Here is an example I was thinking of. Don't create global variables, just pass to and from your functions as needed ...
[php]import random
import time

def delay(seconds):
time.sleep(seconds)

def shuffle_hitlists(my_hitlist, mo_hitlist):
"""shuffle the two lists and return the result"""
random.shuffle(my_hitlist)
random.shuffle(mo_hitlist)
return my_hitlist, mo_hitlist

def battle(my_hitlist, mo_hitlist, my_strength, mo_strength):
# player starts swinging first
for k in range(len(my_hitlist)):
my_hit = my_hitlist[k]
mo_hit = mo_hitlist[k]
# your turn
if my_hit == 1:
print "Scratched him good!"
mo_strength -= 1
elif my_hit == 2:
print "Sliced him deep! Blood and guts!"
mo_strength -= 2
elif my_hit == 3:
print "Excellent hit! He is screaming with pain!"
mo_strength -= 3
else: # my_hit == 0:
print "You missed!"
if mo_strength <= 0:
print "The monster is dead!"
break
delay(2)
# monster's turn
if mo_hit == 1:
print "You got scratched! It will heal quickly!"
my_strength -= 1
elif mo_hit == 2:
print "Ouch, received a deep slice!"
my_strength -= 2
elif mo_hit == 3:
print "You are hit and in pain! Loosing blood!"
my_strength -= 3
else: # mo_hit == 0
print "The monster missed!"
delay(2)
print
if my_strength < 5:
print "You are weak and wounded, better withdraw!"
break

if mo_strength > 0:
print "The fleeing monster's strength is down to", mo_strength
print "You still have a strength of", my_strength

my_hitlist = [1, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 3, 1]
mo_hitlist = [1, 0, 2, 0, 3, 0, 1, 1]

my_strength = 20
mo_strength = 10

my_hitlist, mo_hitlist = shuffle_hitlists(my_hitlist, mo_hitlist)

print my_hitlist, '\n', mo_hitlist # test

battle(my_hitlist, mo_hitlist, my_strength, mo_strength)
[/php]You need to improve the battle descriptions, maybe draw on sentence lists with random.choice() to get some variety in there.

cool battle system, vegaseat! I think I'll use this model to create mine for my RPG. Do you have suggestions for how you could make person equip an item in your inventory and change your stats (such as a weapon increase 'my_strength')?

Depending on your weapon you could deduct another notch from the monster's strength on a hit. Conversely you could do the same thing to your own strength, if the monster is a nastier one!

You also could have a weapon that never misses! So my_hit = 0 would always be at least my_hit = 1.

Hmmm... okay.

So I think I would do it like this:

my_str = weapon # fists default!
my_life = 10
weapon = fists
fists = 1
dagger = 2
short_sword = 3
broad_sword = 5

So when the character picks up a new weapon, you change the self.weapon variable... this could apply to armor, too.

Might be better to start a new thread with a meaningful title, like "RPG Battle Action"