Combat Mechanics

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One of the most important parts of a combat based roleplay is the mechanics of how combat actually works. Combat is one of the most important things for us, as the admins, to set guidelines on. It's very unlikely that someone will complain about someone saying something out of character compared to someone complaining about an unreasonable dodge. It's a lot harder to judge combat unless there is some kind of guideline for what defense is realistically acceptable in a general circumstance. This section should, however, just serve as a guideline. It is totally possible to do things beyond the scope of these mechanics.

The main reason that these serve as guidelines, is that the rules cannot possibly account for every scenario under the sun. The number of variables going on in an average fight makes it impossible to have a set answer for everything. Roleplay skill is generally the main determining factor in whether or not you can do something that is beyond what these guidelines say you can do. If you can back up the reasons for your action succeeding, then you can generally do things that these guidelines say you can't. However, you do need a good reason for stuff like this. Examples of things that may influence your ability to hit or avoid a hit include attacking from behind, launching multiple attacks at once, or skill in a martial art. It should be noted that it's generally easier to explain why you got a hit that could normally be defended against than it is to miraculously defend against an attack.

One other thing that should be noted before we get started is the degree of violence that tends to happen in the Fairy Tail universe. In this universe, even when someone gets stabbed through the chest, or has a dragon made of ice rip straight through their abs, they have a tendency to somehow still be in one piece. My personal guess is that this is just because of what the show is rated, but we've chosen to generally accept this miraculous ability to not be missing limbs or have giant holes blasted through you. Things like cuts, broken bones, and blood loss is totally fair game in any kind of thread. In DE threads, you can go to the more graphic level of injury, but only in extreme scenarios. Taking someone's arm off with a sword generally requires at least double their body stat. Meanwhile, burning someone beyond recognition would require a spell that would reduce them basically all the way to death. In summary, the wounds you have in an NDE thread generally shouldn't be portrayed as life threatening, but the wounds you receive in a DE thread can easily be mortal wounds. That aside, let's move on to the actual mechanics behind combat.

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Blocking is the easiest method of defending oneself, but it also the least effective. You can effectively block a melee attack so long as your mind stat and speed are at least 50% of the attack's speed. Blocking is variably effective, depending on the strength of each character. It's pretty straightforward though. Blocking reduces the damage of the attack you block by half of your melee damage potential. So, if two characters with 20 body and no traits are fighting, and one blocks a punch from the other, he will take 10 damage (20-{20/2}=10). Blocking with a weapon will be covered in the counterattacking mechanics below; this is not considered a block in any way. You generally cannot block a weapon unarmed. The exception to this is if you are wearing heavy armor.

Parrying is a more advanced form of defense than blocking. Parrying requires at least one rank in a martial art or weapon trait. If you have a martial art trait, you can only parry unarmed. If you have a weapon trait, you can only parry with that weapon. Parrying requires a your mind and speed to be at least equal to 75% of the enemy's attack speed, and requires strength at least 50% as high the opponent's. Parrying redirects the force of the opponent's blow completely, and negates all damage from the attack. However, parrying can only be used against melee attacks, so it still isn't very helpful against most magical attacks. You also generally cannot parry a weapon with your bare hands, but this can be done with armor. The major downside of parrying is that it puts a decent amount of strain on your body to redirect the force of a blow. By default, this cost is 2 stamina per parry with one rank of martial knowledge, and is then reduced to 1 at higher ranks of martial knowledge. Table to clarify below.

Martial Knowledge Rank	Stamina Cost to Parry
0	Cannot Parry Successfully
1	2
2	1
3	1

Dodging is by the far most challenging defensive maneuver that one can perform, but it's also the most beneficial. In close quarters combat, aka melee, dodging requires a mind stat at least equal to the speed of an attack by default. If your character lacks this, then their mind is simply too slow to process the attack fast enough to tell your body to get all the way out of the way. If your speed is anywhere from equal to your opponent's attack's speed to 149% of it, then you can usually manage to dodge a melee attack most of the way, causing a grazing blow that will only deal 25% of the normal damage. If your speed is at least 50% higher than that of your opponent, then you are generally able to completely dodge, and avoid all damage. Dodging in this fashion costs 1 stamina to perform.

