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

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by 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).

I agree that it would make a good combination.

I would think something like judo parry, hold weapon with other hand, disarm.

I don't know how much you'd have to specialize though about the weapon being disarmed.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

I agree that it would make a good combination.

I would think something like judo parry, hold weapon with other hand, disarm.

I don't know how much you'd have to specialize though about the weapon being disarmed.

We didn't call for such in TG.

One option, though it's a bit involved, is to use a joint lock to cause pain, which reduces the ability of the person to hold the weapon. Enough pain, or if you strike it away for damage, and you knock it down. If you grapple the weapon and lock the limb, if you reduce the foe's Grip ST to below zero, you can retain it (though you'll need to somehow Ready it first to use it).

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Otaku

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.

Like most 'interrupt' actions, the obvious way to do any of that is with a Wait.

Originally Posted by Otaku

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.

Honestly, I don't remember the highly-cinematic branch of Martial Arts that well, so I don't know if there's anything out there for that particular move.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

We didn't call for such in TG.

One option, though it's a bit involved, is to use a joint lock to cause pain, which reduces the ability of the person to hold the weapon. Enough pain, or if you strike it away for damage, and you knock it down. If you grapple the weapon and lock the limb, if you reduce the foe's Grip ST to below zero, you can retain it (though you'll need to somehow Ready it first to use it).

I still haven't read TG and won't be using it at the beginning of my game. I'm just trying to use Martial Arts.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Edges

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

Because most people can't make an Acrobatics-6 roll. Acrobatic Stand pretty much depends on that to work. I'd agree with the criticism "Why would anyone with Acrobatics at 18+ ever choose the standard two-turn option?" My experience is that PCs built around Acrobatics use it as often as possible in combat!

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Because most people can't make an Acrobatics-6 roll. Acrobatic Stand pretty much depends on that to work. I'd agree with the criticism "Why would anyone with Acrobatics at 18+ ever choose the standard two-turn option?" My experience is that PCs built around Acrobatics use it as often as possible in combat!

Thanks. I had failed my Reading Comprehension roll.

[Rocket Man]

I haven't gone through every post in the thread, so maybe this has already been covered. But my first thought on the subject of Disarms is "Don't forget that they're not necessarily fighting on a featureless plain!"

If the combat is next to a city street, a Disarm might send your weapon into traffic.

If the combat is in the mountains, a Disarm could send your weapon over a cliff.

If the combat is in a dungeon, a Disarm could send your weapon into a crevice ... or a pool ... or beneath the monster your buddy is battling.

Having your weapon knocked a yard away can be a dangerous inconvenience or a deadly mistake, depending on your surroundings.

[blip]

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.

The former is a somewhat acrobatic low dip-and-scoop, which is doable but, yeah, risky. The latter is something I've seen in demos . . . I have no idea how realistic it would be in a fight.

In Capoeira, Jogo de Dinheiro -- the "money game" -- consists of street players dueling over a bit of paper money (bag of coins, traditionally) thrown into the center of the roda (the circle of onlookers).

The winner is the one who, while the other person is trying to kick him, picks up the money. During a cartwheel.

With his teeth.

This is performance art, but still, this can happen in under a second.

Quick changes of posture are taught as specific maneuvers in several martial arts. In my experience, they're a lot more "doable" and realistic than some of the dramatic "realistic" attacks in GURPS Martial Arts.

[mirioki]

Slightly related question.

So I dropped my sword and I kneel down so I can pick it up.
My enemy decides not to let me do that and kicks my weapon away.

How do I resolve how far it gets kicked if let's say it's a longsword that was kicked by someone with 10 ST.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by mirioki

Slightly related question.

So I dropped my sword and I kneel down so I can pick it up.
My enemy decides not to let me do that and kicks my weapon away.

How do I resolve how far it gets kicked if let's say it's a longsword that was kicked by someone with 10 ST.

I'd say kicking like that with one leg, no run up, would be basically like ST 6 (20% boost on ST for the legs, but halved for one leg). That's Basic Lift of 7.2 lbs. A sword out of its scabbard is going to be 2 or 3 lbs. That's 0.28 to about 0.41 weight ratio (p. B355). That's more or less "goes about ST yards away," but in this case ST 6.

So about five or six yards.