Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson
I joined the SCA to research MELEE (and had a lot of fun, and stayed in for years). One of the first things that I learned is that most swordfighting does not involve parries; fencing is a spectacular exception. If you are using your weapon to parry, you are not using it to strike.
Now, rattan (which is what SCA weapons are made of) is NOT the same thing as metal. It is known :) I am told by those who have swung real swords at real shields that metal has less "bounce" even when it does not bite into its target. But I came away feeling that if you have a blocking device (cloak, shield, second sword, chair) you should use that to block with, and use your weapon to hit with.
I enjoyed SCA fencing a great deal, and eventually became competent, and it really is a different art.
|
As a fencer of over 20 years of experience and having experience with real sword as well I tend to agree for the most part especially in a 5 second window someone is usually going to hit. I always felt that this part was subsumed into the game mechanics, as it says on pg 20 of AM "An ordinary fighter takes any opening and thanks the gods of war for it"
That being said there are always the Scaramouche's, D'Artagnan's and Rochefort's of the fiction world, so I suggest a talent:
Advanced Fencing (11 IQ) The best of the best fencers you must have Sword, and Fencing talents and a DX of 15 and your armor may not reduce your adjDX below 15 when you use this ability. You may use any sword you have the strength for. When you use this talent you are allow to parry one non missle attack from your front hexes with a base adjDX of 6, then you add the difference between the adjDX of the attacker versus the adjDX of the Fencer. For example on of the Cardinal’s Guards attacks D’Artagnan the Guards adjDX is 11 and D’Artagnan’s is 17 a net of 6. So Guard rolls to hit (he lands) now D’Artagnan has to roll a 12 or less to parry which he does. Then he may attack at -4 to his adjDX or 13.
The other option is that the fencer can add another -4 to his adjDX to add 4 to his parry option. For example D’Artagnan is fighting Rochefort (adjDX 16) he may want to make sure he doesn’t get hit by reducing the accuracy of his riposte. In this case the D’Artagnan has to roll a 11 or less (6 +1 for the difference in adjDX +4 for reducing his attack accuracy. Then D’Artagnan needs a 9 or less to hit on his attack.
This could be combined with Two Weapons and add the option of a heavy cloak.