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Old 12-17-2012, 06:11 PM   #1
Blood Legend
 
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Default Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

There's a fairly cinematic move where instead of parrying the sword, the hero moves in and chops off the guy's hand, letting the sword flail mostly harmlessly off and away.

How would you emulate this in Gurps?

I figure it's a wait or successful dodge, and a counterattack on the enemy's hand but that seems to take away the point of chopping his hand off mid-way through his own attack; saving time to move onto the next mook.
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Old 12-17-2012, 06:19 PM   #2
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

I'd call that a definite Wait. Or just an attack maneuver on your turn before the other guys turn comes. Whichever fits the case better. The Wait gives you the nice chance to exploit somebody to incompetent to not AoA into it.

I would definitely not make up a rule to allow you to substitute cutting somebody's weapon hand off for a parry.
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Old 12-17-2012, 06:28 PM   #3
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

Low Tech (pg 101) specifically mentions it as something that could exist on a parry

"Master Fiore taught a dagger parry that involved intercepting the opponent’s descending weapon hand with a dagger, and noted that it was especially effective against gauntlets."
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Old 12-17-2012, 06:35 PM   #4
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

Couldn't this be a variant of aggressive parry?

Perhaps with an additional -2 and the risk of greater damage if you fail?
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Old 12-17-2012, 06:48 PM   #5
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

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Originally Posted by Kalzazz View Post
Low Tech (pg 101) specifically mentions it as something that could exist on a parry

"Master Fiore taught a dagger parry that involved intercepting the opponent’s descending weapon hand with a dagger, and noted that it was especially effective against gauntlets."
I do not think it is using 'parry' as a GURPS term of art there.
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Old 12-17-2012, 06:50 PM   #6
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

It's either a wait or an aggressive parry, depending on whether you think the attack would have been stopped even if he failed to disable the limb.
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Old 12-17-2012, 07:45 PM   #7
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blood Legend View Post
There's a fairly cinematic move where instead of parrying the sword, the hero moves in and chops off the guy's hand, letting the sword flail mostly harmlessly off and away.
That isn't cinematic, that is just smart fighting.


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Old 12-17-2012, 07:46 PM   #8
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

it is listed in GURPS martial arts, I don't know where, but you can use a hand to parry, substuting martial arts skills for weapons skills.
That being said, it is not advised against experienced opponents.

One of my first games the GM had us all face off in a tourniment to get the hang of the rules.

Lung-Sho (Martial Artist) VS Brother Magnus (Armored Templar)

Lung hurt her hand on his breastplate, and after a few back and forth rounds, Magnus had her pushed back to the edge of the ring.
Magnus managed to make a solid connect with his mace.
Lung Sho tried to parry with her palm.

Now this bares explaining, to get the complex martial arts she wanted her players spent a lot of points buying up skills to get them, Magnus focused on Axe/Mace with brawling as a backup.
She failed the contested role due to his skill and higher strengh.

When you fail an unarmed parry the opponent can switch his target to the limb you used. Magnus broke her arm off at the elbow, sending her flying from the ring in an explosion of blood and pain.

Horay for practice rounds... but she never forgave Magnus for that whuppin.

Basicly when it comes to parry
Buddist Monk VS thug= badass parry
Buddist Monk VS Professional Swordsman = lopped off arm.

Chopping the hand on the other hand is a wait manuver, then targeting the hand as he swings striking it with enough force causes the attacker to loose his weapon.

Last edited by Kol; 12-17-2012 at 07:49 PM. Reason: spelling
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Old 12-17-2012, 08:06 PM   #9
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

This is common and realistic against a single short weapon such as a dagger or machete. The disadvantage is that one has to be closer to parry the wrist than to parry the blade.

GURPS treats it as a Wait in Martial Arts (see Stop Hits or similar) because of the way it models combat has trouble describing single time defenses. One could also use a Counterattack (A attacks, B Parries with Counterattack, B attacks with a cut to the arm).

This relates to the strange way that GURPS models unarmed disarms: all the ones that I am familiar with involve grabbing the weapon or weapon arm and twisting, not hitting the weapon and knocking it away. I hope that Technical Grappling will solve this.
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Old 12-17-2012, 08:09 PM   #10
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Default Re: Parrying his arm instead of his sword?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fwibos View Post
Couldn't this be a variant of aggressive parry?

Perhaps with an additional -2 and the risk of greater damage if you fail?
Canonically, Aggressive Parry is only for unarmed parries, so adapting it for this would be difficult. The issue is more "parry the weapon or parry the limb" than "parry harder or with something more painful than usual."
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