reflexes, so scripts and agents don't trivialise it; determinism helps both.
Tiles are the unit. Radii, ranges and counts are whole tiles and whole projectiles.
Everything worn can be lost; nothing learnt is forgotten. Full loot (UO) keeps crafting alive and makes gods mortal; skills, unlocked abilities and learnt designs stay.

3. The combat frame

3.1 What stays (#68, #145)

The fight happens on the world's tiles, on the tempo timeline: every action costs action points (1 AP = 250 ms of recovery), the clock never stops, orders can be queued, a ready fighter auto-attacks its target (UO's swing timer). Abilities wind up, telegraph their tiles and land 100 ms after their impact (lag grace). Line of fire and cover, destructible obstacles, facing and rear attacks, poise and Broken, momentum, knockbacks into the world, the tactical grid.

3.2 What is new

Slots give abilities (§ 5): Q, W, E from the weapon, R from the chest, D from the helmet, F (an escape) from the boots.
Cooldowns. Every ability has its own cooldown, started when it is used: Q 2–8 s, W 6–20 s, E 12–45 s, armour abilities 8–90 s. AP remains the action's time on the timeline, so a heavy ability still commits you.
Two resources. Physical abilities (Melee, Archery) spend stamina (its maximum is Dex, #52); spells spend mana (Int). Armour abilities spend the resource of the weapon's school. Spells' W and E also burn one reagent of the staff's school (#125).
Spells live on staves, as in Albion: seven staff families (fire, frost, arcane, holy, nature, curse, earth). UO's spellbook becomes the Tome off-hand (§ 11.5).
No dice (§ 4.5): counters instead of chance rolls, narrow damage, deterministic triggers.
Ability resolution (one pipeline for every ability, trigger and mob attack): cost check → wind-up (AP) and telegraph → impact (+100 ms grace) → targets in the shape → per target: evade, perfect guard, block counter, damage maths (§ 4.3), states, reactions, triggers → the cooldown already running.

3.3 Keys

Two presets in the settings (Albion is the default until the user decides, § 22):

Action	Albion preset (default)	Classic preset
Weapon Q, W, E	Q, W, E	1, 2, 3
Chest R, helmet D, boots F	R, D, F	4, 5, 6
Potion, potion 2, bandage	1, 2, 3	Z, X, C
Move	right mouse held (towards the cursor), left click on the ground (#91)	WASD and the mouse
Next target, hold, camera	Tab, H(old), arrows	Tab, H, arrows

The Classic preset keeps #96's WASD running; the Albion preset frees the left hand for six ability keys. (Today's Z/X/V/G technique keys of #145 move to Q/W/E.)

3.4 What changes from earlier decisions

Earlier	Now
#145 techniques per weapon class (Cleave, Lunge, …)	entries in the families' Q/W pools; Execute is the Longsword's E
#145 universal held guard (E) and dodge (Space)	guard is the Sword's W Parry (same 0.4 s perfect window); the dodge is the boots' F (Roll, Dash, Blink Step…)
#125 Magery spellbook with 7 fixed spells	staves give the spells; the book is the Tome off-hand
#93 SSI/FC/FCR on items	rates on Arms affixes (`ssi`, `fc`, `cdr`) and on leather armour; they never scale with the tier
#125 weapon material bonuses (copper +10 % …)	the material sets the tier (§ 12); no material gives a bonus of its own
#125 hit chance, UO's wide damage ranges (halberd 5–49), #145's AI parry rolls, Magery fizzle chance	counters (§ 4.5), damage ±10 % (halberd 24–30)
#125 exceptional quality's random extra property	the crafter chooses the second affix

4. Tags and the damage maths

4.1 Tags

Every ability, trigger and item effect carries tags (sheet Tags):

type: Attack (scales with weapon damage, trains Melee or Archery) or Spell (spell power, Magery; can be silenced, can fizzle);
delivery: Melee, Projectile, Area, Zone, Movement, Aura, Channel, Trigger;
element: Physical (slash, pierce, crush), Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Holy, Arcane;
role: Heal, Control, Escape, Siege, Ultimate.

A modifier applies when one of its tags is on the effect. A triggered effect carries its own tags plus Trigger: the Ring of Blades' blades are Trigger Projectile Physical, so "+projectile damage" and "+triggered damage" both raise them; runes don't touch them (runes belong to a key).

4.2 Ability numbers

Attacks: coef % of the weapon's damage; spells: coef % of the staff's spell power. Both roll within ±10 % of the item's average (SPREAD).
Damage over time and zones deal their coef per second. Healing uses spell power.

4.3 Buckets: how power multiplies

Every source of power belongs to one bucket. Inside a bucket bonuses add; buckets multiply (PoE's increased and more, made into a rule players can see):

damage = item damage (weapon x item_mult)                 -- the weapon's tier
       x coef
       x (1 + class)                                      -- armour class damage (cloth, leather, hardened)
       x (1 + speed)                                      -- per action: attack and cast speed (fixed rates)
       x (1 + tags)                                       -- Hands affixes, passives, auras, food, potions
       x crit                                             -- crits by counter x crit multiplier (1.5 + crit damage)
       x (1 + triggers)                                   -- extra hits from clothing and jewels (their share)
       x synergy                                          -- states and reactions (Electrocute x2, Shatter x1.5,
                                                          --   Exposed, Shocked, rear 1.3, empowered 1.5, Broken 1.5)
       x keystone                                         -- Glass Heart, Berserker's Torc…

and on the receiving side:

taken = damage x 100 / (100 + armour + guard)             -- physical
             or 100 / (100 + ward + element ward + guard) -- elemental
        x 100 / (100 + toughness)                         -- every kind
max hits = Str (#52) x (1 + armour-class hits + affixes + food)
plus sustain: leech, shields, heals (their own bucket)

Every scaled number in every bucket is multiplied by the tier, so a complete build's power grows like the tier to the power of the number of buckets it fills. That is the multiplication the user asked for (§ 15).

