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Old 07-26-2016, 08:06 AM   #1
Myrion
 
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Default Do stop thrusts end movement?

The title is basically my question:

Does the Stop Thrust maneuver stop the enemy from moving?
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Old 07-26-2016, 08:34 AM   #2
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

Wild boar are (in)famous for not stopping, and boar spears have plates or crossbars in order to physically stop the animal from forcing its way up the spear to attack you. But - wild boar are also infamously tough, stubborn, and if they can't avoid you then potentially very aggressive to the point of berserk.

House rules off the top of my head
If you get hit by a thrust impaling attack with a Stop Thrust, I would definitely ask you for Will rolls (modified for the shock penalty, with the usual +3/-3 for High Pain Threshold) if you want to keep pushing forward, and I'd only let you push forward a number of yards based on your margin of success. I'd also assess 1/2 the injury you sustained on the original attack every second you try this stunt, a bit like pulling out a stuck pick or barbed arrow.

I don't particularly see how swinging attacks would stop you, per ce - but knockback can push you back. Remember that if you get knocked back more than a yard, you have to roll DX or fall down (and Shock applies). Also, if you got stuck on a swung pick, the usual rules for being controlled by the pick or having to pull yourself off apply.
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Old 07-26-2016, 10:00 AM   #3
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

See Martial Arts, p106 "Holding a Foe at Bay." Basically, a foe can run themselves up a spear but it requires a penalized Will roll and a fair bit of strength and maximizes the damage from your attack. Alternately, if you fail to penetrate DR or don't use a thrusting, impaling weapon, then your foe has to win a contest of ST to close without having to spend extra movement.
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Old 07-26-2016, 02:08 PM   #4
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

Thank you mlangsdorf! That's what I was looking for, exactly. And now that I know about the running through, I thought to look at Low-Tech and it's treatment of the Partisan (spear with a sort of cross bar) and lo! It refers to Martial Arts p106 ^^'

Bruno, I guess a non-impaling weapon would be used less to stop someone from approaching me and more to clothesline and block someone running past me towards a friend.
Otherwise I don't really see it either.
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Old 07-26-2016, 03:43 PM   #5
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Myrion View Post
Thank you mlangsdorf! That's what I was looking for, exactly. And now that I know about the running through, I thought to look at Low-Tech and it's treatment of the Partisan (spear with a sort of cross bar) and lo! It refers to Martial Arts p106 ^^'

Bruno, I guess a non-impaling weapon would be used less to stop someone from approaching me and more to clothesline and block someone running past me towards a friend.
Otherwise I don't really see it either.
Do you mean non-impaling or non-thrusting? I can pretty easliy envision a stop thrust with a staff keeping someone at bay, even though that is CR not IMP.
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Old 07-26-2016, 05:58 PM   #6
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

Again, if you're hit by a non-thrusting or non-impaling attack while charging (or your DR absorbs all the base damage of a thrusting impaling attack), you have to win a contest of ST or spend extra MP to move forward. Assuming you're not knocked back or stunned from the damage, of course.

It's the same rule if you thrust a quarterstaff into someone's stomach or clobber them with an ax.
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Old 07-26-2016, 10:52 PM   #7
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear.

I meant that I couldn't visualize how I would block someone moving straight at me, using a non-thrusting, non-impaling weapon.

The rule is simple enough to understand, though.
Thank you all!
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Old 07-27-2016, 05:42 AM   #8
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

Someone charges at you when you're holding a baseball bat. You have the baseball bat at the ready like a batter waiting for a pitch. As the charger approaches, you swing like his chest is the ball and you're going for a line drive. He fails to defend and your blow pushes him back and causes him to lose all the momentum of his charge, stopping him (ie, you won the contest of ST). In the next second, he can step forward again, but he's no longer charging you.

Does that better help you visualize it? You're not so much holding him off as stopping his charge.
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Old 07-27-2016, 07:32 AM   #9
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

A bit, yes. It seems to me that I can only do this at relatively short range though...
Does that mean that I need to do knockback to prevent him from attacking me (because he's out of range) or would I stop his turn?
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Old 07-27-2016, 08:17 AM   #10
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Default Re: Do stop thrusts end movement?

A non-piercing, non-thrusting weapon will never stop a charge. It can only slow it down. If it slows down the charge enough, the charger won't reach you and will have to do something else with his Move and Attack or All-Out Attack action.

Let's take an example: a ST10, DX 15 guy in kevlar (DR 12/5) performs a Move and Attack on your character from 3 yards away while you're on a Wait to attack the first guy to get in range with your hand axe. The attacker has Move 6. He spends 2 MPs to close to 1 yard and triggers your wait. You hit, he fails to defend, and you do 8 basic damage to him. Since it's cutting damage, it's all absorbed by his DR and becomes knockback, sending him back 1 yard. He makes his DX check to avoid falling and spends another MP to close back to 1 yard and then loses the contest of ST with you. He spends 2 more MP to back up slightly and come from another direction. With his last MP, he enters your hex and attempts his slam.

So even though you hit him and did knockback, you failed to end his turn by stunning him or knocking him over and he had enough movement to enter your hex.

Example 2: same guy, but he started 5 yards out. When you knock him back one hex, he fails to have enough movement to enter your hex and must attempt his attack maneuver from 1 hex away by making a Wild Swing. Sucks to be him.

Example 3: same guy starts 3 hexes away but forgets to wear his kevlar. You don't knock him back, but you do inflict a major wound, stunning him. He falls down and loses the rest of his turn. Even if he resisted the major wound, he's below 1/3 HP and is slowed to half Move and can't enter your hex if he loses the contest of ST, resolving the same as Example 2.

I think that's all the options: hit but failure to stop; hit and slow enough to prevent a Slam; and hit and stunned to prevent his attack. Okay, there's a fourth option where you miss him or he defends against your Wait but that's pretty obvious.
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