The HUD functions are organised as follows:

I. The Cast Bar

The Cast Bar appears when you touch that little button above the HUD’s badge. That button is available even when the HUD is hidden/minimised.

The buttons work slightly differently.

I.I. Spells, Potions, and Transfig

When you click any of the first three buttons, you can type in the name of the thing you want to do (Levitation Charm, Colour-Changing Charm, Antidote to Common Posions, etc) or the incantation of it in case it’s a magic (Wingardium Leviosa, Collovaria, etc). You can also type the name/incantation only partially (like “levi” or “col” or “anti”) and the HUD will find the appropriate spell; it will pick the first one in case there are multiple ones that fit the criterion (such as Lumos vs. Lumos Solem).

Upon submitting, the HUD will tell you whether you succeeded or not at casting that spell/transfiguration or brewing that potion, and your titler will change to reflect that.

If you’re a sixth-year or above, when you submit a spell/transfig you will also have the possibility of casting them nonverbally.

Casting on objects: Some objects in the world may have spells or transfigurations cast on them. Clicking the object will give a message that you are targeting that object. If you click the object again, you will un-target it. Once the object is targeted, you may follow the above instructions to cast a spell.

I.I.a Targeted Spells

Some spells may be cast at other players. After rolling to cast one of these spells, you will be presented with a list of potential targets. Choose one, and then confirm that you have chosen the correct target. After posting your RP, the target will be presented with the option to either defend or allow the spell to hit them.

If you are defending from an attack, you have 3 minutes to choose as to whether you will defend or not. If you choose to defend, you have another 3 minutes to roll a spell, transfig, or dodge, otherwise the spell will automatically hit. The timer stops when you have rolled your defense and there is no time limit to post your RP.

A person who has been targeted by an attack and has a pending defence may not be targeted for another attack until they either accept the attack or roll for defence.

If you do not wish to be presented with the “choose a target” dialog box after rolling each spell (ex. if you’re just practising) then you may click the large circle part of the HUD and select “Toggle Target” from the menu. You may still be targeted by other players and you will still be able to defend yourself from their attacks.

Effects: Some spells have effects when cast on players. They may damage or restore your health, affect other needs, have a visual effect, or some combination of all of those. If your health is damaged, your fitness is also damaged by a small amount.

IMPORTANT:

• Spells can’t be the target of other spells. One beam hitting another is an exceedingly rare thing and when it happens the spell mostly cancel each other out. But in any case, for the purposes of MM, it can’t happen.
• Targeted Spells are an aid to a fight, but the focus is the RP. While any magic can be chosen for defense, it has to make sense within the RP of the duel. You can use a Finite Incantatem defensively by dispelling a flock of enchanted birds that were sent your way, but you can’t use it to stop an Expelliarmus on its way. The RP comes first, so before anything you decide how you’ll act within the constraints of canonicity and only then do you make the HUD roll. Be creative! But be “realistic.” Spells can do only what they can do, and no more.
• The HUD will only moderate your post order to a point and it will be down to you as players to determine how you wish to handle 3+ person fights. Please be courteous and communicate with each other OOCly to work out these issues. The general rule is that if you are attacked, you may roll for defense and also optionally roll again for an attack in the same post. If a fight requires someone to facilitate or if other OOC problems arise, please contact a moderator.

I.II. Herbology and CoMC

In Herbology and CoMC, you have two different consecutive rolls. First, you need to choose which plant/creature you wish to identify:

When you submit, you will perform the id roll, which will determine whether you correctly recognised that creature/plant for what it was.

Then, if you succeed at identifying a plant/creature, the HUD will prompt you for a further roll, to care for it.

If you fail at identifying the creature/plant, you will not be prompted for the care roll.

I.III. Arcane

Arcane is a catch-all skill for arcane knowledge, such as Divinations, Ancient Runes, or Alchemy. Unlike the other skills, it doesn’t have a specific target such as a single rune or anything, but rather “ranges” of targets, identified with letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When your Professor tells you to roll Arcane for their subject, they will also tell you what range counts as a success. For example, if to correctly draw a certain Alchemical Circle you need to roll a He in Arcane, you will click the button and type “He” in the text box:

As usual, the HUD will tell you whether you succeeded or failed. If you leave the text box blank and submit it, the HUD will only tell you what your target roll was.

Cheat Sheet: In order from lowest to highest, the possible Arcane rolls and the levels they’re equivalent to are:

Roll	Min Level	Max Level
Taw	—	—
Beth	0	0
Gimel	0	2
Daleth	1	6
He	4	10
Waw	7	14
Zayin	11	17
Heth	14	21
Teth	19	25
Yod	22	29
Kaph	25	35
Lamed	33	42
Mem	38	50
Nun	46	59
Samekh	55	68
Ayin	64	81
Pe	77	94
Sadhe	90	98
Qoph	95	100
Resh	98	100
Shin	100	100
Aleph	—	—

These levels are organised in such a way that if you’re the min level for a Roll, it will be hard for you to roll that, and if you’re the max level, it will be easy. If you’re below the min level, you will have a very hard time indeed rolling that, and if you’re above the max level, that should be par for the course.

Rolling a Taw is always a critical failure, and rolling an Aleph is always a resounding success.

I.IV. Dodge

When you click this button, you will receive a prompt to either Dodge or Flee.

If your choose dodge, your HUD will simply tell you whether you succeeded at dodging or failed.

Similarly if you choose flee, your HUD will tell you whether you were able to successfully flee.

The flee function is a dice role to mediate whether your character would reasonably have escaped on foot or not. Other methods of escaping a scene are still valid, such as apparate. If you successfully cast apparate, you do not need to also roll “flee”. 

Once you have successfully rolled “flee” your next post must be a post out of the current scene. 

If you are attacked, you must first use an appropriate defence such as a spell, transfig, or dodge first (or accept the hit), then roll “flee” as your “attack” move to attempt to escape. 

If you have a legitimate OOC reason to post out of a scene you do not need to roll flee. Please negotiate this with the other people you are RPing with. If there is a dispute, please contact a moderator.

IMPORTANT: Remember that each roll must be described in a post. Whether you succeed or fail, when you roll to do anything you should post to describe your actions before attempting to roll again. That means that you need to roleplay each single success or failure individually before you’re allowed to try to do something again. The only exceptions are for CoMC and Herbology, where both identify and care count as a single roll, and Dueling (explained below), where Defense and Attack must be explained in a single post, or if you are defending yourself from a targeted spell.

P.S.: For more inconsequential/casual posts where you know other people won’t react to each individual roll of yours, it can be okay to conflate multiple rolls in a single post. However, if you do, you must describe each roll separately, so if you failed 3 times before succeeding at a spell, you must describe each failure individually and not mix them all saying “so-and-so failed 3 times then succeeded.”