Ultima Online Five on Friday Q&A

EA’s Jeremy Dalberg has posted another one of his “Five on Friday” Q&A features to the official Ultima Online website. Rather than answering questions, though, he’s instead updated a couple dozen player guides on the official website. A sampling from item properties guide:

Caster Modifiers:

Spell Damage Increase – Increases the damage of the item wearer’s spells. Capped at 15% in PvP combat only – uncapped in PvM.
Faster Cast Recovery – Lowers the amount of time to recover after casting a spell. Capped at 6.
Mage Armor – Mage Armor items eliminate an item’s Meditation penalty. For example, a plate tunic with the Mage Armor property will no longer reduce the effectiveness of the wearer’s use of the Meditation skill to regain mana.
Faster Casting – Lowers the amount of time required to cast a spell. Capped at either 2 or 4 depending on casting skill used – check the relevant skills pages for details.
Lower Mana Cost – Lowers the amount of Mana required to cast a spell by a percentage. This includes Necromancer spells and Paladin abilities. Capped at 40.
Lower Reagent Cost – % chance that any spell or Paladin Ability cast by the wearer will not consume reagents or Tithing Points.
Spell Channeling – Allows a mage to wield a weapon while casting a spell, but increases the wielder’s spell casting time.
Mage Weapon – Uses the player’s Magery skill as a combat skill for the weapon (i.e.: Magery used in lieu of Swordsmanship for a sword). However, the wielder’s Magery skill is lowered while wielding such a weapon. Note that using Special Moves associated with the weapon will still require the wielder to have the required amount of skill points in the actual weapon skill.

Hit Effects:

Hit Slayer – This property corresponds to the classic Slayer Weapons. The weapon with this property will do double damage versus a specific monster or grouping of monsters. Beware – wielding a Slayer weapon will make you more vulnerable to damage from monsters of the opposite type. (Example: a lich (undead creature) attacking a player character wielding a Repond slayer will do 50% more damage.)
Hit Stamina Leech – Each time the weapon hits, it will do its normal damage. Then the weapon leeches a percentage of the damage done from the target’s Stamina, transferring 100% of the damage dealt as leeched Stamina to the weapon’s wielder. The displayed percentages are the percent chance to cast the effect.
Hit Mana Leech – Each time the weapon hits, it will do its normal damage. Then the weapon leeches a percentage of the damage done from the target’s Mana, transferring 40% of the damage dealt as leeched Mana to the weapon’s wielder. The displayed percentages are the percent chance to cast the effect.
Hit Life Leech – Each time the weapon hits, it will do its normal damage. Then the weapon leeches a percentage of the damage done from the target’s Hit Points, transferring 30% of the damage dealt as leeched Hit Points to the weapon’s wielder. The displayed percentages are the percent chance to cast the effect.
Hit Lower Attack – A successful hit with this weapon lowers the attack rating of the target by 25% for 10 seconds. There is no cap on HLA. HLA percentages are multiplied rather than added – for example, if you have two items, one with a 30% chance and one with a 50% chance, then that’s a 65% chance that the effect will fire on any given hit. The effect does not stack with itself, although additional effects will reset the duration.
Hit Lower Defense – A successful hit with this weapon lowers the defense rating of the target by 25%