Focused Defense Discussion

Sindri · 05-02-2014, 07:58 PM

Focused defense is a pretty interesting option from Martial Arts: Gladiators that's significant for some styles. How has it worked for people and what house rules have been created for it?

It's been mentioned before but there are some weird parts to focused defense. The presented and denied sides work out well enough (though +1/-1 for hit locations and equipment striking and maybe active defenses without other effects is a fairly easy and reasonable addition). Random hit locations aren't touched upon but are relatively easy to handle. Enemies to the rear should get a penalty to hitting presented locations in addition to their bonus to hit denied locations but that's an easy detail to fix.

Weapon reach is where things change. It seems clear that "lose a yard of maximum reach" can reduce a weapon to reach C (the inability of C reach weapons to attack suggests against absurd literalism here) but that's quite powerful for a reach 1 weapon and reach C weapons are challenged enough as it is (even while auto-ignoring the, highly inconsistent, 3.4.3.6 FAQ).

It's also pretty odd that maximum reach is reduced. Why not all reaches? A reach 1 weapon goes down to reach C but a reach 1,2 goes down to... 1,1 and a 2,3 weapon becomes 2,2 instead of the seemingly logical 1,2. I can see argument against things like letting reach 1,2 weapons achieve reach C but that argues for reach reducing by steps rather than subtraction which would also allow you to be able to get stuff like reach 1,2 out of higher single number reaches the omission of which is a slight but not important shame otherwise.

Why are two handed weapons not subject to the same rules as other weapons held with the denied hand? They can reach further but that's because they are longer. They are still restrained in how far they can reach by the denied hand. If someone can fight with a greatsword in one hand it shouldn't suddenly be able to reach much further because an extra hand was put on it. Sure the denied hand has probably moved down on the hilt when it was after switching to two hands but not enough to mean a yard of reach. For that matter it seems slightly generous to exempt two handed weapons from the denied hand active defense penalties.

05-02-2014, 07:58 PM	#1
Sindri Join Date: Nov 2011	Focused Defense Discussion Focused defense is a pretty interesting option from Martial Arts: Gladiators that's significant for some styles. How has it worked for people and what house rules have been created for it? It's been mentioned before but there are some weird parts to focused defense. The presented and denied sides work out well enough (though +1/-1 for hit locations and equipment striking and maybe active defenses without other effects is a fairly easy and reasonable addition). Random hit locations aren't touched upon but are relatively easy to handle. Enemies to the rear should get a penalty to hitting presented locations in addition to their bonus to hit denied locations but that's an easy detail to fix. Weapon reach is where things change. It seems clear that "lose a yard of maximum reach" can reduce a weapon to reach C (the inability of C reach weapons to attack suggests against absurd literalism here) but that's quite powerful for a reach 1 weapon and reach C weapons are challenged enough as it is (even while auto-ignoring the, highly inconsistent, 3.4.3.6 FAQ). It's also pretty odd that maximum reach is reduced. Why not all reaches? A reach 1 weapon goes down to reach C but a reach 1,2 goes down to... 1,1 and a 2,3 weapon becomes 2,2 instead of the seemingly logical 1,2. I can see argument against things like letting reach 1,2 weapons achieve reach C but that argues for reach reducing by steps rather than subtraction which would also allow you to be able to get stuff like reach 1,2 out of higher single number reaches the omission of which is a slight but not important shame otherwise. Why are two handed weapons not subject to the same rules as other weapons held with the denied hand? They can reach further but that's because they are longer. They are still restrained in how far they can reach by the denied hand. If someone can fight with a greatsword in one hand it shouldn't suddenly be able to reach much further because an extra hand was put on it. Sure the denied hand has probably moved down on the hilt when it was after switching to two hands but not enough to mean a yard of reach. For that matter it seems slightly generous to exempt two handed weapons from the denied hand active defense penalties. Last edited by Sindri; 05-02-2014 at 08:08 PM.