Weapon breakage from a thrust

[cupbearer]

Hi

According to basic set if a broadsword parries a thrust from a pike it has a chance of breaking.

This seems really weird to me.

Am I understanding this properly? If so, Is there some rule somewhere that changes this?

Thx

[mlangsdorf]

You can just ignore weapon breakage.

But what's weird about the idea that using your sword as a lever against a much heavier weight might cause problems to your sword? A "good" quality TL3 GURPS sword is made of steel with a non-uniform carbon content and random impurities; it's not a TL8 piece of highly designed steel. And sure, ideally a parry matches the strong part of the parrying sword (just above the hilt) to the weakest part of the parried weapon (as far from the hilt as possible) but not all parries are ideal.

I can easily see parrying a pike by trying to sweep it aside with the tip of the sword and the leverage and torque causing a hidden fault halfway down the blade to result in a crack. It's not likely, but it could happen.

If it really bothers you, give a -1 or -2 penalty to weapon breakage if you're parrying a thrust.

[Varyon]

For more satisfying weapon breakage rules, I recommend "The Broken Blade" from Pyramid #3/87. Rather than a 1d roll it has the weapon roll against its HT; Failure here doesn't necessarily break the weapon but rather reduces its HT (making it more likely to break on future attacks; there are also optional rules for the reduced HT to make the weapon less effective) - although if HT gets too low, or if you have too bad of a failure (including a Critical Failure), the weapon will break outright.

It gets rid of weight considerations, instead using the damage being Parried to determine if there's a risk of breakage (every weapon has a safe amount of damage it can Parry without issue, going above this calls for a roll - and going too far above this penalizes the roll). Due to this, it's automatically less likely to suffer breakage when Parrying a thrusting attack rather than a swinging attack. Weapons can also suffer breakage on an attack, but this typically doesn't happen unless you're too strong for your weapon (and note this breakage chance replaces the default restriction on not being able to use more than 3x a weapon's rated ST).

It's a great article, and from what I've heard most people who try it never want to go back to the default breakage rules.

[cupbearer]

Originally Posted by Varyon

For more satisfying weapon breakage rules, I recommend "The Broken Blade" from Pyramid #3/87. Rather than a 1d roll it has the weapon roll against its HT; Failure here doesn't necessarily break the weapon but rather reduces its HT (making it more likely to break on future attacks; there are also optional rules for the reduced HT to make the weapon less effective) - although if HT gets too low, or if you have too bad of a failure (including a Critical Failure), the weapon will break outright.

It gets rid of weight considerations, instead using the damage being Parried to determine if there's a risk of breakage (every weapon has a safe amount of damage it can Parry without issue, going above this calls for a roll - and going too far above this penalizes the roll). Due to this, it's automatically less likely to suffer breakage when Parrying a thrusting attack rather than a swinging attack. Weapons can also suffer breakage on an attack, but this typically doesn't happen unless you're too strong for your weapon (and note this breakage chance replaces the default restriction on not being able to use more than 3x a weapon's rated ST).

It's a great article, and from what I've heard most people who try it never want to go back to the default breakage rules.

That system is alot though. I dont think it suits my needs but thank you for the suggestion

[Flowergarden]

Originally Posted by cupbearer

That system is alot though. I dont think it suits my needs but thank you for the suggestion

Maybe Generic Universal Eggplant breakage rules?
It's simpler and built on a existing mechanic of shield damage

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Flowergarden

Maybe Generic Universal Eggplant breakage rules?
It's simpler and built on a existing mechanic of shield damage

I assume you're referring to this?

That looks like a solid system, and I do like that it adapts the damage to shields rules. The core of the system, for those who aren't inclined to read the whole thing, is that weapons that Parry by their Parry Threshold (PT) or less wind up taking damage from the attack, as if the weapon were the original target. PT isn't an intrinsic attribute of the weapon - rather, it starts at 1* and gets a further +1 for each multiple of weight the attacking weapon is heavier (so +1 for x2, +2 for x3, +3 for x4, etc), plus another +1 for every 3 ST higher the attacker is than the defender. It only applies for swinging attacks - thrusting attacks won't damage the defender's weapon.

*My own inclination would be to start it at 0, so in cases where the attacking weapon isn't markedly heavier than the defending one and the attacker isn't markedly stronger than the defender, Damage to Weapons only applies with MoS 0 on the Parry.

[cupbearer]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

You can just ignore weapon breakage.

But what's weird about the idea that using your sword as a lever against a much heavier weight might cause problems to your sword? A "good" quality TL3 GURPS sword is made of steel with a non-uniform carbon content and random impurities; it's not a TL8 piece of highly designed steel. And sure, ideally a parry matches the strong part of the parrying sword (just above the hilt) to the weakest part of the parried weapon (as far from the hilt as possible) but not all parries are ideal.

I can easily see parrying a pike by trying to sweep it aside with the tip of the sword and the leverage and torque causing a hidden fault halfway down the blade to result in a crack. It's not likely, but it could happen.

If it really bothers you, give a -1 or -2 penalty to weapon breakage if you're parrying a thrust.

Hmm interesting idea thanks