📖 Systems Covered

🛡️ Combat Postures

Combat postures allow you to dynamically adjust your fighting style during battle. Each posture provides different bonuses and penalties, and they interact in a rock-paper-scissors style matchup system!

💡 Quick Start

Use posture <style> to change your stance. Example: posture press

⚔️ PRESS (Aggressive)

Maximum offense, reduced defense

Hit: +15%
Damage: +20%
AC: -15%

Best when you need to deal maximum damage quickly. Beats HOLD.

⚖️ HOLD (Balanced)

No bonuses, no penalties - default stance

Hit: +0%
Damage: +0%
AC: +0%

Safe choice when unsure. Beats GUARD by exploiting defensive gaps.

🛡️ GUARD (Defensive)

Better protection, reduced offense

Hit: -15%
Damage: -10%
AC: +20%

Improved parry and block. Counters reckless PRESS attacks.

🎯 Posture Matchups (Rock-Paper-Scissors)

  • PRESS beats HOLD - Aggression overwhelms balance
  • HOLD beats GUARD - Balance exploits defensive gaps
  • GUARD beats PRESS - Defense counters reckless attacks

Advantage bonus: +10% damage dealt, -10% damage taken
Disadvantage penalty: -10% damage dealt, +10% damage taken

Strategy Tips

🩹 Wound System

In Death Rising, taking damage doesn't just reduce HP—heavy hits can cause wounds that persist even after healing. Wounds must be treated properly or they'll slow you down!

⚠️ Important

Wounds don't heal on their own! Use treatwound or visit a healer to recover.

Wound Severity Tiers

Tier Trigger Effects
Minor 15%+ max HP in one hit -1 to hit, small HP regen penalty
Moderate 25%+ max HP in one hit -2 to hit, -1 damage, moderate regen penalty
Severe 40%+ max HP in one hit -4 to hit, -2 damage, movement cost +1, heavy regen penalty
Critical 60%+ max HP in one hit -6 to hit, -4 damage, movement cost +2, stunned, minimal regen

Wound Locations

Wounds occur on specific body parts, each with unique penalties:

Commands

wounds See your current wounds and their severity
treatwound <location> Attempt to treat a wound (costs movement, skill check)

😓 Combat Fatigue

Extended combat is exhausting! The longer you fight, the more fatigue accumulates, reducing your effectiveness. Smart adventurers know when to rest.

Fatigue Accumulation

Action Fatigue Cost
Each combat round +1 fatigue
Using special attacks +2-5 fatigue
Casting spells +1-3 fatigue
Taking heavy damage +1-2 fatigue

Fatigue Levels

Recovery

💡 Pro Tip

Check your fatigue with score or fatigue. Take breaks between difficult fights!

Combat Initiative

Initiative determines the order of actions in combat. Higher initiative means you act first—a crucial advantage in tactical battles!

Initiative Calculation

Your initiative is calculated from:

Combat Flow

  1. Initiative is rolled at combat start
  2. Highest initiative acts first each round
  3. Acting first lets you control the fight
  4. You can try to flee before enemies act

📊 Check Initiative

Use initiative during combat to see the current turn order.

🩸 Vampire Blood System

Vampires are unique among the classes—they don't rely solely on HP and mana. Instead, they fuel their dark powers with blood drained from living victims.

⚠️ Vampire Classes Only

This system applies to: Revenant, Vampire, Lich, and Cainite

The Blood Pool

Your blood pool is your vampiric fuel reserve. It starts at 50 and increases with level:

75 / 100 Blood

Maximum Blood Pool: 50 + (Level × 2)

Blood regenerates slowly (1 per tick) when not in combat, but the primary way to refill is through draining!

Draining Blood

Use feed or gorge during combat to drain your enemy:

Drain Quality Blood Gained Special Effects
Glancing 1× drain damage Basic blood gain only
Solid 2× drain damage Chance to heal a wound
Deep 3× drain damage Heals wound + recovers fatigue

Blood Abilities

Spend your blood on powerful abilities:

🩸 Blood Surge 15 Blood

bloodsurge

Surge vampiric power through your veins. Gain +3 to all stats for 5 combat rounds.

Best used at the start of difficult fights.

💉 Blood Heal 25 Blood

bloodheal

Convert blood into instant healing. Restore 25% of your maximum HP immediately.

Emergency heal when potions aren't enough.

😈 Blood Frenzy 20 Blood

bloodfrenzy

Enter a frenzied state of supernatural speed. Gain haste for 3 rounds, attacking much faster.

Combine with Blood Surge for devastating burst damage.

⚠️ Anemia Debuff

Victims you drain heavily may become anemic. This is a stacking debuff on your target:

Stacks Effect on Victim
1 Stack -5% max HP, -1 HP regen per tick
2 Stacks -10% max HP, -2 HP regen per tick
3 Stacks (Max) -15% max HP, -3 HP regen per tick

Anemia stacks slowly wear off over time, but while active they weaken your enemies significantly!

Vampire Combat Strategy

  1. Open with Feed/Gorge - Build your blood pool early
  2. Blood Surge - Activate for tough enemies
  3. Keep Draining - Deep drains heal your wounds!
  4. Blood Frenzy - Use for burst damage phases
  5. Blood Heal - Emergency recovery when needed

🧛 Pro Tip

Check your blood level with blood or score. Never enter a fight with an empty pool!

Ready to put these tactics into practice?

Enter the Battle!