Distant Blow and Picks

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Sindri

If it seems too abusive I'd just have the wielder either use their own strength or cancel the spell as they choose. After all the damage is determined by the wielders strength. The problem for most pick wielders isn't really "My pick is stuck and I don't know if I can get it out" it's "My pick always gets stuck but with a ready action I can generally unstick it" and getting rid of that action significantly improves their speed in attacking.

The extra Ready action required is partly mitigated by the fact that extracting the pick inflicts half the injury that it did going in. So it's potentially inflicting full damage 3 times per four rounds, compared to twice per four rounds like other weapons that require a Ready. Also, the pick only sticks if it actually hits, and as we know the hit rate tends to be 50% or less for equivalently-skilled combatants, so it's not as limiting as ST‡ weapons. Sticking can have its own benefits too; IIRC the upcoming Technical Grappling will discuss "grappling" options that can be performed using a pick.

All together, I don't view a pick sticking into its target as such a huge drawback, and thus I don't think it's unbalancing to have a magic spell remove that feature in limited situations.

EDIT: Reviewing the Pick rules, they leave something to be desired. It would make most sense if the difficulty of extracting a stuck weapon was based on how much damage it dealt, and perhaps what sort of armor it encountered. Let's see... a ST 10 man deals 1d+1 imp with a one-handed Pick, with each +1 ST adding +1 damage. It would take reality testing, but I could see rolling ST+(6-rolled damage), though maybe ignoring damage that's blocked by flexible armor (since it is less likely to bind the pick). An average blow could be extracted some 75% of the time, but a high damage roll or All-Out Attack would be more difficult. If that seems too rough, and you feel there should be a greater benefit for high ST, make it something along the lines of ST+(4 - 1/2 rolled damage). The damage bonus for Weapon Master or a Fine Pick could probably be left out of this equation, increasing injury without making the weapon harder to recover. And of course, using two hands should add a ST bonus.