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 dependant on the level of the attacker, their skill in using the weapon type or spell, and other attributes such as agility and strength.

Your character - and other characters as well - are comprised of several body parts. While they may not all be called by the same names in all races, they can be classified with the following titles:
head, torso, arms, legs, wings, tail

Obviously, not all races will have the same bodyparts, or the same number of each bodypart, or even the same name for each bodypart. A large animated plant might have a trunk (instead of a torso) and psudopods (instead of arms). Feys have wings, whereas humans do not.

Each body part has its own armor resistance, which is a way of measuring how much damage you can absorb if a hit successfully connects with that body part. The armor resistance is further broken down into four different types, namely:

armor resistance vs. piercing attacks

armor resistance vs. slashing attacks

armor resistance vs. bashing attacks

armor resistance vs. exotic attacks (miscellaneous)

Each of these armor resistance types will have a value from 0 to 75, where 0 means that there is no resistance to attacks of that type, on through 75, which means that the maximum resistance to attacks of that type is present.

Each body part has its own damage multiplier - meaning that if a hit lands there, the damage from the hit is either increased or reduced based on the body part. For instance, a blow to the head would do more damage to a humanoid than a blow to the leg.

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%

Attacks may also be avoided entirely using several defenses, such as acrobatics, parrying, dodging, and blocking the attack with a shield.

Armor resistance can be increased through items designed to protect the specific body part (a helm for the head, for example), and it can also be increased through the use of magic spells or enchanted items.

Through use of the EQUIPMENT (eq) command, you can see a list of what you are wearing on each body location, and a list of the body parts present on your character, with the armor resistance listed for each.

Some sample output from the EQUIPMENT command:

You are using:
<used as light>			a torch
<worn on finger>			a bronze ring
<worn around neck>			an beautiful silk scarf
<worn on body>			a defenders chest plate
<worn on head>			a turtle shell helmet
<worn on legs>			some platinum leg bands
<worn on arms>			copper armbands
<worn on feet>			ebony boots
<worn around wrist>			an opal bracelet
<right hand>			a silver dagger
Current Armor Resistance (AR):
(head )	Pierce: 5	Bash: 10	Slash: 9	Exotic: 12
(arms )	Pierce: 11	Bash: 7	Slash: 10	Exotic: 9
(torso )	Pierce: 12	Bash: 10	Slash: 8	Exotic: 15
(legs )	Pierce: 4	Bash: 8	Slash: 11	Exotic: 10

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 occuring 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 <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 <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

Note that not all these styles may be available to you. Each style has a corresponding skill that must be available and practiced before you can effectively use the referenced defense.

Anderius' PK Guide for Novices
Duriel's General PK Guide
Ryosho's Capture the Flag Guide