Parrying unarmed attacks with a weapon

[lachimba]

Parrying Unarmed Attacks: If you successfully parry an unarmed attack (bite, punch, etc.) with a weapon, you may injure your attacker. Immediately roll against your skill with the weapon you used to parry. This roll is at -4 if your attacker used Judo or Karate. If you succeed, your parry struck the attacker’s limb squarely. He gets no defense roll against this! Roll damage
normally.

Is this Swing or Thrust Damage?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Is this Swing or Thrust Damage?

It depends on your weapon? Same with the damage type.

I will say that it's unusual to parry an attack by poking at it, so thrust is less likely.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I will say that it's unusual to parry an attack by poking at it, so thrust is less likely.

On the other hand, a lot of defensive postures have you pointing the pointy end directly at the enemy, so that they have to get around it to attack you. I think it's one of the reasons swords are such common secondary weapons - that pointy bit in your face is a very credible threat, and helps make a good defense.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Bruno

It depends on your weapon? Same with the damage type.

I will say that it's unusual to parry an attack by poking at it, so thrust is less likely.

You dont really swing to parry either.

[ericthered]

You defend against an unarmed attack differently that against a weapon: swinging into their limb is a decent option in a way that swinging into their sword isn't.



At the same time, I think this question gets more interesting if you assume a spear rather than a sword. are you really stopping a punch by skewering their arm?

[AlexanderHowl]

I think that it becomes a common sense argument. You do not need to hit with a point or an edge to parry an attack (in fact, most historical fighting styles teach against doing so because you would damage your own weapon). In general, I feel that the damage should be the defenders thrust crushing damage, as a parry pushes away the attack, unless the weapon damages through touch (like a Force Sword or a Melee Attack with Destructive Parry).

[VariousRen]

I've wondered the same thing and I've never seen it clarified in any of the books, but in the spirit of it I think the defender gets to choose from any legal attack method. That will usually be swing, but with polearms that are unreadied after a swing it would have to be thrust - and only if they can attack at their current range. An important note is that attackers are considered to be at their starting range for defense purposes, so an unarmed attacker who runs in from reach 3 to reach C can still be parried and stabbed by a reach 3 spear.

[evileeyore]

I've always rolled it as "Defender's Choice".

Originally Posted by VariousRen

That will usually be swing, but with polearms that are unreadied after a swing it would have to be thrust - and only if they can attack at their current range.

As this is not an attack, but a defense, that doesn't apply.

An important note is that attackers are considered to be at their starting range for defense purposes, so an unarmed attacker who runs in from reach 3 to reach C can still be parried and stabbed by a reach 3 spear.

And this is why running up on spears is bad. They might just stab you on the way in.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by ericthered

You defend against an unarmed attack differently that against a weapon: swinging into their limb is a decent option in a way that swinging into their sword isn't.

Swinging into their arm as they attack is a wait and stop thrust attack.

A parry can be a lot of things, but it is usually putting part of your weapon in their way. That could be the haft of a spear, the blade of a sword etc


So I could imagine thrust crushing or thrust cutting etc

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I will say that it's unusual to parry an attack by poking at it, so thrust is less likely.

To be honest, the rules for parrying unarmed attacks in Basic are pretty unrelated to reality. The normal way to parry is not specifically trying to cause injury. If you're unarmored, getting your arm pushed aside by an edged weapon may still cut you up, but it's still way less force than a deliberate attack.

Of course, it's also perfectly possible to use a Wait and then attack the incoming limb. That lets you use any attack you want, and is a more realistic representation of armed vs unarmed.