Parry { And various other questions }

[Redbeard78]

Hey there, new to the site, new to the forum, and well, new to Gurps. I have a question as to how parrying works, and I couldn't find the thread about it on the site, however, I know it says 3+ half relative skill, does that mean that, say I have Knives at 14, would that mean that my parry with that particular skill would be 10? Please, someone help me, I think that I'm overthinking this issue, but, I may not be. Thank you!

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Redbeard78

however, I know it says 3+ half relative skill, does that mean that, say I have Knives at 14, would that mean that my parry with that particular skill would be 10?

That's almost exactly correct. Certainly, your numbers are accurate. The only thing is that it's not "relative" skill, it's just skill. "Relative skill" in GURPS has a specific meaning (it's your level of skill compared to the attribute it's based on - so if you have Knife at DX+3, the +3 bit is your relative skill). But you seem to be using the right numbers, so all is well!

[kdtipa]

That is the correct equation, and based on the equation a Melee Weapon: Knife skill would have a parry of 10 when you have a skill of 14. But, knives in particular have a penalty of -1 to parry with (found I believe in the skill description).

And just something else to keep in mind, multiple parries in the same round are penalized (usually by -4 cumulative, for each parry after the first).

Edit: I wasn't quick enough to answer first, but hopefully this provides enough additional information that it's also useful.

[johndallman]

The most important way to improve parrying is the Combat Reflexes advantage, which costs 15 character points, but is superb value if the character gets into fights regularly. That gives +1 to Parry, Block and Dodge, plus a bunch of other smaller useful abilities.

It may seem that having your parry of 10 reduced to 9 by using a knife, and then bought back up to 10 with Combat Reflexes is making a lot of fuss about a minor difference. That would be true in a system that used d20, but GURPS's 3d6 creates a "bell curve" that makes differences of 1 much more important, especially in the region around 10.

[Ulzgoroth]

'Relative' probably should be 'relevant'. It's a word misuse or maybe dialect I think I've seen before...

Originally Posted by kdtipa

That is the correct equation, and based on the equation a Melee Weapon: Knife skill would have a parry of 10 when you have a skill of 14. But, knives in particular have a penalty of -1 to parry with (found I believe in the skill description).

This is actually a little complicated, in that it's mentioned in the skill description but also in the weapon stat-lines. Which is the same penalty mentioned twice, not two separate cumulative -1 penalties. And some Knife weapons introduced later don't have the -1 parry. (Approximately, any with weights over a pound.)

[roguebfl]

Also remember if you have Knife-14 then you also have via default you have Main-Gauche-10 which means Parry(Main-Gauche)-8
But Main-Gauche doesn't suffer the -4 skill penalty (hence -2 parry) for being used in the off hand to parry. And off hand parries track multiple parries separately from the main hand's parries, further more being a Fencing skill multiple parries are only -2 not -4 with it, and the retreat bonus is + 3 instead of just + 1, and let's you ignore the -1 penalty for parrying with a knife, down side you have an penalty to parry equal to you encumbrance penalty.

With Knife-14 you get:

First Parry (knife main hand) - 9
Second Parry (Main-Gauche off hand) -8
Third parry (Main-Gauche off hand) - 6
Fourth Parry (knife main hand) -5

[add 1 to all these parry numbers if you have Combat Reflexes]

[Tinman]

Originally Posted by Redbeard78

Hey there, new to the site, new to the forum, and well, new to Gurps. I have a question as to how parrying works, and I couldn't find the thread about it on the site, however, I know it says 3+ half relative skill, does that mean that, say I have Knives at 14, would that mean that my parry with that particular skill would be 10? Please, someone help me, I think that I'm overthinking this issue, but, I may not be. Thank you!

1st) Welcome! To GURPS & the site.
2nd) Yes. You are correct in your formula.
3rd) You should also be aware that you can get a +1 to parry from retreating (available once per turn) and/or you can get a +2 to any defense by using 1 FP (see extra effort). I don't have my books with me but they are worth looking up.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Tinman

1st) Welcome! To GURPS & the site.
2nd) Yes. You are correct in your formula.
3rd) You should also be aware that you can get a +1 to parry from retreating (available once per turn) and/or you can get a +2 to any defense by using 1 FP (see extra effort). I don't have my books with me but they are worth looking up.

Bare in mind that Extra Effort (especially in combat) is an optional rule. I suppose, technically, almost everything is an optional rule but retreating is close to universally used. Extra Effort in combat, IME, is not.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Tinman

You should also be aware that you can get a +1 to parry from retreating (available once per turn)

Note while it only available once a turn, however it applies to all attacks from the target for that turn if they have multiple attacks. and is +3 if using Fencing weapon like Knife using the Main-Gauche skill

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

...further more being a Fencing skill ...

Not if it's being Defaulted. You get none of the Fencing benes if you're using the skill at default.