Combat design and counterplay

This chapter states intended action behavior. The previous equations, class factors, timings and finisher parameters remain in the historical computational source. The owner resumed numerical research on 2026-10-09: the full formula register reconciles those inputs, while skill balance records newly authored candidates, runnable experiments and exact coverage. Offline results do not approve the whole revised roster or establish production runtime behavior.

Routes and actions

Physical, Magic and Fixed are distinct routes. Elemental affinity does not select a route: a Spirit palm can be Physical; a Holy sword endow does not create a second Magic hit. Hybrid attacks declare each component once. Repeated direct hits, a placed damage field and an admitted periodic status are different payloads and do not borrow one another’s ticks or procs.

Admit the learned node, all prerequisite ranks, chosen job, required equipment, legal recipient, resources, state and line of sight. An unfinished interrupted action does not complete its effect; already completed ammunition/throws remain spent even if contact later misses. Each node states its own commitment and recovery. Numerical ranges, durations, coefficients and budgets remain inputs for later work.

Guaranteed eligible criticals bypass ordinary evasion, including perfect dodge. Invalid targets, phase invulnerability and body rejection are distinct outcomes. A mitigation ward can reduce an admitted hit; it does not secretly turn that hit into an evasion miss.

One originating action retains its identity through multi-hits, owned effects and recipient splits. It cannot multiply card opportunities or recursively generate another action from its own proc. Passive rank contributions replace lower rank contributions in their capped group; ranks do not supply separate hits or rolls.

Survival and utility access

Ordinary full-health and short-burst protection is target-owned. Simultaneous attackers, overlapping areas, procs, summons, traps, reflection, redirects and periodic loss share that protection rather than obtaining new allowances per source. This is intended protection against instant ordinary combo/AoE death, not guaranteed survival through sustained pressure or every encounter mechanic. The formula register and persistence proposal now document ordering, candidate thresholds and stored state; integer runtime and recovery tests remain open.

Healers, chemists, crafters, guards and other utilities can damage and defend themselves with their chosen lineage. Learned Novice mending remains self-only. Mage has barriers/repositioning; Archer, Acolyte and Merchant have their own early finite shelters; each specialist retains only learned legal ancestors. These choices require commitment and resources, not a Fallen card or the parked Performer tree.

Native broad resistance, finite absorb pools, a timed reduction, prevention and healing stay distinct. Strongest same-family shelter contributes once per actual recipient. A shelter does not cleanse a condition, repair equipment, supply a second life or become continuously renewable immunity.

Conditions and counters

Status application, duration, periodic-loss mitigation, prevention, cure and ally rouse are separate. A skill names its attempted condition; smoke, poison color, cold or a title never supplies every associated condition. Status effects owns exact removers and eligible actions.

PvE bosses resist lockdown and DoTs more strongly. Missing required body composition makes that specific effect fully immune. Direct legal loss remains separate from a rejected periodic condition. Ulgath’s flesh can bleed under its declared boss profile; nonmetabolic conceptual avatars lack the circulation/metabolism specified for their rejected effects. Body and phase declarations must match inspect feedback and actual counters.

A body immune to interruption can expose an interruptible organ or support source, or provide a positioning/destruction response. Every dangerous action has a readable tell, admission/footprint and recovery. Failure feedback distinguishes miss, immunity, resistance, interrupted preparation and invalid target.

Exceptional finishing

Monk Heartfist and Mystic Fighter Avalanche Fist are one shared exceptional finisher line. Avalanche replaces Heartfist rather than supplying a second independent allowance. They share preparation, eligible single-target range, SP/Breath commitment, cooldown and recovery lock. The retained method has Physical and separately capped Fixed components, never Magic. It is not copied, card-cast, summoned, widened to an AoE or bypassed by hotbar changes.

Ordinary heavy attacks, low-health pressure and boss variants do not acquire that exception from their name or visual scale. Boss attacks still respect player-recipient safety. The old numerical finisher inputs remain in the deferred source; no new result is asserted here.

Support and encounter channels

Healing restores admitted HP. Regeneration, healing received, cure, rouse, revival, repair, barrier and reduction have separate contracts. A Saint can self-select a legal living ally heal unless the node explicitly requires another person, but a hard lock still prevents action. A revival cannot resurrect every story death or discharge the champions’ soul-anchor curse.

Shared damage divides one eligible originating loss into real recipient portions. Each recipient applies its protection once to its own portion; no full loss is copied onto all members. Invalid recipients cannot turn redirected excess into a hidden new attack. A portion cannot repeat mitigation, reflect recursively or reset proc/safety opportunities. Current Ulgath Graft and Caedric’s Stand Between variant name their sources, scope, ending response and finite limits.

Historical Cruel Mending conversion remains an optional non-current channel. If separately selected, it replaces only eligible incoming HP restoration and attributes its hostile Fixed loss to the encounter source. It does not consume overheal, convert every revival/barrier or create recursive healing-loss chains. Retaining the safety contract does not place it in the new Dreams avatar kit automatically.

Temporary exposure requires a warned successfully admitted action and a visible target counter. Lesser transitions attempt Addled; greater additionally attempt Mindscorch under their separate resistance/removal rules. Exposure recedes without fresh admission and clears on death/encounter end; reducing it does not retroactively cure an applied condition. Journals, art and camera views never produce exposure or permanent identity loss.

Stronger bosses, distinct grants

Boss skills owns four Veyr avatar kits and eight Fallen kits. Fallen versions use their actual profession methods and selected ancestors with related variant names. A larger hammer footprint, rifle line or Spirit shockwave needs explicit warning, footprint and recovery. The ordinary100→boss200 example is a later direct-hit tuning hypothesis; it is not a universal multiplier over ticks, hybrid parts and all area targets.

Ordinary learning, a card and a relic do not grant the complete encounter action. Shio’s exceptional signature invokes its declared venom without teaching Shadow Guard the Assassin tree. Hedda’s boss weapon-only coating is separate from passive mastery. Caedric’s ally protection actually shares risk; it does not turn redirection into a free absorb pool.

The counter is specific: leave a fixed lane, interrupt an eligible cast, exhaust a finite ward, pressure its resource, prevent/cure a named condition, receive a legal ally rouse or attack exposed recovery. Every technique’s native graph states those costs and choices. The expanded offline suite verifies its modeled burst, condition and resource rules; complete profession and boss encounter balance remains unvalidated.