4.4 Caps

Quantity	Cap
Projectiles per use	5 (base + modifiers)
Radius of an Area	3 tiles (a ring 3 is 48 tiles)
Chains / forks / pierces	3 each
Attack speed (SSI)	60 % (#93)
Cooldown recovery	30 % from affixes; Tunic of Speed and the Swift Cloak on top
Crit chance	40 % (from padded cloth and affixes)
Echo power	100 %
Trigger chains	none: a triggered effect never fires another trigger (runes of chains excepted)

Magnitudes (damage, armour, hits) have no caps: the tier's multiplication is the point. Rates do.

4.5 No dice

Counters, not rolls. Each chance stat (crit, block, the auto-attack's hit chance from Melee and Archery levels, a spell's fizzle) adds its percent to the fighter's counter on every eligible event; at 100 or more the effect happens and 100 is taken off. 25 % crit = exactly every fourth hit. Counters start at 0 when a fight starts and show on the HUD as pips, so players can plan the crit for their E. AI parries (#145) use the same counter.
Narrow damage. ±10 % around the average: the halberd deals 24–30, not 5–49.
Deterministic triggers. Every clothing piece, jewel, rune and off-hand fires on its event ("every Q and W"), on every Nth one ("every fourth auto-attack hit") or with an internal cooldown; never with a chance.
Deterministic targets. Effects that pick a target pick by rule (nearest, least recently struck, lowest hits), never at random.
What stays random lies outside fights: loot tables, crafting's exceptional chance (#125).

5. Slots

UO's 20 equipment layers (#52), each with one job:

Group	Slots	Gives
Weapon	MainHand	Q, W, E; 1–3 rune sockets
Off-hand	OffHand	a fixed mechanic (shield, torch, tome, orb, totem, quiver, bandolier); blocked by two-handed weapons
Armour	Head, Body, Feet, Hands, Arms, Legs	the class bonus of each piece (§ 7) + Head opens D, Body R, Feet F (an escape; the abilities are loadout picks, § 7.4), Hands an offence affix, Arms a tempo affix, Legs a defence affix
Clothing	Shirt, Pants, Skirt, Robe, Tunic, Cloak, Waist	effects and triggers for any class (§ 9)
Jewellery	Ring, Earrings, Bracelet, Neck	triggers (§ 10); the Neck takes a keystone
-	Backpack	the inventory

Every slot that holds an effect listens to one kind of event, so slots never overlap and every combination is legible:

Slot	Listens to	Example
Shirt	you are struck	Thorned Doublet: melee attackers take back 10 % x tier of their blow
Pants	your escapes and steps	Ember Breeches: your escape leaves burning ground behind
Skirt	your Q and W	Skirt of Flame: everything your Q and W hit Burns (the user's example)
Robe	your E	Robe of Echoes: your E happens again 0.5 s later
Tunic	your tempo (or a formation, as a surcoat)	Tunic of Speed: every cooldown 20 % shorter (the user's example)
Cloak	allies around you	War Cloak: allies within 3 deal more damage
Waist	consumables and carrying	Potion Belt, Sapper's Belt
Ring	your hits	Ring of Storms: every fourth auto-attack hit calls a bolt
Earrings	your abilities	Echo Earrings: every third Q is used twice
Bracelet	kills and states	Bracer of Contagion: your damage over time jumps from every corpse
Neck	a keystone	Glass Heart: much more damage, +50 % damage taken

So a build has a weapon, an off-hand, six armour pieces (three picked abilities, three affixes, one or two class profiles), seven clothing effects and four jewels. Armour makes smiths and tailors part of every build, clothing makes tailors, jewellery makes tinkers.

6. Weapon abilities

6.1 Families

Seventeen families in three schools (each with 1–4 items; full tables in the catalogue):

School	Families
Melee (stamina)	Swords, Axes, Daggers, Spears, Maces, Hammers, Fighting Staves, Polearms, Fists
Archery (stamina, ammunition)	Bows, Crossbows
Magery (mana, reagents for W/E)	Fire, Frost, Arcane (lightning), Holy, Nature, Curse, Earth

Each family has a Q pool of 3 and a W pool of 3; each item has its own E (the reason to want that item). The player picks one Q and one W out of combat; the choice is saved in the loadout (§ 18). Every family has at least one escape in its pools (tag Escape): Swords' Sidestep Slash, Axes' Hurl Axe, Maces' Concussion, Curse's Wraith Form, Holy's Cleanse, and so on (§ 8).

6.2 Unlocks by school level

The school's skill (Melee, Archery, Magery; levels of #139) unlocks the pools:

Level	Unlocks
1	Q option 1, one passive slot
2	W option 1
3	Q option 2
4	W option 2 and every E
5	Q option 3
6	W option 3
7	a second passive slot; momentum empowers abilities (#145)
10	the family's mastery

There are no wear requirements beyond Strength for heavy items (#52). Tiers are gated by crafting (§ 12.3) and by what it costs to get the material and to lose it.

6.3 Passives and masteries

16 school passives (Momentum, Duelist, Steady Aim, Elementalist, Healer's Touch…) and one mastery per family at level 10 (#145's masteries generalised). Chance passives became counters (Fletcher: every 4th arrow isn't used up).

