GURPS MA: Riposte and All-Out Defense

[sclose1970]

Is it legal (RAW) to use All-Out Defense (Increased Defense +2) to boost a Riposte attempt?

[Bruno]

Sounds fine to me, really.

Instead of taking an AoD: +2, you could just Evaluate for the turn and get a bonus on your attack without having to wait for someone to attack you.

[sclose1970]

The intent was to increase the likelihood of a successful parry before the riposte, as a tactic for penetrating the defenses of an opponent with a higher skill level.

I'm assuming that it's also legal to use the bonus to hit from Evaluate with a Deceptive Attack, also?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Sounds fine to me, really.

Instead of taking an AoD: +2, you could just Evaluate for the turn and get a bonus on your attack without having to wait for someone to attack you.

[Barghaest]

I'd say yes, since Deceptive Attack says 'final effective skill' not quantifying that before other modifiers like Riposte.

However, Riposte and Deceptive Attack aren't cumulative... Riposte is a specialized Deceptive Attack that tanks your defense instead of attack roll.

[Dinadon]

Originally Posted by sclose1970

Is it legal (RAW) to use All-Out Defense (Increased Defense +2) to boost a Riposte attempt?

By boost, I'll assume you mean to take a larger penalty, the answer is no. Riposte counts no modifiers to your parry score, aside from Enhanced Parry, to determine how big a penalty to take.

Those modifiers do, though, make it more likely that you succeed at your penalized defense.

[sclose1970]

Well, as an example: A character has a skill level in Karate of 18, with combat reflexes, and enhanced parry 1. His "normal" parry is 14. However, for the purposes of Riposte, his combat reflexes bonus is not taken into account until the negative modifier is applied, in this case he could take a maximum of a -5 penalty, reducing his parry score to 8. His final parry score, however, would be 9, after the +1 from Combat Reflexes. Had he taken an All-Out Defense the previous turn, would that then increase his parry to 11?

He could take a

Originally Posted by Dinadon

By boost, I'll assume you mean to take a larger penalty, the answer is no. Riposte counts no modifiers to your parry score, aside from Enhanced Parry, to determine how big a penalty to take.

Those modifiers do, though, make it more likely that you succeed at your penalized defense.

[Dinadon]

Originally Posted by sclose1970

Well, as an example: A character has a skill level in Karate of 18, with combat reflexes, and enhanced parry 1. His "normal" parry is 14. However, for the purposes of Riposte, his combat reflexes bonus is not taken into account until the negative modifier is applied, in this case he could take a maximum of a -5 penalty, reducing his parry score to 8. His final parry score, however, would be 9, after the +1 from Combat Reflexes. Had he taken an All-Out Defense the previous turn, would that then increase his parry to 11?

Yep, that's all correct, and yes his parry would be 11 if he had done an AoD(Parry). What makes you think he wouldn't get the bonus, he's making a defense roll?

[sclose1970]

Originally Posted by Dinadon

Yep, that's all correct, and yes his parry would be 11 if he had done an AoD(Parry). What makes you think he wouldn't get the bonus, he's making a defense roll?

The rules don't say you can't do it, but as written, there seems to be some intent to make the tactic's rewards match its risk of failure. I didn't want to add in bonuses that make it more likely to succeed if that was not the rule's original intent. As it works out though, giving up an attack from a previous turn in order to setup a later attack seems to be a decent balancing factor.

[Barghaest]

Originally Posted by sclose1970

Well, as an example: A character has a skill level in Karate of 18, with combat reflexes, and enhanced parry 1. His "normal" parry is 14. However, for the purposes of Riposte, his combat reflexes bonus is not taken into account until the negative modifier is applied, in this case he could take a maximum of a -5 penalty, reducing his parry score to 8. His final parry score, however, would be 9, after the +1 from Combat Reflexes. Had he taken an All-Out Defense the previous turn, would that then increase his parry to 11?

Yes, he'd have an 11, but he couldn't use the AOD bonus to take more penalty. When he goes to attack he'll give the opponent a -5 to his Parry (if he parried a weapon or punch) or to his Block (if he parried a Shield Bash) or to his Dodge (if he parried a kick) and a -2 to other defenses, but he can't combine that with Deceptive Attack to give his opponent more penalty (as stated in the last paragraph about Riposte on MA125.