Spell Damage
Every damage spell on UO Sagas is a dice roll pushed through a chain of multipliers — the target's resist roll, your Eval Int against their Magic Resist, Magery's own contribution, and the big one: the ×2 against monsters. This page walks the whole chain; the Magery page covers circles, fizzle chances and training.
Spell Damage Simulator
Every stage on this page is a live control in the Spell Damage Simulator — pick a spell, set both sides' skills, flip the target between monster and player, and read off the resist chance, the damage spread, mana efficiency and damage per second.
The chain
A damage spell travels through four stages on its way to the target:
| # | Stage | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Base roll | each spell's own dice: Magic Arrow a flat 3, Fireball 7–11, Energy Bolt 26–34, Flame Strike 31–46 |
| 2 | Resist roll | the target rolls Magic Resist once; on success the spell deals ×0.75 (Harm ×0.90, Chain Lightning and Meteor Swarm ×0.50) |
| 3 | Damage scalar | your Eval Int against their resist, Magery's own contribution, the monster doubling, and the Grimoire |
| 4 | Skill masteries | monsters only — a separate packet added on top |
The resist chance (stage 2) is
chance = max( Resist ÷ 5, Resist − ((Magery − 20) ÷ 5 + circle × 5) ) ÷ 2
with the circle counted the in-game way (1st = 1 … 8th = 8) — at 100 resist against a GM mage's Energy Bolt that is about 27%, and low-resist monsters barely ever resist.
The damage scalar (stage 3) is built like this:
scalar = 1 + (Eval Int − target's Resist) ÷ 500 while you are ahead
1 + (Eval Int − target's Resist) ÷ 200 while the target is ahead
+ (Magery − 100) ÷ 400 −25% at 0 skill, ±0 at GM
× 2.0 against monsters and animals
× grimoire damage level (up to ×1.5) · × 2 grimoire slayer — both PvM only
The same cast, PvM vs PvP
The ×2.0 is the single biggest number in the whole damage system. Spells hit monsters for roughly double what they hit players for — it applies to everything that is neither a player nor human-bodied, so it is the target's body that decides, not a PvP flag. Here is the same average Energy Bolt from a GM mage (100 Magery, 100 Eval Int), against a typical monster and against another player:
While you are PvP-flagged, scrolled skill above 100 stops counting on both sides of the scalar — your Eval Int and their Magic Resist alike (see PvP). The Grimoire never works against players; entering PvP combat even unequips it.
Two facts that surprise players from other shards
- Inscription adds no spell damage here. Its damage role on AOS-era shards does not exist on UO Sagas — Inscription is a defensive mage skill (Reactive Armor, Protection and Magic Reflect capacity), and the only way it ever adds damage is the Inscription Mastery's Scroll Amplification perk, in PvM.
- Casting speed is fixed. Cast time is
0.5s + 0.25s per circle(the circle table) plus a flat 0.8s recovery after every spell — nothing on this shard shortens either. An Energy Bolt cycles every ~2.55s, a Flame Strike every ~2.8s, and that rhythm, times the damage above, is your real damage per second.
Related
- Magery — circles, fizzle chances, cast times and training
- Evaluating Intelligence — what the scalar's main skill is worth
- Spell Damage Simulator — this chain, live, with your build
- Grimoire — the PvM damage tomes
- Resisting Spells — the defender's half of the roll
- Skill Masteries — how the mastery packet works
- Weapon Damage — the dexer twin of this page