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MAG.E 4
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MAG.E 4 (Disk 1 of 2).adf
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47
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1977-12-31
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@4SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF PARRYING
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Here`s my two pence worth on parrying.
One thing that people seem to have forgotten is that weapon speed (aka
Primary/ secondary strike ranks, aka speed factor) and weapon size are
important factors in parrying.
For example a dagger cannot parry a great sword, but neither can a great
sword parry a dagger.
In the first case, although the dagger is fast enough to get in the right
place to parry, it simply doesn't have the weight behind it to actually stop
the sword.
In the second case the great sword could easily stop the dagger thrust, but
it simply cannot get there in time.
Also you have to remember that, in a combat, the great sword will get the
first hit (assuming no surprise) due to its greater length, but the dagger
will be able to get in two or three hits before the great sword is back in
position to strike again.
Assuming two equal fighters with the same weapon then, on balance, each will
hit each other (or have to parry) the same amount. In this case neither will
have the opportunity to get in a "free" (ie unopposed) attack.
@4If one fighter is much better then, rather than having an extra attack they
can, instead use a counter, ie parry the opponent's weapon, use the parry to
carry their weapon out of line and thus leave the opponent wide open. This
can be tried by fighters of lesser ability, but the odds of it working are
much less and if it fails it will leave them open to attack.
Now, if one fighter has a dagger (BTW By dagger I mean a fighting knife,
cf Crocodile Dundee "That ain't a knife, THIS is a knife!") and the other a
short sword, then there is the possibility of each weapon parrying the other
there is also the opportunity for the dagger user to, possibly, use his
weapon's greater speed to parry and counter (but there is the risk of
running onto his opponent's blade as they recover from their strike).
Back to the original two equal fighters, one may, instead of attacking, try
to draw out their opponent with a feint, ie shape to attack, but hold off so
that, when the opponent goes to parry a non existant attack, the attacker
has a better chance of hitting. Of course, if they opponent doesn't fall for
the trick then the one who tried the feint is now out of position!
As for (as someone mentioned) a fighter parrying a dragon's claw(!) fine,
let them stop the claw damaging them, but it's still going to send them
flying 20 feet backwards into the nearest wall!! Far better simply to not be
there in the first place!
Basically what I am trying to say is that parrying and its success or
failure is simply a matter of common sense and doesn't need all sorts of
complicated rules to govern it but merely for someone (ie the GM) to look
@4objectively at the situation and see whether it is sensible or not.
Graham Marsden