.DT
Fighting
Discworld Player Help
Fighting

Name
.SI 5
fighting - the processes of combat
.EI

Description
.SP 5 5
During your travels on Discworld, there will be occasions when it is
necessary to fight.  You may be up against an aggressive monster which
is after the taste of your blood, or a mugger who is after the contents
of your purse; you may be fighting a duel with knives or taking part in
a joust.  Your ability to fight is determined by a set of skills and the
way in which you fight is determined by your tactics.
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Skills
.SI 10
fighting
| combat
| | melee	your skill in a fight with:
| | | axe		- axe-type weapons
| | | knife		- knives and daggers
| | | mace		- maces, hammers and clubs
| | | staff		- staff-type weapons
| | | sword		- sword-type weapons
| | | unarmed		- unarmed combat
| | range	your skill at:
| | | fired		- using bows, crossbows, blowpipes, etc.
| | | thrown		- throwing weapons
| | parry	your skill at parrying:
| | | fired		- weapons that are fired
| | | held		- weapons that are held by an opponent
| | | thrown		- weapons that are thrown
| | dodging	your skill at dodging:
| | | melee		- when in melee combat
| | | range		- when a weapon is fired or thrown
| | special	your skill at special manoeuvres
| points	how much energy you can spend on fighting
.EI

Tactics
.SP 5 5
There are a number of combat options that you can set to determine your
tactics in a fight - you can change these settings at any time, even
during the middle of a fight, to change your tactics.  The first option
is your attitude: you can be on the offensive (in which case you get a
bonus to attacking, but a penalty to dodging and parrying), or on the
defensive (in which case you get a bonus to dodging and parrying, but a
penalty to attacking) or you can take a neutral attitude (in which case
there are no bonuses or penalties).  In dealing with an attack, you can
choose your response: you can always dodge (dodging receives a bonus,
but you won't attempt to parry) or you can always parry (parrying
receives a bonus, but you won't attempt to dodge) or you can be neutral
in your response (both dodging and parrying are used and there is no
bonus to either).  For parrying, you can choose whether to always parry
with the weapon, or shield, in your left or right hand or always attempt
to use the weapons, or weapon and shield, in both hands.  Finally, if
you are fighting unarmed, you can choose to attempt to parry with your
arm or hand (this special manoeuvre can be disabling if you are not
skillful enough, put would prevent an attack from reaching your more
vital areas).
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Combat
.SP 5 5
Combat is made up of rounds, each of which follows the same pattern, and
each person in the fight gets one round every two or three seconds of
real time.  During each round a set of attacks are attempted by the
attacker; the attacks available depend on the weapon or weapons that the
attacker is wielding and the successful use of each attack depends on
the attacker's bonus in the relevant skill for that weapon - you won't
do more damage with a "more powerful" weapon unless you have the skills
to match.  If an attack is successfully mounted, the target (the person
the attacker happens to be attacking this round) first attempts to
dodge (if dodging is part of the target's tactics); the success of the
attempt is determined by the target's bonus in f.c.dodging.melee versus
the skill of the attacker and an amount dependent on how much weight the
target is carrying - you'll be less able to dodge if you're kitted up in
very heavy armour, for instance.  If no attempt to dodge is made or if
the attempt fails, the target then attempts to parry (again, if parrying
is part of the target's tactics); the success of the attempt is
determined by the target's bonus in f.c.parry.held versus the amount of
damage the attacker is trying to do and an amount dependent on the
weight of the weapon being used to parry.  If no attempt to parry is
made or the attempt fails, the target is hit, some of the damage being
absorbed by the target's armour and the rest of it damaging the target.
.EP

Examples
.SP 5 5
Birzig the Barbarian wears the standard leather garment, a cloak made
from the wool of Hublandish sheep and a pair of fur-lined boots.  He
carries little beyond a small satchel and his trusty bastard sword.
Since his goal is to defeat his enemies, he sets his combat attitude to
offensive; his response to neutral, since given the little he carries he
can either dodge or parry with his bastard sword.
.EP
.SP 5 5
Alice the Assassin wears typical assassin's clothing, but carries around
rather a lot of the hardware typical to the trade.  After a successful
inhumation, she wields a rapier and a dagger and attempts to make good
her escape from the scene.  Since she is mostly interested in getting
away, she sets her combat attitude to defensive; given the weight of the
tools that she carries, she sets her combat response to parry and
chooses to always parry with the dagger in her left hand in order to
protect her more delicate rapier.
.EP

See also
.SP 5 5
guilds
.EP
