Basic Knowledge

All creatures in the game, including your character, have characteristics, stats, and skills.

Characteristics
The characteristics are HP (Hit Points), PP (Power Points), DV (Defensive Value) and PV (Protective Value).

Hit Points measure how much damage a creature can take before dying. If a creature's HP reach zero, the creature dies. If your character's HP reach zero, they will die and your game will end. Lost HP will return with time, but it is a slow process. Medical skills, such as Healing, will speed up the process, and magic is rumoured to be able to restore health in an instant.

Power Points are used to cast spells. In general, the more powerful the spell, the more PP it will cost to cast it. Of course, if you can't cast spells, you needn't worry much about your PP. Lost PP return slowly, but those who have been trained in the mystic arts, such as wizards, have learned skills that enable them to regain Power much more quickly.

Defensive Value measures how hard it is to hit a creature. The higher your DV, the harder it will be for something to hit you. Smaller creatures naturally have a higher DV than larger ones; it is harder to target a rat than a tiger. Creatures also gain bonuses to DV from being dextrous, from wearing shields and weapons that can parry blows, and from wearing or wielding certain items.

Protective Value measures the amount of damage deducted from a successful attack on the creature. PV is increased by having naturally tough skin, and by wearing items of armour to protect parts of your body. Only the body parts that are covered by an item of armour gain a PV bonus from it; no matter how good your helmet is, if you're not wearing boots, a rat can easily bite your toes.

Stats
There are eight stats: St (Strength), Dx (Dexterity), To (Toughness), Le (Learning), Wi (Willpower), Ma (Mana), Pe (Perception) and Ch (Charisma).

Strength determines your carrying capability, and affects how effectively you can use heavy weapons.
Dexterity affects your DV (more dextrous creatures can dodge more easily) and how quickly you can get a blow in.
Toughness influences how many Hit Points you get with each increase in character level.
Learning measures how many Skill Points you get with each increase in character level.
Mana influences how many Power Points you get with each increase in character level.
Charisma determines your charm and leadership ability. It is not yet used in the game.

Dice Notation
Avanor, like many other role-playing games, uses (simulated) dice rolls to model the effects of chance. If you are unfamiliar with the standard notation used to represent dice throws: XdY+Z means throwing a Y-sided die X times, totalling the result of each throw, then adding Z to the result. XdY is short for XdY+0. For example, 1d6+2 means to throw a 6-sided die once, adding two to the result, which generates a random integer between 3 and 8.

Speed
Creatures naturally move at different speeds. For example, we all know that a hare can run much faster than a tortoise. In Avanor, this is simulated with the Sp (Speed) factor. Average creatures, such as your hero, have a Sp around 100. If you carry things that are too heavy for your Strength, your Sp will drop. Sp affects not only how fast you can move, but also how quickly you can fight, so be careful not to overburden yourself.

All creatures in all locations get a chance to move every time your hero does; creatures can collect and use items that they find or win from combat, so you may encounter creatures that have accumulated very impressive armour and weapons!