Parry a Slam? - Page 2

stilleon · 04-05-2008, 04:51 PM

I was playing GURPS this weekend. The GM had a ST 12 dude slam me. I am a fencer, armed with a saber. So he comes at me and I decide my options. Turns out parry is on the table, but the GM warns me that I might break my saber because the slammer is considered a heavy weapon.

Here is my problem with these rules. The slammer weighs about 150lbs, lets say. All his motion contains a lot of energy because of his mass. A saber is a weapon with a lot less mass. Seems to me that a saber (or any sword) would find it impossible to deflect the mass of the slammer. Why?

1. The sword would not have enough mass, even if swung, to deflect the amss of the body.
2. The body is made of tissue, which is kid of soft. Unless dressed in plate mail or something it would probably push the blade back, not snap it. Also, the wrist of the defender would probably bend because his muscles will give way from the force of the blow.

So, it seems to me that the rules should have the parry automatically fail unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The only exception would be to aggressively parry, hitting the enemy as he comes in (he is exposing himself to attack) without his blade snapping, or to set the blade so the slammer will impale himself (which I think would take a ready maneuver). Maybe there should be a "Fast-Set" technique to react to slams and their ilk.

Thoughts?

04-05-2008, 04:51 PM	#1
stilleon Join Date: Sep 2004	Parry a Slam? I was playing GURPS this weekend. The GM had a ST 12 dude slam me. I am a fencer, armed with a saber. So he comes at me and I decide my options. Turns out parry is on the table, but the GM warns me that I might break my saber because the slammer is considered a heavy weapon. Here is my problem with these rules. The slammer weighs about 150lbs, lets say. All his motion contains a lot of energy because of his mass. A saber is a weapon with a lot less mass. Seems to me that a saber (or any sword) would find it impossible to deflect the mass of the slammer. Why? 1. The sword would not have enough mass, even if swung, to deflect the amss of the body. 2. The body is made of tissue, which is kid of soft. Unless dressed in plate mail or something it would probably push the blade back, not snap it. Also, the wrist of the defender would probably bend because his muscles will give way from the force of the blow. So, it seems to me that the rules should have the parry automatically fail unless there are exceptional circumstances. The only exception would be to aggressively parry, hitting the enemy as he comes in (he is exposing himself to attack) without his blade snapping, or to set the blade so the slammer will impale himself (which I think would take a ready maneuver). Maybe there should be a "Fast-Set" technique to react to slams and their ilk. Thoughts? __________________ My hovercraft is full of eels.