GuildWiki:Standardizing skill templates/Glossary

Health Loss
The following are special classes of ways a creature can lose health. Health loss can include zero.

General - some skills simply cause a creature to lose health, without being one of the special types above.
 * Damage : health loss caused by offensive attacks and skills.  It can be reduced by protective skills such as Protective Spirit and Shielding Hands.
 * Life stealing : health loss caused by transferring health from the target to the user. There is no way to reduce life stealing.
 * Sacrifice : voluntary reduction of a user's health as a side effect for other purposes. It can be exacerbated by skills such as Dark Aura and Scourge Sacrifice.
 * Health degeneration : continuous loss of health at a specific rate over a period of time.

Damage Descriptors

 * Take damage : damage that ignores armor.
 * Strike for damage : damage that meets armor

Skill Activation

 * Start casting : triggered at the beginning of a skill activation.
 * Finish casting : triggered at the end of the skill's activation.