Two New Martial Maneuvers

[luke]

What's old is new again!

Counter-Disarm Defensive
This variant of the Counterstrike allows the defender to attempt to pull his opponent's weapon from his grasp while defending himself from attack. It acts like Counterstrike in all respects, except that instead of Striking the defender uses his "attack half" dice to Disarm. The obstacle to Disarm is half his opponen'ts skill exponent rounded up.


Counter-Lock Defensive
This risky variant of Counterstrike allows the defender to deflect some of the incoming blow while attempting to grapple with his opponent. Dice are divided between defense and attack as in a standard Counterstrike. Attack half dice are considered a Lock maneuver in every respect; the character who triggered the Counterstrike (the Striking character) may test his Natural Defenses Power against the Lock.

This is a tough maneuver to perform and best done when you're sure that you've got your opponent off-balance since you almost always want to favor the Lock half over the defense half. Nothing worse than grabbing the arm that's ramming the sword through your gut.


These are available to all weapon skills and Martial Arts, not Brawling.
-L

[donbaloo]

Not with my books right now but isn't the disarm obstacle when using the actual Disarm maneuver typically the opponent's full weapon skill exponent? And if so, doesn't this new (to me anyway) Counter-disarm provide the possibility of an easier disarm attempt than what is provided with the Disarm script? For example, I can halve my Disarm obstacle by scripting Counter-disarm and putting all but one of my dice into the disarming aspect of the maneuver.

Same for Counter-Lock. So I apply my allotted portion of weapon skill die to the Lock, which could potentially be more dice than what I would have been testing with on a straight Lock script. Am I interpreting these maneuvers correctly?

[luke]

Not with my books right now but isn't the disarm obstacle when using the actual Disarm maneuver typically the opponent's full weapon skill exponent? And if so, doesn't this new (to me anyway) Counter-disarm provide the possibility of an easier disarm attempt than what is provided with the Disarm script? For example, I can halve my Disarm obstacle by scripting Counter-disarm and putting all but one of my dice into the disarming aspect of the maneuver.

Same for Counter-Lock. So I apply my allotted portion of weapon skill die to the Lock, which could potentially be more dice than what I would have been testing with on a straight Lock script. Am I interpreting these maneuvers correctly?

::smacks forehead::
Yes, that's the point.

But note that the risk for these maneuvers is much higher. Someone's got to be trying to hurt you before you can pull them off. Not the same as the standard Disarm and Lock.

-L

[Thor Olavsrud]

Yep. But as Abzu noted, these maneuvers are incredibly risky. First, they are Counters, which means you are vulnerable to Feints. The moves are ONLY triggered by Strikes, Great Strikes, Disarms, and Pushes.

Additionally, you must split your dice to pull them off. Sure, the Obstacle is lower, but your opponent is coming at you with a 5 dice strike. You're gambling with your skin.

[donbaloo]

Additionally, you must split your dice to pull them off. Sure, the Obstacle is lower, but your opponent is coming at you with a 5 dice strike. You're gambling with your skin.

Are they really that much more inherently risky than Disarm? When scripting Disarm I run the risk of my opponent scripting Strike as well. And in that case I have no defense set aside for it and I'm up against a higher obstacle for success. Or does my outlook on this merely prove my inexperience at scripting? With experience do you only script Disarm when you know your opponent cannot be striking?

Edit: Never mind, I think I get it. With Disarm, yeah, I run risk too but I pretty much get the disarm action regardless of what my opponent is trying to pull off. With Counter-disarm, the only way I get a shot at it is if I'm being attacked. Otherwise, its doing nothing.

[Jake Norwood]

I assume that these work with the "Block and Strike" rules for shields?

Jake

[Kublai]

Yes, they would triggered by a Block and Strike as per page 188.

But can the Block part defend against the Disarm or Lock? Probably not, but I am unsure.

[stormsweeper]

Yes, they would triggered by a Block and Strike as per page 188.

But can the Block part defend against the Disarm or Lock? Probably not, but I am unsure.

I think he's asking if Shield Training would then give you access to Block and Disarm and Block and Lock. I'd say not, since Block and Strike isn't really a Counterstrike, but a variant kind of Strike.

[Jake Norwood]

I think he's asking if Shield Training would then give you access to Block and Disarm and Block and Lock. I'd say not, since Block and Strike isn't really a Counterstrike, but a variant kind of Strike.

Really? Whoa...I'll have to take another look at that...

Jake