Combat Revisited

For Tales of Zalanthas combat will be an important part of the game as characters explore the world, hunt, and scavenge for survival. We have taken the basic system of our old game, ArmageddonMUD, and added a lot of new features. You can see how we test the system by reading this older devblog.

The biggest change we've made is to reduce how much damage is done during the auto-attack part of combat, and added a number of new combat-related commands. A fight can still end with both sides just using auto-attack, but these extra abilities will add flavor and tactics to combat.

Each fighting style (shield-use, two-handed, dual-wield, one-weapon, and natural attacks) will have a couple of skills tied to that them. And each weapon type (slashing, bludgeoning, piercing, stabbing, chopping) will also have skills that you can only use when wielding one of those weapons.

Slashing Weapons

Tier 1 skill: Sweep. This is a broad, horizontal slashing attack that does 1d6 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts.

Tier 2 skill: Rip. This will branch from Sweep, and is a vicious, tearing cut that does 3d5 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. There is also a chance to inflict a small bleed on the victim.

Chopping Weapons

Tier 1 skill: Hack. This is a hard chop that focuses on destroying armor, but does no real damage to the target. It costs 4 stamina to use, and has a 4 second delay after the attack. Someone with the hack skill can attempted a "called shot", which means they intentionally target a body location (head, neck, body, arm, hand, leg, foot, or shield). A "called shot" has a large penalty to land, but that penalty is decreased as the rank of the skill goes up. A successful hack attempt destroys 1/3 of a piece of armor's total points.

Tier 2 skill: Cleave. This is a heavy, wide-swinging attack that does 3d5 damage plus strength modifiers. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. There is also a chance to inflict a small bleed on the victim.

Bludgeoning Weapons

Tier 1 skill: Crack. This is a sharp impact aimed at joints and bones, that does 1d6 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts.

Tier 2 skill: Stagger. This is a hit that attempts to knock the opponent off balance. It does 2d6 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. On success, it causes the staggered affect.

Piercing Weapons

Tier 1 skill: Thrust. This is a quick, direct piercing attack that does 1d6 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts.

Tier 2 skill: Impale. This is a dangerous, deep thrusting attack that does 3d5 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. There is also a chance to inflict a small bleed on the victim.

Stabbing Weapons

Tier 1 skill: Stab. A basic, quick jab that does 1d5 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts. There is also a chance to inflict a small bleed on the victim.

Tier 2 skill: Twist. Stick the knife in and twist. This attack does 2d5 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. It has a medium chance to cause a large bleed on the victim.

Shield Use

Tier 1 skill: Hook. A trapping motion used to pull someone aside and throw them off balance. This attack does no damage. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent has a -4 to their parry chance, but can block as normal. If successful, this applies the vulnerable affect to the victim.

Tier 2 skill: Bulwark. This move braces you against incoming attacks, and doesn't require an actual attack move. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. It applies the bulwark affect to you.

Two-Handed

Tier 1 skill: Overhand. This is a strong, vertical attack that does 1d6 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts. It has a low chance to cause the staggered affect on the victim.

Tier 2 skill: Arc. This is a wide, sweeping attack that does 3d5 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -2 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -3 chance to land the attack. It has a medium chance to cause a small bleed on the victim.

Dual Wield

Tier 1 skill: Flurry. This is a rapid chain of light blows that does a total of 2d4 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 4 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts.

Tier 2 skill: Feint. This is a deceptive sequence of attacks to throw the opponent off. It does 2d6 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 6 stamina and has a 6 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -2 chance to land the attack. It then applies the feint affect to you.

One-Weapon and Natural Attacks

Tier 1 skill: Jab. A quick throwing of hands that does 1d5 damage plus agility modifiers. It costs 3 stamina and has a 4 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts.

Tier 2 skill: Punch. A hard throwing of hands that does 2d5 damage plus strength modifiers. It costs 5 stamina and has a 5 second delay after the attack. The opponent suffers a -1 to block and parry attempts, but the attacker has a -1 chance to land the attack. There is a small chance to apply the staggered affect to the victim.

Other:

Kick: This is not tied to any specific fighting style or weapon choice. It is a solid kick driven into an opponent. Damage scales with rank. For each rank above novice, the minimum damage increases by 1. Maximum damage is your kill value skill plus strength modifiers. So if someone has a 14 in the skill, which is advanced, they will do between 4 and 14 points, plus strength modifiers.

Bash: While this is not tied to any specific fighting style, there is a small bonus (+1) when using a shield, and a small penalty (-2) when not using a shield. Damage for bash is 2d4 plus strength modifiers. It also has a chance to knock someone down for 1d4+4 seconds.

Disarm: The ability to disarm someone, knocking one of their weapons from their hands.

Throw: The ability to throw a weapon at a target in your room or one room away. There is a flat 5% chance the thrown weapon breaks, otherwise it ends up on the target. There is also a chance, based on strength, to knock the opponent to the ground.

Archery: The ability to shoot bows and crossbows in your room or up to 2 rooms away. There is a -1 chance to hit per room away (so -2 at 2 rooms away). On a hit, there is a 33% chance the projectile breaks, otherwise it ends up on the target. On a miss, the projectile ends up on the ground in the room. When shooting into a fight, there is a tiny chance you can hit the wrong opponent. Damage is based on the projectile +3 damage per rank above novice, so +12 damage at master.

Effects

The following is a description of the affects that some of the above combat skills can introduce:

Small bleed

1d3 hps each 3 seconds for 9 seconds

Large bleed

2d4 hps each 3 seconds for 12 seconds

Staggered

lose concentration and get delayed/stunned for 2d3 seconds

Vulnerable

suffer -3 defense and takes +1 damage for 7 seconds

Bulwark

gains +2 defense and +2 block chance for 10 seconds

Feint

gain +3 offense for 10 seconds