7. Armour

7.1 Six classes, light to heavy

Armour goes on six slots: Head, Body, Feet, Hands, Arms, Legs. Every piece belongs to one of six classes, and every piece gives one sixth of its class. The lighter the class, the harder you hit; the heavier, the more you take (user directive). Any class fits any build: melee in cloth and mages in plate are both meant to work (§ 7.5).

Class	Craft	Per piece at T1 (x tier unless fixed)	Full set at T5	Weight
Cloth	Tailoring (cloth)	+12 % damage, 3 ward; regeneration +5 % (fixed)	+360 % damage	0
Padded cloth	Tailoring (cloth + leather)	+25 % crit damage, 3 armour, 3 ward, +1 % hits; crit chance +5 pp (fixed)	crits every 3rd hit (30 %) for x9	1
Leather	Tailoring (leather)	+3 % damage, 6 armour, +2 % hits; attack and cast speed +5 % (fixed)	+30 % speed, 180 armour	2
Hardened leather	Tailoring (leather + tanning oil)	+2 % damage, 8 armour, +2.5 % hits; leech 2 % (fixed)	12 % leech, 240 armour, +75 % hits	3
Chainmail	Blacksmithy	8 guard (against every kind of damage), +4 % hits; tenacity +6 % (fixed)	240 guard: takes 29 % of everything	4
Plate	Blacksmithy	12 armour (physical only), +5 % hits; poise +8 % (fixed)	360 armour: takes 22 % of a physical blow; +150 % hits	5

The escalation is the user's: cloth gives damage, padded cloth crits, chainmail cuts every kind of damage, plate cuts only physical damage but much harder. Leather (speed) and hardened leather (leech) fill the middle.

7.2 Set bonuses

Three pieces of one class unlock its first bonus, six its second, so a 3 + 3 mix earns two first bonuses (a real build choice):

Class	3 pieces	6 pieces
Cloth	Light Step: escapes recover 25 % faster	Overflow: damage beyond a kill splashes onto the nearest enemy within 2
Padded cloth	Keen: each crit takes 0.5 s off Q and W	Exposing Strikes: crits apply Exposed (+15 % damage taken from everyone, 3 s)
Leather	Fleet: in a fight, steps cost 1 AP while nothing struck you for 2 s	Relentless: every 5th action costs no AP
Hardened leather	Hardy: +25 % x tier healing received below 50 % hits	Unbowed: below 35 % hits, x1.3 damage and double leech
Chainmail	Linked Rings: every 5th blow or spell on you is ignored	Unbroken: can't be Broken; Stunned and Frozen last half
Plate	Bulwark: can't be knocked back or pulled	Bastion: 25 % x tier less from the front (at most 75 %); allies right behind count you as full cover

7.3 Weight

Weight per piece goes 0 (cloth) to 5 (plate). Each weight point makes escapes recover 2 % slower; from 20 weight on, dashes, leaps and blinks go one tile less (full chainmail 24, full plate 30). Heavy armour survives by taking blows, light armour by not being there. Cloth's Light Step cancels the weight of three heavy pieces, so a hybrid can wear plate legs and still run.

7.4 Head D, Body R, Feet F

The three ability pieces open a key whose ability the wearer picks in the loadout, as in Albion Online (user directive 2026-10-27; supersedes #165's per-piece designs): every Head piece of any class offers all ten D, every Body piece all ten R, every Feet piece all twelve F, from the start (no level gate, no design, no crafting). They are changed out of a fight only, like Q and W; with nothing picked a slot uses its pool's first (Clarity, Mana Shield, Dash). A pick works only while a piece is worn in its slot: no helmet, no D. A Plate Helm and a Cloth Hood give the same D; they differ in their class bonus (#148: an ability doesn't belong to a set). Pools (catalogue: Armour abilities):

Head D, tactics (10): Clarity, Focus, Battle Focus, Eagle Eye, Challenge, Rally, Blind, Insight (reveals the hidden), War Cry, Purify.
Body R, survival (10): Mana Shield, Second Wind, Bulwark, Shield of Faith, Guardian's Oath, Spell Mirror, Divine Grace, Last Stand, Adrenaline, Thorn Skin.
Feet F, escapes (12): § 8.

Armour abilities don't scale with the tier: their power is in timing.

7.5 Melee in cloth, mages in plate

Because the class is a profile, not a class lock:

Spellsword (catalogue): a claymore in full cloth. +360 % damage at T5, the fastest escapes, Overflow carries every killing blow into the next body. One mistake and it is dead.
Iron Mage: a fire staff in full plate. It can't run (Iron Oath locks its F), so it casts the channelled Inferno from inside the melee; the Robe of Ascension makes the channel unstoppable, and the Ember Doublet burns whoever strikes it.
Hybrids: three padded + three plate (Keen and Bulwark), three cloth + three chainmail (Light Step and Linked Rings)…

8. Escapes

User directive: besides fighting and control, every build needs ways out.

8.1 Kinds and counters

Kind	Does	Stopped by	Where
Mobility	moves you away on foot or in a jump	Rooted, Stunned (jumps pass over bodies and low cover)	boots Dash, Bound, Sprint; Vault, Pole Vault, Disengage, Tumble, Leap
Teleport	puts you somewhere else at once	Silenced (it is magic), Stunned	boots Blink Step, Shadow Step, Swap, Recall; Blink
Evasion	untargetable, invulnerable or hidden for a moment	Stunned; Insight and Marked reveal the hidden	boots Roll, Vanish, Phase, Decoy; Evasion, Smoke Bomb, Wraith Form, Frozen Tomb; Invisibility Potion
Break	ends or prevents control	only Break Free works while Stunned	boots Break Free; helmet Battle Focus; Unstoppable, Cleanse, Warden's Trousers
Peel	stops the chaser instead of moving you	control immunity, Unstoppable, plate's Bulwark	Keep Back, Concussion, Shove, Hurl Axe, Fire Ring, Ice Ring, Entangle, Wall of Stone; Frost Flask

Every kind has a counter and every counter has a cost: a root stops a dash but not a blink, a silence stops a blink but not a dash, Insight finds the vanished. Reading which escape an enemy wears (it shows on its boots) is part of the skill.

