Part 2

Learn about the core mechanics of Mount & Blade: Warband, including character attributes, skills, proficiencies, and how they influence gameplay. Understand character progression and stat bonuses.

This section of the guide assumes you are familiar with the basic controls and interactions in Mount & Blade: Warband (MBW). If not, please complete the in-game tutorial.

Abbreviations used in this guide include MBW for Mount & Blade: Warband, PC for Player Character, and NPC for Non-Player Character. Specific terms may also be followed by parenthetical abbreviations (e.g., Strength (Str)).

Mount & Blade: Warband Mechanics (00003)

Characters (00004)

MBW Basics (00005)

Every character in MBW possesses attributes, skills, and proficiencies that determine their abilities. Hit Points (HP) are calculated as 35 + Strength + 2 * Iron Flesh skill. Characters with 0 HP are knocked out or killed; Lords, your PC, and heroes are always knocked out.

Characters gain experience and advance in levels. Each level provides an additional attribute point, skill point, and proficiency points.

A Google Documents spreadsheet containing stats for most recruitable soldiers and all heroes is available at: ccc?key=0AtswgbELO72adGF0R0JrWk91NmtFanFBVm9BZE5fVkE&hl=en&authkey=CKbzxaUB. This link may be broken into two lines due to formatting constraints.

Spreadsheet Reading Guide:

• Units are listed under their faction's bolded heading.
• Abbreviations include Str (Strength), Agi (Agility), Int (Intelligence), Cha (Charisma), I. Flesh (Iron Flesh), PS (Power Strike), PT (Power Throw), PD (Power Draw), WM (Weapon Master), Sh (Shield), Ath (Athletics), Rdg (Riding), HAr (Horse Archery), Loot (Looting), Trk (Tracking), Tac (Tactics), Wound (Wound Treatment), Surg (Surgery), Eng (Engineering).
• Number-letter prefixes like (3A) indicate the unit's position on the promotion tree, with numbers representing levels and letters representing branches.
• Vet. (Veteran), Tr. (Trained), HA (Horse Archer), and d (Denars) are also used.

Attributes, Skills, & Proficiencies (00006)

Attributes are a character's fundamental physical and mental capabilities: Strength (Str), Agility (Agi), Intelligence (Int), and Charisma (Cha). Each attribute governs a set of skills, limiting a skill's maximum level to one-third of its governing attribute for PCs and recruited heroes.

Skills are specialized task abilities, such as tracking or trading. Proficiencies relate to weapon usage: one-handed, two-handed, polearms, crossbows, bows, and throwing weapons.