Editing Combat (section)

= Parties =
Parties are an extremely important part of Icesus. A single player character simply cannot hope to survive alone. Parties give even the most newbie players a chance to safely explore the world, and gain some experience and valuable equipment. If you need or want to join a party, simply ask for party on the channel wanted. You can also try using the command 'tell' to tell some specific individual that you would like to join the forces. Anyone can create and lead a party, but more experienced players usually do a much better job than the newbies.

'''Tip: 'help party' command gives you the general party commands.'''

== The Advantages of Partying ==
For the beginning characters, partying offers an easy way to survive and get experience. However, the main advantage a party has over a single adventurer, is the fact that a single enemy cannot hope to defend against all attacks from two or more opponents. Therefore, a party has much better chances of killing dangerous creatures than the a single character. The enemy must divide its actions between all the members of the party, and therefore the individual damage the characters receive is quite a bit less than if each of the characters fought the enemy alone. Also, the enemy can only attack a certain number of times per combat round, therefore it is not as difficult to defend against them.

Partying also grants you a boost to experience gain.

Finally, because the enemy can only attack members of the front row of the party, unless it can cast spell or has special attacks, the spell-casters and healers are usually fairly safe from the physical damage of the enemy.

== Formation of Parties ==
Each party can have up to nine members, three in each row. Most parties have one or more combat-orientated characters, known as tanks, to soak up damage and make physical attacks against enemies. They make up the front row of most, if not all, parties. All characters not wishing to be attacked directly by the enemy better stay behind the tanks.

The second row is usually reserved for healers, or priests of air, who try to heal the first row and keep the tanks alive. If there is room, archers, throwers and blasters, meaning mages, fill up the second row. Usually they stay in the third row, just to be on the safe side.

== Party Shares ==
Not everyone is equal in Icesus, and the experience the party acquires is not divided equally amount the members. The more experienced characters take the majority, but even the most inexperienced characters do get some, even if partying with the most experienced characters. Also the charisma affects party share.

== Leadership ==
The more skilled and charismatic the party leader is, the more effectively he leads the parties. The leader gets extra experience for his troubles, and if he is good enough, all others can also gain some bonus experience. Also, the leader is the one who decides when and how to flee from combat, and his skills therefore replace all other characters' skills and abilities while partying.