Dodging ranged attacks is a far less precise thing than dodging melee attacks. The question varies greatly based on the size of the attack coming at you, as well as the speed of the attack, and the range it is fired at. Because of how complex these situations get, it's very hard to provide benchmarks for what your character can get away with. In general, you need a mind stat at least equal to the speed of a projectile if it is fired within a few feet. For every 10 feet away the projectile is, it can generally be moving upto 20% faster than your mind stat with you still being able to react properly. This means that at 50 feet away, the projectile can be moving as high as twice your mind stat, and you will still be able to react to it properly. As far as speed goes, the rule of thumb is that you need speed at least equal to a projectile to dodge it inside of ten feet. Beyond that, the speed you need to dodge gets lower. If the attack is large, then it will definitely take more effort to dodge, and thus more speed. In all honestly, massive attacks will be quite challenging to dodge at even a moderate distance. You're probably better off with another tactic when dealing with massive attacks.

One of the exceptions to a type of defense needing to meet the stat requirements is being able to explain why the attack is easier to defend against than ye average attack. This requires at least a couple of sentences in post explaining why your character was able to defend against an attack that they normally would be incapable of defending against in a given manner. One of the easiest examples of this is dodging a projectile is always easier if that projectile is launched from far away. Similarly, if someone runs at you from 100 yards away before trying to tackle you, it'll be a lot easier to dodge than someone kidney punching you from behind. No matter how much windup there is, you still generally need at least half of the normal stats required to perform an action. There are plenty of more complex scenarios in which this could come up, but this clause should not be overused. If you abuse it, and claim every attack is easier than normal to defend against, it will be considered godmodding.

One of the other responses to an attack is to simply try and overpower it. This would be done through methods such as punching someone's fist when they try to punch you. The general result of this is similar to what happens when two spells hit each other. If neither attack is at least 25% stronger than the other, then the blows just bounce off each other. In this case, you will both probably feel your limb used for attacking jarred a bit, and it will be harder to use that limb for a moment. If one attacker is at least 25% stronger than the other, their attack will cause damage. That damage will be equal to the damage potential of their attack minus the damage potential of the other person's attack.

This also applies to weapons. If two blades clash, then they will cancel out and numb your arm unless one person is at least 25% stronger than the other. When one person is at least 25% stronger than the other, their attack will go through, after subtracting the damage potential of the defeated attack. In thread, this should be signified as the blades clashing, but one being forced back until a relatively shallow wound is made. Obviously, if there is an overwhelming difference in strength, the wound won't really be that shallow. Counterattacking requires some degree of mind stat to perform, based on the situation. At the absolute minimum, where your weapon is basically already in the path of the attack, it requires a mind stat 50% as high as the speed of the attack. If your weapon is not in the path of the attack, it generally requires at least 75% of the attack's speed.

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Stamina can be a problem as fights drag on. Eventually, your character will simply run out of steam, and be unable to keep fighting. However, if you've watched a Shonen recently, you've probably realized that characters have a tendency to get close to this point, stop and pant for a bit, then get back to the fight. Well, we've accommodated for that here in the combat mechanics section! You can recover 20% of your stamina per post if you do nothing in that post. This will leave you completely open to any attacks your opponent launched in their previous post. This occurs by default in posts that are outside of combat. Some minor or ongoing spells can still be used during posts of rest, and this should be noted in the spell description. Generally speaking, this is limited to utility spells.

If multiple characters attempt to take a rest consecutively, any character after the first will be vulnerable until it is their post again, since the first person to rest would otherwise be unable to take advantage of the rest. This would discourage people from resting unfairly. You can also take a post of "Total Defense" where all you do is block attacks. You cannot parry, nor can you dodge. In anime and manga, this is typically done where the hero crosses their arms in an X over their chest, ducks their head a bit, and just lets themselves get wailed on for a bit. While they are taking a beating, they are storing up energy to unleash a counterattack. Total Defense will allow you to regain 10% of your stamina per post. 

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So, now that we've covered how to defend yourself, we felt it was important to remind you guys that the above methods of defense were just guidelines. You will not be able to perfectly defend yourself from every hit. Your character will get hit from time to time, and attempting to constantly avoid that is considered godmodding, except in cases where your character is simply far more powerful than the other one (Such as an S or A class mage vs a D-class mage). This is generally grounds for a warning the first time around. If it becomes a repeat occurrence that you are never allowing yourself to be hit, harsher disciplinary action may be taken, including a ban if it's completely out of hand. Roleplay skill is still the most important factor between two equal class mages, and the one who gives a realistic interpretation of what their character can do is the one who will tend to receive favorable rulings from the admins in the case of disagreements between roleplayers. If you feel your opponent is godmodding, feel free to request admin intervention.