Main gauche reminder?

[larsdangly]

Can someone in the hive mind please remind me whether there was ever a definitive resolution to the ambiguity over the DX penalty for carrying a main gauche (-1 or 0?), and whether its armor bonus (1) counts when you use it to attack (I assume yes...)? Thanks-

[Skarg]

Yes, Steve has said it was a typo and should read -1. That is, as explained in Advanced Melee, when you use a Main Gauche as a shield to stop 1 hit, your adjDX goes down by 1.

[larsdangly]

Thanks.

I know that was stated in classic edition Advanced Melee, but is it on the printed page in Legacy Edition ITL?

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Thanks.

I know that was stated in classic edition Advanced Melee, but is it on the printed page in Legacy Edition ITL?

No it got reworded in Legacy, and the DX penalty to the main weapon when the MG attacks was removed, and the wording is simplified and didn't mention the table entry's 1/-1DX, and it looks like Legacy means to allow you to both attack and use it as a shield at the same time (I expect because it's thought to be simpler).

[larsdangly]

I'm confused (again). Can you state explicitly how the MG is supposed to work in the LEITL core book, and cite the source of that understanding?
Thanks

Edit: what I gather from archeology in old threads is that people now think the answer is the main gauche imposes no DX penalty to use, and offers an otherwise 'free' left handed attack at -4 DX while retaining its -1 protection (though only vs. 1 handed melee weapons, as you suggest).

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I'm confused (again). Can you state explicitly how the MG is supposed to work in the LEITL core book, and cite the source of that understanding?
Thanks

Edit: what I gather from archeology in old threads is that people now think the answer is the main gauche imposes no DX penalty to use, and offers an otherwise 'free' left handed attack at -4 DX while retaining its -1 protection (though only vs. 1 handed melee weapons, as you suggest).

That's almost correct, except that the weapon table is supposed to read "-1" (not "1", as it does) in the DX column of the shield table.

That is, as in AM, you can use an MG as a shield, but it will reduce your adjDX by 1.

Whether you can opt out of the 1 protection in order to not suffer the -1 DX is not mentioned.

The relevant rules are the weapon table and the Left-Hand Weapons rule section on ITL p.111. And Steve having said it is supposed to be a -1 not a 1 in the DX column and that he intended to put a clarification in the next version of ITL.

[larsdangly]

Cool; that seems fair to me, but seems like a change from what the thread world thought 6 months or so ago. I wonder if it is consistent with the most recent official NPC cards from Decks of Destiny? I thought those included people with a main gauche and no DX penalty. I'll have to go check...

All the main-gauche-bearing fighter cards I noticed in my LE/DoD stack do not apply a DX penalty for the main gauche. There are fighter cards with incorrect stats for other things (mostly weapon damages), but as far as I can tell this is 100% of cases. So, on that basis it seems like the path of least resistance is to just assume the number is zero until they start pumping out material where it is different.