Can Animals Parry in RQ:G?

[Deepest_Lore]

Some animals have a Dodge skill and I assume the ones that don't have one listed aren't nimble enough to pull it off. But what about Parries?

Can say a Bear parry an Adventures sword with it's Claw attack? I'm leaning towards no or it depends on the monster and their natural weapon. What about some of the more Cthulhuian Chaos monsters? If they don't have a Dodge skill and no weapon to parry do the Adventurers just get land free hits assuming that don't fail their attack roll?

[Akhôrahil]

Same way as parrying with your hand, so yes.

Personally, I also give everyone the Dex x 2 Dodge if unlisted.

[French Desperate WindChild]

I don't consider that a beast can parry. IMO it is something with sentience when dodge is more "natural"

so if nothing, @Akhôrahil "gift" seems to me nice.but no parry

 

for the monster it depends what you mean. If it is a big big beast, no parry, if it is some smart bad guy, maybe

[Squaredeal Sten]

It is not usually a successful tactic to have something parry an adventurer-'s blow with a body part. So I would prefer the dodge. Whether or not the intent of the parrying rules is to apply to animals.

Please tell me if you think I am wrong about this:

When I have let an animal parry, or an adventurer has parried the blow of a scorpion man's tail, the tail or the animal's limb has often taken damage.  Look at the attack vs. Parry table on the GM screen.  With scorpion men this amounts to a free aimed blow at their most dangerous appendage.

Parrying an animal's bite with a sword produces a hit to the face. 

  Roughly 16% of the time this will be serious damage.when the opponent specials and the amimal does not.  The animal's fur or hide usually only takes 2-3 points, inferior to a sword's 12, so damage is likely to get through.  

That said, an animal or most recently a dream dragon with very heavy hide on the limb  may come out ahead some of the time.

So I would favor the animal Dodging instead of parrying in most circumstances.  Even though I don't recall a prohibition in the rules as written.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Squaredeal Sten
Counteracting spell check which confuses parry with party.

[Nozbat]

In my view the sequence of attack and parry in the melee round is a number of attacks, feints, sidesteps, ducking, stepping back, moving closer, thrusts, parries etc.. in game mechanics this is brought down to one blow that does damage and one attempt to avert the damage.

If viewed like this then animals can 'parry' in that it blocks damage occurring. We could equally call it 'dodge' if that makes it feel better for you. No animal is going to run onto your sword and risk damage unless maddened in some way (thinking of boars) or defending young. They all have a survival instinct no matter how much of a 'big beast' they are. All creatures are intelligent when it comes to survival, even if that survival is survival of the species by sacrificing your life.

I don't think a PC should get an 'extra' attack by parrying a bite or claw with a sword. I would rule it as just blocking the damage. 

And in the real world, hunters going after wild boar, hunting bears, lions, tigers etc took their life in their hands when doing so.. it wasn't a case of parrying their bite. In many cases the creature moved too fast for the hunter and it was too late to do anything (a missed parry obviously) 

[Scotty]

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

Some animals have a Dodge skill and I assume the ones that don't have one listed aren't nimble enough to pull it off.

Generally speaking animals try to get out of the way of blows with a DEXx2 ability, some are better at it so it's labeled Dodge.

(Yes the bestiary does say on page 8 - A creature with no Dodge skill does not dodge in combat.)

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

But what about Parries?

Think about how the animal is built, most wouldn't parry, but might have antlers, armour, etc. 

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

Can say a Bear parry an Adventures sword with it's Claw attack?

Yes, if the GM wants. But I'd have the bear grapple...

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

I'm leaning towards no or it depends on the monster and their natural weapon.

Yes, always think about what the animal would do.

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

What about some of the more Cthulhuian Chaos monsters?

See the guidelines in the Bestiary Q&A

4 hours ago, Deepest_Lore said:

If they don't have a Dodge skill and no weapon to parry do the Adventurers just get land free hits assuming that don't fail their attack roll?

Always assume they try always try to dodge where appropriate.

[Dragon]

I can think of real world examples where animals 'parry'. Take a cat vs dog. The dog's bite is getting close, and the cat pops it on the head with its paw. Parry! That isn't going to work well against an axe or sword though. Maybe a spear.

Or consider horned/antlered animals in mating displays. That bighorn sheep ram is going to be in a world of hurt if it doesn't parry that other ram's horns with its own. Same with elk. If you watch enough nature videos, you will see horns/antlers used against predators too.

A triceratops is going to put its horns in the way of every incoming attack if it can. And of course the Bestiary specifically says Unicorns can parry - quite well.

That should give some idea of when it is appropriate for beasts to parry rather than dodge. But mostly, dodge.

[Godlearner]

Dodging is an instinct, blocking is rational choice. If there is no INT characteristic, then the creature cannot Parry. In case of horns/antlers consider it a type of Dodge.

[Agentorange]

I guess it depends on the animal and the armour thickness if you're Dream Dragon with scales like armour plating parry might be a grand idea - just batting aside that pesky sword blow before chowing down .........

I think Mythras has a animal trait that allows critters to do exactly that sort of thing.....

Edited April 15, 2023 by Agentorange