Many times I have lost warriors, and the manager claimed the KD was only five. As if KD had anything to do with the death of my fighter. It was really the battle axe to the head that killed him.
I was quite disturbed at the widespread belief that kill desire has something to do with killing an opponent. But they have good reason to believe this: the Duelmasters Handbook definition of kill desire has a tendency to cast a "confusion spell" on the reader to make them think that way. The wording is very misleading. The name "kill desire" is also misleading. A more correct word would be "patience."
Yes, kill desire is actually how much patience your fighter had before taking a shot. KD doesn't add damage or tell your fighter where to aim at.
Damage is calculated by weapon and strength. (Of course, favorite weapon also affects damage.)
You let your warrior know where you want him to aim at by filling out the attack location boxes on the fight sheets.
Hit location and damage are the main two things that will kill warriors. Hit locations to vital areas such as head, chest, and the abdomen repeated times increases your chance to kill. The amount of damage inflicted to these vital areas also increases your chance to kill an opponent.
As you see, none of this has anything to do with kill desire.
Now, I will tell you what kill desire, or patience, as I call it, actually is.
If you run your warrior with an 8-10 KD, you're telling him to swing like a drunken wildman. You'll see statements in his fights that say "swings wildly" or other things to that effect. He is not waiting for a good opening. He is swinging at everything! This is bad for several reasons.
With his KD that high, he is very easily dodged and parried. Also, he can be feinted into bad dueling decisions as well.
I think that KD between 5-7 for offensive styles and 3-6 for defensive styles is perfect.
You get a lot more hits with a 5-7 KD, and feint a lot less. But you also get more kills in this range. Reason being, you're waiting for a good shot that is hard to dodge or parry. The example I used earlier about the manager with the 5 KD and battleaxe is the point I am trying to make. If his warrior's KD was 10, my warrior could have dodged or parried the attack and still be alive today. But since it was a 5 KD, he waited for a good shot that my warrior had trouble defending against, and cleaved his head off! (Well, not literally.)
Defensive styles run about 3-6 KD. Defensive styles swing wildly a lot in the beginning, but that is natural. They will get better. 3-4 KD, they still have a tendency to let attacks go by. Of course, if you're scumming, go with a 1 KD.
In short, having an 8-10 KD means your warrior is doing all that swinging and hitting less. Not to mention all the endurance he is burning up to no avail.
-- Sir Jessie Jest