Draft:Guardsman
| G Guardsman | |
|---|---|
| Form | Ordinary creature |
| Attacks | 3 attacks: 0–24 physical each before absorption; 3 defensive actions |
| Special abilities | Alarm whistle when hostile |
| Base level | 0 |
| HP | 150 |
| Hit | 20 |
| Defense | 20 |
| Action interval | 3 ticks; lower is faster |
| Kill experience | 150, when death is in sight |
| Generation | Random pools and fixed guard posts |
| Carried items | Great-sword; no random starting treasure |
| Immunities | None innate |
| Remains | Dead guardsman; 50% on normal death |
| Remains use | No alchemy; eating is cannibalism |
Traits
| |
| Reference | minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 12[1] |
A guardsman is an armed law-enforcement creature, displayed as a red G. Rampart has twelve fixed guard posts. Guards usually leave a peaceful visitor alone, but theft, violence and alarms can turn the city's defenders against you. The Justiciar is a separate historical NPC who shares their alarm and surrender system.[2]
Generation
Rampart's fixed guards begin asleep, waking when approached within two squares. Waking does not itself make them hostile. Guards also occur in villages, the Archmage's court, ordinary random-monster pools and summons; those encounters do not inherit the city's initial sleep arrangement.
An ordinary guard carries a great-sword. It is a carried item, not a promise that removing it will eliminate the creature's built-in combat damage. Guards have three attacks and three defensive actions in their normal tactical sequence. Their nominal level 0 does not make their HP or melee strength suitable for a new character to challenge.[3][4][5][6]
Law enforcement
A peaceful guard gives a short greeting, recognizing members of the Order of Paladins. Membership does not prevent a guard from becoming hostile.
Pickpocketing a guard never uses the ordinary theft success roll. The guard confiscates all carried cash as a fine; if you have no cash, the attempt sends you through the arrest process instead. High Dexterity and thieves' rank do not bypass this response.
A hostile guard can blow a whistle, waking and alerting living guards and the Justiciar on the current map. In Rampart, the alarm also temporarily blocks the Order headquarters' normal service entrance. Killing a guard moves alignment 10 points toward Chaos and, in a city or village, triggers another alarm.
Talking to a hostile guard offers surrender. Accepting shifts alignment one point toward Law. In Rampart it invokes the gaol and court process, whose results depend on previous arrests, Order membership and other conditions. Outside the city, this conversation confiscates the item in your weapon hand and pacifies guards on the current map. Voluntarily surrendering to a peaceful guard and admitting a crime can also send you to court.
Successful pacification stops the affected guards' alarm ability and returns fixed city guards to their posts. It applies to the map on which it occurs; an event inside a residence is not automatically proof that guards outside have calmed down.[7][8][9][10]
Undead guardsmen
| Form | Level | HP | Hit / defense | Raw melee roll | Kill XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary guardsman | 0 | 150 | 20 / 20 | 0–24 | 150 |
| Undead guardsman | 0 | 300 | 40 / 40 | 0–49 | 150 |
If a Rampart alarm finds no surviving guards or Justiciar, the LawBringer's protection matters. While the LawBringer is still alive, the event halves your current Strength and recreates the twelve guard posts as hostile, awake undead guardsmen. They have doubled HP, hit, defense and damage rating, plus a ranged attack. Despite their undead form, they cannot pass through walls. Their changed movement also replaces intelligent door opening with attempts to break ordinary doors.[11]
These resurrected guards are immune to every damage type except ordinary physical damage. They are not ordinary ghosts and do not share a ghost's physical immunity. Their displayed level remains 0. Killing one still has the guardsman's alignment and alarm consequences, so extermination does not necessarily produce a permanently undefended city. If the LawBringer has already died, the corresponding event instead destroys the Order; see its headquarters article.[12][13]
Strategy
An ordinary guard acts at a base interval of three ticks and can attempt all three attacks in one tactical sequence. Armor reduces ordinary damage, but a successful non-immune hit still costs at least one HP. The undead form retains level 0: although it uses the same spirit-touch routine as a spectre, its drain strength is zero, so it does not remove five or nine levels like the stronger undead. Its doubled physical damage and missile attack remain serious threats.[14]
Avoid treating guards as a source of free weapons or low-level experience. A single confrontation can involve the whole city's law enforcement, and killing the last defender can replace the force with stronger opponents.
Surrender through conversation is an alternative to continued combat, but read the court consequences before relying on it. A paladin's first punishment can be expulsion rather than immediate imprisonment. Ordinary guard corpses have no alchemical transformation; eating one counts as cannibalism and costs another 10 alignment points.
References
See also: Monster overview and Defense and protection.
- ↑ lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 373–394; mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 134–203; mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 8–51; time.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 47–74; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 662–750. Ordinary construction, combat, timing and remains.
- ↑ minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 12.
- ↑ city.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 9 (
load_city). - ↑ village.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 150 (
make_guard). - ↑ env.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 227 (
load_court). - ↑ lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 317 (
make_creature). - ↑ mtalk.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 174 (
m_talk_guard). - ↑ mspec.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 255 (
m_sp_whistleblower). - ↑ command3.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 774 (
pickpocket). - ↑ site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 221 (
send_to_jail). - ↑ city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 472–505; mmove.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 129–147; util.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 93–151.
- ↑ city.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 472 (
resurrect_guards). - ↑ aux3.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 1137 (
destroy_order). - ↑ time.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 47–74; mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 8–51; mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 124–129; aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 498–513; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1167–1191; mstrike.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 16–20; city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 472–505.