Beats Suck(?)

[Gigermann]

I'm surprised I haven't read anyone take this angle:

A Beat, really, is a "shove" attack on the opponent's weapon/shield/whatever. Seems logical to me that one could just as easily set up for a Beat by doing just that—attacking it—in which case, it would take effect if the opponent failed to successfully defend (and possibly, even if he does Parry). Assuming you don't care whether the weapon ends up broken—normal attack—or that the opponent drops it—Disarm—as a result of your attack, you would effectively be doing "Knockback" on the weapon, taking it out of position.

[GWJ]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

One thing that occurs:

If you do a successful beat, and your margin of victory is 5+ or 10+ depending on how hard you want it to be, the thing receiving the Beat becomes Unready from that point on.

Or make it by 5+ and it's unready, make it be 10+ and you get a disarm if it's gripped.

Where can I find this rule?!

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by GWJ

Where can I find this rule?!

We made it up in this thread I think?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

We made it up in this thread I think?

But given the thread is nine years old, unlikely anyone remembers for sure?

[GWJ]

Uhm, I see. Too bad for me, my players almost never want to play with not-official rules from books :/

[Maz]

Originally Posted by GWJ

Uhm, I see. Too bad for me, my players almost never want to play with not-official rules from books :/

You could maybe make something similar as a a technique using the rules in Martial arts. After all a disarm attempt has some similar rules; where the weapon of your opponent is either disarmed or at least still unready (unless the target made their roll by 3 or more) (see p.400 in Basic).

But I never did mess around with the technique rules.

[Plane]

What if we just counted all Disarm attempts as Beats too? Like merge them into one technique? If either are underwhelming, perhaps combining them would make them more impressive?

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by Plane

What if we just counted all Disarm attempts as Beats too? Like merge them into one technique? If either are underwhelming, perhaps combining them would make them more impressive?

I think they're too different. Mechanically, beats are specifically ST-based (which often accompanies heavy weapons), while disarms could be both ST- and DX-based, and fencing weapons (which really don't require much strength) give disarms an advantage. If you combine those mechanics, either fencing weapons become less effective at disarming, or somehow become more effective at knocking foe's weapon away despite being rather light.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Gnomasz

I think they're too different. Mechanically, beats are specifically ST-based (which often accompanies heavy weapons), while disarms could be both ST- and DX-based, and fencing weapons (which really don't require much strength) give disarms an advantage. If you combine those mechanics, either fencing weapons become less effective at disarming, or somehow become more effective at knocking foe's weapon away despite being rather light.

That problem seems moreso that you should be limited in how much ST you can use to beat if you're using a flimsy weapon to beat with, because we'd still face that problem if a fencer used a Beat as a followup to being parried or parrying.

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by Plane

That problem seems moreso that you should be limited in how much ST you can use to beat if you're using a flimsy weapon to beat with, because we'd still face that problem if a fencer used a Beat as a followup to being parried or parrying.

Well, there's the general (and generous) limit of 3 × minST for damage purposes. I'd extend that to Beats.