Knockbacks, Parries and Special/Critical Results

[fhoyt]

Questions about knockback attacks in RQG:

- Can a knockback attack be parried?
- If so, what if the attack is a special or critical and the parry a normal success: Does a special/critical attack defeat a merely successful parry?
- Or, if the attack is a mere success but the parry is a special/critical success, does the parry defeat the knockback?

To put it more simply, how does a knockback attack resolve if both the attack and parry are successful but one of them is more successful than the other?

Thank you

[Pierre]

Hope it will be useful 

[fhoyt]

> Hope it will be useful 

No, actually. The question in this thread is more specific than the question in the Sept.11 thread. The question in that thread is whether knockbacks can be parried, and one of the replies to that thread suggested posting the question here, so here it is.

The current question is whether - if knockbacks can be parried - how special/critical attacks or special critical parries affect resolution of the attack. The table on p.199 details how damage is resolved for varying degrees of success for attacks and parries. If an attack does not do damage (in the case of a knockback) then how is a critical success on the attack roll different from a mere success. And if the opposed roll is also a special/critical success, then is the knockback somehow doubly special or critical? Or are the distinctions between normal, special and critical successes ignored in the attack phase of a knockback? I see nothing in the book to clarify this.

[Bill the barbarian]

2 hours ago, fhoyt said:

The current question is whether - if knockbacks can be parried - how special/critical attacks or special critical parries affect resolution of the attack. The table on p.199 details how damage is resolved for varying degrees of success for attacks and parries. If an attack does not do damage (in the case of a knockback) then how is a critical success on the attack roll different from a mere success. And if the opposed roll is also a special/critical success, then is the knockback somehow doubly special or critical? Or are the distinctions between normal, special and critical successes ignored in the attack phase of a knockback? I see nothing in the book to clarify this.

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought I was living the Matrix,  glitches and all when I saw your post and Pierre's answer. Sorry about that.

But that's a conundrum now isn’t it? Most crits and specials on skill rolls with the notable exception of augments, runes and combat that do damage as well as parry and dodge are left in the hands of the GM to rule on how to show the effects. So augments and runes as examples we have with rules on how to deal with the rolls, alas they simply give increased boon or  increased malus in ways that will not help answer your question. The specifics really do not apply so we will throw them away (just like extraneous quadratic results).

Dodge is a little different, so we might be able to steal principles here for your question. I believe a special hit and a critical hit requite the same levels of results for a dodge to be successful. Perhaps you can apply this to a knockback only a special or critical dodge/parry will defeat a like critical or special knock back.
Not a bad home rule until the powers that be provide better.

My two bolgs worth.

Cheers

Edited September 30, 2019 by Bill the barbarian

[fhoyt]

> My two bolgs worth.

Thank you! That's helpful.