4.6 Equilibrium and Balance

Many players who come from different backgrounds are not familiar with the way that magick and fighting works in Imperian. Here, the majority of abilities (which, remember, encompasses magick, swordplay, and loads of other things), use either balance or equilibrium. What these represent is physical balance, and mental equilibrium. By physical balance, we do not necessarily mean that without it you are going to fall to the ground, but it is a convenient way of expressing the idea that after doing certain physical things, like swinging a sword, you must recover before you can do another.

For instance, if you throw a punch at someone, you must recover your balance before throwing another punch, or before kicking, or swinging a sword. The same goes for equilibrium. If I cast a fireball at you, or if I use a psionic ability on you, my mind will momentarily reel from the strain, and I must wait until I recover to do this again. Furthermore, in most cases, not having balance prevents you from using an ability that requires equilibrium, and vice versa. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, which you must discover.

The game will let you know when you recover balance or equilibrium, so you do not have to guess. And, generally speaking, the time it takes to recover these ranges from about 2 to 5 seconds, depending on the ability. Some very powerful abilities may take longer, however.

In order to know when you have balance and equilibrium, many players find the command CONFIG PROMPT very helpful.