Negative Damage - Noob question
 

I was wondering what the mechanics were for negative damage from spells.
In many of my battles, I have noticed against certain enemies, whenever I have scored a hit with a battlefield spell, the damage comes up to be negative, which adds to the creatures HP, instead of deducting it.

Some specific examples, was when I was MA Shinuyama, I was taking on a bunch of MA Machaka Black Hunter spiders. I scored several hits with both Fireball and Shadowbolt, but it caused negative damage, leading to the Black Hunters HP shooting upwards.
I checked the Black Hunters specs, they did not have any elemental resists, nor did they have 'luck' cast on them. They were completely unbuffed.

So how does this happen?

The province the battle occurred in, did have Luck 3 though. Is this a factor?

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

It happens with creatures with multiple forms. With the Machaka spiders, the rider will have normal human hp ~10, when you kill him the spider, which has 50+ hp will be left. The negative damage just reflects this transition. The creature has gone to its second and now has more hp. You are still making progress.

Various Machaka spider riders, Skinshifters, Jaguar Warriors, Cave Knights. There are others.

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

Jeff hits the nail on the head. You are doing positive damage, the victim just has multiple forms. The Hydra has at least 3 forms it goes through before dying. The game just throws up a number that states the HP change. However, I am pretty sure damage carries over.

However, more generally negative damage (which can occur due to random rolls) is just interpreted as zero damage.

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

I'm not sure that damage carries over. The standard wisdom says it doesn't. I know you can't one-shot a hydra, even with Soul Slay for 999-damage. On the other hand, I'd swear I've seen things knocked into their second forms not at full hp. I've never actually tested it, so maybe they'd all been hit again after switching, but that's not what it seemed like.

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

Do afflictions carry over? (not a very experienced player here)

It could've been never healing wound or something.

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

I don't know why, but some afflictions do seem to carry over, while others don't. For example Feeblminded seems to carry over, but Disease doesn't. At least that is what I have experienced with Machakan Black Sorcerors (who transform to black spider when hurt; btw an excellent way to get rid of old age caused disease).

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

On afflictions carrying over: actually, here's what's in Baalz' guide to EA Mictlan:

One bonus not a lot of people know about is that when shape shifting involuntarily (as the Jaguar Warriors do when critically wounded, and at the end of combat when the shift back to human) there is a pretty good chance to heal afflictions.

They are obviously meant to heal, but maybe not all kinds of them? May the fact feeblemind stays have something to do with the nature of the affliction, it being 'mental', not 'physical'?

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

well, i assume it just does a heal check, and some afflictions have a lot lower chance of healing than others.

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

Here's a thing I've seen toooo many times: Demilich's minions don't quite manage to kill the earth elemental trying to assassinate their master; the demilich goes off script; he casts Disintegrate a few times, succeeding once and "killing" one form of the elemental; the smaller elemental crushes him.

In that case a spell that's supposed to kill something doesn't kill it at all due to the form change... but the damage is approximately (or maybe exactly--is that how Disintegrate works?) the target's HP count, and not 999, so it only seems a little weird that the target doesn't die, and not highly weird as with the Soul Slay example.

Dang now I want to test this stuff (but it's too late for such shenanigans tonight)

Re: Negative Damage - Noob question
 

Ok now that we know that damage wont move from one form to the other and that afflictions do move with somekind of healing chanse im wondering what happens to fatigue and status effects (horror mark, curse, Buffs like luck or etheriality and poison)???

I would guess that all or atleast most of the status stuff move from form to form. I have no idea about fatigue but if it stays then thunderstrike is pretty much the ideal spell to smack non air elementals :D

I would run test for this things but i don't have time today. If nobody knows then i will do the test in the near future... For the greater good ;)