Scope RPG

Status Effects ​

Buffs, debuffs, damage-over-time, and crowd control - the effects skills leave behind after the damage is dealt. Status effects are the tactical texture of Scope's combat.

Debuff effect

Buffs - Empower Allies ​

A buff is a positive effect on an ally (or self). Common buffs in the game:

BuffSourceEffect
War CryBardMeaningful damage boost to all allies
Rallying AnthemBardDoubles all allies' Speed for a short duration
Shield WallKnightSelf-applied damage reduction

Buffs can't push stats past the system's stacking caps (for example, Speed can never exceed double the unit's base) - but within those limits, a well-timed buff is one of the strongest moves in a fight.

Debuffs - Weaken Enemies ​

A debuff is a negative effect applied to an enemy. Most of the time a debuff rides on top of a damage skill, landing only if the attack connects.

DebuffSourceEffect
Frost SpikeMageSpeed debuff on a single enemy
Discordant NoteBardArmor debuff + dodge debuff on a single enemy
Corrosive VenomMonsterArmor debuff on a target
Frost NovaMonsterAoE Speed debuff
Blinding FlashMonsterAoE Luck debuff (cuts crit chance)
Venom CloudMonsterAoE Armor debuff

Like buffs, debuffs respect the stacking floor - Speed can't drop below half the unit's base regardless of how many slows land.

Damage Over Time ​

Some debuffs deal damage each turn rather than (or on top of) their stat effect. DoT ticks on the affected unit's own turns - the start of their turn shaves off some HP before they act.

DoT doesn't crit, doesn't get dodged, and doesn't get parried. It's a slow bleed that respects armor or magic defense depending on its damage type.

Crowd Control ​

Crowd control effects prevent a unit from acting at all. The most common CC pattern in Scope:

  • The crowd-controlled unit's turn still comes up in turn order - they're not removed from the timeline.
  • At the start of their turn, the CC check runs and the turn is skipped - no action, no skill, no charge gain.
  • All CC effects on the unit are consumed by the skip. The stun ends the moment the unit's turn arrives, and they act normally from their next turn onward.
  • The skipped turn still triggers a normal recovery - the unit's countdown resets and they rejoin the queue.

Because CC is consumed on the skip rather than ticked down by time, a slow enemy hit with a stun will always pay the cost on their next turn, no matter how many other units act in between.

Durations Are Counted in the Target's Turns ​

Durations in Scope are measured in the affected unit's own turns, not in global rounds or real time. A 2-turn buff is active across two of the buffed unit's turns. The duration ticks down at the start of the unit's turn (before the action is taken), and the effect is removed when the counter reaches zero. The unit still acts on the turn the effect expires.

This matters because units have different turn frequencies. A slow enemy hit with a 2-turn debuff will endure it for fewer real-time turns than a fast ally benefiting from a 2-turn buff.

Stacking vs Refreshing ​

When the same effect is applied to a unit that already has it, the duration refreshes rather than stacking. A second Frost Spike on a target who's already slowed resets the duration to full, but doesn't double the Speed reduction.

Different effects from different sources stack normally. A War Cry and a Rallying Anthem on the same ally produce both the damage buff and the Speed buff - they're different effects, so both apply.

Dispelling ​

Some skills can remove effects:

  • Purify (Healer) - removes all debuffs from a single ally.

Dispelling cleanly removes the effect as if it had expired normally; the unit's stats return to their unmodified state.

Speed Effects Are Special ​

Because Speed directly affects turn order, speed buffs and debuffs have an extra visible property: when applied, the target's countdown is immediately rescaled. A buffed unit slides forward on the timeline strip and acts noticeably sooner; a debuffed unit slides backward.

When a speed effect expires, there's no rescaling - the restored speed only affects the next countdown reset after the unit acts. Application is loud and visible; expiry is quiet and organic.