Combat

Stack warfare in the wild; personal steel in the pit and the arena. Battles persist in the database. One active fight at a time.

Older manuals said there was no PvP. That is obsolete. Players fight each other in the arena (wagers 10–5000 gold; the house keeps 10%). Street assault also exists. Pit fights are PvE, scaled to your own HP, attack, and defense.

Two kinds of battle

Personal duel

You are the only stack. HP is your current vitality. Attack and defense come from trained stats, species, weapons, armor, and buffs. Speed is 5 + Tactics/20. Bows and crossbows with remaining durability shoot at range. Swordsmanship and Archery add about 0.4% damage per skill point (up to +40% at 100). Used for pit jobs, honor duels, and some road fights.

Army battle

If you have creature stacks in your roster, the fight becomes army combat. Troops receive your Attack and Defense as commander bonuses. You cast, heal, and drink potions. Defeat comes when the last stack falls. Seven slots maximum.

A round

Each round costs 5 minutes of game time and 2 energy. Stacks strike in speed order, retaliate once per round (ranged retaliation is half), then the log is saved. Reload-safe.

Damage

Roll the stack’s damage range, multiply by headcount, then:

If Attack − Defense ≥ 0: multiply by 1 + 0.05 × difference (a +20 gap doubles damage).
If below 0: multiply by max(0.30, 1 + 0.025 × difference). The 30% floor hits around −28.

Luck can swing ±10%. Bless uses the max roll; Curse uses the min. Defending halves the result. Minimum damage is 1. Kills = damage pool ÷ HP per creature.

Your body

Max HP = 20 + 5 × level + 2 × Defense + species HP + equipped HP. Fortitude ×1.3. Injury ×0.9. Floor 10.

Energy = 100 + species energy + equipped energy (tired ×0.8). Floor 10.

Pit fights

Arena and training-ground pit jobs spend 35 energy (50 if mildly sick). The creature’s tier follows your level (tier = 1 + level/3, capped at 5). Its HP, attack, defense, and weapon range are then mirrored to yours (about 92–108%). Nobody dies in the sand — you limp out.

Player arena

Post an open challenge with a wager of 10–5000 gold. Accepting matches that wager. The winner takes 90% of the combined purse. Fleeing a wagered duel forfeits. Marshals can copy a challenge to another arena.

A challenge may be accepted only if the opponent is the same species, within 2 levels, max HP within 25%, and attack within 30%.

Where fights start

Wilderness and deep wild encounters
Road patrols and bandit risk on some jobs
Pit jobs at the arena / training grounds
Player vs player arena duels
Street assault (crime, injuries, law)

Tame wolf

A tame wolf is not made in a shop and no wagon restocks it. Win a fight against a dire wolf, or against the wolf of a boss lair. About one such win in eight puts a single tame wolf in your pack, and never a second while you already carry one. The same win leaves that nest or lair quiet for seven real days.

While the den is quiet you may try once: stand at that nest or lair with Hunting 40 (wolf-blooded characters may try with less), 2 raw meat, 1 rope, and 25 energy. Success keeps the wolf. Failure spends the meat and the rope, and the den will not offer another try until a new leader falls.

Sell the wolf at a city market or the Crossroads. That counter then shows one for sale. When it is bought, the row stays and reads SOLD. A town lists the name as SOLD and will not take one onto the shelf. A village does not list it.