8.2 Rules

The boots always carry an escape (12 to choose from); every weapon family has one more.
Escapes never scale with the tier: a T1 Dash is a T5 Dash. A pauper can get away from a god.
Weight slows heavy armour's escapes (§ 7.3).
Break Free is the only action allowed while Stunned or Frozen, on a 40 s cooldown: wearing it means giving up a moving escape.
Clothing builds on escapes (Pants, § 9): Ember Breeches leave fire behind, Windrunner Trousers empower the next ability, Shadow Breeches hide you for a second, Frostwake chills the chaser, Tide Trousers shorten F with every ability hit, Warden's Trousers clean off roots and slows. A Seer's Studs earring turns an escape into a sure crit.
Consumables: Invisibility Potion, Haste Potion, Frost Flask.

9. Clothing: effects and triggers

User directive: armour gives the fighting numbers, clothing gives triggers and effects, and both work for any class. Clothing slots and their events are in § 5; full pools (38 pieces) in the catalogue. Rules:

Every effect is deterministic: "everything your Q and W hit Burns", not "10 % chance to ignite". Builds are planned, not gambled.
Magnitudes scale with the tier (the Skirt of Flame's burning 20 % x tier of WD per second); whether and when an effect happens never does.
Some pieces are pure rates and don't scale at all (Tunic of Speed −20 % cooldowns, Robe of Haste −40 % E cooldown); they are as good on a pauper as on a god, which keeps T1 builds real.
No trigger fires another trigger; an internal cooldown (ICD) where an event can repeat fast.
At most three automatic effects of one character show at full size; the rest fold into numbers over the target (readability).

Examples by slot: Shirt (Thorned Doublet, Frost-lined Shirt, Mirror Silk: every third spell on you returns, Shirt of Wrath, Penitent's Shirt heals an ally from blows you take); Pants (§ 8.2); Skirt (Flame, Frost, Tides: Soaked, Storms: Shocked, Venom, War Kilt: Q and W hitting three or more come back half-cooled, Mending, the Ram); Robe (Echoes, Haste, Inferno, Ascension, Plenty, Reach, Martyr, Reaping); Tunic (Speed, Focus, Vigour, Precision: every fourth ability crits, Momentum, Rhythm: alternating Q and W stacks damage) or a surcoat (§ 13.3); Cloak (auras, § 13.2); Waist (belts, § 11.4).

10. Jewellery: triggers and keystones

Tinkering makes jewellery from metal, a gem of the tier and a component from monsters.

Ring: your hits: Ring of Storms (every 4th auto-attack hit: a bolt that jumps, 1 jump, 2 at T3, 3 at T5), Ring of Blades (every 3rd auto-attack hit: three blades from the target at the nearest enemies, the user's shuriken example), Ember Band (crits ignite), Frostbite Ring (every 3rd hit chills), Vampire Signet (leech x tier), Executioner's Ring, Ring of Precision (every 5th hit crits).
Earrings: your abilities: Echo Earrings (every 3rd Q twice), Tempo Earrings, Thunder Studs, Hunter's Loop, Seer's Studs, Bloodletter Studs, Splitting Studs.
Bracelet: kills and states: Bracer of Bursting, of Haste, of Plenty, Leech Bracelet, Bracer of Contagion (your DoTs jump from every corpse), Reaping Bracer, Pack Leader's Bracer.
Neck: keystones, PoE's idea: one amulet that changes a rule, at a price.

Keystone	Gain	Price
Glass Heart	+12 % x tier more damage	+50 % damage taken
Berserker's Torc	+3 % x tier more damage per 10 % of hits missing	others' heals on you halved
Blood Pact	abilities cost hits; leech doubles	stamina and mana don't regenerate
Storm Heart	your Lightning soaks before it strikes (Electrocute alone)	no fire damage
Iron Oath	toughness 20 x tier; no knockback, no pull	no F escapes
Hunter's Eye	projectiles pierce everything	−30 % damage within 2 tiles
Pact of Echoes	every Q, W, E twice, the echo at 60 %	cooldowns +60 %
Phoenix Pendant	once in 5 minutes a killing blow leaves you at 1 hit	−10 % max hits
Sapper's Medal	+25 % x tier to obstacles and buildings	−25 % to characters
Lord's Seal	allies within 4: +1 % x tier damage per ally around you	you deal −20 %

11. The rest of the build

11.1 Affixes on Hands, Arms and Legs

Each of these pieces carries its class bonus plus one affix fixed by its design (Sleeves of Haste are always attack speed); an exceptional piece gets a second affix chosen by the crafter from the slot's pool (no roll). Pools: Hands = offence (damage by tag: physical, fire, melee, projectile, area, spell, damage over time, triggered…; thresholds: extra projectile +1 at T3 and +2 at T5, area radius +1 at T4, chains), Arms = tempo (attack and cast speed, cooldown recovery, crit chance as rates; crit damage and healing done scale), Legs = defence (armour, ward, element wards, max hits, toughness, healing received, poise, tenacity, regeneration). 42 affixes, 24 named designs.

