Knighthood

The prime skill for all warrior guilds is Knighthood, which is where they learn basic fighting styles and maneuvers. The beginning skills here immediately and dramatically improve using a weapon, which increases as the skill in knighthood increases. Although the general skill of Combat will also improve the ability to hit and damage with weapons, it is more a defensive skill and accordingly improves defense more than offense. Knighthood, on the other hand, will strongly improve offensive and most warriors choose to master Knighthood before the general skill of Combat. After mastering the basics of Knighthood, the warrior moves on to a weapon specialization. Also, increasing your ability in Knighthood will provide a moderate boost to your abilities in the general skill of Combat.

Swing	Inept	Improved ability to swing weapons.
Jab	Inept +33%	Improved ability to jab weapons.
Raze	Inept +66%	Attack the defences that would keep your weapons out.
WeaponMaster	Novice	Improved competency in all weapons.
TrueShield	Novice +25%	Protect your body better with shields.
Slashing	Novice +50%	Alter your blade swinging with slashing maneuvers.
Defensive	Novice +75%	Change your fighting style to be more defensive.
Aggressive	Apprentice	An inaccurate but powerful fighting style.
ShieldParry	Apprentice +33%	Use shields to parry.
Bashing	Apprentice +66%	Alter your bludgeon swinging with bashing maneuvers.
Concentrated	Capable	A soft but accurate fighting style.
Gripping	Capable +25%	Grip your wielded items in a deathlock.
Assay	Capable +50%	Analyze the fighting techniques of your foe.
WeaponParry	Capable +75%	Use weapons to parry.
Lightning	Adept	A reckless but swift fighting style.
Engage	Adept +33%	Strike out at a cowardly opponent.
Targetting	Adept +66%	Aim your jabs at specific body parts.
Master	Master	Move on to a master specialization.

Loboshigaru Serenguard (by Reodan)

Swing

Syntax:

SWING <target>

Wild swings will strike an opponent in a random location. Your skill has increased to the point where your swings are now more effective. You may use any weapon to swing.

Jab

Syntax:

JAB <target>

Wild jabs will strike an opponent in a random location. Your skill has increased to that point where your jabs are now more effective. You may use any weapon to jab.

Raze

Syntax:

RAZE <target> RAZE <target> LEFT HAND RAZE <target> RIGHT HAND

With raze, your weapon will shear away the defences of your enemies that serve to keep your weapons out. You can optionally select which hand to swing with.

Additional Notes:

Raze strips rebounding, circle, pentagram, reflections, and quicksilver.

WeaponMaster

Your skill with weapons is so great, you can handle any weapon with equal ease.

TrueShield

While any dunce can hold a shield and protect an arm, by practice and training you are able to position your shield by second nature, allowing further protection to your arm wielding the shield as well as your head, chest and gut. Note that while it is physically possible to wield two shields, doing so is so cumbersome that you will lose all benefit from both shields.

Note: If you also have the common combat skill of trueshield, your skill with a shield will be even greater.

Slashing

              HACK DOWN
               _'''''_
              /       \
              @       @
       SLICE  \_     _/  SLICE
       RIGHT    |   |    LEFT
           _____/___\_____
          /               \
  SWIPE   |   |       |   |   SWIPE
  RIGHT   (   )       (   )   LEFT
          |   |       |   |
          \___|_______|___/
            R |   |   | L
     SLASH    |   |   |    SLASH
     RIGHT   (    |    )   LEFT
              |   |   |
             _|   |   |_
            (_____|_____)
               HACK UP

Syntax:

HACK UP <target> - Hits gut and legs HACK DOWN <target> - Hits head and chest SLICE [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits arm, chest, and gut SWIPE [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits chest, gut, and arm SLASH [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits leg, gut, and chest

Slashing is a series of advanced swinging maneuvers for cutting weapons (swords, etc.). Each maneuver has a chance of hitting the body parts they target, the first one listed having the greater chance of being hit than the others. Note that left and right always refers to your opponent's left or right side. These count as a swing. You may also optionally add LEFT HAND or RIGHT HAND at the end of any maneuver's syntax to choose which hand's weapon you will strike with.

As a warning, these techniques will not work on denizens or creatures of the Basin.

Defensive

Syntax:

COMBATSTYLE DEFENSIVE

Choosing a defensive fighting style will increase the effectiveness of your combat stance while decreasing the effectiveness of your attacks.

Aggressive

Syntax:

COMBATSTYLE AGGRESSIVE

Choosing an aggressive fighting style will increase the damage from your attacks while lessening the wounding.

ShieldParry

Syntax:

PARRY <body part> <numeric weight> PARRY ALL PARRY UNPARRY

Possessing shield parry in both Knighthood and Combat will improve your parry accuracy with shields.

Bashing

             SMITE DOWN
               _'''''_
              /       \
              @       @
       BASH   \_     _/  BASH
       RIGHT    |   |    LEFT
           _____/___\_____
          /               \
  POUND   |   |       |   |   POUND
  RIGHT   (   )       (   )   LEFT
          |   |       |   |
          \___|_______|___/
            R |   |   | L
     SMASH    |   |   |    SMASH
     RIGHT   (    |    )   LEFT
              |   |   |
             _|   |   |_
            (_____|_____)
               SMITE UP

Syntax:

SMITE UP <target> - Hits the gut and legs SMITE DOWN <target> - Hits the head and chest BASH [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits the arms, chest, and gut POUND [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits the chest, gut, and arm SMASH [LEFT|RIGHT] <target> - Hits the leg, gut, and chest

Bashing is a series of advanced swinging maneuvers for bludgeoning weapons (clubs, maces, etc.). Each maneuver has a chance of hitting the body parts they target, the first one listed having the greater chance of being hit than the others. Note that left and right always refers to your opponent's left or right side. These count as a swing. You may also optionally add LEFT HAND or RIGHT HAND at the end of any maneuver's syntax to choose which hand's weapon you will strike with.

Concentrated

Syntax:

COMBATSTYLE CONCENTRATED

Choosing a concentrated fighting style will increase your chance to wound an opponent, while decreasing the amount of damage of your attacks.

Gripping

Syntax:

GRIP RELAX GRIP

While using this ability, you will prevent items from being knocked out of your grip. Relax when you want to unwield.

Assay

Syntax:

ASSAY <target> [STANCE|UPPER|MIDDLE|LOWER|<bodypart>]

Quickly assaying the movements of an opponent will allow you to get some idea of his or her fighting style, and parrying.

WeaponParry

Syntax:

PARRY <body part> <numeric weight> PARRY PARRY ALL UNPARRY

Possessing weapon parry in both Knighthood and Combat will improve your parry accuracy with weapons.

Lightning

Syntax:

COMBATSTYLE LIGHTNING

Choosing a lightning fighting style will increase the speed of your attacks, while decreasing the amount of damage of your attacks.

Engage

Syntax:

ENGAGE <player> DISENGAGE <player>

There is nothing more despicable and dishonourable than a coward, and this ability will allow you to punish cowards, as is their due. Once you have engaged a player, if he or she tries to leave the room, you will get in an extra strike at them, regardless of whether you have equilibrium and balance or not. There is a small chance you will also prevent your foe from departing.

Targetting

Syntax:

STRIKE <target> <body part>

You can target the specific body part of an opponent. This counts as a jab. You may also optionally add LEFT HAND or RIGHT HAND at the end of the syntax to choose which hand's weapon you will strike with.

Master

At this point in your training of Knighthood, you have progressed where you must specialize in an aspect of this skill to continue learning. If you have not yet selected a specialization, see SKILLCHOICE LIST to see what is available. There may be a choice between two or more specializations.