View Single Post
Old 05-08-2014, 04:58 AM   #21
Mailanka
 
Mailanka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Default Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules

Cherry Blossom Rain uses the two-handed weapon rule and assumed all katanas were two-handed (even if we hadn't used that, we were using a lot of the Legendary Katana stats, and they're considered Fencing weapons there), and on top of that, every character had either Weapon Master or Trained by a Master. The net effect was that all parries were at -1 per cumulative parry, and we also allowed acrobatic parries and a huge bonus on retreats for parries (+3 rather than +1).

This turned parry into a pretty dominant defense... but not totally dominant. We had beats, which could make parries tricky/dangerous, and weapon breakage was a serious concern (against "named" weapons I "only" applied damage, but despite the fact that nobody ever lost a weapon, simply noting that a weapon was taking damage was usually enough to cause players to panic and switch tactics), and there was a surprising lack of Parry Missile Weapon. The result was that some people either had Dodge as a mainstay of defense, or relied on it as a secondary measure. Either that, or they had a second weapon to deal with the problems of a beat or a committed attack.
__________________
My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars.
Mailanka is offline   Reply With Quote