Summary

In general, the word “malus” simply means “penalty”. In Ryzom, it’s a numeric rating that specifically refers to how badly the encumberance of your weapons and armor affects your ability to perform special actions.

Malus makes all actions cost more HP/Stamina/Sap/Focus to use, although fighting actions are only affected half as much as others. Malus also reduces spell ranges and may increase casting times. Finally, Malus reduces the maximum possible quality of crafted items.

You can see your total Malus on your Personality screen. The lowest possible total Malus is 0. Light Armor, Magic Amplifiers, and crafting and harvesting tools all add 0 Malus. Weapons, shields, and heavier armors add more.

Fighting

• Fighting action HP and Stamina costs are multiplied by (1 + Malus/200).

Note: If you look at an attack action’s information window, the action’s HP and Stamina costs show as if they were multiplied by (1 + Malus/100). This is incorrect. The cost you actually pay when you use the action is calculated correctly and is affected by Malus as listed above.

Note: If you look at an attack action’s information window while wielding a 2-handed melee weapon or dual-wielding two 1-handed weapons, the action’s Stamina cost furthermore shows as double what it really is. This bug is related to weight, separate from the above one and unrelated to Malus. It occurs even if your Malus is 0. The cost you actually pay when you use the action is still calculated correctly and affected by Malus as listed above.

Magic

• Spell HP and Sap costs are multiplied by (1 + Malus/100).

The cost to maintain link spells is unaffected by Malus.

• Spell maximum ranges are divided by (1 + Malus/100).

For spells with a Range Credit stanza, subtract the stanza’s penalty from the spell’s base range first, then apply the Malus reduction.

• Extra casting time added by Cast Time Credit stanzas is multiplied by (1 + Malus/100).

The cast time of the spell itself is unaffected, so a spell with no Cast Time stanza will be cast just as quickly no matter what your Malus is.

Malus does not directly affect your chance of fumbling a spell, but it may indirectly increase your chance of getting interrupted if it slows your casting and allows enemies to hit you more times before you finish.

Harvesting

• Harvesting Focus costs are multiplied by (1 + Malus/100).

Crafting

• Crafting Focus costs are multiplied by (1 + Malus/100).

• The final quality level of the item you’re crafting is multiplied by (1 – Malus/1000), rounding all fractions up.

Malus does not increase the chance of a crafting failure.