Cestus does (1d-1) as a melee strike

[hcobb]

If you strike with a Cestus against an adjacent hex it does 1d-1 damage, correct? ST and talents (other than Weapons Expertise/Mastery with the Cestus) have no impact on this?

[Skarg]

Incorrect.

[hcobb]

How much damage does it do when you punch to an adjacent hex with a Cestus and what is your reference?

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by hcobb

How much damage does it do when you punch to an adjacent hex with a Cestus and what is your reference?

Well, I think the real answer is the rules are unclear. My reference for saying otherwise would be:

* The weapon table on new ITL page 110, Cestus entry shows Damage: By ST, and Notes: Damage depends on ST.

I can see the argument for having it do 1d-1 since the Cestus rule says "exactly like a Main Gauche" and the Clubs, Cestus, etc damage section says Cestus in HTH does ST damage +3, which seems like maybe it does other damage out of HTH.

I think it depends on whether the GM wants the Cestus to be a potentially fairly powerful regular-combat weapon in the hands of a strong high-DX figure, or to limit it.

[warhorse11h]

The rules could support either of two conclusions. One, the damage done by a cestus in regular combat is 1-1, as a dagger, which is what a main gauche is ruled to be for damage in regular combat. It can also be taken as written and that the damage is precisely what it would be for a figure fighting barehanded.

The first seems to be a little too powerful for what the cestus is and the second seems to confer no advantage to the wearer, other than the ability to parry and doesn't reflect that being punched by a cestus is probably going to hurt more than a fist.

Perhaps this is all the result of a rules discrepancy that never was addressed or simply an oversight in the rules.

Absent a fix from the designer, the best fix might be a house rule that in normal combat, a cestus strike does damage as in the table on pg 122 with a +1 damage, keeping the HTH +3 intact.

[Skarg]

I think it's most likely this:

Originally Posted by warhorse11h

... Perhaps this is all the result of a rules discrepancy that never was addressed or simply an oversight in the rules. ...

IF (...) we accept that the new 1-point IQ 7 Brawling talent lets you "brawl dirty" to punch with bare hands for +2 damage, then I would think that the 1-point IQ 8 Cestus talent that involves strapping your hands into spiked metal gauntlets would very reasonably allow a punch doing more damage, i.e. +3.