Question on parrying

[Samort7]

B376:

Parrying with the Off Hand: You parry with your "off" hand (your left or "shield" hand if right handed; see Handedness, p.17), or with a weapon held in it, at -4 to skill. Since Parry is calculated off half skill, this gives -2 to Parry.

I don't quite understand what this sentence means. Can someone please explain the discrepancy between -4 and -2?

Thanks.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Samort7

B376:



I don't quite understand what this sentence means. Can someone please explain the discrepancy between -4 and -2?

Thanks.

Parry is half skill +3, thus you apply half the penalty to the skill.
So if you have skill 18 (parry 12 (9+3), and you wield your weapon in your off-hand, it drops to 14 (18-4), which gives you a parry of 10 (7+3). Thus, the net effect is "-2 to parry."

[Anaraxes]

Your Parry score with a weapon skill is half that skill. Let's say you have Broadsword-16. Your Parry with that weapon is 16/2, or 8. If you wield the sword with your off hand, your skill is 16-4 = 12. Your Parry with a skill of 12 is 6, which is the same as saying 8 - 2.

Parry is half of skill, so to calculate a penalty to Parry, you could just apply half the _skill_ penalty to Parry, rather than recalculating a modified Parry from the modified skill. It's the same either way.

[Samort7]

Ok I understand now Mailanka - thank you.

If Skill = 18
Parry = 12 [(18/2)+3]
Off hand skill = 14 [18-4]
Off hand parry = 10 [14/2+3]

Parry in off hand is -2 compared to parry in main hand.

Also, Anaraxes - I think you misread the rules. Parry is half skill +3

[Anaraxes]

The +3 is a constant for defenses, and thanks to my past 3e mindset, I still think of it as "simplified standard PD" rather than part of the derived defense score itself. Still works out the same, though*, so think of it any way that works for you.

* "'cause addition is commutative, right". I think I'll stop posting now before 64 gets into it.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Samort7

Also, Anaraxes - I think you misread the rules. Parry is half skill +3

I think he was just trying to simplify the numbers for you. The fact that you just half a bonus or a penalty to skill when you apply it to parry is much more stark when you describe parry as "half skill."

My description is more accurate, but involves more math.