The usefulness of Parry

[Ovid]

I'm not entirely clear on what's useful about Parry. It seems to me that you give up your attack for just a chance that your Parry will be better than your Defense would be anyway. (Unless the attack that's "resolved normally" is referring to the parrying character's roll then being compared to the attacker's Defense, in a sort of riposte.) The other styles generally have bonuses that kick in under certain conditions, rather than swapping one significant element (here, your attack) for one of doubtful value. Could someone explain why anyone would give up their chance of damaging an opponent for a parry that may not be as good as the Defense they get anyway?

BTW, I realise this subject was touched on in the Combat Questions thread, but I personally find it easier to find answers to questions when there's a dedicated thread to them, especially given the rather wonderful index system here. If the mods feel I'm spamming the board with threads, feel free to merge this with Combat Questions.

[Arthus]

Hi! I'll try to answer.

Parry means that you make an oposite attack roll with your opponent to counter his attack.
If your score is higher than your opponent's, you parry.
If not, your defense is used as usually.

The condtions to perform this action are :

- use a defensive, quick or standard atitude.
- have the initiative on your opponent.
- don't attack

This combat art is not ultimate, but is useful to block a powerful opponent, waiting that another pc casts his spell, strikes the opponent in his back or simply waiting reinforcment.

In fact, it is very useful to gain time. In Esteren, combats are very quick, because they're lethal (3-4 rounds max). Using that art gives you a chance to make the combat longer and increases your chance not to be wounded.

I hope I could help.

[Ovid]

This combat art is not ultimate, but is useful to block a powerful opponent, waiting that another pc casts his spell, strikes the opponent in his back or simply waiting reinforcment.

In fact, it is very useful to gain time. In Esteren, combats are very quick, because they're lethal (3-4 rounds max). Using that art gives you a chance to make the combat longer and increases your chance not to be wounded.

I hope I could help.

Thanks for the reply. For it to have a decent chance to block a powerful opponent, the Attack roll would have to be generally higher than Defence. Is that the case? The two look roughly equal to me - it seems that a Parry could just as easily be worse than Defence as better. But I've not had a chance to run this in practice, and I'm terrible at maths, so I can believe I'm wrong.

[Skywalker]

Thanks for the reply. For it to have a decent chance to block a powerful opponent, the Attack roll would have to be generally higher than Defence. Is that the case? The two look roughly equal to me - it seems that a Parry could just as easily be worse than Defence as better. But I've not had a chance to run this in practice, and I'm terrible at maths, so I can believe I'm wrong.

The usefulness of Parry does rely on Attack being more than 5 less than (being the average roll result) Defence. I think that will actual hold true for many PCs, especially combat orientated ones, given the stats we have seen. For example, the PCs in the corebook are:

Sid - Attack 9 Defence 11
Eoghan - Attack 11 Defence 9
Adeliance - Attack 4 Defence 12
Joris - Attack 6 Defence 10
Finn - Attack 4 Defence 11
Masha - Attack 5 Defence 11

Also, Defence can only be increased by 10 and Attack by 20, so Parry will become more useful over time.

[Clovis]

Indeed, Parry can provide a fighter with the means to improve his Defense drastically, particularly as the Character develops his fighting skills. After all, unless you are going for a clearly optimized Character, your Defense rating will likely be around 10-11, whereas your Close Combat skill will easily reach 10, which gives you a final score of 15 on average.

Also, another very useful possibility offered by this Art is to be able to protect someone: your Defense rating only applies to you, but with Parry, you can efficiently deflect blows directed toward a comrade. Very useful for bodyguard Characters!

Of course, you have to forfeit your attack, but if you are in a tight spot, it can really be worth it.

[Dragoslav]

Also, another very useful possibility offered by this Art is to be able to protect someone: your Defense rating only applies to you, but with Parry, you can efficiently deflect blows directed toward a comrade. Very useful for bodyguard Characters!

I had to reread that section in the book just now, thinking, "Where does it say that?"

Rereading the description of Parry, it doesn't say anything about using Parry to protect a comrade, but nowhere does it specify that you can only use Parry to deflect the attack of an enemy directed at you -- just that you use Parry to deflect an opponent's attack later in the round.

I would never have thought to use Parry to defend an ally, but I think that ability alone makes Parry worthwhile -- it provides an element of battlefield control, for which there are very few options in this game. Nice!

[Clovis]

Hm, now that you say it, it is indeed never clearly expressed that you can parry attacks directed toward someone other than you. However, that makes perfect sense to me, and it adds an element that can make combats even more interesting and tactical... without even mentioning all the great role-playing moments it can provide!

Actually, even if the rules clearly said that you can only parry attacks intended for you, I'd tell you to just do as it seems good to you. No sense in strictly sticking to the book's rules if it is a bummer, after all.

[Arthus]

This idea sounds great, it's very roleplay, so why don't use it?

[AssenG]

I think I'd just make Parry a combat option that everyone has, though. I mean, if someone tries to hit your friend, you can't push his hand aside if you haven't paid the XP. What if you've got a Master level in a combat skill?
Yeah, that wouldn't sit well with my group, I'm sure.

But then, I'd probably use Parry as a way to set up a Riposte. Meaning that after a successful Parry, you gain 1/2 the Margin of Success as a bonus to the Damage of your next attack roll, assuming it hits!

[Clovis]

That's a possibility. However, I think the "Riposte" system could make the Art very (maybe overly) powerful, so I'd personally stick to the original function of the Art.

If a Player wants to parry, maybe I'd use the same system, but with only half of the fighting skill (or a -2 or -4 bonus), to make for the fact that the Character is not used to expertly deflecting blows.