Patent attributes
A guard condition system for determining whether to block an attack against a character in a multi-character party within an entertainment game is disclosed. A multi-character party may be divided into multiple lines of battle, such that all characters in more forward lines of battle automatically attempt to block attacks by an enemy against any characters in a more rearward line of battle. Whether a block attempt is successful may depend on a variable referred to as a guard condition value, which may be based on the characters in the multi-character party, the characters in the forward line of battler performing the blocking, and/or other modifiers resulting from the battle itself or from temporary rewards and penalties. When an attack is successful, the attacking character may move to the location of the attacked character such that subsequent attacks are immune from blocking attempts.
