COMBAT DEFENSE(order)

[Gorth]

Pretty simple idea, in theory. Programming it would probably not be the easiest. Basically works like this:

> COMBAT DEFENSE

When attacked, defenses will attempt to be rolled in the following order, when applicable:
dodge
block
parry
Armor Deflection*

I'm not sure, syntactically, what the best way to set an order would be, other than having to parse a raw string of the order, which sounds kind of messy, or having the manual swapping, something like:

> COMBAT DEFENSE SWAP PARRY BLOCK

dodge
parry
block
...

I just thought it would be nice, instead of having COMBAT DEFENSE set a defense, and that being the /only/ defense you get. In addition, it would let us set up an order that nets us more skill gain. Parry doesn't give any practice, or if we wanted parry first, for thematics, or something like that.

[Dean]

This would go a long way toward doing away with weirder strategies for leveling defenses. Shield Use, for example, is hard to level because Dodge gets in the way, which results in weird (but necessary) strategies like purposefully encumbering yourself.

At a higher skill level, turning off all but one defense just kind of gets you killed. This idea would solve that!

Adding Deflective Defense to the list of defenses you can pick with this command would be nice also.

It'd also let classes that like to use specific defenses for counterattacks (guardian bashes, duelist main-gauche from parries, etc.) put them first in their lineup.