11.2 Runes (sockets)

Weapons have 1–3 sockets (T1–T2: 1, T3–T4: 2, T5: 3; exceptional +1, at most 3). Socket 1 modifies Q, socket 2 W, socket 3 E. A rune works only on an ability carrying its required tag. 16 runes change how an ability behaves: Pierce, Chains, Forking, Volleys, Expanse, Focus, Echoes, Swiftness, Brutality, Flame/Frost/Storms infusions, Leeching, Impact, Lingering, Ruthlessness (every third use hits harder). Inscription crafts runes; socketing is free, removing a rune destroys it (a sink).

11.3 Off-hands

Ten off-hands, each a fixed mechanic plus a scaled number: Buckler (blocks every 3rd blow from the front, 15 % x tier of it), Heater Shield (low cover from the front), Kite Shield (a perfect guard gives momentum), Tower Shield (the ally right behind you counts you as full cover), Torch, Tome, Orb, Totem, Quiver (an arrow type), Bandolier.

11.4 Belts and consumables

Belts: Potion Belt, Reagent Pouch, Sapper's Belt (+1 powder keg, faster planting, #71), Bandage Belt, Hip Quiver, Utility Belt. Consumables: nine potions (two are escapes), two throwable flasks (Oil, Frost), five foods (a feast buffs the whole party), bandages.

11.5 The Tome

The Tome off-hand holds scrolls (#125's scrolls stay): using a scroll in combat casts it once and copies its spell into the Tome's spare slot (a seventh key: G in the Albion preset, 7 in Classic) until another scroll is used. A fighter can carry one utility spell at the cost of the off-hand.

12. Tiers, materials and crafting

Full tables: docs/builds-tiers.md.

12.1 Five tiers

Tier	Name	Magnitudes	Weapon damage	Craft skill	Sockets	Material from
T1	Common	x1	x1.00	0	1	everywhere
T2	Fine	x2	x1.15	20.0	1	near towns
T3	Superior	x3	x1.30	40.0	2	the March, the frontier
T4	Masterwork	x4	x1.45	60.0	2	deep mountains, fens, dungeons
T5	Legendary	x5	x1.60	80.0	3	the lawless isles only

Magnitudes x1..x5 (user directive: an iron ring x1, the top metal x5; sized by #149 so a complete T5 build beats ten complete T1 builds): every scaled number of armour classes, affixes, clothing, jewels, keystones, runes, auras, surcoats, belts and off-hands.
Weapon damage and spell power x1.00..x1.60: the weapon is one bucket of many; the others carry the multiplication (§ 15).
Rates never scale (§ 2.2). Counts step up at thresholds (T3, T4, T5).
Exceptional quality (#125): weapon damage x1.2, a socket, a second affix of the crafter's choice.

12.2 Materials open tiers

UO's coloured ores and ML's woods become the tiers (#97 placed them by design):

Tier	Metal	Wood	Leather	Cloth	Gem
T1	iron	pine	leather	linen	quartz
T2	dull copper, shadow iron	oak	spined (wolves)	dyed linen	amber
T3	copper, bronze	ash	horned (trolls, ogres)	spider silk	sapphire, ruby
T4	agapite, verite	yew, frostwood	barbed (lizardmen)	ghostweave (ectoplasm)	diamond
T5	valorite	heartwood, bloodwood	dragonscale	starweave (wisp essence)	star sapphire

A material gives no bonus of its own (#148, user directive: an affinity like "agapite: +crit damage" would make a crit build possible only at T4). Two materials of one tier are equal in every number; they differ in colour (an agapite plate is rose, a verite one green) and in where they are found. Gold stays the mint's metal (#121).

12.3 Crafting

Who: Blacksmithy (metal weapons, chainmail, plate, shields), Fletching (bows, crossbows, ammunition), Carpentry (staves, wooden shields, torches, totems), Tailoring (cloth, padded, leather and hardened armour, all clothing), Tinkering (jewellery), Inscription (runes, tomes, scrolls), Alchemy (potions, flasks, tanning oil), Cooking (food).
A recipe takes the tier's material (same quantity at every tier) and a component that grows with the tier: a gem for weapons and jewels, the piece's own component from monsters (fire essence for the Skirt of Flame, wisp essence for the Ring of Storms…), the school's reagent for staves.
Skill gates the tier you can craft (20.0 per tier), not what you can wear.
Designs: base items, Q/W, every armour class, every D, R and F (loadout picks, § 7.4), the first Hands, Arms and Legs design of each pool, one clothing piece and one jewel per slot and six runes are known from the start. The rest (items' E, Hands/Arms/Legs designs, clothing, jewels, keystones, runes) are learnt once from design scrolls (camps, dungeons, elites, bosses, Inscription research) and stay known forever. Loot drops materials, components and designs, not finished gear: players make the gear.

13. Group play

13.1 States and reactions

20 states (Burning, Chilled, Frozen, Soaked, Shocked, Exposed, Poisoned, Bleeding, Marked, Sundered, Broken, Blinded, Silenced, Rooted, Stunned, Slowed, Taunted, Hidden, Unstoppable, Oiled tiles) and 10 reactions that fire when the right state meets the right hit:

Reaction	When	Result
Electrocute	Soaked + Lightning	x2, Shocked, the bolt jumps to every Soaked enemy within 2
Freeze	Soaked + Cold	Frozen 1.5 s
Steam	Burning + Soaked (or water)	both end; a blinding cloud
Conflagration	Oiled tile + Fire	burning ground; wood on it catches fire
Shatter	Chilled or Frozen + crush	x1.5, poise x2
Toxic Burst	Poisoned + Fire	the poison spreads around
Hemorrhage	Bleeding x3 + any blow	all stacks at once
Execute window	Broken + Execute / Decapitate	x3 (#145)
Holy Fire	Holy on undead	x2 and Burning
Wildfire	Burning + wooden obstacle	it burns until put out (#66 destruction)

Deterministic clothing makes reactions plannable: a Skirt of Tides soaks everything its wearer's Q and W touch, a partner's Skirt of Storms or Lightning electrocutes it. Control lasts the same at every tier, and the same control can't land on a target again for 3 s after it ends.

