Fights occur very rarely, as I am trying to keep this from becoming the main focus of the game. Most times the fight is not forced, and the fuddle has the choice to fight or continue on, the exeptions being some creatures or warriors who have the special ability to force a conflict.

Once a fight is started, each combatatant is given a new stat - Alertness. The fight is won when one fighter losses consiousness - their alertness bar falls to zero. A rough idea of Fuddle Alertness might be Life/4 + Alertness Bonus, with 10 being the minimal Alertness. Creatures will have a random Alertness based on their high and low properties for this purpose. a=b+random(c).

Each combatant then has a list of options, such as attack right, attack left (for those with a weapon in each hand) cast spell, throw something, special attack, and give up. Creatures will randomly chose from attack1, attack2, sattack, run. Successfulness of running will be based on the creature's speed vs. the fuddle's Stamina.

After the battle, if it was a Fuddle vs. Fuddle match, the winner has a few options. Most of the time it will be either Leave Fuddle Here, or Take Fuddle Home. Leaving the Fuddle there will be just that, and the winner has no more to do with the loser. In this case the losing fuddle's movements will be limited for a certain amount of time, like 20 minutes, the same as if they were busy mining or building or some such. If the player logs off while their fuddle is still laying in the tunnel, then when they log back on their fuddle will be at home, with a lower max life total.

The Take Fuddle Home option seems strange, but is an attempt to add cultural characteristics to the game. If the winner chooses this option then they must adventure to the fuddle's home without getting into another fight (even fights which are normally forced will be disregarded) and deposit the fuddle there. It is customary for the winner to then take a small amount of money from the losing fuddle, for his/her troubles. The loser will then wake up twice as fast as normally, around 10 minutes.

Warriors who own Jails are given a third option, which is to bring the fuddle to their jail. They must adventure back to the Jail, avoiding any other fights, though in this case other warriors are allowed to fight the winner for the prize of the losing fuddle. The winner of this match would decide the fate of both of the other fuddles, but only has the option to carry one away from the scene. More Jail information is on the Goals page.

After the battle, if it was a Fuddle vs. Creature fight, then the results will vary based on the Fuddle's class and abilities, and what the creature has to offer. Hunters and Warriors will have more options than the other classes, since this is what they do. Also, while adventuring, Hunters and Warriors have a better chance of running into a creature, because of their tracking skills.