Stamina management
Attacks, dodges, blocks, and sprints all draw from a regenerating stamina pool; empty stamina means you can neither attack nor escape. Stamina is the tempo governor of Souls-style combat — it forces commitment budgeting, punishes greed (the fifth swing that leaves nothing for the dodge), and creates the push-pull rhythm the genre is built on. Designers use it to make aggression a resource decision rather than a button-mashing default, and to differentiate equipment (heavy weapons cost more per swing, heavy armor slows regeneration). Tuning levers: regen delay after full depletion, whether blocking pauses regen, costs per action type, and stat investment raising the pool. The delicate part is pace: over-strict stamina makes combat feel arthritic, generous stamina makes the system decorative. Pitfall: stamina in non-combat contexts — sprint meters on the overworld add friction without decisions and are the first thing players mod out.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time
- Common in: soulslike, survival