.: Help for attack

The attack command engages in combat with a player or NPC. Once started, combat
continues each round until someone flees or dies.

━━━ Basic Usage ━━━

  attack goblin
  Start combat with the goblin

  attack archer (while already fighting)
  Switch targets to the archer mid-combat

━━━ Attack Mechanics ━━━

Your success in combat depends on several factors:

  Hit Chance:
  Scales with your Dexterity relative to your opponent's — a much
  faster fighter connects more often. There is always a floor of
  near-miss chances and a ceiling short of guaranteed hits.

  Combat Skill:
  - Armed: Uses Weapon Combat skill
  - Unarmed: Uses Unarmed Combat skill
  - Ranged: Uses Ranged Combat skill (bows/crossbows)

  Number of Attacks:
  Based on your Dexterity and weapon speed. Higher Dexterity = more attacks.
  Dual wielding gives extra attacks from offhand weapon.

  Critical Hits:
  Skill advantage over opponent increases crit chance. Crits deal extra damage
  and apply special effects based on your equipped weapon.

━━━ Stamina and Penalties ━━━

  Low Stamina:
  - Reduced hit chance and damage output as exhaustion sets in.
  - Defenses still cost stamina but are less effective when you're
    running low.

  While Prone:
  - Attacking from the ground is substantially harder — accuracy and
    damage both suffer, and you're a much easier target.
  See help prone for details.

━━━ Weapon Reach in Grapples ━━━

Your weapon's effective reach matters when you're locked in close
combat. Long weapons — spears, greatswords, polearms — become
awkward when an opponent has clinched you. There's simply not
enough space to swing them properly, so they strike with reduced
force (a pommel jab, a hilt-check). Short weapons — daggers,
fists, claws — fit comfortably in any grapple and deal full damage.

The tighter the grapple, the worse long weapons fare:
  - Standing grapple (Clinch): Medium-length weapons still
    work; polearms struggle.
  - Ground grapple (Mount, Guard): Even swords are
    awkward. Daggers and fists stay dangerous.

See help grapple and help reach for details.

━━━ Position in Grapples ━━━

Where you are in a grapple matters as much as what you swing.
Attacking from a dominant position — mount, side control, back
control — is markedly easier: your target is pinned and your blows
land clean. Striking back from underneath is markedly harder; most
of your effort goes into surviving the hold. If you're being
controlled, escaping the position often beats trading blows.
See help grapple.

━━━ Target Switching ━━━

When fighting multiple enemies, use attack  to switch targets:
  - Immediately retargets to the new enemy
  - Automatic retargeting when your current target dies
  - Party members can coordinate attacks on the same target

━━━ Defense System ━━━

When attacked, all available defenses (dodge, parry, block) are
evaluated simultaneously and the best result wins. More defense types
means a wider safety net:
  1. Dodge - Unarmed Combat + Dexterity (costs stamina)
  2. Parry - Weapon Combat + weapon rating (costs stamina, requires weapon)
  3. Block - Weapon Combat + shield rating (costs stamina, requires shield)

See help defense for detailed defense mechanics.

━━━ Special Combat Moves ━━━

Tactical moves with a shared cooldown:
  bash - Shield bash with knockdown chance (requires shield)
  trip - Leg sweep with high knockdown chance
  kick - Power kick with moderate knockdown and damage

See individual help topics for details on each special move.

━━━ Ending Combat ━━━

  flee - Attempt to escape (costs stamina, may fail)
  Victory - Kill all opponents or force a submission
  Defeat - Reach 0 health

See Also:

  help combat, help defense,
  help flee, help bash
  help trip, help kick,
  help prone, help stamina
  help grapple, help reach,
  help submission