Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Help/Tips/Tricks How do willpower/bodybuilding saving throws work?

For example crushing fist has a "100% chance to set knock down", but what does it mean when I have lower strength and I have a 90% chance to "set" knock down?

Is that % chance separate to the willpower/bb saving throw, and that you have to make that chance to "set" the status and then the saving throw comes after?

Or does it mean at 100% strength the target makes a normal saving throw and at 90% (or 105%) the target has a bonus (or penalty) to the saving throw?

I'd go for your second statement. I'll give an exemple: Let's say you have crushing fist at 105% success rate and the enemy has 2 in bodybuilding.

Assuming same level, the odd for knockdown will be 105% - 10 x bodybuilding = 85%. The enemy must roll 85 or more to avoid the knockdown.

Some enemy may have as high as 9 in bodybuilding/willpower in hard difficulty. So having high success rate on spell like crushing fist is important for them to be reliable.

To be confirmed but there is also a 10% bonus/malus per level difference with you target.

For skill without save (eg: haste, divine light etc...), the % act has a chance of success; in case of failure, the spell is "fumbled" and will do nothing. Going over 100% brings no benefit in such case.

The X% chance to set a status is determined by the Minimum Attribute Amount . The amount in the attribute needed is determined by the Skill Level of the Skill. There is a table in the above link.

Ex. Battering Ram
It has a Skill Level of two. So you need 8 STR to reach the base %Chance of 50% chance to knock down. 9 STR would make it 55%, 7 STR will make it 40%.

Each point in a saving throw decreases the chance of a status effect hitting by 10%. Like Willpower .

If you've got the combat log; It's always displayed there with the roll...

It's chance - willpower/bodybuilding %
It sometimes deviaties from that though for some reasons, apparently the level difference mentioned above, but also some effects like rain seem to chance rolls more than they should.

Lastly, weapon effects (including things like blood from summon wolves) work the exact same way. Since the most I found on a weapon was 30%, all weapon-effects are basically worthless since they will never be applied unless the person has no willpower or bodybuilding at all... which is rare and only found on weak enemies anyway.
It also means pretty much all status effects from enemy weapons can be countered by a single point of willpower and bodybuilding, which I doubt is the intetnion...

Not sure if Working as Intended, sounds odd to me if it is...