The art of combat involves learning a variety of fighting stances and maneuvers. The stances generally focus upon protecting certain parts of your body when facing knights who have been trained to inflict critical wounds. While being in a stance that protects your head, for example, a sword or mace blow to the head could be lessened or even completely avoided. As your skill increases in combat, the number and effectiveness of your stances will increase. |
Skill | Learned At | Description |
---|---|---|
Squads | Inept+0% | Lead squads into combat. |
Weaponprobe | Inept+50% | Examine the quality of armour and weapons. |
Envenom | Novice+0% | Coat a weapon in poisons. |
Legs | Novice+50% | A stance to protect the legs. |
Left | Apprentice+0% | A stance to protect the left side. |
Right | Apprentice+50% | A stance to protect the right side. |
TrueShield | Capable+0% | Protect your body better with shields. |
Arms | Capable+50% | A stance to protect the arms. |
Queuing | Adept+0% | Prepare stance changes in advance. |
ShieldParry | Adept+50% | Use shields to parry. |
Gut | Master+0% | A stance to protect the gut. |
Distribution | Master+50% | Evenly distribute loot to your squad. |
Chest | Gifted+0% | A stance to protect the chest. |
WeaponParry | Gifted+50% | Use weapons to parry. |
Stratagem | Gifted+?% | Plan your assault down to the last detail. |
Head | Expert+0% | A stance to protect the head. |
Lower | Expert+33% | A stance to protect the lower body. |
Keeneye | Expert+66% | Observe use of venoms with your keen eye. |
Disengage | Virtuoso+0% | Escape the prying eye of a watchful knight. |
Veteran | Virtuoso+?% | Increased survivability as a veteran of many battles. |
ShieldStun | Virtuoso+50% | Stun people with a swing of your shield. |
Middle | Fabled+0% | A stance to protect the middle body. |
Unity | Fabled+50% | Do not leave behind anyone in your squad. |
Upper | Mythical+0% | A stance to protect the vital upper body. |
Vitals | Mythical+50% | A stance to protect the vital organs. |
ShieldRiposte | Transcendent+0% | Respond to an attack with a swing of the shield. |
Squads
Syntax: |
SQUAD MUSTER SQUAD NAME <new name> |
You can create squads for hunting the creatures and denizens of Lusternia (non-player characters and animals). All squad members in the entourage of the squad's leader (the commandant) and the commandant will get an experience bonus from such hunting. The bonus increases with the size of your squad. You can only command a squad of 12 people or less.
- MUSTER - Creates a squads with you as its commandant and only member.
- NAME - Gives your squad a unique name.
- RECRUITS - Lists the recruits in your squad and their ranks.
- DRAFT - Brings another player into your squad. You may only draft allies.
- DISCHARGE - Removes a recruit from your squad.
- LIEUTENANT - Should you, as the commandant of a squad, leave the squad or die, your lieutenant will be promoted to commandant.
- FORMATION - Lets you orient your squad in support of a city or commune. That organization's nexus will gain some energy as the squad gains experience through NPC combat.
- DISBAND - Eliminates your squad.
- LEAVE - Lets you quit a squad into which you have been drafted.
Syntax: |
SQUADT <text> SQT <text> |
Both syntaxes are the same. One is just an abbreviation. It is a communication channel with your squad.
Syntax: |
SQUADS |
Lists all squads that are in a formation of support for your home city or commune, useful for if you wish to join in one.
Weaponprobe
Syntax: |
WEAPONPROBE or WPROBE or WP |
This will show the statistics upon weapons or armour (including enchanted robes). It will also list any dwarven runes inscribed and poisons upon a weapon.
Additional Notes: |
You can use this skill on items in shops. |
Envenom
Syntax: |
ENVENOM <weapon> WITH <venom> |
Poisoning your opponent is a sure way to get the upper hand in battle. One method is to simply coat your weapon with poison. However, this is not a terribly effective means to administer poison as it can easily get wiped off the blade during the heat of battle, so half the time it works and half the time it fails. You can see what poisons are on a weapon by WEAPONPROBE.
Legs
Syntax: |
STANCE LEGS |
You will concentrate all your defensive capabilities to protect your legs in equal measure.
Left
Syntax: |
STANCE LEFT |
This stance will slant your body so your left side is harder to hit. This spreads your defensive focus among your left leg and left arm.
