[MA] Aggressive Disarming & mixed skills

[jacobmuller]

Situation is: a player character has encountered a hit-team at his home. He's already killed two with a firearm but has been disarmed by his remaining opponent who is armed with a sword.
When the assassin next attacks, and the player responds with Aggressive Parry (Brawling), can he use Disarming as opposed to trying to punch through a sword?

MA p.65: "Success means you parry and may roll against the underlying skill to strike the attacking body part or weapon".

Is he restricted to his Brawling skill for the attack segment of the move, ie if he is allowed to strike to Disarm instead of Damage, is it based off his Brawling Skill or the Aggressive Parry (Brawling) Technique or can he use his Disarm (Brawling) technique?
For that matter, if he can use the Disarm Technique, does it have to be based off Brawling, eg if he has Disarm (Sumo) at a higher level?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

When the assassin next attacks, and the player responds with Aggressive Parry (Brawling), can he use Disarming as opposed to trying to punch through a sword?

I'd say no. If you want to employ Aggressive Parry, you would normally use the rules for "Against Armed." In Technical Grappling, I suggest using the -3 through -5 penalty progression for short to long weapons from the Basic Set; if your foe's sword is Reach 1, I'd say you can do an Aggressive Parry of the foe's arm (-2) or hand (-4) at an ADDITIONAL -3 if you step into CC (so you're at reach 0) or -4 if you keep your distance. Then there's the -3 for Brawling vs a swung weapon if he's swinging at you (I'd waive this if he's swinging at you and you STARTED in CC, rather than stepping into it on your turn).

In short, moving past the sword to aggressively parry the hand or arm is very risky. If you're a cinematic action hero (and you might be!) and can absorb the -9 to -11 in penalties to do this, have at it, but otherwise, you're in trouble.

What you'll want to do instead is to just do a parry, but slip around to his side and rear. You have Sumo and Brawling? You'll want to get to his rear arc and try and knock him down. If you had Judo, you'd want to do a Judo Parry with a slip to his side arc, capture his arm and utilize Arm Lock to force him to let go of his weapon.

This gets loving detail in Technical Grappling, as you might imagine!

Is he restricted to his Brawling skill for the attack segment of the move, ie if he is allowed to strike to Disarm instead of Damage, is it based off his Brawling Skill or the Aggressive Parry (Brawling) Technique or can he use his Disarm (Brawling) technique?

As per Knocking a Weapon Away (p. B401), you can use any unarmed skill at -2. As per Disarming (Martial Arts, p. 70) you may default this attempt to Disarming (Whatever) if you have raised Disarming with Whatever to a higher level; the -2 and other penalties still apply. In this case, if you have Disarming (Brawling), you can use that instead of skill wherever it applies, both the roll to hit and the Quick Contest.


For that matter, if he can use the Disarm Technique, does it have to be based off Brawling, eg if he has Disarm (Sumo) at a higher level?[/QUOTE]

[jacobmuller]

Thank you, and yes, -10 v's a swung weapon.
But, as you say, the option would be available to a highly skilled Action Hero.
Considering that this situation would be an old/ unmaintained skill and the sword is 3d+2(10), side-slipping is definitely safer than probable amputation; then he can try his current technique, Disarm (Sumo), if he's still moving:)

[DouglasCole]

Another option if you've got Sumo is to knock him down with a Sweep, then use your Brawling to do something really violent.

Sweep has the advantage of not requiring an initial grapple, and your foe mightn't have the Ground Fighting technique, putting him at -4 to attack and -2 to defend. It also give you a nice chance to Run Away, since it'll take him a couple turns to get up to chase you unless he has Acrobatic Stand.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Another option if you've got Sumo is to knock him down with a Sweep, then use your Brawling to do something really violent.

Sweep has the advantage of not requiring an initial grapple, and your foe mightn't have the Ground Fighting technique, putting him at -4 to attack and -2 to defend. It also give you a nice chance to Run Away, since it'll take him a couple turns to get up to chase you unless he has Acrobatic Stand.

Well, I think he can still parry your sweep with his sword, which is bad for you.

But you've slipped into close combat, if you stack on some Deceptive, you should be able to minimize the risks.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Well, I think he can still parry your sweep with his sword, which is bad for you.

Yeah, this was predicated somewhat on the successful slip into a side/rear arc, to hit him with the -2 for that.

Against qualified opposition, it's tough to pull off. Attack using Sweep, foe can defend normally. If you win, roll Quick Contest of ST or Sweep vs. his ST, DX, Acrobatics, or best grappling skill.

In this instance, however, if your foe's ST isn't that high, and he's relying on his 3d+2 (10) (!!) to provide his oomph, it might be a pretty good option.

But you've slipped into close combat, if you stack on some Deceptive, you should be able to minimize the risks.

Yeah, honestly, facing 5-20 points of damage and a (10) armor (not to mention what's likely an unfavorable damage type) falls squarely into the Run Away category:

Originally Posted by Technical Grappling, p. ??

Fighting Armed Opponents
Parrying a weapon can injure you; buy and wear armor for
your limbs, including gloves and bracers! Your primary goal is
to remove the weapon from the equation, using an Arm or
Hand lock, a disarm (see Drop That Weapon!, p. 00), or by containing
and crippling a limb. If you can seize the weapon, you
can exploit Don’t Shoot Yourself (p. 00) to point it back at your
opponent.
If your foe’s weapon is Reach 1 or longer, you will want to
use Slip (Martial Arts, p. 124) to get inside his guard. If you
can’t take the weapon away, get into his side or rear arc.
Failing all that, strongly consider running away!

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Well, I think he can still parry your sweep with his sword, which is bad for you.

But you've slipped into close combat, if you stack on some Deceptive, you should be able to minimize the risks.

The problem is that you can't keep him in Close Combat without grappling him, which risks a damaging parry. His skill is only penalized if you started your turn in close combat with him, which means he needed to stay in CC with you on his turn. This is doable if he already Stepped before his attack, and you Slipped to get in close. Otherwise, he can parry at normal skill as you step in to attack. In other words, keep him at two yards distance, Evaluating or All-Out Defending, then rush in when he steps to strike you. He could use Committed Attack (Extra Step) to strike then step out of reach, but that would prevent him from Parrying with his sword, allowing you to close the distance with impunity.

[aesir23]

Until Technical Grappling comes out, the only weapons that get a free-disarm after a parry are Jitte and Sai.

Aggressive Parry doesn't do what you want to do, and isn't helping you here.

If you had Judo, you could use that to parry, and then initiate an Arm Lock to control the sword, but Brawling is bad for defending against weapons.