Combat in Mazes and Monsters is shaped by more than your weapon and armor. Your practiced skills, defensive equipment, temporary effects, and specialized protections all contribute in different ways.
This page explains the broad rules without turning combat into a list of formulas.
The skill that matches your weapon is a major part of how effectively you fight. As that skill improves, your attacks become more accurate and deal more damage. Greater skill also makes weapon fumbles less likely and can improve blocking with weapons that can be used defensively.
Hand skill fills the same role for unarmed combat and gauntlets. This means a familiar weapon can remain more effective than a seemingly stronger weapon from a skill you have barely practiced.
Combat skill grows through use. Training helps that growth, but it does not replace practice. Keep your important combat skills trained and use them regularly; see Training, Critique, And Power Hour for an overview of training and skill progress.
Magic skill matters too. It influences the strength or duration of many spells, although individual spells do not all scale in exactly the same way.
Your character sheet shows Off Rating and Def Rating as quick summaries of your current combat readiness.
| Rating | What It Summarizes | What It Does Not Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Off Rating | Your current physical attack setup, including its weapon or unarmed damage, the matching combat skill, offensive bonuses, and weapon accuracy. | It is not a literal hit chance or damage number, and it does not measure spell power. |
| Def Rating | Physical defense, blocking, Shield strength, passive equipment defenses, Resistance, and Protection. | It is not a literal damage-reduction percentage, armor value, or extra saving throw. |
Use Off Rating to compare physical combat setups. Equipping a stronger weapon may not be a true improvement if your skill with its weapon type is much lower. Raising the matching skill can improve Off Rating even when your equipment stays the same.
Use Def Rating to compare your overall defensive state, but remember that different attacks test different defensive layers. Two characters with similar Def Ratings may perform differently against a sword, fire, poison, or a disabling effect.
Both ratings are comparison tools, not separate pools of points. The equipment, skills, and effects behind each number still matter.
Resistance and Protection are two strengths of defense against a named damage type or harmful effect. Protection is the stronger tier.
| Threat | Resistance | Protection |
|---|---|---|
| Damage, such as fire, ice, lightning, or poison | Reduces some matching damage. | Provides a stronger reduction against matching damage. |
| A matching disabling effect, such as blind, fear, or stun | Gives you an additional chance to avoid the effect. | Prevents the effect. |
Some equipment quietly provides a passive defense against a particular kind of damage. These passive defenses do not display an effect icon, but they can still work alongside an active Resistance or Protection effect.
If you have both Resistance and Protection for the same threat, only Protection applies. The weaker Resistance tier does not add another bonus on top of it.
The Shield effect and a shield held in your left hand are separate defenses.
Because these are separate systems, holding a physical shield does not by itself raise the Shield effect level. A character can benefit from both at the same time.
When comparing equipment, look at the whole setup rather than one number. The best choice may be the item that supports your practiced skill, fills a missing defensive layer, or upgrades a weaker Resistance into Protection.