Right
Syntax: |
STANCE RIGHT |
This stance will slant your body so your right side is harder to hit. This spreads your defensive focus among your right leg and right arm.
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.
Arms
Syntax: |
STANCE ARMS |
You will concentrate all your defensive capabilities to protect your arms in equal measure.
Queuing
Syntax: |
QUEUESTANCE <stance name> |
You can prepare a stance in advance for when you are able actually to change your stance. For example, if you are off balance (to use one possibility), you can prepare a stance and it will then be switched to when you regain balance. It can also be prepared even when you have balance and are not fallen, etc.
ShieldParry
Syntax: |
PARRY <body part> <numeric weight> PARRY |
Possessing shield parry in both Knighthood and Combat will improve your parry accuracy with shields.
Gut
Syntax: |
STANCE GUT |
You will concentrate all your defensive capabilities to protect your gut.
Distribution
Syntax: |
SQUAD DISTRIBUTION ON|OFF |
Only available to the commandant of a squad. With distribution turned on, you will immediately grab all gold dropped by any creature slain by your squad and distribute it evenly to all your recruits. If it cannot be split evenly, the commandant will pocket the difference.
Chest
Syntax: |
STANCE CHEST |
You will concentrate all your defensive capabilities to protect your chest.
WeaponParry
Syntax: |
PARRY <body part> <numeric weight> PARRY |
Possessing weapon parry in both Knighthood and Combat will improve your parry accuracy with weapons.
Stratagem
Syntax: |
STRATAGEM LISTSTRATAGEM CLEAR |
Your knowledge of the flow of combat is such that you may now develop stratagems of assault. A stratagem can consist of no more than ten actions, each of which can consist of no more than five subactions (each separated by a single pipe character, '|'). If your stratagem stops, you may attempt to start it again with STRATAGEM NOW. Inserting points into your stratagem will add the new action BEFORE the position you supply. You may substitute SM for STRATAGEM for brevity.
Modifiers can be applied to individual actions. The following modifiers are available:
ARM - Requires only one arm on balance. SUB - Requires the Sub Psionic Channel. SUPER - Requires the Super Psionic Channel. ID - Requires the Id Psionic Channel. FREE - Does not consume equilibrium or balance. REPEAT - Will remain in the stratagem after triggering.
You may pause your stratagem before creating it in order to compile a list of actions to perform at a later date (which you can start with STRATAGEM NOW), or pause a currently executing stratagem mid-flow.
If you specify an action as repeating, it will not be removed from your stratagem when it is performed. It will continue ad infinitum until you manually remove the entry from your stratagem.
Head
Syntax: |
STANCE HEAD |
You will concentrate all your defensive capabilities to protect your head.
Lower
Syntax: |
STANCE LOWER |
By leaning forward and with fast footwork, you will make your lower extremeties a difficult target. This spreads your defensive focus among your gut and legs.
Keeneye
Syntax: |
KEENEYE ON/OFF |
With a keen eye, you can see when your weapons discharge venoms.
Disengage
Syntax: |
DISENGAGE <target> |
If a knight has moved to engage you, with a sudden move you can disengage in order to exit without worrying about a sword in your back.
ShieldStun
Syntax: |
SHIELDSTUN <target> |
Slamming your shield into your target is an excellent way to stun someone senseless.
Middle
Syntax: |
STANCE MIDDLE |
Keeping your elbows close and your head thrust forward, this stance will protect your middle. This spreads your defensive focus among arms, chest and gut.
Unity
Syntax: |
SQUAD UNITY ON|OFF |
Available to the commandant of a squad. If the commandant tries to move, he will announce the move. If any recruits shout that they are unable to follow then the commandant will cancel the order. This should assist in moving the whole squad as a group, leaving nobody behind.
Upper
Syntax: |
STANCE UPPER |
With a keen eye to the moves of your opponent, you weave your torso from side to side and keep your arms in motion in such a way as to protect your upper body. This spreads your defensive focus among your arms, chest and head.
Vitals
Syntax: |
STANCE VITALS |
By keeping your arms forward to block and your legs braced for blows, you will protect the vital parts of your body. This spreads your defensive focus among your gut, chest and head.
ShieldRiposte
You will make an automatic shield stun against a parry if your shield succeeds in fully blocking an attack.