The Drunken Lizard Pub

I tried outrunning an enemy but it didn't work so I decided to increase speed but it didn't have any effect as far as outrunning is concerned. I figured that a character A having speed double that of character B would have two turns while B have only one turn but this does not appear to be the case.

So how does speed attribute work? Does it anything else than increasing damage in melee? Is it worth having as an elemental caster?

I am definitely not an expert on stats. However, from the conversations I've seen on this forum, speed is a bit of an odd duck sort of ability. BW claims that it makes a difference in melee fighting. Most of us don't really notice much difference.

I'm pretty comfortable saying that it will not materially affect how fast your guy can run. Personally, I don't put points into Speed. I do understand that BW is reworking this attribute for Book II.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of stat development can give you a more detailed explanation..............

The "Speed" stat, in Book I, enhances your Damage and Armor Rating attributes. In Book II, it will allow you to actually move faster (well, really, the enemies will move slower) allowing you to outrun them when in trouble.

Speed still affects the kinetic damage of melee weapons, as stated above:

Speed still effects your Maximum Damage as well. The harder you can swing a weapon (Strength) and the faster you can do it (Speed) directly corresponds to the impact (Force) of your weapon.

So it is a relatively important stat for characters who swing weapons for a living. But ultimately, Speed is still an orphaned stat overall. Mechanically speaking, we just couldn't get it to work like we wanted in terms of making your player faster in relation to the world around you.

In order to get away from a monster you have to change your angle of movement. Running in a straight line doesn't do it, but zig zagging will increase the spacing.

Shouldn't speed increase your hit chance? I mean let's think about it, if there's an enemy trying to block your attacks, or dodge them altogether, the slower you swing the easier the task for them, however if you're swinging really fast it's harder for them to dodge or block, ultimately increasing the player's hit chance.

Ssschah: that makes some sense, but ultimately would just add another layer of complication to the attack roll.

Speed does affect weapon damage as mentioned above, and it supports your base (unarmored) Armor Rating as mentioned din the Character Editor. But we do a bit more with Speed in Book III- Speed Checks to determine avoidance of damage for certain traps. Dexterity is going to be used more for tricks of the hand: picking locks, disarming traps, etc., while Speed directly determines your saving roll against acid splash, mechanical traps and such.

Speed and Dexterity are also the two primary Attributes for Thrown Weapons in Book III (was STR and DEX in Book II).

Woo! Ability and skill re-balancing was my #1 desired feature for Book III.