13.2 Cloak auras

Ten cloaks give allies within 3 (the Standard Cloak 4) one bonus (War Cloak: +4 % x tier damage; Healer's Mantle: healing received; Swift Cloak: cooldown recovery, fixed). Auras of the same type don't stack, so a party wants different cloaks.

13.3 Surcoats and formations

A surcoat is the Tunic slot's other choice: instead of a personal tempo effect, a drill; when the wearers stand in its formation, everyone in it gets the bonus (checked every second, shown on the tactical grid):

Formation	Condition	Effect
Shield Wall	3+ shield-bearers side by side, facing the same way	they are full cover for allies behind against projectiles; toughness
Spear Hedge	2+ spears or polearms within 1 of each other	an enemy stepping into their reach takes a free blow
Archer Line	3+ archers within 2, none stepped in 2 s	+1 range, more projectile damage
Healer's Circle	2+ holy or nature staves within 2	more healing
Wedge	4+ in a V behind the point	the point takes less, all deal more
Lord's Colours	a lord's vassals of one house within 6 (#77)	damage and toughness

Personal power or the group's: the Tunic of Speed or the Surcoat of the Shield Wall.

13.4 Roles

Tank, Bruiser, Assassin, Archer, Controller, Healer, Artillery mage, Sapper. A party of five wants three or four roles; a siege army wants all eight.

14. PvE

Mobs use the same ability definitions (#145 made species fight with techniques): species get a family-like kit (beasts::melee becomes a loadout per species).
Danger follows the tiers: a danger-d region's mobs are tuned against complete builds of tier d (offence and toughness as in the Power sheet), so T1 builds clear danger 1–2 and T5 builds are needed for the isles' danger 5.
Elite packs (PoE's magic monsters), danger 2+: 1–3 modifiers from Hasted, Armoured, Volatile (explodes on death), Vampiric, Frostbound (chills on hit), Shielding (shields allies), Pack Leader (aura). Elites carry better components and design scrolls.
Loot is materials, components and designs (§ 12.3); bosses drop T4–T5 components and keystone designs.

15. Power and balance

15.1 Gods and paupers

User directives: a good synergistic build at a high tier must be a god next to a pauper, not one and a half times stronger (#148); the pauper is a complete T1 build (T1 costs dirt), and one complete T5 build equals ten of them (#149). The buckets of § 4.3 deliver it: the tier raises every bucket at once, and buckets multiply. Gear only is the armour, affixes, clothing and jewels; all in adds an exceptional weapon, damage runes in three sockets, an off-hand, a strength potion and the build's keystone (Glass Heart, or Iron Oath for the heavy classes). Starting numbers (sheet Power, docs/builds-tiers.md):

Complete build, all in	T1 offence / EHP	T5 offence / EHP	T5 beats complete T1 builds	(gear only)	T5 beats naked T1 characters
Glass cannon (6 cloth)	5.3 / 1.0	160 / 3.3	10.1	7.3	23
Crit duellist (6 padded)	4.9 / 1.1	118 / 4.3	9.9	7.2	23
Skirmisher (6 leather)	4.7 / 1.3	86 / 7.8	10.6	7.6	26
Bruiser (6 hardened)	3.4 / 1.4	56 / 10.4	10.8	7.8	24
Warden (6 chainmail)	2.7 / 2.7	22 / 33	9.7	7.1	27
Tank (6 plate)	1.8 / 3.8	9.4 / 69	9.8	7.3	26

Offence and EHP are against a naked T1 character (a weapon, nothing else) = 1. Power = offence x EHP; by Lanchester's square law a fighter beats √(its power / theirs) enemies at once. So:

a complete T1 build is worth 2–2.7 naked characters: building matters from the first hour;
a complete T5 build, all in, beats ten complete T1 builds of its kind (9.7–10.8); on its gear alone, without runes, keystone, off-hand and potion, about seven (7.1–7.8);
the classes stay within a factor of 1.2 of each other; the middle classes are strongest alone, the specialists (cloth, plate) in groups;
against a pack the gap grows for area builds (runes of chains and forks, Overflow strike several targets); the counts above are a duel.

15.2 Fights between equals

The tier multiplies everybody alike, so mixed fights keep their length at every tier (glass cannon against tank: 0.9 of the T1 time at T5). Mirror fights drift: two T5 glass cannons kill each other in a fifth of the T1 time, two T5 tanks take four times as long. Accepted within these bounds; damage that ignores the tier keeps tank fights from stalling:

powder kegs (#71) deal 25 % of the target's max hits; burning wooden walls and Wildfire 4 % per second; falls and collapsing buildings (#66) by share of max hits;
Execute and Decapitate add 15 % of the target's max hits on top of their damage;
Sundered (−30 % armour) and Exposed/Shocked (+15 % taken) are shares, not points.

15.3 What keeps a god mortal

Control and escapes ignore the tier: a pauper's root holds a god for as long, a pauper's Dash runs as far.
Numbers (Lanchester): a dozen complete T1 builds kill a T5 god; it is a raid boss, not invincible.
Tier-free damage (§ 15.2) for sieges and traps.
Full loot (#121): a god who dies loses the godhood; T5 materials come only from the lawless isles (#97), so most open-world fighting happens in T2–T3 kits (Albion's gear fear).
Aquais is peaceful (#112); young characters are protected (#131).

