A few combat things I think the engine could possibly do.

[MagpieOAO]

A parry system - Should be possible?

If various weapons, shields could be given different values for their ability to block damage, a better key to activate the block and a ramping reduction, you can have an actual parry system. Of course this requires enemies to have telegraphed attacks and consistent animations, but assuming they do it would look something like;

Shield - Flat 3 damage reduction

Buckler - 5 damage reduction on activation for 1 second reducing down to 1 damage reduction after 2 seconds.

Sword - Gives 3 damage reduction for the first .5 second and .5 reduction after that

Knife - Gives 2 damage reduction in the first .5 seconds and .3 after that

The way it would look is blocking right before an enemy attack should reduce the damage in higher levels than just blocking, encouraging players to try to time their blocks.

Weapon special attacks - Cool but not sure how possible

Right click to use special attack which costs additional energy/satiety. 

Club smash - Dazes enemies reducing their movement speed and attack frequency, 

Axe chop - Sunders enemy armor reducing their armor level, stacks

Sword parry - Can parry/block attacks. Gain double damage after a successful parry

Spear throw - Stuns enemies preventing attacks or movement for a moment

Damage afflictions - Uses existing mechanics somewhat

Weapons can cause bleeding, burning, poison or rust.

• A simple idea would be something like you hit an enemy with a torch they have a chance to catch on fire. Arrows have a chance to cause bleeding. 

A more advanced idea using metallurgy and the planned herbalism/brewing system you could do things like;

• Coat a sword in pitch, light the pitch on fire to act as both a light source and a means to easily catch enemies on fire. Doesn't last very long though.
• Stew arrows in poisonous mushroom soup for poison arrows. 
• Collect the supernatural rust and mix with fat/oils to create an applicable weapon coating that does supernatural damage.

 

Of course, I am an armchair dev so I have no idea what it entails to add things like this. As best as I can think of though, these could work within the engine without fundemental changes and would scale with the player from stone knives to steel clubs, all while giving some versatility to each weapon class and making combat more interactive.

 

Edited May 30, 2025 by MagpieOAO

[AppleJam]

A few of these are already implemented in the Combat Overhaul mod so it's definitely possible I think. Namely the parrying and throwing of the spear and light/heavy shields that also make defending an active task. You could also adjust the grip on the spear to adjust it's reach too which is great. A few of the mobs also already telegraph their attacks enough to parry consistently, and the only ones I think are a bit too jank to do so reliably against are shivers and locusts, with bowtorn's back lean and lunge almost being inconsistent enough to make parrying a bit difficult

Coated weapons are a great idea too imo though yeah, and it'd give the poisonous mushrooms another use case outside of poisoning yourself or your friends I have no idea either if that's possible to implement since I'm in the same position you are lol

Also a bit off topic but I do hope that there comes a passive lighting option too late enough game to keep the light source/defense of the game relevant but to give an option later on to have both, which I think are possible as there're several mods that add belt/backpack/helmet attached lights... They're sadly just too out of date to use currently afaik.

[Zane Mordien]

Nice list of ideas.