Stance
Stance determines how much a character is focused on defending vs. attacking. It is controlled by the STANCE verb.
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.
Numerical Equivalents
Stance is often represented in formulas as a numerical percentage value from 0 to 100. These numbers are an abstract representation of a character's "defensiveness". Some situations allow for finer gradation than the six stances (see below).
| STANCE | OFF | ADV | FOR | NEU | GUA | DEF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PERCENT | 0% | 20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
STANCE (verb)
The STANCE verb can be used to change a character's combat stance.
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- Main article: Stance
STANCE is a combat system verb that allows players to change their stance for better offense or defense.
Help
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.
Usage
By Itself
Using STANCE by itself will display the character's current stance.
- Messaging
>stance You are currently at a defensive stance.
Default
The default STANCE messaging is fairly basic and does not output to other players in the room.
>stance offensive You are now in an offensive stance. >stance advance You are now in an advancing stance. >stance forward You are now in a forward stance. >stand neutral You are already standing. >stance neutral You are now in a neutral stance. >stance guarded You are now in a guarded stance. >stance defensive You are now in a defensive stance.
VERBOSE
STANCE VERBOSE toggles the output for stance changing to other players, allowing for limited roleplay capabilities.
- Messaging
>stance verbose Others in the room will now see your stance changes (if you're visible). >stance verbose You are no longer showing your stance changes to others in the room.
| Stance | First | Third |
| Offensive | You move into an offensive stance, ready for battle. | Xeraphina drops all defense as she moves into a battle-ready stance. |
| Advance | You move into an advancing stance, clearly preparing for an attack. | Xeraphina moves into an aggressive stance, clearly preparing for an attack. |
| Forward | You move into a forward stance, taking a slightly aggressive stance. | Xeraphina switches to a slightly aggressive stance. |
| Neutral | You fall back into a neutral stance. | Xeraphina falls back into a relaxed, neutral stance. |
| Guarded | You move into a guarded stance, ready to protect yourself. | Xeraphina moves into a defensive stance, clearly guarding herself. |
| Defensive | You move into a defensive stance, ready to fend off an attack. | Xeraphina moves into a defensive stance, ready to fend off an attack. |
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.
Verbose messaging:
- {Character} drops all defense as he moves into a battle-ready stance.
- {Character} moves into an aggressive stance, clearly preparing for an attack.
- {Character} switches to a slightly aggressive stance.
- {Character} falls back into a relaxed, neutral stance.
- {Character} moves into a defensive stance, clearly guarding himself.
- {Character} moves into a defensive stance, ready to fend off an attack.
Finer Stance Adjustments
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 43% stance, just barely more defended than forward (40%).
- 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.