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Attribute Insanity - 2.0 Update - now with link to DE version!

Link to Definitive Edition version of this mod! Development for the classic version has ceased.


Attribute Insanity attempts, in a way, to fix the game's absurd damage growth and buffs alternative playstyles. The bad news for some is that it removes damage bonuses from ability investments entirely, but the good news is that each and every one of them has new and unique effects. This mod has much more than just that to offer, too.

Are you itching for something different from your usual playthroughs? Come play the mod that lets you build The Wall, the Speed Mage and the Action Point King.

09/08/2018 - Thank you for your support, everybody! We've reached the front of frontpage and I'm very grateful for the positive response to this mod.

New 2.0 (now 2.1) update - check the changes below or in the changelog!


Attribute changes (effects are granted per point allocated)

• Strength -> Might: +8% damage to all attacks +3% physical armor. Enemies do not benefit from damage.
  
• Finesse -> Speed: +1 initiative, +3% movement speed, +6% all damage, +1% dodging. Enemies only benefit from movement speed and initiative.
  
• Intelligence -> Magic: +8% damage to all attacks, +3% magic armor. Enemies do not benefit from damage.
  
• Constitution -> Endurance: +10% armor (both types), +10% hp per point. (Up from 7%) Enemies do not benefit from armor.
  
• Wits -> Perception: +2% accuracy, +3% crit chance, +0.5% character range (that means exactly what you think it means for bow users and casters).
  
• All class mods will now scale with any combination of Might, Speed and Magic. No more overrides necessary!

2.0 - New Ability changes

• Necromancer: Grants a 3% chance per point to raise killed enemies from the dead for 3 turns. (This exists on top of vanilla's 10% lifesteal)
  
• Summoning: Summons now inherit the Ability levels, and subsequently the passive effects, of their owner. This occurs regardless of your skill in Summoning, which has itself remained the same.
  
• Dual-wielding -> Duelist: Grants 2% dodging in combat per point. Taking damage increases the bonus by 2% per point until the Duelist evades an attack, at which point the bonus will reset. NPCs don't benefit. As of 2.1, this bonus is doubled for characters with an empty off-hand.
  
• Two-handed -> Berserk: Provides the character with a 4% chance to cleave all nearby characters (including allies) upon taking damage. Further grants a 2% chance per point to receive 3% max HP as Piercing Damage when damaging another character. Both events only proc with melee weapons.
  
• Ranged -> Specialist: Grants the specialist a 3% chance per point to interrupt enemy spells with a flashy weapon attack (works with melee weapons too!). NPCs do not benefit from this effect, thankfully.
  
• Single-handed -> ?????: P̢l͞e̕d̛͘g̡͏e͡͝ ̸̕͢y̵o̕͢u̵҉r̛ ͡u̸̧̨ndỳi̶̕n̴͢ǵ̴̡ ̶҉͜ś̴͢o̷͜͜ul͡ ̴͡͏to̡ t̶h͢e͘͘ ͢G҉̸o͡d҉̷ ́Kin͘͡g͟.͠͝

Existing Ability changes

• All abilities: All abilities no longer grant direct damage increases. Instead, they grant various special effects.
  
• Leadership: On top of base bonuses, gives +2 initiative, 1 Constitution, 1 Perception and +4% movement speed to nearby allies per point.
  
• Perseverance: 5% chance to return enemy-induced status effects to sender per point. Armor recovery increased to 10% per point. NPCs no longer benefit from status reflection.
  
• Retribution: 5% chance to taunt nearby characters at end of turn per point. Because Taunt is annoying, enemies do not get this.
  
• Aerothurge: +5% air resistance, 5% chance per point to shock primary target of aerothurge spells or auto attacks (through armour).
  
• Geomancer: +5% earth and poison resistance, attacks and spells restore 3% physical armor, move 8% faster in oil per point. Armor restore percentage increased to 10% (from 5%).
  
• Huntsman: +10% chance to sneak at end of turn per point. If the player is already sneaking, this becomes invisibility. Scores higher than 100% chance start proccing a chance to become invisible instead. NPCs do not benefit from this trait.
  
• Hydrosophist: +5% water resistance, your attacks and spells heal nearby allies 2% per point. Armor restore percentage increased to 10% and healing restore percentage increased to 15% (both from 5%).
  
• Pyrokinetic: +5% fire resistance, 2% chance for attacks and spells targetted at characters to restore 1ap per point. Doubled while standing in fire or necrofire.
  
• Scoundrel: +5% chance to disarm and/or blind a foe (through armour) with attacks and targetted spells while sneaking (separately rolled).
  
• Warfare: +5% chance per level for basic attacks to repeat during combat.

Civil ability changes

• Sneaking: Vastly increased movement speed while sneaking per point. (Hint: You can reach speeds faster than normal walking even without gear.)

Misc changes (including issue fixes from previous versions)

• As a natural consequence of Might, Magic and Speed multiplying all outgoing damage, grenades now scale with character stats!
  
• Since NPCs don't gain damage from attributes or from Warfare by default, they now gain a 5% damage boost to all attacks for each point in the highest of their three damage attributes. (i.e. Str13 Fin12 Int15 will grant 5 stacks)
  
• Elemental Resistance bonuses are now halved for Lone Wolf characters.
  
• Single-handed's bonus is also halved for Lone Wolf characters. Half of nothing? Talk about redundant.
  
• Global crit multiplier is now 200%.
  
• Sneaking now costs 2AP.
  
• Damage from low ground now decreased by 20% and damage from high ground now increased by 30% (originals were 10% and 20% respectively).
  
• Global range boost cap raised to 35 from 30.
  
• Speed no longer overrides Crippled or Entangled. Be warned that any mod that overrides either status (none exist that I am aware of) will unfix this.

Got you covered, fam.


This mod has only been tested with Classic mode. Some enemies will deal slightly more damage than in vanilla due to the new damage formulas. Very few will deal less.


If another mod overwrites the English localisation .xml file, attributes and skills will not have the correct names or tooltips. The mod will still be fully playable despite this.


All custom ability icons are derived from DotA 2's icons, created by Valve's talented team of visual artists.[www.giantbomb.com]


I've tested this a lot and fixed a lot of possible issues, but I'd like for you to let me know if you encounter any problems. Failing that, I appreciate feedback of all kinds! What you think works and what doesn't - aesthetically, gameplaywise or balancewise.

This whole mod is one big experiment, to toy around with the idea of a DOS2 without exponential damage increasers, and where all sorts of wacky effects encourage build diversity. So please let me know what you think!