15.4 Budgets and levers

Ability budget: a Q ≈ 1.6–2.3 plain blows per use for its AP; a W ≈ 1 blow plus utility; an E ≈ 3–4 blows on a long cooldown.
Trigger budget: clothing and jewels together ≈ +30 % of a complete build's damage at T1 (the triggers bucket), x mult at higher tiers (+90 % at T5).
Targets (checked by generate.py): complete T1 power 3–8 (gear only); a complete T5 build beats 9–11 complete T1 builds of its kind all in, 6.5–9 on gear alone; the hardest-hitting all-in T5 offence 80–160 and the toughest all-in T5 EHP 40–80 against a naked T1 character.
Levers: the Tiers sheet (mult, item_mult), armour class numbers, affix bases, clothing and jewel bases, every-Nth and ICDs, keystone prices, cooldowns. Change them in catalog.py, regenerate, rerun the balance suite.

16. PvP

No blanket PvP factor: deterministic triggers are part of the build, so they hit players as hard as monsters (#148 drops #147's x0.5). Pieces that would break a duel get their own factor in the catalogue if the balance suite asks for it.
Control immunity for 3 s after a control ends; Broken lasts 1.5 s on players with 8 s of poise lock (#145).
Counters are visible: you can see an enemy's crit pips and block counter over its head, and play around them (read the fourth blow, guard it).
Young players stay protected (#131); full loot (#121).

17. Economy

Sinks: full loot, durability and repair (#125), runes destroyed on removal, consumables, reagents for spells.
Geography sells tiers: T3 metals in the March, T4 in the deep north and dungeons, T5 only on the lawless isles (#97); transporting them is risky (#121 plunder), so tier prices rise with distance and danger. With gods at T5, the isles are worth fighting for.
Every build needs several crafters: smith or tailor for armour, tailor for clothing, tinker for jewellery, scribe for runes, alchemist and cook for consumables.

18. Interface

Loadout window (C or the paperdoll): the 20 slots grouped as in § 5; the weapon's Q and W pools and the R, D and F pools as cards; the armour class profile (pieces per class, set bonuses lit at 3 and 6, total weight and the escape penalty); passives; the buckets with their totals ("Class +240 %, Tags +90 %, Crit x2.6 every 3rd hit").
Tooltips speak tags and events: every number names what it applies to; a clothing piece or jewel shows its event, how often, ICD, this tier's magnitude and what the next tier adds.
HUD: six ability keys with cooldown sweeps and costs, two consumable keys, the counters (crit, block, trigger every-Nth) as pips, momentum, state icons over mobiles, reactions as a word over the target ("ELECTROCUTE").
Templates: five saved loadouts, swapped out of a fight at a chest, an inn or a house (#129).
Build codes: a short text code of a loadout to share on Discord and the site; pasting one shows what you have and what you'd need.

19. Bots and agents

The protocol stays one for everybody (#3): Ability { slot, target } and SetLoadout { … } are ordinary commands; MCP gets loadout, ability, build_code tools and journal lines for states, reactions and counters. Determinism helps agents plan; reads, positioning and composition keep people ahead.

20. Data model and engine

20.1 One source for design and code

docs/builds/catalog.py is the design's data. Phase 0 adds a code generator that writes crates/uo-proto/src/builds/data.rs (const tables) from it, so the game, the docs and the workbook never disagree. Keys are append-only (wire format), like item ids.

20.2 Types (`uo_proto::builds`)

pub struct Tags(u32);                      // bitset over the tag table
pub enum Slot { Q, W, E, R, D, F }
pub enum Bucket { Class, Speed, Tags, Crit, Triggers, Synergy, Keystone, Armour, Hits, Sustain, Toughness }
pub struct AbilityDef { key, name, family, slot, level, tags: Tags, shape: Shape, range: u8,
    windup_ms: u32, ap: u32, cooldown_ms: u32, cost: (Resource, i32), reagent: Option<ItemId>,
    effects: &'static [Effect] }
pub enum Effect { Damage { coef: u16, element: Element }, Heal { coef: u16 }, Apply { state: StateId, ms: u32, stacks: u8 },
    Knock { tiles: i8 }, Dash { tiles: u8 }, Blink { tiles: u8 }, Hide { ms: u32 }, Untargetable { ms: u32 },
    Zone { radius: u8, ms: u32, tick: &'static [Effect] }, Shield { coef: u16, ms: u32 }, Buff { stat: Attr, pct: i16, ms: u32 },
    Cleanse, Taunt { ms: u32 }, Walls { pieces: u8, ms: u32 }, Siege { hits: u16 }, … }
pub struct ArmorClassDef { key, weight: u8, stats: &'static [(Attr, f32, Scales, Bucket)], sets: [(u8, SetBonus); 2] }
pub enum Event { AutoHit, Hit, Crit, Struck, StruckMelee, Escape, Use(Slot), AbilityHit, Kill, AllyKill, ControlLanded, SpellOnYou, … }
pub struct TriggerDef { key, slot: EquipSlot, event: Event, every: u8, icd_ms: u32, effect: Effect, base: f32,
    scales: bool, thresholds: &'static [(u8, Step)] }
pub struct KeystoneDef { key, gain: &'static [Effect], price: &'static [Effect], base: f32 }
pub struct RuneDef { key, needs: Tags, change: RuneChange, base: f32 }
pub struct AffixDef { key, slot: EquipSlot, tags: Tags, base: f32, scales: bool, cap: Option<f32>, steps: &'static [(u8, Step)] }
pub struct Counter(u16);                   // per fighter per chance stat (§ 4.5)

Items (#52 ItemDef) gain tier, material, sockets, armor_class; per instance ItemProps gain affixes, runes, design (Hands/Arms/Legs: the affix design); the character's Loadout { picks (Q, W per family), r, d, f, passives, template } is stored on the sheet (versioned records, #128; character records v2 moved old Head/Body/Feet ability designs into r, d, f).

