So I dropped my sword... how do I pick it up (in combat)

[brian_smaller]

I handle situations like this, well, like this.

Player's sword flies out of his hand and lands on the ground some distance away.

Player: "I will try to dive and grab my sword and come up ready to block".

Me: "Make a 'try to dive and grab my sword and come up ready to block' roll. Use Dx at -2 or Acrobatics if you have it."

I usually don't care if it is not worked out exactly by rules as I try to keep combat running as fast as I can. In the situation above if the player sits dithering about what to do, I usually give them a time warning to make a decision. If they continue to dither then events start driving them - usually the by way of the opponent taking a swing at them.

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Kromm

That's a lot of action for one second! Breaking it down in terms of Martial Arts, p. 98: You can dive forward from standing to crawling as your entire step. You could later use Acrobatic Stand to spring from crawling to standing as another step. You could associate either step with a Ready maneuver, of course . . . but if you did both in a turn, you would be taking two steps, not one. That's normally the purview of Committed Attack, so I'd allow all this as a kind of "Committed Ready," but I'd impose the same limitations on defenses: no parry with the readying hand, -2 on all other defenses (dodge, block or parry with the other hand, etc.), and no retreat possible.

If this were permitted, why would anyone ever choose the standard two-turn option you offer here?

[prospero]

Given what's been said in the this thread, does it make sense to think of the kneel posture as kneel/squat?

[Otaku]

Getting back to why the thread was started (non-lethal option for ending combat, I thought), if a player tries to kick a weapon into hand... can the opponent try to grab it first? Deflect it with a ready weapon?

Oh, and aren't you able to disarm your opponent's in a manner to simply take their weapon? I mean, that really helps turn a disarming attempt into a fight ender (barring secondary weapons or unarmed combat prowess).

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Edges

If this were permitted, why would anyone ever choose the standard two-turn option you offer here?

Because that option doesn't result on your lying prone on a failed roll, and doesn't even require a roll at all unless you open it trying you beat you to it.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Getting back to why the thread was started (non-lethal option for ending combat, I thought), if a player tries to kick a weapon into hand... can the opponent try to grab it first? Deflect it with a ready weapon?

Well, there is the 'allow generalized parrying' option that's sometimes brought out. Nothing says you can parry someone's attempt to pick up a weapon, but some might argue that nothing says you can't...

Trying to grab it first, well, of course you can. You try to grab it first by trying to grab it before the other person does...

Originally Posted by Otaku

Oh, and aren't you able to disarm your opponent's in a manner to simply take their weapon? I mean, that really helps turn a disarming attempt into a fight ender (barring secondary weapons or unarmed combat prowess).

Well, yes, if you're grabbing their weapon with your hands...

[vierasmarius]

Disarming an opponent and taking their weapon in one smooth motion sounds like an All-Out (Double) or Rapid Strike attack. Either grapple the weapon then disarm, or disarm then grab the weapon. It's a good candidate for a Combination, though realistically you'd need to specialize by the type of weapon you're disarming (knife, sword, pistol, rifle, etc).

[Edges]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

Because that option doesn't result on your lying prone on a failed roll, and doesn't even require a roll at all unless you open it trying you beat you to it.

Oh. I missed that it required a roll on Acrobatic Stand. Thanks.

[Otaku]

Still seeking some clarification (I poorly worded my original questions), I think. Let me add that since it would be silly to start an entirely new thread just for my subset of this thread's questions, I am interested in options besides the hard facts, realistic options e.g. cinematic tricks are fine, as are what kind of advantages I could use in a Supers setting, a high point Powers based martial arts setting, etc.

A bit like the side comment about characters with longer reach, from earlier in the thread. I don't need an exhaustive list by any means, but some general guidelines would be nice. For example, if someone has a level of Altered Time Rate I would think it still challenging but plausible to snatch a fallen sword the opponent otherwise successfully kicked up off the ground to grab.

Originally Posted by Otaku

Getting back to why the thread was started (non-lethal option for ending combat, I thought), if a player tries to kick a weapon into hand... can the opponent try to grab it first? Deflect it with a ready weapon?

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Well, there is the 'allow generalized parrying' option that's sometimes brought out. Nothing says you can parry someone's attempt to pick up a weapon, but some might argue that nothing says you can't...

Trying to grab it first, well, of course you can. You try to grab it first by trying to grab it before the other person does...

So smacking it or the opponent's hand is an actual option. I mean, that isn't unrealistic (though difficult). Then again we were already talking about a very difficult maneuver (if it was just the normal 2 turn pick-up, you just step on the weapon/attack them before they can finish).

Again, just to be clear, "trying to grab it first" was specifically about interrupting the opponent's attempt. This would include less flashy (faster character sees slower character starting to pick-up sword, attempts to use his turn to interrupt) and the "this is how the party knows this is going to be a major opponent" approach where a PC successfully kicks his weapon up off the ground to catch it, and the opposing player steps forward and grabs it before the PC can actually catch it.

Thank you for pointing out generalized parrying.

Originally Posted by Otaku

Oh, and aren't you able to disarm your opponent's in a manner to simply take their weapon? I mean, that really helps turn a disarming attempt into a fight ender (barring secondary weapons or unarmed combat prowess).

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Well, yes, if you're grabbing their weapon with your hands...

Even in cinematic games? I'm neither a fencer nor a movie buff, but I recall seeing one swordsman not only disarm another, but do so off of a weapon-based disarming attempt. In some cases, it is very flashy - the weapon goes flying up and doesn't move out of range of the person doing the disarming, so he catches it either on its way (either on the way up or down).

In others it is as simple as not being an especially "violent" disarming attempt: the opponent drops the weapon and it is "mere" caught in the off hand by the disarming swordsman before it can hit the ground.

[DouglasCole]

Technical Grappling on pp. 13-14 spends some time on grabbing a weapon, weapon arm, or striking to knock a weapon away. It also gives options to retain it after you disarm, and treats joint locks with the intent on making people drop a weapon.