DR, bare handed parry and disarm

WaterAndWindSpirit · 03-17-2016, 12:10 PM

Hello all!

So let's suppose I have a character with Damage Resistance (maybe they're a BoS Paladin in Fallout and as such wear Power Armor, maybe she's a Magical Girl with incredible toughness, maybe they're a superhero, whatever the source is, they are very tough). They are facing a thug armed with a melee weapon, and they want to protect people who are not as tough as them by disarming their opponent. So the move they want to make is to grab the sword and use the Karate skill for a disarm.

Would I be justified in allowing them a parry at no penalty, applying all the damage from the attack to the hand they use for parrying on a success (applying DR of course, allowing for any miscalculation to actually get them hurt, or for their DR to soak the hit if they calculated their move right or are very lucky), then allowing to use a Disarm attack with a bonus on their next turn due to such a move being unexpected?

Expy · 03-17-2016, 12:22 PM

IDHMBWM, but I believe that there are rules for a cinematic 'hand-catch parry' technique in GURPS: Martial Arts that doesn't inflict damage to the hand unless on a failure; your method works great for a (relatively) unskilled fighter or a fighter with high DR as you said, but more fragile kung fu masters will no doubt argue for a version that wouldn't inflict damage :) I'd say it's worth a look.

Expy.

Harald387 · 03-17-2016, 12:24 PM

See 'Hand Catch' and 'Hand-Clap Parry' from GURPS Martial Arts p.84.

jason taylor · 03-17-2016, 04:35 PM

That actually happened at the end of Rob Roy. However the heroes hand was obviously cut up until it would be at best semi functional afterwords. It did it's job though, as the fight was over in the next blow.

Anthony · 03-17-2016, 04:44 PM

It is generally best to buy limb Strikers for cinematic bar handed fighters, since that makes them ignore all the rules about being bare handed.

WaterAndWindSpirit · 03-18-2016, 06:37 AM

I'm not looking for Cinematic stuff, I'm asking for a realistic (relatively speaking, that is how it would "realistically" work if I made one very specific break from reality but kept the rest of reality unchanged) way of treating a super tough (that is high DR) character grabbing a blade and disarming an enemy this way. Thanks for your understanding.

DouglasCole · 03-18-2016, 06:39 AM

Are you willing to explore Technical Grappling?

Varyon · 03-18-2016, 07:15 AM

Presumably, the current rules reflect someone being extremely cautious when trying to Parry armed attacks bare-handed. It should be possible to ignore such caution and simply take the damage to your arms. I'd say this negates the -3 to Parry unarmed but means you need MoS 6 or better to actually avoid damage - otherwise, your arms take damage. A more in-depth version allows you to take -1 to Parry to reduce the required MoS by 2, down to a minimum of -3 to Parry and requiring MoS 0. So, for a character with Parry 12, he can roll against 12, in which case he needs to roll a 6 or lower to avoid damage; roll against 11, for 7- to avoid damage; roll against 10, for 8- to avoid damage; or roll against 9, where any success avoids damage.

03-17-2016, 12:10 PM	#1
WaterAndWindSpirit Join Date: Oct 2014	DR, bare handed parry and disarm Hello all! So let's suppose I have a character with Damage Resistance (maybe they're a BoS Paladin in Fallout and as such wear Power Armor, maybe she's a Magical Girl with incredible toughness, maybe they're a superhero, whatever the source is, they are very tough). They are facing a thug armed with a melee weapon, and they want to protect people who are not as tough as them by disarming their opponent. So the move they want to make is to grab the sword and use the Karate skill for a disarm. Would I be justified in allowing them a parry at no penalty, applying all the damage from the attack to the hand they use for parrying on a success (applying DR of course, allowing for any miscalculation to actually get them hurt, or for their DR to soak the hit if they calculated their move right or are very lucky), then allowing to use a Disarm attack with a bonus on their next turn due to such a move being unexpected?

03-17-2016, 12:22 PM	#2
Expy Join Date: Dec 2015	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm IDHMBWM, but I believe that there are rules for a cinematic 'hand-catch parry' technique in *GURPS: Martial Arts* that doesn't inflict damage to the hand unless on a failure; your method works great for a (relatively) unskilled fighter or a fighter with high DR as you said, but more fragile kung fu masters will no doubt argue for a version that wouldn't inflict damage :) I'd say it's worth a look. Expy.

03-17-2016, 12:24 PM	#3
Harald387 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Ottawa, ON, CA	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm See 'Hand Catch' and 'Hand-Clap Parry' from GURPS Martial Arts p.84.

03-17-2016, 04:35 PM	#4
jason taylor Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Portland, Oregon	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm That actually happened at the end of Rob Roy. However the heroes hand was obviously cut up until it would be at best semi functional afterwords. It did it's job though, as the fight was over in the next blow. __________________ "The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison

03-17-2016, 04:44 PM	#5
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm It is generally best to buy limb Strikers for cinematic bar handed fighters, since that makes them ignore all the rules about being bare handed. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.

03-18-2016, 06:37 AM	#6
WaterAndWindSpirit Join Date: Oct 2014	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm I'm not looking for Cinematic stuff, I'm asking for a realistic (relatively speaking, that is how it would "realistically" work if I made one very specific break from reality but kept the rest of reality unchanged) way of treating a super tough (that is high DR) character grabbing a blade and disarming an enemy this way. Thanks for your understanding.

03-18-2016, 06:39 AM	#7
DouglasCole Doctor of *GURPS* Ballistics Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Lakeville, MN	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm Are you willing to explore Technical Grappling? __________________ My blog:Gaming Ballistic, LLC My Store: Gaming Ballistic on Shopify My Patreon: Gaming Ballistic on Patreon

03-18-2016, 07:15 AM	#8
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: DR, bare handed parry and disarm Presumably, the current rules reflect someone being extremely cautious when trying to Parry armed attacks bare-handed. It should be possible to ignore such caution and simply take the damage to your arms. I'd say this negates the -3 to Parry unarmed but means you need MoS 6 or better to actually avoid damage - otherwise, your arms take damage. A more in-depth version allows you to take -1 to Parry to reduce the required MoS by 2, down to a minimum of -3 to Parry and requiring MoS 0. So, for a character with Parry 12, he can roll against 12, in which case he needs to roll a 6 or lower to avoid damage; roll against 11, for 7- to avoid damage; roll against 10, for 8- to avoid damage; or roll against 9, where any success avoids damage.