could you give a list of the stat effects and the meaning of status effects?

for example what are all the effects of being prone, i have seen some creatures attack while being on the ground (also cant attack them from range with a poleaxe)what body parts can attack from prone and which cant and what effect on damage and accuracy does it have

what does confusion actually do?

how does armor actually work?

how do shields work? i seem to block a lot more but it doesnt have stats so whats the calculations behind it and how do i know what shield is best?

what effect does being in water have?

and any other that might be helpful?

is there a way to lvl up skills like lightning bolt similar to how you lvl weaponskills and is there a lvl cap for weaponskills?

This will take me a bit to put together. Some of the fun is not knowing how these systems work or interact, but if you really need to know...

NOTE: THIS IS ALL SUBJECT TO CHANGE!

"could you give a list of the stat effects and the meaning of status effects?" 

Stats:

• Strength: Increases physical damage.
• Dexterity: Increases ranged damage and accuracy.
• Intelligence: Increases damage with non-physical abilities.
• Endurance: The chance to resist status effects, and decrease their time.
• Speed: Increases the number of actions you can do per turn.
• Accuracy: Increases your chance to hit with both melee and ranged weapons.
• Stealth: Lower chance of being spotted by enemies.
• Heat/Cold Resist: The amount of resistance you have to these two temperature-based damage types.
• Radiation: The higher this is, the more likely you are to mutate.

Status Effects:

• Haste: Speeds you up for the duration.
• Slow: Slows you down for the duration.
• Poison: Deals damage over time while you are above 1 HP.
• Bleed: Deals damage over time more slowly while you are above 1 HP. Instead of a duration, it has a chance to stop every 3 turns.
• Regen: Heals you for a certain amount every turn for the duration.
• Stun: Skip turns.
• Confusion: You have a chance of walking in a random direction while active.
• Blind: Your sight range becomes 0.
• Grounded/Prone: You cannot move, but can still attack. Has no effect on what body parts can/will attack (yet, at least)

"how does armor actually work?"

• It works on a per-body-part basis. If your Left Arm is struck by an attack, but you have no armor there, then you will take the full force of the blow. If you have equipment covering that limb, the damage dealt is subtracted by that equipment's armor, plus any innate values.  Many traits or mutations offer a general +1 to overall armor, like Scales. (The number in "[" or "]" braces on the character screen beside each part is its armor value.) 

"how do shields work? i seem to block a lot more but it doesnt have stats so whats the calculations behind it and how do i know what shield is best?"

• The tier list is in the item's description. "Decent", "Good", "Superb". Could use colour coding or something. Seems like many glaze over the details. 
  
  • Decent: (2 x offhand skill) Chance to block.
  • Good: (4 x offhand skill) Chance to block.
  • Superb: (8 x offhand skill) Chance to block.

"what effect does being in water have?"

• If you're not flying, it will slow your movement. That's it so far.

"is there a way to lvl up skills like lightning bolt similar to how you lvl weaponskills?"

• Some skills gain levels through use, yes. 

"is there a lvl cap for weaponskills?"

• They cap at 8 for the moment.

"and any other that might be helpful?"

• Generally, higher numbers are better than lower numbers, and better descriptors have better numbers behind them. 

yay! now the minmaxing can begin x)

Generally, higher numbers are better than lower numbers

that there is a revolutionary idea i would have never considered :O

thank you , now hopefully i will die slightly less