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Query concerning missed attacks


buckwheats

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Hello.

Going over the Combat results chart on page 199, I thought, why the heck would a missed attack or fumble warrant a parry by the defender? (The Dark Eye used to handle this that way)

I get, that this can inflict damage to the attackers weapon.

But nevertheless I think that chart could be simplified and combat made a slight but faster, if a miss (or fumble) on the attackers part doesn't need min. 2 dice rolls by the defending party.

Yes, the most hilarious result of both combatants fumbling and knocking themselves out without even touching, would be sorely missed 😉

Maybe I'm missing something, so many thanks for your thoughts.

Edited by buckwheats
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1 hour ago, buckwheats said:

Going over the Combat results chart on page 199, I thought, why the heck would a missed attack or fumble warrant a parry by the defender? (The Dark Eye used to handle this that way)

I get, that this can inflict damage to the attackers weapon.

But nevertheless I think that chart could be simplified and combat made a slight but faster, if a miss (or fumble) on the attackers part doesn't need min. 2 dice rolls by the defending party.

I think the logic is that both attacker and defender roll simultaneously. This isn't stated in the rules text on page 197, but I think it's implied by "The parry should be rolled whether the attack succeeded or not, for some successful parries can affect a weapon used in an unsuccessful attack." In addition, subsequent parries/dodges take a –20% penalty.

So basically I'm imagining an idealized table situation like this: two broos are swinging at you. The fast one hasn't hit you either of the last two turns, but the big strong one just lopped off your buddies arm and sent him unconscious. You can either roll a parry against the fast broo and take a penalty to parry against the tough broo, or assume that Mr. Incompetent will keep doing his thing while you try blocking tough broo with everything you've got.

Then the gamemaster rolls a special anyway and eviscerates you because you've only got 4 protection in your abdomen and the "incompetent" broo's battleaxe rolls 2D8+4+mods.

I'm skimming the FAQ pages and not currently seeing anything relevant, but I very often Am Wrong On All Things.

TBF at my table, we don't typically roll parries against missed attacks exactly because of your point. We also don't track damage to weapons in several cases because that particular layer of crunch/"realism" isn't worth it for us.

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My player would roll a Parry because... 

    In order to keep players invested in the combat,  ALL the dice are rolled together.  The Attacker would roll the To Hit dice, the Location die, and the Damage die as one.  I have them roll like this because I use the dice results to "narrate" what happened.  On a miss, I will use the Damage die to describe the miss as a feeble jab or a mighty swing and the Location die as the area where the "near miss" took place.  I need the Parry die rolled in order to narrate whether the Defender was successful in parrying the attack or not.  Thus, EVERYONE rolls TOGETHER.  This also speeds up combat and injects a sense of "urgency" into the player's decision-making during that combat.    

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4 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

You have to declare a parry before you get to know whether the attack was a success or not. That's part of the tactical structure of the melee.

Is that explicitly stated in the rules text? I thought it was, but I couldn't find it when I went skimming through.

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2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Maybe not, but I think it has been clarified in the Q&A. CMIIW.

I hadn't seen anything there either, although to be fair I was skimming pretty quick over Jason's FAQ. I've come across it as an expected procedure before, just am not aware of it being explicitly stated in rules text of this edition. I'm wondering if it's one of those "oh, well everyone knows you do that" sort of situations and wasn't brought up.

FWIW I don't think any of the RQ games I've played in used that procedure, but I doubt that was based on actual rules text and was more just oral transmission.

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