20.3 Engine (`uo-combat`)

Ability executor: generalises #145's techniques: one pipeline (§ 3.2) driven by AbilityDef; techniques port 1:1.
Buckets: a fighter's modifiers are summed per bucket once when its loadout or buffs change, never every hit (#32).
Counters per fighter per chance stat, reset at the start of a fight; no RNG in combat resolution except the ±10 % damage roll (seeded, as today).
Triggers on an event bus with every-Nth counters and ICDs, no re-entry; statuses with stacks and ticks; reactions checked on every hit; auras and formations once a second; terrain states from tiles and obstacles (#66).
Budgets: at most 64 triggers per region tick; states per fighter ≤ 12; zones per region ≤ 64.

20.4 Tools

uo-loadtest builds: duels and pack fights between saved loadouts over many seeds (the damage roll is the only randomness), reporting time to kill, damage share per bucket and source, and tier curves against the Power sheet; CI keeps the example builds winning their intended fights.

20.5 Protocol (appended, no version bump)

Command::{Ability { slot, target }, SetLoadout { loadout }, UseScroll { uid }}; CombatEvent::{AbilityUsed (generalises Telegraph), StateApplied, StateEnded, Reaction, Triggered, Escaped, FormationOn, FormationOff}; EntityState.states: Vec<(StateId, u8)>, EntityState.counters (crit and block pips, visible to everyone); sheet views carry loadouts.

21. Plan

Each phase ends in something testers can play. Task cards: tasks/builds-*.md.

Phase	Builds	Done when
0	catalogue codegen, `uo_proto::builds` types	`data.rs` is generated and tested against the CSVs
1	ability engine, cooldowns, Q/W/E slots, counters instead of rolls, port #145 techniques	every #145 test passes through the new pipeline; no chance roll left in combat
2	weapon families: melee, archery, magic (staves, reagents, Tome)	each family playable offline and online with its Q/W pools and E
3	armour classes, set bonuses, weight, D/R/F pools and escapes, off-hands, belts, consumables	six ability keys work in any armour class; every escape and its counter
4	buckets, affixes, tiers, materials, crafting recipes, designs	crafting T1–T5 in every discipline; tooltips and the loadout show buckets
5	clothing, jewellery, keystones, runes	the example builds of the catalogue work and stay readable in a pack fight
6	states, reactions, terrain	the ten reactions and the terrain rules
7	cloak auras, surcoats and formations	the six formations on the tactical grid
8	elite packs, loot tables, design scrolls, danger tuned to tiers	elites in camps and dungeons
9	loadout window, templates, build codes, HUD counters	build a character without a terminal
10	balance suite against the Power sheet, playtest wave	the targets of § 15.4 hold within ±20 %

22. Decisions, revisions, and what needs the user

Revised by #148 (user directives, 2026-10-26), relative to the first version of #147:

Materials give no bonuses; they open their tier (was: a small affinity per material).
Armour is six classes on six slots with combat bonuses and set bonuses, wearable by any build (was: three types in nine sets with fixed abilities on head, chest and feet, plus four "modifier" slots). Head, Body and Feet abilities are chosen by design in any class.
Clothing gives deterministic triggers and effects, one event per slot (was: affixes on clothes and robes); jewellery is triggers by event, and the Neck holds a keystone (was: four relic slots with chances).
No dice: counters instead of chance rolls, damage ±10 %, every trigger on its event or every Nth (was: chances and ICDs, UO's wide ranges, random extra affixes).
Escapes are a category: the boots' F is always one, every weapon family has one, five kinds with counters, weight on heavy armour.
Power multiplies through buckets and the tier raises every bucket (was: 2.5–3.5x); the tier scales magnitudes only, never rates.
No blanket PvP factor for triggers (was: x0.5).

Sized by #149 (user directive: the pauper is a complete T1 build, since T1 costs dirt, and a complete T5 build must equal ten of them): the Power sheet counts every build gear only and all in (runes, keystone, off-hand, potion, exceptional weapon) and how many complete T1 builds of the same kind it beats; generate.py checks 9–11 all in (6.5–9 on gear alone). Kept: magnitudes x1..x5, weapon damage up to x1.60. Changed: Iron Oath 20 toughness per mult (was 30), hardened leather 8 armour and +2.5 % hits per piece (was 9 and 3).

Taken here as defaults, open to change: the numbers of § 7 and § 15; Tunic as personal effect or surcoat; Break Free as the only action under a stun; counters reset at the start of every fight.

For the user:

Key preset default: Albion (QWE RDF, mouse movement) or Classic (WASD, 1–6)?
Mirror fights drift (T5 glass cannons 5x faster, tanks 4x slower than at T1): acceptable with tier-free damage, or should the tier also raise a counter-bucket (e.g. penetration)?
Should elite packs sometimes drop finished jewels (a loot jackpot), or only designs?
Mounts (Albion's travel layer) and their place in builds: later, separately?

23. Glossary

AP — action point, 250 ms of recovery. WD — weapon damage. SP — spell power. Bucket — a group of bonuses that add up; buckets multiply each other. Counter — a chance stat's running total; at 100 the effect happens. Every Nth — a trigger that fires on every Nth event. ICD — internal cooldown of a trigger. EHP — effective hits: hits divided by the share of damage that gets through. Warband — how many naked T1 characters a build beats at once (√power). Keystone — a Neck amulet that changes a rule at a price. Weight — an armour piece's burden on escapes. Design — a recipe learnt once and kept. Drill — a surcoat's formation.