Swashbuckling

Swashbuckling is a term that developed in the 16th century to describe rough, noisy and boastful swordsmanship. It is based on a fighting style using a side-sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was filled with much "swashing and making a noise on the buckler". Today the word has come to mean all forms of showy and extravagant sword play.

In PotBS Swashbuckling is often synonymous with AvCom (or Avatar Combat) which encompasses everything that has to do with combat between Avatars instead of Ships.

Styles

There are three Swashbuckling styles in PotBS.

Florentine

Focus on the Small sword and Dagger

Fencing

Focus on the Rapier

Dirty Fighting

Focus on the Cutlass

Combat Mechanics

Life

This is your HP, if this reaches 0 you die.

Initiative

Initiative begins at 100 and regenerates constantly. You always begin every fight with the ability to use your most powerful special moves. Minions die in a few swings, but it feels reasonable that they die, given how over-the-top your first attacks are. Initiative is the universal combat currency.

Guard

Guard operates in much the same way that armor does in the ship combat system. When you take damage, you take guard damage. As your guard drops, you start taking some of the damage to your health instead. When your guard reaches 0, you’re taking all the incoming damage to your health. It’s a constantly regenerating pool of ‘hit points’. As long as you’re only taking Guard damage, the fight isn’t serious yet; you’re still mostly safe, and will quickly recover once it’s over. For enemies, it’s ablative armor: once you knock their Guard aside, they’re in real danger—and special abilities that can bypass Guard are much more dangerous and significant. Minor enemies no longer regenerate Guard, and even lieutenants regenerate more slowly than the player.

Offense/Accuracy

Offense is your overall chance to hit your target. Increasing your Offense will increase the chance that you hit, rather than being dodged or parried.

Accuracy is a bonus that is added to your chance to hit each time it is rolled. Thus, if your Offense is 100, your chance to hit is a random number between 1 and 100; if you also have 10 Accuracy, your chance to hit is a random number between 10 and 110. Accuracy is thus more effective at increasing your chance to hit; it is therefore less commonly found on outfitting, and in smaller amounts.

Parry/Dodge

Dodge is the chance that you avoid an opponent's attack by dodging away from it. Dodge is a defense of last resort; when you dodge an incoming attack, you lose 10 points of Initiative. Parry is the chance that you avoid an opponent's attack by interposing your sword between you and the attack. Parry is the preferred defense, as it carries no penalty with it. Together, your Parry and Dodge scores are your Defense. In order to hit you with an attack, an opponent's Offense roll must be higher than your Parry and Defense combined.