Defend Command

The Defend Command is a common battle command in RPGs, where the character assumes a defensive stance that reduces damage received from enemies (usually by half), usually at the expense of not being able to take any other action in that stance. Hence, this command is regarded as useless (especially in turn-based environments where all actions require a full turn), although it can vary from game to game. Occasionally, however, a boss will have a charged-up super move which is best survived by defending on the turn it fires, leaving players used to ignoring the command clueless as to how to survive.

A more useful variation that also occurs is a command where the defending character becomes the target for all enemy attacks, i.e. shielding other party members from taking the hits, which comes in handy if used by a character who can Counter Attack.

See also Stone Wall, which any character using this command becomes while it's in effect. See also Unblockable Attack, which can break through this.

Tabletop RPG

 * Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition has "Fight Defensively" (-4 to attack rolls, but +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class) and "Total Defense" (+4 dodge bonus to AC, but requires a standard action to use (thus preventing the character from attacking), as well as preventing them from making Attacks of Opportunity)
 * Adventure WG6 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure. The Big Bad Tomorast replaced his hands with magical versions. One of their powers is that when clasped together in defense, they provide strong protection against both physical and magical attacks.
 * The Dwarven Defender Prestige Class in 3E has a "defensive stance" that gives it a big boost to AC and temporary Constitution bonus (meaning extra Hit Points) at the cost of remaining stationary. It was adapted to Pathfinder as the Stalwart Defender.
 * Shadowrun. Early editions allowed characters in melee combat to use the Full Defense option, which reduced incoming damage and could cause an opponent to miss altogether.
 * The Legend of the Five Rings RPG has the Full Defense stance, in which the character cannot attack and has their movement reduced, but is harder to hit. How much of a benefit the stance gives varies depending on the character's Defense skill and which edition you are playing.

Video Games
"Steelguard: The character has no special benefit, but possesses the greatest damage reduction.
 * Swords in Minecraft let you do this.
 * Pokémon: Wild XXX used Protect! Wild XXX Protected itself!
 * The main use of actually using that is to stall while something else kills your foe. In early generations "something else" would be the status conditions like Toxic, while in later generations it's usually your allies in double and triple battles using moves such as Surf to hit everything on screen. Wide Guard and Quick Guard have an added bonus of protecting your allies, but only do anything against multi-target and increased-priority moves.
 * In Final Fantasy games, Defend generally halves physical damage only, providing no protection against magic. In games with ATB, the character will defend indefinitely until they are issued a different command, giving it some use as a way to keep one character on standby.
 * Final Fantasy IV's Yang gets the Brace command in addition to the standard Defend. It takes a bit of time to come into effect, but cuts physical damage by three-fourths instead of half. Using the DS remake's Augment System, you can give the Brace command to other characters.
 * Final Fantasy X's Aeons had the ability to greatly reduce the damage done by the next attack, though this prevented their Overdrive gauge from filling up. It also seems to make them lose a turn.
 * The Final Fantasy series is also replete with examples of the 'defender becomes target of enemy attacks' variation, and it's frequently a job requirement of the Knight and/or Paladin classes.
 * Cecil, in Final Fantasy IV, automatically shielded characters with low HP from enemy physical attacks, and also included a "Cover" ability that could be used to shield any other character from harm.
 * Final Fantasy V features the Knight class, which has a Cover ability much like Cecil's in that it shields low-HP characters. The Knight class also gets the Guard skill, which completely nullifies all damage from any physical attacks.
 * In Final Fantasy VII the "Cover" materia provided this function.
 * Steiner, being a Knight, featured this ability in Final Fantasy IX. Zidane, being a lech, featured a cheaper version that only worked on girls.
 * Auron featured this ability in Final Fantasy X, including an improved version that cut incoming damage by 75% rather than 50%. (Tidus had a related ability, "Provoke", which would cause a single enemy to attack only him)
 * Sentinels in Final Fantasy XIII use nothing but this and variants of Provoke in battle, but each has a varying effect.

Mediguard: The character regenerates HP while guarding.

Vendetta/Entrench: The character automatically counterattacks based on certain criteria.

Elude: The character may dodge damage altogether when attacked."


