Some DungeonMaster tips and Tricks.

[Maven]

would walking into a wall imitate being recently attacked?

I tested that, and it didn't work.

What DID work was being attacked. Monsters would either swing at me, or scream at me, or roar at me, or whatever they do. I didn't actually have to take any damage. If they missed, it still triggered the timer.

But if I hit back, they don't last very long. Which I guess is why the screamer room and the rat room are so popular for training. So I'm wondering what this sparring partner trick is. The way I understand it, sparring is when you fight with someone with the intent to learn or teach or test fighting ability, but without the intent to injure them. I tried everything I could think of, but I can't find anything that would fit the bill, unless it's just another name for training while letting some weak monster beat on me. I was hoping there was some obscure thing I could do that allows me to fight among my own party. Then I could enjoy extra experience for several seconds, and then heal up and try it again. Does anyone know what A3000T was talking about?

[Sophia]

My guess is that you let the monster take a swing at you, and then back off and punch idly at a wall or something for the ~20 seconds that you get the "just attacked by a monster" bonus, and then let the monster take another swing at you.

As an aside, when you actually hit a monster, you also get xp equal to the damage done, so actual combat is still going to give more xp in the long run, but that could be what the trick referred to. Why you'd want to sit there and do this for any length of time when there is more dungeon to be explored is the real mystery to me.