the secret math that decides if your hit is a tickle or a massacre.
means a game's underlying equation that converts stats, gear, and randomness into how much health an attack removes.
from tabletop rpgs like dungeons and dragons needed a fair way to resolve combat without a referee arguing every swing, so designers turned attack rolls and armor class into arithmetic; video games inherited the same logic and hid it behind animations.
pokemon damage formula — public since bulbapedia decoded it, level times move power times stats
dark souls poise — hidden stat silently canceled hit stagger until players datamined it in 2011
world of warcraft armor — blizzard tuned its diminishing curve to cap mitigation near 75 percent
league of legends ad — riot publishes exact scaling ratios per champion ability