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Combat Master System

This document defines the core combat philosophy, flow, and rules for the game. Combat is designed to be tactical, readable, social, and low‑clunk, suitable for a text‑based MUD while remaining deep and expressive.

Combat is a shared room-level system, not a private instance.

Core Design Pillars

  • Decision-driven, not spam-driven

  • Stateful rather than repetitive

  • Readable at a glance

  • Role-expressive (Brute, Minion, Controller, etc.)

  • Drop-in / Drop-out multiplayer friendly

  • Environment-aware

Combat Scope

  • Combat exists at the room level

  • All players and NPCs in the room can see the combat state

  • Players are never auto-joined into combat

Combat States (Per Entity)

Each combatant may have one or more of the following states:

  • Observing – In the room, not involved

  • Engaged – Actively fighting a target

  • Supporting – Assisting allies without direct engagement

  • Disengaging – Attempting to leave combat

  • Exposed – Vulnerable to increased damage

  • Pinned – Movement restricted

  • Staggered – Reduced effectiveness

States are explicitly shown to players.

Turn Structure

Combat proceeds in rounds, each composed of clear phases.

1. Initiative Phase (once per combat)

  • Initiative is rolled when combat begins

  • Initiative order is fixed

  • New participants are inserted at the end of the current round

2. Action Phase

On their turn, a combatant may:

  • Perform one primary action (attack, maneuver, cast, etc.)

  • Perform one minor action (move, ready, interact)

Basic attacks are always available but are fallback options.

3. Reaction Phase

Certain maneuvers or traits allow reactions:

  • Interrupts

  • Opportunity attacks

  • Defensive triggers

Reactions are limited to prevent spam.

4. Resolution Phase

  • Damage is applied

  • States are updated

  • Death / defeat is checked

5. Summary Phase

At the end of each round, all participants see a concise summary:

Round Summary:
- Enemies: 3 remaining
- Player1: wounded
- Player2: stamina low

Joining Combat (Multiplayer)

When a player enters a room with active combat:

Combat in progress:
- Player1 vs Kelp Flea Minions (3)
You are not yet involved.

Players may:

  • join combat

  • Attack a target directly

  • Use support maneuvers on allies

  • Observe or leave

No initiative reset occurs.

Leaving Combat

Players may attempt to disengage:

  • Requires a Disengage action

  • May provoke reactions

  • On success, player enters Observing state

Leaving the room while engaged carries risk.

Role Expression

Combat roles strongly influence behavior:

  • Minions: swarm, low awareness

  • Brutes: pressure, soak damage

  • Artillery: reposition, punish exposure

  • Healers: sustain allies, avoid frontline

  • Controllers: manipulate states and terrain

  • Bosses: phases, rule bending

Environment & Terrain

Rooms may have combat tags:

  • open

  • cramped

  • slick

  • obscured

  • elevated

Maneuvers may reference these tags for bonuses or penalties.

Defense Model (Hit & Mitigation)

Combat defense is split into two clear layers:

  1. Avoidance (Dodging) – determines whether an attack hits at all

  2. Mitigation (Armor Damage Reduction) – reduces damage after a hit occurs, based on damage type

Dodging (Avoidance)

  • Dodging is the primary mechanic that determines if you are hit by an attack.

  • Attacks resolve as an Accuracy vs Dodging contest (exact formula defined in the Skill Check system).

  • Maneuvers may:

    • Increase or decrease Dodging temporarily

    • Convert an incoming hit into a glancing hit

    • Enable reactions (parries, blocks, counter-steps)

Design intent: Players can read the outcome cleanly: miss → hit → crit/glance, rather than opaque hidden math.

Armor (Mitigation)

  • Armor provides Damage Reduction (DR) against one or more damage types.

  • DR is applied only when an attack hits.

  • Different armor types protect against different damage profiles (e.g., heavy plate vs slashing/bludgeoning, leathers vs piercing, etc.).

  • Some damage types may partially bypass certain armor materials.

Design intent: Armor choice matters because the world has many damage types; players can prepare for regions and enemies.

Damage & Failure Philosophy

  • Failed actions still have partial impact

  • “Nothing happens” turns are avoided

  • Damage types and resistances matter

Targeting & Threat (High-Level)

  • Enemies evaluate threat dynamically

  • Healing, control, and positioning generate threat

  • Roles bias target selection

Experience & Rewards

  • EXP is granted for meaningful participation

  • Participation includes damage, healing, and control

  • Loot is rolled after combat ends

Anti-Clunk Safeguards

  • No initiative rerolls mid-combat

  • No real-time spam requirements

  • Limited reactions per round

  • Clear combat state visibility

Design Intent

Combat should feel like:

A shared tactical board game, narrated in text.

Players should understand why outcomes occur, feel agency every turn, and be able to meaningfully help others at any time.

Autoattack Overview

Core Rule

  • attack <target> starts combat and enables autoattack.

  • While autoattack is active, the player does not need to repeat attack.

