Protections are a type of ability which is intended to stop attacks from succeeding. A protected player will not be harmed by attacks - instead they will be defended (see $i defenses).

Defenses are a type of passive ability, which is used to evade potential deaths. Protections are active abilities that grant defenses.

There are several ways an attack (or kill) can be stopped. These sort of abilities/effects are applied in the following order: 1) Absences (such as hooker) 2) Effect Based Defenses (such as the witch's potion of life or the chef's charmed food) 3) Role Based Defenses (such as runner or scared wolf) 4) Partial Defenses (such as macho or idiot) 5) Role Based Role Changes (such as cursed civilian) 6) Effect Based Role Changes (such as vampire's demonization) For both attacks and direct kills all six points apply, though most defensive abilities apply only to attacks (defined in the ability).