Help System

NAME
combat - general combat information, and change personal combat
          settings and attributes

SYNOPSYS
combat info
combat mode <verbose, normal, brief>
combat aim <'none' or body part>
combat defense <'none', 'auto', or defensive style>

DESCRIPTION
Combat in Alyria is a fact of life. Many dangerous and tricky
creatures inhabit the lands, and an Adventurer must be prepared
to face them.

Melee combat occurs in a series of rounds. A round is when
attacks and blows are exchanged between opposing forces. Once
started, through use of the ATTACK command, combat continues
until one or both sides flee, or die.

Damage is inflicted using hand-to-hand combat, weapons, magic, or
special defenses. The amount of damage done to the opposing
participant is dependent on the level of the attacker, their
skill in using the weapon type or spell, and other attributes such
as agility and strength.

Damage is reduced or increased depending on where the blow lands
- on the victim's torso, arms, legs, wings, or tail, or whatever
bodypart comes close to matching those descriptors. The padding
- armor - the victim is wearing makes a difference as well, in
insulating the damage done and reducing it.

The modifiers for the damage done to the specific bodyparts
are as follows:

head        120%                        tail        50%
torso       100% (no modification)      wings       50%
arms         65%                        legs        75%

Combat Defenses
Unlike armor resistance, which reduces the damage caused by attack,
combat defenses can cause an attack to be avoided entirely. A defense
must be active in order to be used during a combat round. Active
defenses can be changed using the COMBAT DEFENSE command. Available
defenses can include the following:

* Acrobatics
* Parry
* Dodge
* Shield Block
* Evasion
* Magical Fade (Fey only)

See the appropriate help entry for more information on these
defenses.

Combat Command
Combat settings can be changed using the COMBAT command. An
explanation of the COMBAT command settings follows:

INFO or ?
     This displays information about your current COMBAT settings.

MODE VERBOSE
     Verbose mode will show the greatest amount of detail during
     combat. In addition to your combat messages and those of your
     formation, it will also show the full messages from any fights
     occurring within the same area.

MODE NORMAL
     Normal mode will show the combat messages done by you and your
     formation, but will not show those done by people outside of
     your current combat setting.

MODE BRIEF
     Brief mode shows your combat messages only, and excludes
     that of your formation and any other fights going on in the
     same area.

AIM <'none' or target>
     Permits you to aim your attacks before or during battle.
     This setting does not necessarily guarantee that you will hit
     the requested target.

     General body parts (these may not be available on all creatures):
     head, torso, arms, legs, tail, wings.

     If a creature you are fighting has more than one body part of
     the type listed, the first body part in that area will be
     aimed at.

DEFENSE <'none', 'auto', or defensive style>
     Changes the defensive style you are using. If you do not set a
     defensive style, none will be used. This can be changed during
     combat, but you can only use one defensive style at a time.

     Defensive styles available are:
     auto, acrobatics, dodge, magical fade, parry, shield block,
     evasion

     Selecting 'auto' defense will use whatever defenses are
     available to you. The more defenses you have practiced, the
     better this will work.

     In addition to setting a defensive style, those who have the
     'evasion' skill may set COMBAT DEFENSE EVASION, which will
     enable or disable attempts to avoid combat entirely. Evasion
     is disabled by setting COMBAT DEFENSE to 'none', but it is
     not automatically enabled when COMBAT DEFENSE is set to 'auto'.

SEE ALSO
Attack, Accuracy, Evasion, Parry, Dodge, Acrobatics, Shield Block, Evasion, Magical Fade, Panic