  • Re-issuing attack while autoattacking should either:

    • do nothing (“You are already attacking.”), or

    • switch targets (“You turn your focus to the Kelp Flea.”)

  • Players may still use maneuvers at any time (subject to costs, cooldowns, range, and prerequisites).

States

  • Autoattacking: ticking basic attacks against current target

  • Paused: no valid target (out of range, unreachable, target dead)

  • Stopped: combat ended (no hostiles) or player disengaged / left room

Attack Ticker (BAT + Speed)

Combat is driven by a repeating attack ticker (a timer) per combatant.

Base Attack Tick

Define a global constant:

  • BAT (Base Attack Tick): the default time between basic attacks using a standard weapon.

Recommended starting value:

  • BAT = 3.0 seconds (in-game seconds)

    • With your time ratio (3×), that’s 1 real second per BAT second.

Weapon Speed Modifies BAT

Weapons already define speed_cost (lower = faster, higher = slower).

  • Player basic attack interval:

    • attack_interval = BAT × weapon.speed_cost

Examples:

  • Dagger (speed_cost 0.7) → interval = 2.1s

  • Longsword (speed_cost 1.0) → interval = 3.0s

  • Warhammer (speed_cost 1.4) → interval = 4.2s

Creature/NPC Attack Profile

NPCs/Creatures have their own baseline attack values:

  • attack_interval (direct) or speed_cost (to be applied to BAT)

  • accuracy (or a combat skill like Fighting)

  • damage_min, damage_max

  • damage_type

  • crit_chance

They may also have:

  • natural_weapon_tag (bite, claw, sting)

  • preferred_range_band (Engaged / Near / Far)

Basic Attack vs Maneuvers

Basic Attack

  • Happens automatically on the attack ticker

  • Uses weapon damage profile (or unarmed profile)

  • Uses hit check (Accuracy vs Dodging)

  • Applies armor DR by damage type

Maneuvers

  • Explicit player choice

  • May consume resources / have cooldowns

  • Do not disable autoattack unless the maneuver says so

Optional rule (recommended):

  • Maneuvers can have an action_cost that delays the next autoattack tick by a small amount (e.g., +0.5–1.5s) to avoid “free” stacking.

Unarmed Attack

Every character can fight unarmed.

Unarmed Profile (Baseline)

  • damage_min: 1

  • damage_max: 2

  • damage_type: bludgeoning

  • crit_chance: 0.10

  • speed_cost: 0.8

  • durability: n/a

Unarmed uses the same rules:

  • Hit check via Dodging

  • Armor DR applies

  • Maneuvers may enhance unarmed (future: martial schools)

Starting & Stopping Combat

Starting Combat

Combat starts when:

  • A player uses attack <target>

  • A hostile NPC attacks the player

  • A maneuver that deals damage is used

Ending Combat (Stop Conditions)

Combat stops for a player when:

  • No hostile entities remain engaged with them in the same room, or

  • The player successfully disengages, or

  • The player changes rooms (see below)

When combat stops:

  • Autoattack = off

  • target cleared (or kept as “last target” for convenience)

Leaving the Room During Combat

You have two viable designs; choose one globally for consistency.

Option A (Simple): Leaving Ends Combat

  • If the player changes rooms, combat ends immediately.

  • Hostiles do not follow.

Pros: simplest, very MUD-classic Cons: encourages “exit kiting”

Option B (Recommended): Disengage + Pursuit

Leaving a room while in combat requires a Disengage step.

Disengage

  • Command: disengage (or withdraw)

  • Resolves as a check (e.g., Dodging vs enemy Fighting or a flat difficulty)

  • Success:

    • player shifts range to Far and gains a Flee Window (e.g., 3–5 seconds)

  • Failure:

    • player remains Engaged and cannot exit this tick

Flee Window

  • During the flee window, move <dir> is allowed.

  • If the window expires, the player must disengage again.

Pursuit

Creatures can follow based on a pursuit tag:

  • pursue: none (won’t follow)

  • pursue: short (follows 1 room)

  • pursue: long (follows multiple rooms)

Pursuit can be modified by role:

  • Brute: short

  • Minion: short/none

  • Artillery: none

  • Boss: long (only if designed)

Room flags can block pursuit:

  • safe rooms prevent hostile entry

  • no_pursuit prevents following

Multi-Player Joining Combat (Compatibility)

When a second player enters a room with an active fight:

  • They enter at Far range by default

  • They can choose to:

    • attack <target> (starts autoattack)

    • use a maneuver

    • advance (close distance)

Enemies decide whether to switch targets using their AI template and threat rules.

Messaging (Text Clarity)

  • On attack start:

    • “You square up with Kelp Flea and begin attacking.”

  • On autoattack tick:

    • “You slash the Kelp Flea for 4 (reduced by armor).”

  • On target swap:

    • “You turn your attention to Kelp Flea #2.”

  • On disengage success:

    • “You slip free and create distance!”

  • On flee:

    • “You sprint east, leaving the fight behind.”

  • On pursuit:

    • “A Kelp Flea skitters after you!