Spar

**A Spar** is a fight between two (or more!) controllers for the sake of practicing their abilities and combat prowess. Sparring is one of the best ways to improve, and is the source of most action in the roleplay! *Standard* s*pars go either to unconsciousness, to an agreed tie, or to an agreed upon safeword.* Characters don't need to worry about holding back their potential in these fights; nurses are present with powerful healing magic to any damage characters suffer.

Spars are allowed to have additional rules, but they're not part of the rules by default and must be agreed upon by the participants. Some options include being able to win by knocking the opponent out of a ring, or restricting the participants to certain weapons. For a balanced spar, the Arena is a good choice: An open building, but not too open, with an octagonal battleground walled with thick plexiglass. Light shines down on the middle of the battle area, giving light controllers light to work with, while the edges are still shadowed for the lurky dark controllers.

Spars can be done either in the chat, or as its own event post. Unless specifically prohibited, spectators are allowed, but can't actually interfere in the fighting. The exception is if someone keeps fighting past one of the three methods a fight can end. Onlookers can step in to forcibly stop them. Spectators are encouraged! If you take an active role and have your character study the battle, you can treat it like a session of studying! I recommend this be something you learn a new ability from, possibly by trying to imitate something you see in the fight, rather than treating it as a stat increase.

More detail in spars is better, but not too much. Action is created through short, choppy sentences. You can give long descriptions for certain epic abilities if you like, but generally, you won't want to write multipara responses.

The standard is to use two "actions" per message. Two distinct attacks or other abilities. Running around generally doesn't take up an action, so for example, you could spend your turn slashing them with your sword, then try to back off while shooting a fireball at them. A blood controller forces some of the blood in his opponent's body to burst out, spilling onto the ground, and then form into the shape of a spike and stab up at them. A gravity controller closes the distance right into melee using a wormhole, taking a little bit of damage in the process from exposure to the void, then swings their sword at the opponent's head. You get the drift. Dodging or blocking doesn't take an action, but you might decide to spend an action readying a defensive stance or ability to give yourself a better shot of succeeding at those. On that note:

Auto-hits and auto-dodges are generally to be avoided. Doing it for a few abilities or occasions is fine, but most of the time, you should give the opponent a chance to dodge or block an attack. Instead of saying "She hits his head with the mace", try "She swings the mace, aiming for his head". (There may be some characters who have a limited number of auto-dodges or auto-blocks per fight, and some characters may have an attack which can auto-hit if previous conditions have been met for it beforehand, but both of these are exceptions and one should talk to an admin before incorporating either into a character.)

Even more importantly, do not abuse having the opportunity to dodge. Even if your character is extremely fast, they should not be dodging every attack. If your character is a squishy one who relies on mobility to avoid attacks, then the ones that hit need to hurt a damn lot.

*Additional edit by TeslaIsMyDad1 (Sam): Please keep in mind that when sparring, the realism of a fight should always be considered and applied. Concepts like specified timing, the reaction time of characters involved, physical position and current physical condition as well as situation all apply. Your character may be able to pull of something at the beginning of the battle but after some X amount of time and whatever has happened to them between then, they might not. Some people dislike losing so much, or dislike the thought of their character losing a particular fight that they will sometimes let this cloud their judgement of realism and circumstance within a fight. But it's ok! It's ok to lose, frustration and drive are things you can use to become better! There will always be a next time.*

Sparring, along with training, studying and taking lessons from professors, is the way to improve. Keep in mind, however, that just stomping somebody doesn't do much to help you improve your abilities even if it is glorious. The *loser* of a spar should learn from this experience or gain new power in the face of adversity, letting them improve like they would from any of the other three methods. This can manifest in the form of a small stat boost, learning a new ability or improving an old one.

For this reason, as well as for the sake of being a good roleplayer, don't be too prideful and end up keeping your characters from losing a spar. In the end, it's a win-win scenario!

If you win, you're a damn badass and get that rush of victory. If you lose, you can learn from it and become more powerful, giving you a better shot at being the victor in your next fight. The winner of a fight should treat it as one session of improvement, and the loser should treat it as two. If it's a particularly long fight, treat it as two for the winner and three for the loser!