Combat

This section refers to day-to-day combat. For raids, please see the following section. For wars, please see our 'war rules' page.

General Combat Rules

1. When anyone (solo or group) emotes to initiate combat¹, participants must choose CRP or PvP before proceeding; if they can’t agree, it defaults to CRP.

   1. The choice is final unless all sides consent to change; in conflicts with eight or more participants, defenders may by majority vote switch to PvP once, after which any further change requires unanimous consent of all groups.

   2. Guards are defenders when in their own land.
       

2. A sufficient halting emote posted in #rp or #q immediately begins CRP; all parties must follow movement rules. The emote must include a clear halting action (dialogue optional), e.g., “He steps into her path, a hand near his weapon.”

   1. To block or impede movement, you must physically be in the target’s path or your emote must show you moving into it, in a reasonable manner; enforcement is per staff discretion.
       

3. After any death in either PvP or CRP, the victor chooses the loser’s exit: either /d20 (self-down and pop, losing all items) or /ss (soulstone and depart). Either outcome is a narrative death.

    

4. Once any party emotes intent to pursue combat¹, using mechanics (e.g., blocks, LWC locks, lava, water buckets, flint & steel, MyPet, etc.) is disallowed.

   1. In CRP, you may emote operating CraftBook/LWC mechanisms (doors, gates, bridges, lifts)—one emote per action.

   2. In PvP, CraftBook/LWC mechanisms may be used freely.
       

5. Soulstones may not be used to pursue, initiate, or organize conflict or villainy, including travel from Cloud Temple. Do not camp or linger at soulstone pillars to seek or provoke conflict. Soulstones also may not be used to flee ongoing combat.¹

    

6. Rally bells (represented mechanically as beacon blocks) may be mechanically activated only after three uninterrupted preparation emotes—either in or outside of combat.

   1. A bell used in a realm’s capital or vassal region alerts the entire realm; members from any other holdings in that realm may respond.

“Intent to start combat” means one or more players take a hostile action in an emote-e.g., drawing or readying a weapon, aiming a spell, striking/grappling, or blocking a route to force engagement. ¹
Stalling or intentionally holding off conflict through OOC means is disallowed.²
All positioning and distance follow your /persona scale and /measure values—1 block = 1 meter.

Disclaimer: If a conflict/CRP/raid becomes too disruptive in OOC (bickering, meta, etc.), staff may mandate PvP, roll-based combat, or void the RP—regardless of either side’s intent. Parties may file a report afterward with evidence (e.g., powergaming/metagaming); see Report Guidelines.

Combat Roleplay / CRP (Default)

Follow the Roleplay Standards: avoiding powergaming, being considerate, and accepting defeat gracefully.

1. Combat is considered “locked” 15 minutes after the initial emote with the intent to pursue combat, preventing others from joining unless both sides agree.

   1. Once combat is locked, players involved in the fight will be “invisible” to everyone who is not in the combat. This means players spectating after lock will be watching from an OOC standpoint and may not interact nor acknowledge the fight.

   2. Once combat has ended players are freely allowed to leave unrestricted by anyone outside of the initial combat.

   3. Ringing a rally bell during the initial 15 minutes resets this time.

      1. This may only be done once per CRP encounter.

      2. If at least one of three emotes for a rally bell is completed before the initial 15 minute lock, parties may continue to ring to extend the timer.

      3. Only the bell most local to the CRP encounter will provide an extension to the CRP-lock timer. If accessible within the CRP-lock timer, any foreign bell can be rung to rally the locals of that region, but will not provide an extension to the CRP-lock timer.

   4. Within a realm’s capital region. The default 15 minutes is doubled to 30 minutes before the lock kicks in. If the bell is rung during this period an additional 15 minutes will be applied.
       

2. By default, you may move up to 4 blocks per emote (or 8 blocks if mounted or in boat) while performing a combat action (e.g., swinging, blocking, aiming, readying a projectile, or casting). If your character is solely focused on sprinting and is not being reasonably attacked, you may move 8 blocks per emote on foot (or 12 blocks per emote if mounted or in a boat). You may draw and attack with a melee weapon in the same emote.

   1. Heavy armor reduces the wearer’s sprint speed to 6 blocks (instead of 8) but does not change the 4-block combat-action movement; light and medium follow the standard speeds.

   2. Players are expected to determine the armor type (based on their torso, see: Tech Armaments below for definitions) to be held accountable for their movement. In the event armor fails to be specified either in emotes or by item, the default will be to assume that it is medium armor.
       

3.  You must follow realistic standards for abstract scenarios such as when falling, walking or running with injuries, landing in water, etc. You must account for these scenarios when referencing movement or other actions.

   1. Furthermore, CRP does not adhere to mechanical standards and instead follows common sense logic.

      1. For example: your character can not pull a boat out of their pocket even if there is a boat in your inventory; you also can’t practically use or carry ten super-heavy maces. Lore pieces which have incompatibilities per ST discretion must also be considered, e.g. conflicting types of metals.

      2. All items being used in combat like weaponry, armor, potions, etc., must be in your inventory to be used in CRP. All ST-signed (or otherwise staff-endorsed) items are considered "active" on your person from the time CRP begins. 

