Blindside

The blindside ability is a Thief-only melee ranged attack from hiding, using the Death from Above mechanics.

• In 2018 Blindside replaced the previous command, Backstab; backstab is now an alias, and either commands (blindside or backstab) will perform a blindside attack

• Blindside requires the thief to have a melee weapon in the right hand, be in melee range, and to be hidden. At that point, the thief may type in 'blindside' and will perform a highly damaging attack

Weapon choice

• Blindside allows the use of Light Edged weapons, Medium Edged weapons, Light blunt weapons, Medium Blunt weapons.

• Maximum weapon weight for blindside with a medium edge or blunt is the smaller of 30 stones or your current Strength. Maximum weapon weight for backstabbing with a light edge or blunt is 30 stone (no strength check).

• Light Edged weapons or Light Blunt weapons will do less damage and are more likely to hit than Medium Edged weapons or Medium Blunt weapons of equivalent skill. Conversely, a Medium size weapon is more difficult to hit with, but does significantly more damage.

The following messaging signifies the accuracy penalty for medium weapons.:

Your <weapon> is a little awkward, but usable.

• Blindside damage for edged type weapons is calculated in a manner similar to a thrust or lunge. The puncture value of the weapon used is the main damage determinant, but the impact and slice contribute as well.

  `The above information may be incorrect, From Javac - 2-6-2020
   All three types of blindside have the same weights, just in a different order. It is heavily weighted towards the primary stat, but there is a little bit of the secondary stats. I can't give you exact numbers, though.
   Puncture is weighted P/I/S, Slice is weighted S/I/P, and Impact is weighted I/S/P. A 7/10/3 should hit as hard as a 10/7/3 and as hard as a 3/7/10, if such things exist.`

• Blindside damage for blunt type weapons is calculated based on the impact value of the weapon, with slice and puncture contributing; the attack is similar in nature to a bash.

Target choice

• Blindside success is based on attacker's Backstab skill versus target's Perception skill. The higher the Perception of a creature the more difficult it is to backstab and the more experience will be gained for success.

• The blindside move targets certain vital areas, and one non-vital area. The targets are determined by the amount of success on the Backstab vs. Perception check. The head, neck, back and arms are the areas which can be struck with a successful blindside.

• Any target may a victim of the blindside, in stark contrast to the previous backstab move. No special actions are required, and it still offers bonus damage. Simply hide and blindside.

Successful blindside

Alpha strike

• The first successful blindside that does damage will do an increased amount of damage, after which it will return to the standard backstab damage for 30 seconds.

Death From Above

• A successful blindside uses Shield ignoring mechanics (Often called 'Death from above', or DFA) which gives the target a 15% defensive penalty on average.

• With enough evasion skill, the target can evade even a successful blindside. On a successful blindside, the Stealth skill of the attacker is checked against the defender's Perception skill, and a damage modifier is added if attacker beats defender. The higher the success of the Stealth skill check, the more damage done.

Confounds

• Blindside is tied to the Thief Confidence system. A successful blindside against an appropriately skilled target will increase confidence. A failed backstab against any target will decrease confidence. SMIRK [SELF] may be used to check confidence level.

• Urban bonus will influence blindside success, as it offers a stealth bonus

Related Forum Posts

Click here to search for related posts.