Beginner Fighting, How To Tell What To Attack

Runescape does pretty well at the low levels of judging whether an opponent is too much higher level than the player, and letting the player know by making the actual attack more purposeful than just the standard left-click-on-target.

For instance, at Runescape Combat Level 16, heading out of Varrock to the south, I wander by the Town Guards and my default selection on them is not to attack, it's to pick-pocket them. I have to right-click the guard and select "Attack Town Guard" in order to do it.

Sure, I can't pick-pocket them either, but at least if I try that I won't get attacked and killed if I'm not paying proper attention!

Seeing that I was just taking on lvl 7-8 opponents, I can see why a lvl 21 guard might be a bit tough for me, but hey, I'm tough, and I want to see just how tough this guard guy is.

If he's really tough, I can run, right? And I have some healing with me (cooked pike, my own catches) so I don't have to lick my wounds for very long.

I actually didn't do too badly with the first one! I didn't even have to eat any of my fish. That goes to show the attack advantage that Wizards have on folks with metal armor, compared to folks trying to pierce it with a metal sword. The guards were no match, but those Wizards roasted my armored self.

Town Guards also drop clues to Level 1 Treasure Trails (members only), so I decided to hang around for a while and take on a few more guards before continuing on my journey of exploration. Future battles proved to require more healing than the first, but with only two guards there, and regular competition for those guards, I was soon in the mood to be 'movin on'.