Stance

There are six main stances in which a character can exist: offensive, advance, forward, neutral, guarded, and defensive. In offensive, a character is devoting all of his or her efforts toward attacking. When in stance defensive, that character is dedicating all energy toward defending. Neutral stands in between the two, and forward and guarded allow further incrementing. Characters who are in stance defensive will generally take less damage from physical attacks, including bolt spells, than those in stance offensive.

In stance offensive, 100% of a character's weapon skill is applied to AS, and the character has a far reduced chance to evade, block or parry.

In stance defensive, only 50% of a character's weapon skill is applied to AS, and the character has the highest chance to evade, block or parry.

STANCE (verb)

The STANCE verb can be used to change a character's combat stance.

Usage:
    STANCE (stance type)

Where {stance type} is one of the following:
    OFFENSIVE  (all offensive, no regard to defense!)
    ADVANCE    (mostly offensive, little defense.)
    FORWARD    (more offensive, moderate defense.)
    NEUTRAL    (more defense, moderate offense.)
    GUARDED    (mostly defensive, little offense.)
    DEFENSIVE  (all defensive, no offensive.)

Use STANCE VERBOSE to show your stance changes to others in the room.

The POSTURE verb can also be used to set stance, but will always display changes to others in the room as if in STANCE VERBOSE mode.

Numerical Equivalent

The six main stances represent a character's attention to guarding themselves, in 20% increments. Just like the stances themselves, these numbers are an abstract representation of a character's "defensiveness", but allow for finer gradation than the six stances..

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
PERCENT	0%	20%	40%	60%	80%	100%

Finer Stance Adjustment

There are times when a character can end up between the six main stances.

• Offensive combat abilities such as Feint and Call Wind (912) can force a target to change their stance, and these adjustments generally do not come in increments of 20%. For example, an endroll of +137 on a feint would move the target 37 percentage points closer to offensive: if they were in guarded stance (80%), they would be in a 63% stance, just barely more defended than neutral (60%).

• Wizards with the Fire aspect of Mage Armor active CHANNEL their spells in a more offensive stance than they are actually in, with the number of "bonus stance points" based on their Fire Lore.

• Combat Mastery, a combat maneuver, and Stance Perfection, the corresponding Warrior Trick, allow a character to refine their stance further. Both skills initially allow the character to change their stance in 10% increments. As the associated skill is further trained, 5% increments become available.

Attack Modifiers

Attack strength ranges from 100% effectiveness of weapon skills in offensive stance to 50% in defensive stance.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	1.00	0.90	0.80	0.70	0.60	0.50

Defense Modifiers

Each component of Defensive strength (DS) is affected by stance.

Evade

Evade (or Dodge) DS retains up to 75% of full effectiveness while in offensive stance.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.75	0.80	0.85	0.90	0.95	1.00

Block

Block DS retains up to 50% of full effectiveness while in offensive stance. The natural +20 DS from holding a shield and any enchantment on the shield itself are exempt from stance effects.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.50	0.60	0.70	0.80	0.90	1.00

Parry

Before any weapon skills are taken into account, there is a flat bonus of up to +50 Parry DS based on stance.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
DS Bonus	0	10	20	30	40	50

One-Handed Weapons

For one-handed weapons (including one-handed polearms), the amount of Parry DS derived from weapon skill ranges from 20% effectiveness in offensive stance to 70% effectiveness in defensive stance.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.20	0.30	0.40	0.50	0.60	0.70

Two-Handed Weapons

For two-handed weapons, effectiveness ranges from 30% in offensive stance to 105% in defensive stance.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.30	0.45	0.60	0.75	0.90	1.05

Two-Handed Polearms

For two-handed polearms, effectiveness ranges from 27% to 94%, and there is an additional flat DS bonus based on stance:

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.27	0.41	0.54	0.68	0.81	0.94
DS Bonus	15	18	21	24	27	30

Bows

For bows (short bows, composite bows, longbows), effectiveness ranges from 15% to 45%. The enchantment bonus on a bow contributes directly to DS and is exempt from stance effects.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.15	0.21	0.27	0.33	0.39	0.45

Crossbows

For crossbows, effectiveness ranges from 12% to 37%. The enchantment bonus on a crossbow contributes directly to DS and is exempt from stance effects.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.12	0.17	0.22	0.27	0.32	0.37

Runestaves

For runestaves, the amount of Parry DS derived from magical skills ranges from 20% effectiveness in offensive stance to 70% effectiveness in defensive stance. The enchantment bonus on a runestaff contributes directly to DS and is exempt from stance effects.

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA	DEF
MODIFIER	0.20	0.30	0.40	0.50	0.60	0.70