Stances

*"If we show a foe the counter to the face we show a love, we are liars."* - Eladriell of Ubar.

## **STANCES & ADVANCED STANCES**

Stances are physical positions used in combat to provide you with mechanical benefits or negate an opponents combat advantages. They do this by raising or lowering various numbers used in Dark Lair's combat calculations. The exact numbers are not very important at this stage, but remember the difference between being in a Stance versus being in none is enormous! Everyone can train the basic Stances from the very start of play, so type "exp" to see their current ratings, then "autostance <stance name>" to set that one to be used whenever you enter combat.

 As you train these Stances (Bull, Crab, Crane, Mongoose and Viper) to 200 simply by running around and killing mobs, you'll notice that they grant a small amount of XP at certain points of improvement. ALL stances do this, in the same way as Weapon Skills, which is nice. Now go kill things and max a few! Easy stuff so far, eh?

Example: Nobby the Neonate logs in and types "autostance viper", before spending an hour beating up the homeless and stealing their clothes. Checking his "exp" sheet later, he sees Viper is now at 200 (the maximum), so he sets "autostance bull" , ready for his next round of hobo-harassment.

Soon you'll notice that maxing basic Stances will open up Advanced Stances on your "exp" sheet. Advanced Stances are way better than basics, so you'll need to raise Dragon (aquired by maxing Bull and Crab), Mantis (Crane & Viper), Monkey (Crane & Mongoose), Swallow (Crab & Mongoose) and Tiger (Bull & Viper) to 200 as well, once you have access to them.

Example: Crappy the Cub maxes Viper and Crane, then notices Mantis has appeared on his "exp" sheet. Mildly aroused by this, he sets autostance to Mantis and tries to max it first before training any more basic Stances, as the better Advanced Stance will make combat easier and he's desperate to "etch" his gear and stop looking like someone shaved a monkey and kicked it through a Ren-Fair market.

The "help stancetable" command shows what stances do well, badly or equally against others (using a vague -10 to +10 rating system pulled out of someone's ass), "help stance" or "help advancedstance" also provide more details. A lot of Stance-dancing used to occur in PvP as people tried to outwit their foes, but these fiddly specifics are now of limited use as once all basic and Advanced Stances are at 200, you can create 5 Super Stances which supercede all previous ones! These are designed with the "setstance" command, which brings up an explanatory menu about it all but for now just memorise the following commands...

* "stance <name> - enter a named Stance.
* "stance" - come out of whatever Stance you are in.
* "autostance <name>" - pick a Stance to automatically use whenever you enter combat.

## **SUPER STANCES**

Super Stances are Stances you design. They work just like the others except you choose how they look in play and what they focus on, such as being all about Dodging, doing Damage or whatever. Each Super Stance is designed by spending XP on various powers and abilities, given a name and movement description then finalised. While you can spend less exp than the maximum possible when designing a Super Stance, it is *not* recommended! While most people spend all their time in their final (5th) Super Stance, you never know when you will want to emphasise or use different styles in play!

* "setstance": brings up the Super Stance creation menu.
* "ss <name>": shows information on a Super Stance you have designed.

## **Super Stance Table**

You need to spend a minimum amount of XP on a Super Stance and they have a maximum too. It's up to you what combination of powers and abilities a Stance will have, as well as the levels of potency of those things. You can't have everything, so choose wisely!

* Name: Create the Stance's name, but DON'T use more than 8 letters or colour-codes as these can cause bugs!
* Min-Max. XP: This is the maximum amount of XP you can spend on powers and abilities for the Stance.
* Power: The max number of powers the Stance can have, each costing 50xp.
* Greater: The max number of those powers that *can* be of Greater quality for 100xp instead.
* Supreme: The max number of those powers that *can* be of Supreme quality for ???xp instead.
* Abilities: Pick all, some or none of these to apply, but as they cost 200xp each, Max. XP limits their use.

## **Powers**

Powers and abilities grant specific bonuses, often correlating with Stats, and generally make empirical sense at first glance. If you're focused on Str with your gear then a Super Stance with as much DAM and POW as possible seems logical, doesn't it? But consider that you can't hurt what you can't hit, that the DamCap bonus from POW might only affect "Midround" attacks such as a Stargazer's Falling Touch, a Lasombra's "Lamprey" or a Mage's "Chant"ed True Magick and things get a little more complex in calculation. Use "setstance <power> <level>" or "setstance <power> clear" to add or remove these when designing.

 DAM
 HIT
 POW
 RES

* Power: The name of the power.
* Stat: The Stat that the power correlates with.
* Function: Roughly what the power does.
* Notes: Additional confirmed information or suspected effects.

## **Abilities**

Abilities are expensive but straightforward perks any Super Stance can buy. The only limiter is the Max. XP of a given Super Stance and your 5th Stance will be able to have them all anyway! Use "setstance <ability>" or "setstance <ability> clear" when designing.

 Dodge
 Parry
 Speed

* Ability: The name of the Ability.
* Stat: The Stat that the Ability correlates with.
* Function: Roughly what the ability does.
* Notes: Additional confirmed information or suspected effects.

## **Finalising**

Not much left to do with a Super Stance now, except use the following commands...

* "setstance move <type>": Pick one of Arch, Coil, Drop, Hunch, Leap, Lunge, Roll, Rotate, Slide, Spin, Squat, Swing, Swoop, Twirl, Twist or Wriggle. This is what people see when you enter your Stance, so make it thematic or appropriate to the name!
* "setstance name <name>": Remember to use 8 letters or less, DO NOT use colour coding and capitalising the name is also recommended. People will see the name when you enter a Stance, e.g "Eladriell arches into the Vampire stance", so thematic names like "Kailindo", "Assamite" or "Essentia" will get more respect than seeing something like "Walnut squats into the birthing stance"!

Then either...

* "setstance clear": Clear all choices and start designing the Stance from scratch.
* "setstance done": Completes the Stance, remember to use "autostance"!

## **Example Super Stance Design**

Confused? Don't worry, Merkin the Mage will help show you how it's done, as she's finally maxed her 2nd Super Stance and is ready to begin designing her 3rd! Merkin notes that she can spend a maximum of 750xp on it, that it can have up to 3 powers (of which 2 can be Greater powers) and that she can potentially add up to 3 abilities given the XP limits.

Merkin likes putting the hurt on people, as she's a nasty little Nephandus, and worse still she's a min-maxing munchkin! She's wearing the best Str boosting gear and, as a Mage, she enjoys throwing 6-chained damage "Chant"s around. Because of these "lifestyle choies" she opts for as much DAM and POW as is viable and enters the following commands...

* setstance pow greater
* setstance dam
* setstance bypass
* setstance speed
* setstance parry
* setstance move lunge
* setstance name Sadist
* setstance done

Constrained by the cap of 750xp, Merkin can't make a truly scary stance yet, but she's getting there! She calculated the most viable options from what she had available, see if you can both follow the logic in her choices as well as confirm her cost calculations?

## **ADVICE**

It is *confirmed* that Werewolves get bonuses to Str and Sta rolls, it is *suspected* that Vampires get Dex bonuses and Mages get Wits bonuses. You may wish to take that into account when designing Super Stances

If your final stance is defensive in nature then consider making your fourth offensive and vice versa. This gives you some flexibility and options in play.

Your favoured gear and its associated Stat bonuses will also enhance or detract from your Stances, for example if you routinely wear the best Str gear around then a Stance with a focus on DAM and POW would maximise overall effectiveness, or you could try and mitigate your weak defense by using RES and ARM. The choice is yours.