Panther Claw OFFICIAL Combat Rules

Modified 3 June 03

((Most recent modifications in red))

These rules supercede any other rules, which might not be as up to date.

The MC Site Rules allow MC Homes to modify the Sitewide Combat Rules to fit a Home's particular situation and roleplay. The following are the Modified Combat Rules that will govern combat in Panther Claw Lair, ( bold text indicates passages from the Sitewide Rules, regular text indicates PClaw modifications):

All combat in PClaw is essentially Open Combat. Distinct from open combat, any kind of arranged duel must be negotiated as to the terms of the duel, to the satisfaction of both parties, including choice of rules, judges, etc. Otherwise, people or individuals fighting will be considered Open Combat. The same with raids. Unless it is a prenegotiated raid, with rules and judges prenegotiated, it is Open Combat.

Open Combats: For the most part Open Combats go by Death Combat Rules unless stated otherwise.Fights that happen spontaneously, with no prior warning, usually between two or more Free men and sometimes can quickly draw in others. Open combats can also occur in the wild, open spaces of Gor, like the Northern Forests or Plains of Turia. These types of fights are geared for harmful intent and can have deadly or permanent consequences. No agreement between parties necessary.

Weapons: Maximum of 5 weapons. Shield, bucklers, helmets count as weapons. 10 arrows or 10 crossbow bolts count as 1 weapon each. A pair of fighting-slave gloves count as 2 weapons. Non-Gorean weapons or armour are forbidden. Armour: Apart from the helmet any other metal armour is prohibited. Thick clothing or hardened, leather clothing is allowed.

PClaw Modifications: All weapons must be declared before combat. No combat with weapons can occur until the attacker has posted a weapons/stance post and the attacked person has had 8 minutes to reply with a weapons/stance post. After 10 minutes, the attacker may assume that she was able to attack before weapons could be drawn in defense. 

Any gloves count as two weapons. Poisen is not legal in the roleplay of PClaw, so poisen weapons are not allowed. Fire cannot be used as a weapon in the Forest. Kurri weapons are not allowed. Gunpowder weapons are not allowed. Ninja weapons are not allowed. The only drugged weapons are capture darts, which cannot be used as projectiles.

Undefined arrows are field tips by default. Quivers containing up to 25 arrows or bolts may be considered as a single weapon.

Any protective clothing must be declared in the weapons/stance post. Protective clothing is not a defense to an attack. Protective clothing can only help to minimize a defended blow. If a blow is fully accepted, the clothing is to be considered to provide no protection. Weapons slung on the body may be used in the same way as protective clothing, as may jewelry, such as metal armbands.

There is no such thing as Panther Weapons. Panthers may use any weapon which they can procure in roleplay. Long fingernails may be used as a weapon if declared in the weapons/stance post, although they are not counted among the 5 weapon limit.

All combat is on foot, animal weapons are limited to the use of trained sleen, which is defined in its own section.

Response Time: 7 minutes. Can be waived if both opponents agree.

PClaw Modifications: 8 minute time limit, cannot be waived in open combat, except in the case of technology impairment or RT intrusion, in which case it must be waived.

If you run out of time you lose your turn - and the opponant's blows land as intended. ((OOC)) bracketed posts for clarification or time checks are out of roleplay and do not count as your turn. If your opponant times out, your time starts from the timestamp of when you ((notify)) her that she has timed out.

This refers to 1-1 combat. Combat involving multiple opponants is defined in its own section.

Combat posts are limited to 5 seconds of virtual time passing between the start of the post and the end of the legal actions of the post. Anything that takes place after 5 seconds of virtual time passing will be considered not to have happened.

General rules: Five alternating posts, which can be decreased (no lower than 3) or increased (no higher than 8), depending on what the opponents want. No speed-posting. No force posting of opponent's injuries or weapon movements (parrying is the exception). No back-posting.

PClaw Modifications: Combat ends if somebody is disabled or killed. 

Speaking can be considered as your turn.  It does not have to be.  It is possible that someone is typing a dialog post and does not see a combat post until the dialog hits the Room.  In this cases, the speaker shall be given a chance to reply properly to the combat post.

Otherewise combat will be judged after 5 rounds, and if the result is inconclusive will continue for another 3 rounds. After 8 rounds of inconclusive combat, invading forces will be considered captured from exhaustion.

The Room Controller is the sole judge of combat and valid roleplay in this room. If you don't trust her integrity and judgment, don't come in the room. This has to do with understanding the complexities of the rules and the roleplay environment. It is simply not fair to the Members of PClaw or any particular judge to have another judge trying to learn these rules.

Speedposting is defined as failure to wait for your oponant's response (or time out) and posting again. The speedposted posts will be ignored. The exception is corrections. Notifying of a missend to the wrong person on the PD, or a partial post, or technology impairment is not speed posting and must be honored, even if roleplay has to be rolled back. No roleplay results will be determined by computer related issues.

Forceposting is defined as it is in the ARealm and WMaze Rules. Forceposting means to call your opponant's damage or movement. *Punches you in the nose* is not a forcepost because it calls neither damage than movement. The forcepost element of an action will be considered to be the intent of the poster, and MUST be defended as such.

Back posting is defined as it is in the ARealm and WMaze Rules. Backposting means to attack before your opponant's post has concluded. Backposted actions will be ruled completely invalid. So, if you backpost a counterattack as a defense, the opponant's post will be considered to have landed as intended.

