Quote:
Originally Posted by Carnifex
This is what I am afraid of. Those types of scenarios might make for funny scenes in movies, but make for really boring and frustrating games.
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That's a reasonable fear and would definitely happen if a parry were added as a sort of automatic thing you get to do without any attendant penalty. There are several game systems where this is what happens when highly skilled and well matched combatants run into each other.
This does not happen in the rules set I described on p. 4 or 5 of this thread for a simple reason: You pay a 1d penalty for every extra action you attempt, and you can trade that penalty for either better defense (say, a parry as well as your attack) or for more offense (say, an attack with an off handed weapon, or two cuts with a balanced weapon, etc.).
Consider 2 combatants who each have adjusted DX of 18 and a sword and buckler:
If each simply delivers a single normal attack (the normal TFT rules) they are nearly assured a successful hit and will do each other 6 pts of damage per turn (on average). This will happen until one of them runs out of ST and dies - probably on the 2nd or 3rd turn.
If each performs one attack and one parry per turn, they will each be rolling 4d for every action and still have pretty good chances of succeeding at both attack and parry every turn, and on average will do each other 2 pts. of damage per turn. The fight will last roughly 5-6 turns, depending on who has more or less luck on the rolls to-hit, to-parry and for damage.
Say one of the combatants decides to be more aggressive, doing 2 attacks and 1 parry, while the opponent fights just as vigorously, but does 1 attack and 2 parries. Both will now be rolling 5 dice for every action, failing half of the rolls. It is anyone's fight, but on average the aggressor will land an unparried attack once every other turn whereas the defensive fighter has a chance of catching each attack but only hits his aggressive foe with an unparried attack every 4th turn. Nevertheless, luck will figure heavily, and the fight will probably last only 3-4 turns.
If fighting defensively against a equally skilled aggressive foe is a losing proposition (which should be true, by the way, so our verisimilitude is working here!), then perhaps both will fight with great energy and aggressively: 2 attacks and 1 parry each. Now they will be landing fewer than 1 unparried blows per turn, but not by much - the fight will be quite unpredictable because each roll will fail half the time, but it is sure to end within 2-3 turns.
Other combinations of DX, gear and strategy will differ in detail, but the only way a deadlock ensues is if neither combatant attacks the other, or if no one has a weapon that can get through the other's armor. I'm o.k. with that.