Parry a Slam?

[Henquist]

Originally Posted by Kromm

You can parry a slam just fine: brace your weapon against the other arm, your shield, etc., and push him away. That counts as a parry (remember: per GURPS Martial Arts, weapon skills all include the ability to shove and slam with weapons, so doing so defensively isn't anything special). The catch is that slams count as weapons with weight = attacker's ST. This is a medium-sized to large problem for ST 12+ attackers (the sort of people who like to slam) vs. the typical run of light melee weapons. Even a ST 10 man has a good chance of snapping your broadsword, and a ST 15 thug has decent odds of snapping your bastard sword.

So is it possible to attempt this sort of parry against a shield slam from the rear? say in a runaround situation where you do get a penalized parry. It seems the rules technically allow for this but I do not see it possible to make this sort of brace against the slam.

[Dustin]

For 7 years, this thread lay unquiet in its grave, until the dread necromancer known as Henquist intoned:

Originally Posted by Henquist

So is it possible to attempt this sort of parry against a shield slam from the rear? say in a runaround situation where you do get a penalized parry. It seems the rules technically allow for this but I do not see it possible to make this sort of brace against the slam.

I don't see why it would be impossible. If you've been visually tracking the attacker during their runaround, you have some time to react, and (as you noted) you're already being penalized for the effective Flank.

[Ulzgoroth]

As far as the mass issue, Pyramid 3-77 has an interesting (and often previously discussed) alternative to the standard, though it won't make a huge difference at ST 12

Originally Posted by Henquist

So is it possible to attempt this sort of parry against a shield slam from the rear? say in a runaround situation where you do get a penalized parry. It seems the rules technically allow for this but I do not see it possible to make this sort of brace against the slam.

A run-around slam is a pretty awkward maneuver in its own right...

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

As far as the mass issue, Pyramid 3-77 has an interesting (and often previously discussed) alternative to the standard, though it won't make a huge difference at ST 12

A run-around slam is a pretty awkward maneuver in its own right...

Yah. It's me trying to dance.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Yah. It's me trying to dance.

Once you get that problem heeled you should be back on the dance floor...



I'm with Dustin and Ulzgoroth, the penalty takes into account the difficulty of turning and bracing against the attack, so you can attempt to parry a run-around slam.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Once you get that problem heeled you should be back on the dance floor...

Aren't you worried of the very idea of seeing heeled DouglasCole, particularly trying to dance?

[roguebfl]

I half remember an alternative of use some function of BL rather than ST for weights but I can't quite remember it.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

I half remember an alternative of use some function of BL rather than ST for weights but I can't quite remember it.

It was always BL/2 and BL/10 for slams and strikes, respectively. To give the same values as the regular rule at ST 10.