Item scaling (Dragon Age II)

Item scaling (or item level scaling) is a gameplay mechanic responsible for adjusting item power to the character level.

In regard to scaling, items in Dragon Age II can be split into several distinct categories:
 * All generic and some unique items scale to Hawke's level at the time when they are generated and don't improve in quality after the acquisition. Container contents and merchant inventories are generated when you enter the area for the first time. Loot from enemy remains and quest rewards are generated at the time they are received.
 * Most unique items have fixed level and always have the same stats.
 * Some unique weapons and accessories have property. Such items re-scale every time your main character gains a level. It happens whether or not they are in your inventory. Companion armor also falls into this category even though it is not explicitly marked as leveled.

Weapon damage
Weapon damage improves linearly with level. There are five basic weapon types that define how damage is calculated. Damage = (BaseDamage + DamagePerLevel * Level) * DamageScale * PowerScale BaseDamage, DamagePerLevel, DamageScale refer to the columns 17, 16, 7 (zero-based) of the item_properties.gda file. PowerScale refer to the column 22 of the item_base.gda file. This formula can be reduced to:

For items that scale: Level = HawkeLevel + ItemLevelOffset For items that have fixed level: Level = ItemLevel + ItemLevelOffset ItemLevelOffset can be any of the following: 2, 0, -2, -4 -6, -10. Additionally most items have minimum and maximum level bounds.