DIABLO
stats and leveling up
EXP and Stats
In Diablo you get EXP (experience) after every enemy you kill. Stronger enemies give more EXP. Once you get to a certain number of EXP you will level up. Your character will raise a level, and a little red + sign will appear in the bottom left corner of the playing screen. Click on it and you will have 5 points to distribute however you like between the four stats: Strength, Magic, Dexterity and Vitality.
Strength is a measure of how strong you are (gee that's hard). The higher your Strength rating, the more damage you do.
Magic is a measure of your magic skills. The higher your Magic rating, the more mana you have, and the more damage your spells do. It also allows you to read spell books, and you need higher magic ratings to level up your spells, or even just to learn them.
Dexterity is a measure of skill. The higher your rating is, the more chance you have of hitting, and the more damage you do.
Vitality is a measure of health. The higher this rating is, the more health you have.
Some items require you to have a certain rating of a stat. For example, a Large Two Handed Axe might require a strength rating of 50. You won't be able to use that item until your Strength reaches that number.
Magic Items
Sometimes you will find an item with a name written in blue. This item is a special item (oooohhh). Blue items usually raise your stats or your resistances. Here's and example.
Draining Ring of Power. +15 to Strength, -15 to Life
This means that when you equip this item, your Strength rating will go up 15, but your life will go down 15. If you take it off it will go back to the original value.
A useful thing is the ability to tell what your original stats are. In the game, press C or click on CHAR on the bottom and you will be greeted with the Character box. It displays your name, level, class (e.g. warrior), stats, health, mana, hit% and more stuff like that.
Next to each stat name, it will have two boxes. The first one is the original value - it can only be changed by leveling up or using an elixir. The second box is the real value - this is the original value plus any values your currently equipped magic items may add or subtract. This is the number to go by. If a Large Two Handed Axe requires a strength of 50, and your original strength is 40 but your real strength is 53, then you can use it. But if you take off that Draining Ring of Power, your strength will go back down 15. You will still have the axe equipped, but if you take it off you cant put it back on. You have to have at least 50 strength to use it. I think you get the point now so that's all I have to babble about.
Resistances
Some magic items may have resistances against one of the three elements - Fire, Lightning or Magic. They are fairly self explanatory, but the Magic one is all of them put together (all the spells). The higher your resist rating, the more you resist that type and the less damage it does. As with the stats, the resists are only enabled if you have the items on.
Your resist values start out at 0, and if you get good items, it can go past 100 into MAX, which is maximum resistance. That is really good if you are fighting 20 of those big lightning ogre dudes in the Caves and you have maximum resistance against Lightning. They don't do jack squat!