{
  "tab": "mechanics",
  "section": "combatSettings",
  "title": "Combat Settings (Advanced)",
  "summary": "Numeric tuning for the combat system: XP rewards for defeating enemies, ability recharge timing, ability effectiveness bonus, NPC daily healing, and the canonical list of valid damage types for your world.",
  "uiLocation": "Mechanics → Advanced → Combat Settings",
  "uiSubtitle": "\"Combat settings and their mechanics\"",
  "editor": "JSON only",
  "sizeLimits": [
    {
      "field": "`combatSettings.damageTypes` (entry count)",
      "limit": "40 entries",
      "sections": [
        "mechanics/combatSettings"
      ]
    },
    {
      "field": "`combatSettings.damageTypes.*` (each)",
      "limit": "60 chars",
      "sections": [
        "mechanics/combatSettings"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "related": "skills - damage types must align with skill names; abilities - ability bonuses interact with combat resolution; npcs - NPC tier controls HP multipliers and damage output",
  "wikiUrl": "/mechanics/combatSettings",
  "schema": {
    "_type": "required",
    "fields": {
      "minCombatXP": "number",
      "baseCombatXP": "number",
      "abilityCooldown": "number",
      "abilityBonus": "number",
      "npcDailyHealingAmount": "number",
      "damageTypes": {
        "_type": "array",
        "of": "string"
      }
    }
  },
  "body": "## Example\n\n```json\n{\n  \"minCombatXP\": 1,\n  \"baseCombatXP\": 100,\n  \"abilityCooldown\": 0,\n  \"abilityBonus\": 10,\n  \"npcDailyHealingAmount\": 999,\n  \"damageTypes\": [\n    \"piercing\", \"slashing\", \"bludgeoning\", \"poisoning\",\n    \"fire\", \"lightning\", \"wind\", \"water\",\n    \"arcane\", \"light\", \"dark\", \"psychic\"\n  ]\n}\n```\n\n## Fields\n\n### abilityCooldown\n\nGlobal setting governing ability cooldowns. It is **not** a multiplier on a per-ability `cooldown`. It serves two roles: it is the default `cooldown` an ability is given when it does not define its own (an authored `cooldown` applies directly), and it is the minimum number of turns that must pass before a character can learn another new ability. Balanced default: `0`.\n\n### abilityBonus\n\nGlobal setting for ability checks. It is **not** a multiplier on a per-ability `bonus`: an ability's `bonus` (shown in-game as **Power**) is added to the check directly as a flat modifier, alongside the acting skill and attribute contributions, and is not scaled by this value. `abilityBonus` is the default `bonus` an ability is given when it does not define its own; authored abilities use their own `bonus` instead. Either way the contribution shares the `skillSettings.maxSkillSuccessLevel` cap with skills, attribute bonuses, and context modifiers, consuming space within it rather than bypassing it. Balanced default: `10`.\n\n### npcDailyHealingAmount\n\n> **📋 Note (`npcDailyHealingAmount`):** Health NPCs recover by this amount per in-game day -- not tied to the Long Rest mechanic specifically. Setting this to a high value (e.g. 999) effectively means any NPC recovers fully between encounters, preventing NPCs from remaining at low HP permanently across sessions.\n\n> **📋 Note (`isHealth`):** The codec-validated way to designate the health resource is `isHealth: true` on the resource entry in [`resourceSettings`](/mechanics/resourceSettings) - the engine reads that flag to identify the primary HP pool.\n\n### damageTypes\n\n> **📋 Note (`Custom damage types`):** Adding a type like `\"radiant\"` or `\"necrotic\"` to `damageTypes` makes it a valid value in `npcTypes` `vulnerabilities`, `resistances`, and `immunities`. The engine math - increased or decreased damage for matching types - applies there. Beyond that, the damage type has no automatic behavior: it does not change how abilities deal damage, does not trigger elemental effects, and does not carry secondary rules (e.g. `\"poison\"` does not automatically inflict a poisoned condition). Any secondary behavior has to be defined explicitly in ability `description` text and narrator instructions in `generateActionInfo`.\n\n> **🐛 Common mistake (matching is case-sensitive and unnormalized):** Damage type matching against `npcTypes` `vulnerabilities`, `resistances`, and `immunities` is exact and case-sensitive — `\"Fire\"` and `\"fire\"` are different types, and a mismatch fails silently (full damage, no warning). Use the same lowercase ASCII strings everywhere you reference a damage type, and avoid accented or non-ASCII characters, which break matching the same silent way."
}