11-14-2013, 09:16 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
Yeah, AoD (Dodge) into Pokey's hex is probably your best bet. He'll get his Attack from his Wait, of course, but then he's in a situation where his Reach 2 weapon is useless (he needs to back up two hexes before he can use it again, which he can't do and attack at the same time).
Of course, if you absolutely need to hit Pokey this round, you can Step (triggering his Wait), then Slip forward as your "Retreat" against his Attack, keeping you in reach for your own Attack. |
11-14-2013, 09:54 AM | #12 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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11-14-2013, 09:59 AM | #13 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
Look behind yourself while walking backwards and tell me if that takes the majority of a second to tell if you're about to trip over a random object or not. Getting anything better than a sense of "ok, not hitting the cliff yet!" is going to take at least a second.
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11-14-2013, 10:27 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Cambridge, MA
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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11-14-2013, 10:30 AM | #15 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
Not always! If you get into his hex, he can move back one hex – out of close combat, to Reach 1 – as the "step" portion of an Attack maneuver. Many long weapons are capable of attacking at Reach 1 or Reach 2 without any special preparation: bastard sword, greatsword, jian, katana, longsword, quarterstaff, rapier, three-part staff, etc. The quoted advice is mostly applicable to ungainly hafted weapons such as polearms and warhammers, which have an asterisk (*) on their Reach stat.
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11-14-2013, 10:43 AM | #16 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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— More abstractly, I think people overestimate the difficulty of achieving awareness to the rear. You don't look – you use deliberate leg extension with the foot close to the ground, exactly as in dance. When martial-artists compare the footwork of dance to that of fighting, this is what they mean: not shuffling and dodging about, but maintaining body awareness and groundedness during steps. When our long-weapon user is retreating from someone darting at him, he isn't leaping at random, but shifting his weight onto a back leg that has already found purchase, and then gathering up, back, and out of the way. Remember, GURPS hexes have a positional uncertainty . . . a retreat that takes you "back" a hex might well mean you moved all of 6". The "infinite plane" argument still holds because even if you maintain full awareness to the rear, many places – like three-hex-square rooms – have corners, and one fighter effectively controls half the area. There are also places like doorways you're trying to defend and don't dare abandon, and of course stairs you can't safely backpedal down.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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11-14-2013, 11:03 AM | #17 | |
Join Date: Jul 2010
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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I can see this working as a realistic model if Shorty has very good defenses, which I suppose he should to charge a guy with a greatsword. Is Pokey better off spending FP on Great Lunge and Feverish Defense to try and close and grapple from far away immediately? (I haven't used the MA extra efforts yet but they're looking fun now.)
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11-14-2013, 11:37 AM | #18 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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(Assuming that there isn't a circumstance such that you could carry the grappler with you as you retreat, of course. A squirrel leaping onto you shouldn't cancel your retreat step.)
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11-14-2013, 12:14 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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Should tailed animals get extra sensitivity for their back hexes?
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11-14-2013, 12:55 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Cambridge, MA
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Re: Quick tactical combat situation: Weapon Reach and Backpedal Defense
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A follow-up question: why is there no defense against attacks from the back hex? Shouldn't you be able to defend at a penalty given that you do have some awareness of the area behind you? |
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reach, tactical combat |
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