      3. Soulbinds exist as a mechanical protection for items. This prevents items from mechanically being stolen from an inventory but for the sake of roleplay they can be temporarily disarmed or given up without inventory removal.

      4. Fall damage is calculated according to the following table. Each level incurs all physical damage of the prior levels. This damage occurs no matter what type of block the player lands on.

4. In order to join an ongoing combat scenario, you must make two (2) emotes to establish your character’s presence before you can engage. Likewise, to leave an ongoing combat, you must perform three (3)unhindered emotes declaring your character’s attempt to leave.

   1. The first of the two emotes to join combat should establish your character’s arrival and intent to join. On the second emote, one may begin to prepare for combat (drawing weapons, connecting to magic etc.).

   2. While two emotes are required to join combat, only the first emote must be posted before the CRP lock.

   3. An “unhindered”  escape attempt requires your character to be reasonably mobile and able-bodied, with a mechanically accessible escape route (e.g., the city gates are open)

      1. Hindered escape attempts include, but are not limited to, another player shooting at or casting a spell at you. Simply aiming a bow or charging a spell does not count as hindering. To hinder another player’s escape, you must maintain a line of sight and be within reasonable range. Missing a shot while maintaining line of sight still counts as hindering. Small objects like trees or barrels do not break line of sight.
          

5. Horses or other mounts cannot be summoned during combat by whistle.
    

6. If a player in a CRP encounter must log off, all parties must agree on an ending or a time to resume. The characters involved will not have knowledge of the CRP while it’s paused.

Techlock Armaments:

This section condenses the Techlock Armament rules relevant to CRP. For the full list of mechanics, see the Techlock Armaments post.

Ranged Weaponry:

• Shortbows require three (3) emotes for their first shot, while a longbow will require four (4) for its first shot.
• Hand and Crank crossbows respectively follow the same rules of three (3) and four (4) emotes respectively.
  • After releasing the first shot, Both Bows and Crossbows may decrease their Emote Cost by [1] by ignoring the First Step as their bow is already steadied. In the event that the Archer is attacked directly, takes damage by any means, or sprints, the Emote Cost will return to the original value as they will need to re-steady their weapon. The same applies if an Archer opts to SPRINT
• If the bow/crossbow’s type is unspecified in its description. The default will be a shortbow/hand crossbow.
• Miscellaneous ranged weapons ie: blowguns or slings require two (2) emotes to properly fire.

Throwable Weaponry:

• To throw any sort of weapon, whether it be designed for such or not requires two (2) emotes, the first being to aim and ready the weapon while the second is the act of throwing said weapon.

Armor:

• There are three classes of armor, those being “Light, Medium, and Heavy”. While they have their own protection values a key detriment of Heavy armor is that it reduces the wearer's sprint speed to six (6) blocks instead of the usual eight (8).
• If armor type is unspecified in either emotes or item, the default will be to assume that it is medium armor.

Light Armor: often characterized by fabric, reinforced leather or gambeson.

Medium Armor: Characterized by an interlocking combination of chainmail, scales, lamellar plates and reinforced leather.

Heavy Armor: Characterized by a harness composed of overlaid or whole pieces of Plate.

PVP / Mechanical Combat
 

PvP (mechanical combat) is admissible roleplay. When chosen, it serves as the in-character method of resolving the encounter, and its outcomes are binding for RP consequences (injuries, captures, etc.). In the event that this combat is chosen, you must do the following:

1. All participants must set an appropriate /status; teammates must use the same status. Note: /status fighting is free-for-all and permits friendly fire.
    

2. Both sides must clearly confirm readiness before /countdown. After agreeing to PvP, you have 3 minutes to start it; otherwise staff may force the countdown. Until the countdown ends, no mechanics (e.g., hitting, moving, dropping items, summoning horses). Restrictions lift when the countdown completes.

   1.  The use of storage containers during combat is disallowed.
       

3. If you are completely disengaged from PVP for 10 minutes, you are free to leave.

Alternative Combat Systems

Parties may agree to use a custom set of rules for combat within reason. If issues occur or staff involvement is requested the scenario may revert to using an official system (PvP/CRP/rolls).

Capture Roleplay

1. During PvP, a downed player can be revived and captured. This is done by the capturing player(s) emoting that they are binding the downed individual upon revival.
   1. If bound via an emote, the bound player may not continue to PvP upon being revived.
       

2. Captivity can last up to 2 or 3 hours (see below) assuming active and good-faith RP. Keep interaction consistent—no more than 15 minutes between emotes. If PvP occurs, the timer keeps running. Bound/tied/KO’d captives cannot escape mechanically during PvP.

   1. Duration caps: Regular players — 2h. High-ranking officials (monarchs, military commanders, councilors) — 3h.
       

3. If a player in a capture scenario must log off, all parties must agree on an ending or a time to resume; while paused, the captured character may not be played.
    

4. The timer starts on arrival at the holding location; if substantial RP occurs beforehand or transport is significantly delayed, staff may start it earlier at their discretion.

For any issues regarding any rule on this page, please /modreq. Other staff members are unable to assist.