.: Help for defense

DOGMud uses a best-of-all defense system. When attacked, all
your available defenses are rolled simultaneously and the best
result wins. Each defense type uses different skills, costs
different resources, and has different requirements.

━━━ Defense Order ━━━

When attacked, all available defenses are rolled and the best
result wins. Each defense uses different skills and resources:

  Dodge  low stamina cost, always available
  Parry  moderate stamina cost, requires a weapon
  Block  highest stamina cost, requires a shield
  Quell  costs conviction, answers spells that attack the mind
  Defy   costs conviction, answers taunts

━━━ Degrees of Success ━━━

A defence is not all or nothing. Turn a blow aside decisively and it does
nothing at all. Only just manage it and the blow still lands, robbed of most
of its force. The better your defence reads the attack, the less of it reaches
you.

An exceptional defence does more than stop the blow. See Defense Crits under
help combat.

Dodge, parry and block cost stamina even when they fail. Quell and defy cost
conviction instead. Run either pool dry and the defences it pays for collapse,
which is what makes a long fight a war of attrition.

━━━ Dodge Defense ━━━

Your first line of defense, available to everyone.

  Skills Used: Unarmed Combat + Dexterity
  Stamina Cost: Low
  Requirements: None (always available)

  Effectiveness Reduced By:
  - Heavy armor (reduces mobility)
  - High encumbrance (too much weight)
  - Being prone (severely reduced)

Dodge is your bread-and-butter defense. Even heavily armored fighters rely
on dodge as their first chance to take the force out of a blow.

━━━ Parry Defense ━━━

Use your weapon to deflect incoming attacks.

  Skills Used: Weapon Combat + weapon parry rating
  Stamina Cost: Moderate
  Requirements: Weapon equipped in primary or offhand

  Bonuses:
  - Two-handed weapons get parry bonus
  - Can parry with either hand when dual wielding

  Penalties:
  - Being prone (noticeably reduced)

Parry is more stamina-intensive than dodge but can be very effective with
the right weapon. Two-handed weapons excel at parrying.

━━━ Block Defense ━━━

Use your shield to absorb the blow.

  Skills Used: Weapon Combat + shield block rating
  Stamina Cost: High (most expensive defense)
  Requirements: Shield equipped in offhand

  Benefits:
  - High effectiveness with quality shields
  - Works reasonably well even when prone (slightly reduced)

  Penalties:
  - Highest stamina cost
  - Cannot dual wield weapons (shield takes offhand slot)

Block is your final defense layer. Shields are stamina-hungry but provide
excellent protection when your other defenses fail.

━━━ Defense Strategy ━━━

  Stamina Management:
  Long fights drain stamina quickly. Each dodge, parry, or block
  attempt costs stamina, so manage your pool carefully. Low stamina
  imposes severe combat penalties.

  Equipment Choices:
  - Dual wield: More attacks, only dodge and parry
  - Sword + Shield: Fewer attacks, all three defenses
  - Two-handed weapon: Moderate attacks, strong parry, no block

  While Prone:
  All defenses are severely reduced when knocked down, and attacks against
  you land harder. Getting up matters more than anything else you could be
  doing.

  You try to rise on your own after a moment, but that is no longer a
  certainty: if an enemy is standing over you, the two of you contest it,
  and a stronger opponent can keep you down. Nobody is held forever, and
  fighting your way back up teaches you something either way.

  stand is the guaranteed way out. It costs stamina and it always
  works, however badly you are being held. If you are down and want out
  now, use it rather than waiting.

━━━ Counterattacks ━━━

A defense does not only spare you damage. Defend decisively enough and
your opponent leaves an opening, and you take it: a free answering swing
they must then defend in turn, at reduced damage.

You do not choose this and it costs you no action. It falls out of
defending well, which is another reason to carry defenses you can
actually use.

Two things worth knowing:

  - Every attack channel can be answered, not just weapons. A quelled
    spell or a defied taunt earns the same opening.
  - Reach decides it. Someone shooting you from another room is the one
    attack you cannot answer, because you cannot reach them.

━━━ Defense Skills ━━━

Improve your defenses by progressing these skills:

  Unarmed Combat: Improves dodge effectiveness
  Weapon Combat: Improves parry and block effectiveness
  Dexterity Stat: Improves dodge chance (use-based progression)

Train these skills through combat and see your survivability increase
dramatically.

See Also:

  help combat, help attack, help stamina, help prone
  help skills, help dual-wield