Monster Encounters

Combat
     

During the course of your adventures, you will encounter many types of vile creatures that try to stop you in your path. By ridding the kingdom of them, you will earn valuable experience points which help you earn promotions; and you will get to keep whatever gold or other items you find amongst the fallen foe.
     
Combat  

When you encounter a band of monsters, you will be faced with a screen like the one above. The picture in the top-left always shows the first (or closest) monster group in out of all the monster groups you face. To the right of the picture, monsters you face are listed by group. Notice that there are actually two groups of monsters attacking you in this case. The first group is a spider 20 feet away, and the second group is a single cobra at 20 feet. In this case, your party has three choices:
     
  • Run - Attempt to run away from the encounter. This option is useful in cases where your party is too weak to fight the monsters it faces. Note, however, that running is not always the best plan. If you run away, you abandon any experience you may have already earned during this encounter. Also, your chances of successfully running are based on levels of the characters in your party. If you are an even match for the monsters you face, then your chances of successfully running from them are about even. But high level characters have a much better chance of running from lower level monsters.
     
  • Advance - Advance your party closer to the monsters you face. In cases where you face any group of monsters that are out of melee range (farther than 10 feet away), you will have the option to advance on them so that they will be in range of your deadlier hand-to-hand combat weapons. This menu option does not appear in cases where one or more groups of foe are already within 10 feet of your party. Beware -- advancing on a group of foes may also put you in range of their deadlier hand-to-hand attacks.
     
  • Fight - Fight the monsters you face. If you think you can take them, choose this option to initiate combat against the monsters you face. Selecting this option puts you into a menu where each character in your party gets to choose a method of attack (or defense) for the upcoming combat round (see below).
     
Fight
     
Combat Options

If you chose to fight the monsters you face, or you attempted but failed to run away from them, then combat proceeds by choosing a set of commands for each character in your party for the upcoming round of battle. Note that summoned creatures cannot be given commands during combat. They will always automatically attack the first monster in range. All other characters may choose from the following four menu options:
     
  • Attack - Attacks a monster group with the currently equipped weapon. Use this option only if you have already equipped the character with a weapon, or wish to punch. (See the inventory section of this document). Note that in the case where your party faces more than one group of monsters, each character will be prompted to specify which group of monsters to target for their attack. In the case where your party only faces one group of monsters, all attacks are assumed to target that one group.
     
    • Attacking with no weapons equipped
      If no weapon is equipped, then selecting ATTACK will simply punch at a monster in the target monster group.
       
    • Attacking with an equipped hand-to-hand weapon
      If the currently selected character has a hand-to-hand combat weapon such as a sword is equipped, then the character will use that weapon to attack. But remember, that hand-to-hand weapons can only reach monsters in melee range. Attacking with a hand-to-hand weapon against monsters farther away will always miss.
       
    • Attacking with an equipped ranged or spell weapon
      If the currently selected character has a spell or ranged weapon (such as a bow) equipped, then that weapon will automatically be used for the character's turn, during combat. Note that attacking with a spell weapon in this fashion will still consume one charge if the weapon has a limited number of charges (see the inventory section of this document). Use of bows, however, is unlimited. Be careful not to equip a valuable spell weapon, and quickly use up its charges by equipping it and attacking with it for every round of combat.

     
  • Cast Spell - Choosing this option will cause the currently selected character to cast a spell during his or her turn in the upcoming round of combat. There are many types of spells available during combat. See the spell table for details on the types and requirements for using particular spells. Refer to the spell casting documentation section of this document pertaining to casting spells for information on using Dragon Bane's spell casting interface.
     
  • Defend - Selecting this option will cause the currently selected character to defend him or herself during the upcoming round of combat. By defending, a character effectively lowers his or her armor class by two points during the upcoming round. Use this option only when a character doesn't have any other more useful options available for the upcoming round of combat.
     
  • Use Item - The character will attempt to use an item in his or her inventory during the upcoming round of combat. Although each of your character probably only carries one good hand-to-hand combat weapon, they may choose to carry many types of spell weapons to be used in different circumstances. For this reason, spell weapons (along with ranged weapons such as a bow, or other consumable objects) can be selected for use during an upcoming round of combat by selecting USE ITEM.
     
    If you attempt to use a weapon or spell-weapon that requires a target (for example the Wand of Aid requires you to target one of your own characters), then you will be prompted to select the appropriate character or monster target.
     
    Note that any ranged or spell weapon can be used while unequipped by explicitly selecting it when prompted by USE ITEM. It may also be used by equipping the object prior to combat, and then selecting ATTACK from the character's combat menu (see above). This is not true for hand-to-hand weapons such as swords. Hand-to-hand combat weapons can only be used in combat by equipping them beforehand, and then selecting ATTACK from the character's combat menu.
     
Confirm
     
Combat Confirm

When you have entered a command for each member of your party (except for a summoned creature, if you have one), you will be prompted to confirm the use of your given commands before the combat round proceeds. If you accidentally entered the wrong combat command for a certain character, or you change your mind about a combat command, this is your chance to start over and assign new commands for the upcoming round.
 
Note that when combat round messages are scrolling, you can increase or decrease the scroll speed using the up and down keys.
     
Special Attacks
 

Advanced spell casters (and certain monsters) learn the ability to take advantage of special combat measures and counter-measures during combat. For example, a monster can summon another monster to join its ranks, but in many cases, you may be able to dispell a summoned foe. Another example, a monster can inflict insanity upon a member of your party. This character will lose his or her ability to do anything useful until he or she is cured. Learning to use these special spells and counter-measures can be much more effective than brute-force attack and defense type actions. With a little experience, a good player will be prepared to defend against certain monsters, and become adept at taking advantage of other monsters' weaknesses.
 

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