If you don't understand both ARealm and WMaze Rules, you have no business attempting combat in this room. The Room Controller can declare someone caged for combat incompetance to preserve the realism of roleplay.

Judging:

Actions: Standard # of actions is 5 but if combatants agree they can be raised to max of 8 or lowered to min of 3, which can be comprised of a combination of attacks, defense or positional movements. To make judging easier, opponents are encouraged to separate each action, either through numbers or symbols, however it's not a deductable point.

PClaw Modifications: Actions will be limited to 3 actions, but may include combination actions. Combination actions may include any reasonable SIMULTANEOUS movement/defense or movement/attack.  No combination can contain 2 attacks, unless each attack is counted as an action.

Because of the time pressure, actions MUST be clearly separated. Failure to separate will get one warning, and then will be be cause for caging for combat incompetance.

Accepting a wound is not considered an action, however reacting to it by a movement (eg, stumbling back) will be counted as one.

PClaw Modifications: Because of men's greater size and strength, being knocked down or backwards by the force of an attack is not counted as a movement.

All attacks must be clearly accounted for. Attacks may be accepted, accepted and minimized, or defended. All defenses must be realistic, or the blow is considered to have landed as intended. The result of wounds and accepted attacks must be realistically roleplayed until treated.

No single movement can defend more than 2 attacks, as it is assumed that the opponant is aiming at a spot on the body that they can hit when they attempt the blow.

No single movement can defend 2 arrow attacks from the same Panther, because of realistic time between shots.

By the time you hear an arrow, or the twang of a bow, it has hit you.

If a blow clearly could NOT hit it's intended target, the defender can declare what the blow actually hits, and the judge will determine what is more realistic.

EXAMPLE: *on a right lead relative to you, your sleen knife cannot reach my left bicep, ....*

If a blow is misdefended, the attacker may note what they think would have happened ((in brackets)) at the begining of their combat post, so the opponant can reconsider the state of their wounds.

EXAMPLE: ((I attacked your right arm and you defended your left))

Moves include but not restricted to:

striking or an attempt to strike with weapon

striking or an attempt to strike with shield

striking or an attempt to strike using head, hands, feet or body

striking or an attempt to strike using environmental surroundings or foreign object (eg, sand, frying pan)

PClaw Modifications: Invaders are not allowed to use found objects in the Lair. You fight with the 5 weapons you declare when you enter.

feinting, then striking at the intended target will be considered 1 action

PClaw Modifications: feints with weapons will be considered actions, and striking to another body part will be considered a second action. Defenders are required to react realistically to feints.

parrying with shield or weapon blocking with shield, weapon or body part

ducking, dodging, rolling, side-stepping or any other movement that evades an attack

circling, shuffling, stepping to either left or right of opponent, closing in on opponent

moving out from opponent feinting, then moving to the intended spot will be considered 1 action

PClaw Modifications: moving out from an opponant is one action, feinting as you move to another location is a combination.

purposely dropping a weapon to change to another will be considered 1 action

placing your weapon and shield (or if you're holding 2 weapons) in defense will be considered 1 action

PClaw Modifications: Adjusting your grip on a two-handed weapon and attacking with it, or adjusting grip and moving a two-handed weapon to a defensive position will be considered 1 action.

Because moving to close is usually going to be an action, the first attack shall be entitled to 3 actions, not 2 as defined by the Site Rules. The first attacker is entitled to 2 defensive actions at the end of 5 rounds. In the event of going the additional 3 rounds, the order of posting shall be reversed, and the new first attacker gets the extra defensive post.

Because short bows clearly have a faster rate of fire than other bows (by the Books), our trained archeresses can fire 2 arrows per combat round, whereas any other type of bow may only be fired once per combat round. Our bows are extremely accurate at 25 yards, very accurate at 35 yards and fairly accurate at 50 yards. Crossbows may NOT be loaded and fired in the same combat round.

Weapons are not left laying around the Lair to be picked up during spontaneous combat. As Panthers are often barefoot in the Lair, slaves conscientiously pick up rocks/stones and other objects, removing them from the Lair.

The Leader, or ranking member is always armed with (at minimum) a dagger in a sheath on her right thigh.

Slaves may bear arms against non-Members.

If you are caught in a trap, you can respond to the trap in your next post using the Inner Forest PD, if you legally roleplayed to the trap. If you did not make the required posts to legally get to the trap, you are considered captured by the trap.

The only poisen and NPC sleen that can be used are those related to the traps. A Panther will narrate the NPC sleen if it is encountered.

The area around the Lair is defended by two trained sleen. A Panther may ghost as her character and roleplay one of the sleen, or even both sleen, if the actions of both sleen are described in the same post. Non-Members can be authorized by the Leader to operate the sleens.

For now, combat with multiple opponants will be conducted sequentially with one post to each opponant. Like all other combat in the Lair, realism will be the primary judge.

If you are fighting multiple opponants, you may ((declare)) that you are going to fight by the One Post Option Rule, as a reply to a given attack. If you declare the One Post Option rule, your turn and time begins when all opponants have moved. You then receive 4 movements.

You must use the location PDs in roleplay and combat. Once your location is established, you do not need to use the PD on every post. You may move from one location to an adjoining location during your turn, but you must use the PD that your movement ENDS in, NOT the one it starts in. This may be corrected with an ((OOC)) post as a PD mistake.