Combat
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During the course of your adventures, you will encounter
many types of vile creatures that try to stop you in your
path. By ridding the kingdom of them, you will earn
valuable experience points which help you earn promotions;
and you will get to keep whatever gold or other items you
find amongst the fallen foe.
When you encounter a band of monsters, you will be faced
with a screen like the one above. The picture in the
top-left always shows the first (or closest) monster group
in out of all the monster groups you face. To the right of
the picture, monsters you face are listed by group. Notice
that there are actually two groups of monsters attacking you
in this case. The first group is a spider 20 feet away, and
the second group is a single cobra at 20 feet.
In this case, your party has three choices:
- RUN: Attempt to run away from the encounter.
This option is useful in cases where your party is too weak
to fight the monsters it faces. Note, however, that running
is not always the best plan. If you run away, you abandon
any experience you may have already earned during this
encounter. Also, your chances of successfully running are
based on levels of the characters in your party. If you are
an even match for the monsters you face, then your chances
of successfully running from them are about even. But high
level characters have a much better chance of running from
lower level monsters.
- ADVANCE: Advance your party closer to the monsters you face.
In cases where you face any group of monsters that are out
of melee range (farther than 10 feet away), you will have
the option to advance on them so that they will be in range
of your deadlier hand-to-hand combat weapons. This menu
option does not appear in cases where one or more groups of
foe are already within 10 feet of your party. Beware --
advancing on a group of foes may also put you in range of
their deadlier hand-to-hand attacks.
- FIGHT: Fight the monsters you face.
If you think you can take them, choose this option to
initiate combat against the monsters you face. Selecting
this option puts you into a menu where each character in
your party gets to choose a method of attack (or defense)
for the upcoming combat round (see below).
Fight
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If you chose to fight the monsters you face, or you
attempted but failed to run away from them, then combat
proceeds by choosing a set of commands for each character in
your party for the upcoming round of battle. Note that
summoned creatures cannot be given commands during combat.
They will always automatically attack the first monster in
range. All other characters may choose from the following
four menu options:
- ATTACK: Attacks a monster group with the currently
equipped weapon.
Use this option only if you have already equipped
the character with a weapon, or wish to punch. (See the
inventory section of this document). Note that in the case
where your party faces more than one group of monsters, each
character will be prompted to specify which group of
monsters to target for their attack. In the case where your
party only faces one group of monsters, all attacks are
assumed to target that one group.
- Attacking with no weapons equipped
If no weapon is
equipped, then selecting ATTACK will simply punch at a
monster in the target monster group.
- Attacking with an equipped hand-to-hand weapon
If
the currently selected character has a hand-to-hand combat
weapon such as a sword is equipped, then the character will
use that weapon to attack. But remember, that hand-to-hand
weapons can only reach monsters in melee range. Attacking
with a hand-to-hand weapon against monsters farther away
will always miss.
- Attacking with an equipped ranged or spell weapon
If the currently selected character has a spell or ranged
weapon (such as a bow) equipped, then that weapon will
automatically be used for the character's turn, during
combat. Note that attacking with a spell weapon in this
fashion will still consume one charge if the weapon has a
limited number of charges (see the inventory section of
this document). Use of bows, however, is unlimited. Be
careful not to equip a valuable spell weapon, and quickly
use up its charges by equipping it and attacking with it for
every round of combat.
- CAST SPELL:
Choosing this option will cause the
currently selected character to cast a spell during his or
her turn in the upcoming round of combat. There are many
types of spells available during combat. See the
spell table
for details on the types and requirements for using
particular spells. Refer to the
spell casting documentation
section of this document pertaining to casting spells for
information on using Dragon Bane's spell casting
interface.
- DEFEND:
Selecting this option will cause the
currently selected character to defend him or herself during
the upcoming round of combat. By defending, a character
effectively lowers his or her
armor class by two points
during the upcoming round. Use this option only when a
character doesn't have any other more useful options
available for the upcoming round of combat.
-
USE ITEM:
The character will attempt to use an item in his or her
inventory during the upcoming round of combat. Although
each of your character probably only carries one good
hand-to-hand combat weapon, they may choose to carry many
types of spell weapons to be used in different
circumstances. For this reason, spell weapons (along with
ranged weapons such as a bow, or other consumable objects)
can be selected for use during an upcoming round of combat
by selecting USE ITEM.
If you attempt to use a weapon or spell-weapon that requires
a target (for example the Wand of Aid requires you to target
one of your own characters), then you will be prompted to
select the appropriate character or monster target.
Note that any ranged or spell weapon can be used while
unequipped by explicitly selecting it when prompted by USE
ITEM. It may also be used by equipping the object prior to
combat, and then selecting ATTACK from the character's
combat menu (see above). This is not true for hand-to-hand
weapons such as swords. Hand-to-hand combat weapons can
only be used in combat by equipping them beforehand, and
then selecting ATTACK from the character's combat
menu.
Confirm
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When you have entered a command for each member of your
party (except for a summoned creature, if you have one), you
will be prompted to confirm the use of your given commands
before the combat round proceeds. If you accidentally
entered the wrong combat command for a certain character, or
you change your mind about a combat command, this is your
chance to start over and assign new commands for the
upcoming round.
Note that when combat round messages are scrolling, you can
increase or decrease the scroll speed using the up and down
keys.
Advanced spell casters (and certain monsters) learn the
ability to take advantage of special combat measures and
counter-measures during combat. For example, a monster can
summon another monster to join it's ranks, but in many
cases, you may be able to dispell a summoned foe. Another
example, a monster can inflict insanity upon a member of
your party. This character will lose his or her ability to
do anything useful until he or she is cured. Learning to
use these special spells and counter-measures can be much
more effective than brute-force attack and defense type
actions. With a little experience, a good player will be
prepared to defend against certain monsters, and become
adept at taking advantage of other monsters'
weaknesses.