Benefits of a Combat Fan?

[cosmicfish]

If I recall correctly, they were originally created to allow bodyguards to carry weapons in situations where obvious weapons would be unacceptable. They were originally more subtle in their design, and were made more obvious and garish when that need no longer existed and their use became less about function and more about technique and style.

So the real use case would be the original - where carrying a fan would be acceptable and carrying better weapons would not.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Bind Weapon/Disarm - This may require your fan have notches in it, but closing the fan over a blade could effectively bind it, and/or give you increased leverage for a disarm.

We definitely need rules on how to intentionally let your fan get stabbed by a thrust/impale attack so as to channel that Fa Mulan v Shan Yu rooftop fight.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Plane

We definitely need rules on how to intentionally let your fan get stabbed by a thrust/impale attack so as to channel that Fa Mulan v Shan Yu rooftop fight.

Never watched Mulan, so unfamiliar with that scene, but that sounds like it could just be a special effect in the description of a successful Parry that is followed up by Bind Weapon. The GM might even give a circumstantial bonus to the Bind Weapon attempt, as the player has opted to sacrifice the weapon (or at least need to repair/replace it after the battle) for a neat visual effect.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Plane

We definitely need rules on how to intentionally let your fan get stabbed by a thrust/impale attack so as to channel that Fa Mulan v Shan Yu rooftop fight.

Grabbing Parry, roll CP.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Never watched Mulan, so unfamiliar with that scene

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1009105813837733888

Originally Posted by Varyon

but that sounds like it could just be a special effect in the description of a successful Parry that is followed up by Bind Weapon. The GM might even give a circumstantial bonus to the Bind Weapon attempt, as the player has opted to sacrifice the weapon (or at least need to repair/replace it after the battle) for a neat visual effect.

I think it might be possible even if you didn't parry, but the guy was intentionally targetting your weapon with an impale attack and succeeded (and left the impaling weapon inside)

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Grabbing Parry, roll CP.

Is the CP you roll also the injury your fan suffers?

*looks more closely*

On second thought, she actually held the fan so that when the sword passed through, it went VERY close to her hand, and in between the proximal wooden spines of the fan and didn't actually strike distally enough on the fan to damage the webbing near the tip's half at all...

If it had actually punctured the webbing on the distal part, she wouldn't have been able to get a 2-handed grip on both ends of the fan to do a stronger twist...

Not all fans have a webless part near grip though, my personal fan I own is webbing 100% of the length, which I guess is why I mistakenly remembered the specifics here.

[Black Leviathan]

Most fighting fans I've seen are far too delicate to parry when not closed and even if you entangled a weapon in a fan I can't imagine the struggle to hold it wouldn't just destroy your fan.

I do think an open fan would actually make it pretty practical to parry small thrown weapons and maybe even arrows in a cinematic-styled game. Perhaps a +1 to counter that small size parry penalty. The parry might cut your fan up a little but it would still function.

I could see giving a circumstantial bonus for deceptive attacks with a fan, given the color and movement it's tough to keep track of where the strike is. Much like a plumed spear.

I'd give you a circumstantial intimidation bonus if you wanted to stare down an attacker who was expecting a room full of unarmed socialites and you flap open two fans full of glittering blades and flash your "come get some" smile.

The biggest thing I see is just being able to walk around with a ready weapon in most settings.

[sgtcallistan]

There's a historical Japanese event where one army or unit commander penetrated to the opposing headquarters compound and surprised the enemy general or lord: samurai in armour on horseback versus an armoured but sat on a stool samurai.

The horseman attacked with an sword, and the defender apparently fended of several blows with the aid of iron 'war-fan', until his guards armed with spears were able to drive off the attacker.

My google-fu is weak, I can't find a link, sorry.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

Most fighting fans I've seen are far too delicate to parry when not closed and even if you entangled a weapon in a fan I can't imagine the struggle to hold it wouldn't just destroy your fan.

Although Mulan's fan is open when she initially interposes it so that the sword goes in between the spines, to grapple it she does close it, and stabilizes it on both ends.

On a fresh day, I'm thinking this actually seems a lot like weapon-based version of the cinematic "Sword Clap" technique, except somewhat more realistic, because it doesn't seem cinematic at all to simply close a fan on a sword that's already interposed between its tines.

The skillful aspect is getting that perfect angle in respect to the sword in the first place (ie holding the fan vertical if the flat is perpencidular to the ground, holding the fan horizantal if the flat is parallel to the ground) and getting the proper timing to quickly close your fan (and add the 2nd hand for support) before your attacker can react and withdraw his sword.

You have more reaction time in the 2nd case if an opponent overcommits and is so confident that they'll hit you that when they miss (or you dodge) they're surprised, and leave their sword (or other thrusting attack, sometimes an arm) hanging out for you to easily attack, instead of smartly pulling it back to make it harder to target and prepare for an additional thrust.

That aspect is part of why I like the idea of rolling separately for limb/weapon recovery actions after an attack, mandatory for additional thrusts. It should generally be pretty easy, but then you could at least occasionally fail and leave your attacking limb vulnerable.

Originally Posted by sgtcallistan

There's a historical Japanese event where one army or unit commander penetrated to the opposing headquarters compound and surprised the enemy general or lord: samurai in armour on horseback versus an armoured but sat on a stool samurai.

The horseman attacked with an sword, and the defender apparently fended of several blows with the aid of iron 'war-fan', until his guards armed with spears were able to drive off the attacker.

My google-fu is weak, I can't find a link, sorry.

Closest thing I could find is the mention of Sasaki Kojiro at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessenjutsu but it mentions several opponents, not a single horseman.

[Hide]

I know this is a fictional source, but you should check the Mortal Kombat wiki. The steel fan is the weapon of choice of the (presumably) female lead in the game. So, this wiki describes the fan under both, cinematic and "real world" contexts; this includes War fans in history and folklore.

On the other hand... Being a fan of combat could be really useful if designed as a talent or quite interesting as savoir faire skill (just kidding).

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sgtcallistan

My google-fu is weak, I can't find a link, sorry.

Checking wikipedia, looks like that was Takeda Shingen defending himself from Uesugi Kenshin.