05-06-2014, 10:25 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
Letting them stack is a way of handling the annoying overlap between WM and TBAM but I'd be concerned about power. It would get especially crazy with two handed fencing weapons. Would you allow rapid strike reduction stacking as well? While cumulative parry penalty reduction is cool I think its easy to overestimate it's actual power at the high end whereas double rapid strike halving would be scary.
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05-07-2014, 09:13 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Cambridge, MA
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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05-07-2014, 11:57 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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I'm not trying to keep my purpose a secret, my purpose here is just to accumulate house rules people have on the subject both in case I see something that makes me rethink what I have right now and because its nice to have these sorts of threads for people in the future. These house rules certainly exist because there is a certain kind of person who can't not create them and there are probably examples that haven't been posted to the forums yet. These forums can be rather tangent-happy which is often great but for some topics it can mean the thread getting sidetracked talking about one thing while ignoring other parts of the subject so it's sometimes worth it to try to preemptively keep the thread from getting off topic right at the start. To take a risk there, here is what I'm dissatisfied with in multiple parries. With Martial Arts we have three things that reduce multiple parry penalties (aside from WM and TBAM) Fencing Parries, Parrying with Two-Handed Weapons and A Matter of Inches. Fencing Parries are pretty apparent even with the tweaks Martial Arts adds and they don't give any bonus to lighter fencing weapons compared to their heavier counterparts. A Matter of Inches allows for that and also avoids the jump from -4 to -2 but in the process it throws away any representation of the advantages of fencing parries. It's just a straight penalty reduction by comparative strength instead of a trade off where someone gets a bonus to some kinds of retreats and a cool parrying ability... but only against frontal attacks and while taking penalties like dodge does. It also doesn't work as well with really strong people because if they have already capped out for heavier weapons it only has U parry vs not U parry which isn't necessarily unrealistic but it means combatants function very similarly. It's also kind of weird that it adds another reason for someone who is good at an unarmed skill to look for some weapon they can use with it with an actual ST stat so they can exceed it to become better at parrying. Parrying with Two-Handed Weapons is annoying since it requires the weapon to be held in two hands rather than simply be a two handed weapon which doesn't really make sense to me and also makes it feel like a buff for two handed weapon guys rather than a nod to realism. It also shares the Fencing Parry abrupt jump from -4 to -2. Combining it with A Matter of Inches makes it so one style of weapon is useful in addition to Strength but it raises the question of why fencing can't similarly contribute anything to parrying besides light weapons and Parrying with Two-Handed Weapons' ability to be used with Staff makes a few weapons the thing you use if you want to be good at parrying. |
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05-07-2014, 03:02 PM | #14 | |
Fightin' Round the World
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: New Jersey
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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So it's not just the weapon but the usage, hence why it's not a change to, say, a Thrusting Greatsword, but to Two-Handed Sword skill. FWIW I use it in my games, and it's fine. You give up a lot to get it, not having a shield.
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Peter V. Dell'Orto aka Toadkiller_Dog or TKD My Author Page My S&C Blog My Dungeon Fantasy Game Blog "You fall onto five death checks." - Andy Dokachev |
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05-07-2014, 03:25 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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Certainly there are going to be usage differences between one handed and two handed use but personally I'd prefer to estimate them as smaller than this if you have the Strength necessary to have it perform otherwise mostly the same. |
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05-07-2014, 06:08 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
I've considered changing Shields from -5 to -4 base for iterating
I use the '2 handed weapons tend toward -2 base' optional rule wiht no ill effects I don't let WM and TBaM stack for iterating attacks, just pondered it for defenses I've never used Matter of Inches |
05-07-2014, 06:55 PM | #17 |
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
I've never used multiple parries, blocks, or dodges in a single turn. My GM just never threw that many monsters out per PC.
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Ba-weep granah wheep minibon. Wubba lubba dub dub. |
05-07-2014, 09:26 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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Is the story of how multiple shield blocks got to be -5 remembered? I hope no one was unfortunate enough to be a fencer! |
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05-08-2014, 12:23 AM | #19 |
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
Someone was unfortunate enough to take both Trained by a Master and Weapon Master (All Ninja Weapons) in a 100-point campaign and we didn't even look up the rules for Rapid Strike or multiple parries (the GM didn't even decide if he wanted to use the basic rules for parries until after the first session).
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Ba-weep granah wheep minibon. Wubba lubba dub dub. |
05-08-2014, 03:20 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
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Re: Cumulative Parry Penalty Reduction House Rules
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Tags |
brainstorm, combat, house rules, martial arts, optional rules |
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