PvP Limits, Caps & Combat Balancing[edit]

This page documents all PvP attribute caps, tactical field spell mechanics, and follower/summon balancing on New Hope UO.

1. PvP Attribute Caps[edit]

Attribute	PvP Cap	Checked In	Description
Hit Chance Increase (HCI)	45%	BaseWeapon.cs	Uniform 45% cap across all races (Human, Elf, and Gargoyle).
Defense Chance Increase (DCI)	45%	BaseWeapon.cs	Maximum DCI obtainable from equipment.
Lower Mana Cost (LMC)	40%	SpecialMove.cs / Spell.cs	Maximum mana discount cap.
Spell Damage Increase (SDI)	30% / 15%	SpellHelper.cs	Pure Mage cap is 30% (with Spell Focus), Hybrid/Dexer cap is 15%.
Mortal Strike Duration	6 Seconds	MortalStrike.cs	Blocks healing for 6 seconds on players (12 seconds on creatures).
Faster Casting (FC)	2	SpellHelper.cs	Faster casting cap (4 for Chivalry when magery < 70).
Faster Cast Recovery (FCR)	6	SpellHelper.cs	Faster cast recovery cap.
Hiding & Stealth Cooldown	5.0 Seconds	Hiding.cs / Stealth.cs	Shortened from 10.0s to 5.0s for responsive rogue gameplay.

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2. Tactical Field Spells Overhaul[edit]

Field spells follow classic tactical battlefield rules—affecting any mobile (including the caster, hostile monsters, and enemy players) that steps into or stands within the barrier:

Fire Field:

 * Inflicts immediate impact fire damage and ticking fire damage (`8 – 22` base damage scaled dynamically by the caster's Magery and Evaluating Intelligence).

Poison Field:

 * Inflicts immediate direct poison damage (`6 – 18` damage) upon contact in addition to applying poison.
 * Magery & Poisoning Potency Scaling:
   * 100.0 Magery (Grandmaster Mage): Inflicts Greater Poison (even without the Poisoning skill, allowing pure mages to affect high-tier monsters and combatants).
   * 80+ Magery & 80+ Poisoning (Nox Mage): Inflicts Deadly Poison.
   * 60+ Magery: Inflicts Regular Poison.
   * < 60 Magery: Inflicts Lesser Poison.

Paralyze Field:

 * Reliably immobilizes and freezes any combatant traversing the field based on their Magic Resistance.

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3. Summons, Pets & Racial PvP Balancing[edit]

Follower PvP Damage Reduction: Controlled pets, summons, and book companions deal ~35% reduced damage against players in PvP combat to prevent automated pet/summon burst from overwhelming player duels.
PvE-Only Capstone Protection: The Warrior Level 100 ultimate (Wrath of the Warlord) strictly ignores players and player pets, ensuring classic PvP balance.
Gargoyle HCI Equalization: Gargoyles share the exact same 45% HCI cap as Humans and Elves.
Gargoyle Flying vs Dismount: Flying Gargoyles struck by a Bola or Dismount special move are grounded for 10 seconds, matching mounted player mechanics.