How do I resolve an unarmed attacker parried by a swordsman?

[Dammann]

I was forced to wing this the other night, intending to look up the RAW, but I am not finding rules for this scenario.

I found rules for an armed attacker parried by an unarmed defender, but not an unarmed attacker parried by an armed defender. This has to be a fairly common situation. Where do I find the rules for this?

[Gnome]

B376, in the section "Parrying Unarmed Attacks."

[Jovus]

I see from your blog that you're running a DF game with a martial artist, so assuming that this situation came up in that context because your martial artist got into combat with people: have you considered letting the character take the Rules Exemption perk for this particular rule? Technically it isn't an optional rule, and Rules Exemption perks specify they only work on optional rules, but I don't think it hurts anything.

My experience in this matter is limited, however.

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by Jovus

I see from your blog that you're running a DF game with a martial artist, so assuming that this situation came up in that context because your martial artist got into combat with people: have you considered letting the character take the Rules Exemption perk for this particular rule? Technically it isn't an optional rule, and Rules Exemption perks specify they only work on optional rules, but I don't think it hurts anything.

My experience in this matter is limited, however.

Great idea, Jovus.
I've simply house-ruled this by saying that anyone with Trained by a Master can avoid getting their limbs chopped off when parried by a weapon. Otherwise, unarmed combat against armed enemies is basically suicidal, even for a kung fu master.

[Dammann]

This actually came up in a fight between monsters and the Swashbuckler, but I felt it was important to find the RAW (thank you for that, Gnome), given the Martial Artist character and his propensity for wading right into fights.

[Polydamas]

I think that Kromm has written that his preferred solution is for the cinematic unarmed fighters to wear cesti, gauntlets, bladed fists, and so on.

[Icelander]

And if that is not desired for some reason, the character ought to invest in the Striker Advantage for his arms or legs.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Icelander

And if that is not desired for some reason, the character ought to invest in the Striker Advantage for his arms or legs.

Which, for some reason, is not among DF 'Monk' advantages, IIRC.

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Which, for some reason, is not among DF 'Monk' advantages, IIRC.

It's in DF11. I really don't think DR on your hand solves the problem. If it did, you could cover yourself in DR and be immune to damage! DR on your hands is nice, but if you meet an enemy who swings for loads of damage, you don't want the Martial Artist to have to sit out for fear of losing his hands. Yes, he can make deceptive attacks, but it's risky. If that Siege Beast makes one successful parry, bye-bye hand.
This rule also affects animal allies. The Boar is far superior to all the others for the simple reason that it has a Striker (although one could make an argument for the Ape since it can wield a weapon). My DF house-rule for animals is that in order to damage them with a parry, you have to do an "aggressive parry" a la MA65. You take a -1 penalty to your parry, make a skill roll, and do reduced damage. It makes sense to me that it's harder to successfully parry when you're also trying to damage your opponent at the same time, and that you can't get a full swing in when trying to deflect blows.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Gnome

My DF house-rule for animals is that in order to damage them with a parry, you have to do an "aggressive parry" a la MA65. You take a -1 penalty to your parry, make a skill roll, and do reduced damage. It makes sense to me that it's harder to successfully parry when you're also trying to damage your opponent at the same time, and that you can't get a full swing in when trying to deflect blows.

This is the approach I favor. It also opens up the potential for armed opponents to attempt this against each other, parrying "past" the weapon to Aggressively Parry the hand. Both skill rolls (to Parry and damage) would be at additional penalty of course, similar to Brawling's penalty against armed attacks (maybe scaling up for weapon size). At present, the only way for armed combatants to injure the attacking weapon's hand is to use Wait.

It may still be realistic for unarmed attackers to suffer some damage when Parried or Blocked by a rigid weapon or shield, even if the defender isn't making an effort to cause injury. I'd use the Hurting Yourself rule for that (B379), adjusting the injury for damage type. For example, a brawler parried by a Cutting sword edge would suffer 1 point of injury per 3.33 points of damage rolled. This means that even if the defender is not intentionally parrying for damage, the attacker is likely to take slight injury. I'd combine this with the more complex Partial Injuries rule (MA136) to give realistic consequences to otherwise-superficial wounds.