The Battle and Combat System

PHYSICAL COMBAT

Combat in The Legend of Valcoum is very simple and easy to understand.  We’ll begin with a sample snippet from an actual combat session and explain each part in detail. 

@)attack gargoyle
This command signifies to the game that you intend on engaging the gargoyle in combat.  It initiates the attack.

You swing a RatFlail at a Gargoyle!
This line shows how the combat begins and names the weapon being used as well as the target of the attack, in this case, a Gargoyle.

Attack Power: 52 - Defense Power: 35 +
Modifiers: 0 + 1d50: 26 = 43
These two lines show the basic numerical computation for the attack.  It is basically the difference of the attacker’s attack power and the defender’s defense power which are computed based on level and skill.  This difference is then added to any special modifiers present on the player and a 50 sided die is rolled to get a total.  If this total is greater than the defender’s defense power, then the attack is a hit, as is the case in this example.

You gain 5 experience point(s).
Because this attack happens to have killed the target, this notification shows how much experience the attacker has gained for defeating the foe.

A strike for 11 hit points of damage!
Since the strike was a successful hit, damage will be dealt to the foe.  Every weapon, including the RatFlail, has a base amount of damage assigned to it.  A hidden die roll is conducted with this base damage as the upper-bound limit.  The numerical total of the attack, in this case 43, is also multiplied by a hidden modifier based on the character’s class, and is added to the damage roll.   This is why the damage dealt by any one weapon can be greater than its base damage amount.

a Gargoyle falls dead!
This is just a reminder of a job well done.  Good job.

Wait time 5 seconds.
At the conclusion of the attack, a "wait time" is imposed on the attacker.  During this period of time, the attacker is unable to perform any other actions.  This "recovery time" is computed based on the attacker's skill level in the Speed skill, the Physical Strength skill, and any magic that effects the attacker's brute strength, and the attacker's weight.

MAGICAL COMBAT

Combat using magic is just as straight forward as physical combat, but looks slightly different.  First, to use a magic spell in an offensive manner, you must know the spell, and have enough magic power to cast it.  All of this is discussed in the magic guide.  Lets start with a simple example of a magic combat session using the spell Water Bolt (W1) from the Water element.
 

@)cast waterbolt gargoyle
This line is the spell invocation, and signifies to the game that you wish to cast spell "waterbolt" at the "gargoyle."  You could have also entered:  cast w1 gargoyle for the same effect, as w1 is the spell code for Water Bolt.

You invoke some mystic phrases to conjure
the WATER BOLT spell.
This line just notifies you that you have invoked the Water element in order to cast the WATER BOLT spell.

You hurl the thick mist towards a Gargoyle. It takes the shape of a bolt of water!
This is spell specific messaging.

Magic Power: 3 - Magic Defence: 15 +
Modifiers: 0 + d75: 74 == 62
These two lines show the numerical computation of the magical attack.  To summarize, the caster's magic power is subtracted from the target's magic defenses to get a number.  A special modifier is added to the difference, and then that sum is added to the roll of a 75 sided die.  If the total is greater than 50, the spell strikes the target.

A strike for 5 points of damage!
This line shows the amount of damage dealt by the spell.  The amount of damage dealt by any spell is based on the spell's base damage die-roll + any special die-rolls based on other spell knowledge.

a Gargoyle falls dead!
This is just a reminder of a job well done.  Good job.

You gain 5 experience point(s).
Because this attack happens to have killed the target, this notification shows how much experience the attacker has gained for defeating the foe.