hunt guide
Great Hunts
What is a Great Hunt? Whenever a mage character becomes fully corrupted into a monster, a Great Hunt event is triggered, and the battle against the monster begins!
Every mage character in Anathema is invited to join the battle and use Attacks to lower the monster's HP. A mage's power in battle is determined by their stat points, and every piece of art, writing, or RP submitted counts as an opportunity for them to use their power in the hunt. Mages are stronger when they work together, so collaborations and group interaction is the best way to fight!
A Great Hunt ends when a monster reaches 0 HP (after an event minimum of 2 weeks), and the mages who did the most damage are hailed as heroes!
At the beginning of a hunt, every monster is given:
A vague physical description (and simple illustration) for individual players to reference, but every writer/artist can interpret the specific design as they so choose.
A description of the monster's abilities, magically and otherwise.
A description of the monster's behaviors and current whereabouts; this will be updated as the event continues and the monster rages until defeated.
These traits are based on the abilities, appearance, and behavior of the former mage, and decided in cooperation with the mage's player.
combat
how to attack
During a hunt, Mages are able to use their abilities to Attack a monster (lowering its HP), or to Aid it (raising its HP and prolonging the hunt). To participate, a player needs to create a piece of art, writing, or RP worth at least 5 Gold about their mage's involvement in the hunt; each submission is considered one attack (or aid), and a mage can submit as many as they like during a hunt!
Attack and aid submissions can be linked directly to the hunt bulletin, with a damage breakdown for every participating character. Staff will review the submission and add it to the Hunt tracker!
calculating damage
The base damage done by a mage's Attack or Aid is determined by their stats: Power, Discipline, Cost, and Corruption. Each of the stats plays a role in every attack:
Power is the base number of points of damage a character can do at once.
Discipline is the maximum damage a character can do, serving as a "cap" for potential damage per attack.
Cost points are subtracted from a character's total damage.
Corruption plays by its own rules, and is added to total damage regardless of all other stats.
For example: If Sparkles the Mage has 4 Power, 3 Discipline, 1 Cost, and 1 Corruption, then Sparkles can do 3 points of base damage in one solo attack. (3 Discipline being the damage cap limiting the Power, minus 1 Cost, plus 1 Corruption).
Another example: If Doombert the Mage has 3 Power, 5 Discipline, 0 Cost and 0 Corruption, then Doombert will also do 3 points of base damage in a solo attack. (3 Power being uncapped by the higher Discipline, without Cost or Corruption).
In addition to your mage's base damage output, every 10 gold counted for a piece of art, writing, or roleplay, will earn another +1 damage.
This means if your mage does 5 damage based on their stats, but your attack piece is worth 40 gold, they will deal an additional +4 damage. This is calculated before the double event bonus or effort bonus is applied.
An example: Gandalf the Mage has 5 power, 5 discipline, 2 Cost, and 2 Corruption, which means Gandalf will do 5 base damage (5 Power is not capped by 5 Discipline, minus 2 Costs, plus 2 Corruption). Gandalf's attack submission is worth 27 gold, which results in 2 gold damage. 5 base damage plus 2 gold damage means Gandalf does 7 total damage.
working together
Mages grow more powerful when they work in cooperation. Up to five mages can cooperate on an attack (or aid) submission, and boost each other's power. Collab attacks must be worth a total of 5 Gold per attacking mage.
When in groups:
All teammates' Discipline stats are added together, raising the ceiling on the potential damage individual mages can do.
Cost points are lowered by 1 for every teammate a Mage has. Two mages working together get -1 Cost, a team of three -2 Cost, etc, reducing the Cost penalties to damage!
For example, if Sparkles and Doombert from the above examples were to work together, Sparkles would do 5 damage instead of three, since their Discipline cap was raised, and their Cost was reduced by having a partner.
When Mages work together, their attack damage is still calculated individually. Sparkles' 5 damage and Doombert's 3 damage will be logged separately by staff in the hunt tracker.
You may create "collabs" between up to five of your own characters, as long as the submission is worth a total of 5 Gold per attacking mage.
damage bonuses and penalties
Since every monster is different, each hunt will award different bonuses to different kinds of attacks. Bonuses are applied individually to each mage, after all stat damage has been calculated.
Things like using a Magic Scroll or Amulet from the shop, or having a mage's Familiar on the battlefield with them can increase a mage's damage. Check a monster's hunt bulletin for that hunt's bonuses.
Monsters will also sometimes have great strengths or weaknesses that can have a huge effect on the damage done. Sometimes, the type of magic your mage has will be particularly effective or ineffective; for instance, if a monster is weak to fire, a character with fire magic may get double damage. If a character resists telepathy or psychic powers, then telepathic mages will receive a penalty to damage. Every monster will be unique, and these weaknesses will change with every hunt!
aiding a monster
As explained above, attacking a monster lowers its HP, whereas Aiding a monster raises the mosnter's HP and prolongs the hunt. Aiding a monster has a significant negative effect on mage reputation in Anathema's world, and disqualifies a character from winning the Killing Blow or Master Hunter awards for that hunt. "Damage" calculation is the same for aiding as for attacking, but the HP is added to the monster's total rather than subtracted.
hunt gold count
For the purposes of counting gold, monsters do not earn the "Other Character" bonus.
Hunt attacks are otherwise counted normally, though players will receive double gold for participating in the event!
Prizes
Participation, Non-Mages: All Hunt-related art, writing, and RP receives double gold!
Participation, Mages: All mages who Attack or Aid during a Great Hunt receive +2 stat points, to distribute between Power and Discipline, as well as double gold!
Killing Blow, Mages: At the end of a hunt, every mage's damage dealt is tallied up. The mage who dealt the most damage is renowned as the one who dealt the Killing Blow, and will famously be the individual whose attack killed the monster once and for all. The Killing Blow reward comes with a +100 Gold bonus, their choice of scroll or amulet from the shop, and a special Killing Blow badge for their character profile. However, it also gives a character +1 Corruption as the thirst for victory overcomes them.
Second Place, Mages: The mage with the next highest damage after the Killing Blow winner receives the Silver Hunter badge, +75 Gold, and their choice of scroll or amulet from the shop.
Third Place, Mages: The mage with the next highest damage after the Second Place winner receives the Bronze Hunter badge, +50 Gold, and their choice of scroll or amulet from the shop.
mage reputation
The longer a monster hunt drags on, the more damage the monster will do to the environment and the more NPC lives will be lost. Both of these things will affect Mage Reputation, the NPC public opinion of mages across the kingdom. Mage Reputation is tracked on the #quick-links channel of the Discord, along with the current season/year.
Mage Reputation controls the course of Anathema events and the treatment of Mage characters by Anathema's NPCs. Whenever in-game events occur, Mage Reputation will influence their outcomes!