Chapter 3 of 12
Combat
War mode, blows and kicks, weapons, thrown kunai, armor and its resistances.
War mode
Alt+A or the crossed swords on the bar switch war mode. Your character takes a fighting stance and everyone can see they're ready for a fight.
In war mode the enemy you select is attacked straight away. You only attack an innocent after a second Alt+A — so nobody becomes a criminal by accident. Anyone who attacks you while you're in war mode gets an answer on its own.
You can't fight in towns and villages — they're a protected zone. Fighting starts outside the walls.
Taijutsu: fists and kicks
Without a weapon you fight with Taijutsu. Every taijutsu technique has its own move — spinning kicks, flurries of blows, throws.
Hitting depends on your skill and the defender's; Evasion and Parrying let you come out unharmed, Tactics and Anatomy raise your damage, and Strength adds its share.
A body given to pure taijutsu (above 80) won't take ninjutsu or genjutsu above 40 any more. Body or chakra — you have to choose.
Weapons
Weapons are Taijutsu specializations:
- swords — katana, ninjatō, tantō;
- daggers — quick blows, a bonus from hiding;
- polearms — bō, yari, naginata, reach of two tiles;
- blunt weapons — kanabō, tonfa, hammers, they crush armor;
- chain weapons — kusarigama, entangling the target.
Apart from those: throwing (kunai, shuriken, senbon — double-click and the target cursor) and ranged weapons (bow, crossbow, blowpipe).
You see the weapon in your character's hand, and its quality depends on the blacksmith — on the kind of metal and wood.
Armor
Armor protects against seven kinds of damage: physical, fire, water, wind, lightning, earth and poison.
- leather — light, doesn't get in the way of jutsu; snake, frog, snow wolf, boar or fox leather gives extra resistances, and some a bonus to hit;
- kusari — shinobi chain mail, the middle way;
- samurai plate — the best protection, but heavy: it slows you, blocks chakra, and only the strong can wear it.
When it goes wrong
The defeated don't die — they lose consciousness for three minutes, lie where they fell and see the world through a haze.
Meanwhile anyone can search their body and take everything: the backpack and whatever they were wearing. Then they wake up weakened, with whatever nobody took. A medic can bring them round sooner.
Don't carry everything with you. That's what the bank is for.
