Visible Warrior Invisible Sword

[ravenfish]

Back in 3e, Magic Items included rules for an invisible sword. To quote:

"When fighting
against an invisible sword, the defender is normally at a -1 to all
active defenses (-3 if the defender's primary weapon skill is 10
or less, no minus if his skill is 15 or better - the best fighters react
to cues from their opponent's face and body, not his weapon)."

-GURPS Magic Items 1, p.93

[JulianLW]

Christopher Rice has rules for the "Transparent Blade" technique for the Psi Sword ability in Pyramid 3/69. I'm surprised he didn't mention it! Can it be that he doesn't remember all the articles he's written?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by JulianLW

Christopher Rice has rules for the "Transparent Blade" technique for the Psi Sword ability in Pyramid 3/69. I'm surprised he didn't mention it! Can it be that he doesn't remember all the articles he's written?

Hey! It's crowded in the ol noggin. Too much stuff in my head. I can't remember ALL of it. >__>

[Eric Funk]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Back in 3e, Magic Items included rules for an invisible sword.

Many thanks everyone!
This is essentially what I was looking for. (I was envisaging something about rolling against your best weapon skill to read the foe).

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Back in 3e, Magic Items included rules for an invisible sword. To quote:

"When fighting
against an invisible sword, the defender is normally at a -1 to all
active defenses (-3 if the defender's primary weapon skill is 10
or less, no minus if his skill is 15 or better - the best fighters react
to cues from their opponent's face and body, not his weapon)."

-GURPS Magic Items 1, p.93

I'm not sure I'd allow no negatives at all. It's very much about other cues, as several have mentioned, but know *exactly* the size, shape, and movement of the weapon helps, and not knowing has to make it harder.

I'd probably make it -3 default, -5 if defender is below skill 10, and -2 with skill 15+ and -1 at skill 20+ for parries and dodges. Blocks I'd make one better because there's more tolerance in position when putting a shield in the way.

That's just my take. Most importantly, I will now need to unleash some invisible weapons against my PCs!

[ravenfish]

I wouldn't go as bad as -5, even for the untrained, given that a completely invisible foe is defended against at only -4, and making the non-weapon parts of him visible shouldn't make defending harder.

If I were going to get complicated, I might be tempted to base the penalty on relative skill level (DX-1, DX+3, etc.) rather than absolute skill level, since, while training and experience (i.e., character points spent on the skill) may well let you read an opponent's attack from their body, I don't see raw dexterity helping very much- this is probably something where a seasoned veteran has an advantage over a tyro however talented.

EDIT: If I were basing the penalties on defender skill in any way, I would certainly use the highest combat skill to calculate them irrespective of which weapon is currently being wielded. If training in swordsmanship includes skill in reading an opponent, this skill won't go away just because one is forced to drop the sword and fight with a knife.

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

I wouldn't go as bad as -5, even for the untrained, given that a completely invisible foe is defended against at only -4

That's a fair point, but I think only - 4 to defend against a completely invisible foe is too light without mitigating advantages or skills.