Cleave
Whenever you hit an opponent with an axe, there's a 75% chance you cleave their armor, giving them a -1 penalty to their AV. This penalty can stack a number of times up to half your strength modifier, rounded up, +1 on a critical hit. |
Description
Axe attacks with Cleave reduce the target's AV, so subsequent attacks penetrate more often for more damage. 
Charging Strike (Axe) makes Cleave more powerful during a 
Charge attack. Attacks do not need to penetrate to proc Cleave.
Messages
When the player Cleaves a target, text appears in the play area over the target, showing the total value of the Cleaved debuff.
*cleave (-X AV)* |
When something Cleaves the player, text appears in the play area over the player character, identifying the item that has the AV penalty.
Armor cracked* |
The first time the player Cleaves a target, this message appears in the message log after the "You hit...." message:
You cleave through the target's armor. |
When the player Cleaves a target that already has the Cleaved debuff, no extra message appears after the "You hit...." message in the message log. The only way to notice is to see the text pop up in the play area, or [L]look at the target to see a larger number in the debuff:
cleaved (-X AV) |
Limits
Cleave cannot reduce a creature's AV below 0.
| Strength | Maximum AV penalty |
|---|---|
| 1-21 | 1 |
| 22-25 | 2 |
| 26-29 | 3 |
| 30-33 | 4 |
| 34-37 | 5 |
| 38-41 | 6 |
| 42-45 | 7 |
| 46-49 | 8 |
The maximum AV penalty is always at least 1, even if the formula in the skill's description yields 0 or a negative number.
This limit can be exceeded when a target that has been Cleaved up to the limit is hit by another axe attack that procs both critical (usually 5%) and Cleave (75%). A rare situation.
If the limit is 1, a Charging Strike that procs Cleave will exceed the limit by inflicting a -2 AV penalty. If the limit is higher, a Charging Strike that procs Cleave will increase the debuff by up to 2, but will not exceed the limit.
Factions That Teach Cleave
Cleave is not taught by any of Qud's persistent factions. However, procedurally generated factions such as village factions can teach randomly chosen skills as part of their water ritual.
Creatures That Have Cleave
astral tabby
Isahind
Kesehind
knollworm
Liihart
Man Opener
Meyehind
plated knollworm
reprogrammed scrap shoveler
saw-hander
scrap shoveler
Jotun, Who Parts Limbs
Warden Indrix, Goatfolk Pariah
Warden Neelahind
worm of the earth
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