 * And of course, it appears in the Dragon Quest series.
 * In Dragon Quest VIII, the Hero and Angelo can get the Defending Champion ability, which is similar to the defend command except it reduces damage to 1/10th instead of 1/2.
 * In Dragon Quest IX, the first shield ability you learn is Blockenspiel, which has the same effect as defending, but you still get to attack. Extremely useful when a monster gets pissed and only attacks one person. The only downside is that it costs 4 mana, but that's not exactly a huge drawback.
 * In Legend of Dragoon, Defend halves all damage and blocks all status attacks (other than instant KO), and recovers 10% of the character's maximum HP. Yes, a turn-based RPG with free healing.
 * The free healing is totally necessary, considering the laughably small inventory you're able to carry (32 items total)
 * In the first Dark Cloud, the Defend command reduced damage from attacks, but it required a target lock to function, and did not protect the player from powerful attacks that would knock them to the ground.
 * Dark Cloud 2 improved the Defend command over its predecessor, greatly reducing (or entirely blocking) incoming damage, protecting the player from being knocked to the ground. If an attack was blocked entirely, any status effect from it would be blocked as well. It was also part of the button combination required to pick up and throw enemies.
 * In Persona 4, the Defense command not only reduces the amount of damage you take, but also nullifies Critical Hits and elemental weaknesses while preventing the character from receiving status conditions during the turn. This makes it surprisingly useful to the point that not using it is sometimes outright suicidal.
 * Persona 3 Portable adopted the same mechanic, which has contributed to some people complaining that they reduced the difficulty. However, the new Maniac difficulty more than makes up for it.
 * Rogue Galaxy's Defend command was very much similar to Dark Cloud 2 (block or reduce incoming damage, prevent knockdown, pick up and throw enemies). But all party members had action meters that periodically needed recharging; successfully blocking an attack during this time would recharge the meter immediately.
 * Lords of Magic has a "defend self" command, where the unit will stand still and not attack, but gains extra defense. This one was actually useful vs. the AI in the game.
 * Golden Sun has a defend command. Characters automatically go into defend if you tell them to wait (or take too long in a linked battle). Various defense Djinn also exist to provide protection to the whole party, and then there's Sveta's Pack Defense in Beastform...
 * War Craft 3's footmen have the Defend ability, in which they raise their shields to greatly reduce incoming piercing damage (e.g. arrows), sometimes sending the attack back. However, it makes them move veeeeeeery slowly. Spell Breakers presumably had a magical version of this spell, though they now have complete immunity to magic.
 * In World of Warcraft, Warriors have Defensive Stance, which used to reduce damage dealt and damage taken by 10%. In Cataclysm, it was changed to eliminate the damage penalty. Its inverse, Berserker Stance, formerly increased crit chance and damage taken. Now it provides a +10% to damage dealt without an increase in damage taken.
 * Sort of used in the Civilization series, with the Fortify command, which provides a defensive bonus to any unit using it. But it does mean they can't move until you unfortify them.
 * The tactical RPG Odium/Gorky 17 allows this for your characters.
 * Heroes of Might and Magic series has a defend command to use instead of attacking.
 * It's also present and useful in Patapon where "Chaka chaka pata pon" increases the defense of the said units a lot.
 * In Grandia II, Defend is actually useful -- you can see when something is about to hit you, the damage reduction is extreme, and if you don't use it there's a chance you'll be hit out of whatever you would have tried instead.
 * The 7th Saga increases your attack strength for the turn after you defend as well as the usual defence increase.
 * Alter AILA Genesis has a defend command that only reduces damage from the single next attack, but is actually used quite frequently when the player's trying to build up their AP to unleash a more powerful attack the following round.
 * Super Robot Wars offers units being directly attacked the option of defending or evading instead of retaliating. Defend halves damage taken and Evade halves the chance of being hit. Both have their uses, depending on the mech under fire.
 * In the Roguelike Omega, you can configure your combat style among attacks and defences. For example, you may choose to attack three times, or replace one of the attacks with a defend command. However, you need at least three defence commands to guarantee coverage on the High, Center and Low attacks.
 * Legend of Legaia offers the Spirit command that, in addition to reducing damage taken (especially against Zeto and Xain), also recharges 32 AP and increases the number of attacks you can make. Noa has a long command gauge by default and can use Miracle Arts after using spirit by the time her level is in the mid 20's.
 * The sequel also has a Guard command. It does not allow more attacks, but there is an accessory that lets you double (and later triple) your strength after you Guard. The increased damage is sufficient for a moderately leveled party to one-shot the final boss.
 * The MOTHER games feature the Defend Command. In Mother 3, using Defend also reduces the rate at which the character's rolling HP meter ticks down. This comes in handy during the final battle with the Masked Man, where, due to plot reasons, there's not much you can do besides defend yourself and do your best to survive.
 * It's often actually useful in the Epic Battle Fantasy series, especially in the higher difficulties, where you can't always end your turns at full health and enemies can do most of your health bar in damage. Also, one of the characters can sometimes absorb MP from defended damage taken.