A few questions about Great Strikes

[LordSmerf]

I've been messing around with designing some Martial Arts for our setting and ran into some questions about Great Strikes. I'll post what i have now, if i come up with more later i'll add them.

1. Great Strikes must be set, we know that, but does the Great Strike have to immediately follow the Set action? For example would i be allowed to Set, Avoid, Great Strike? What about Set, Assess, Great Strike? What about Set, Feint, Great Strike?

2. I think i know the answer to this, but i wanted to check: could i Set Great Strike in V1 hoping to change my opponent's action and then script a Feint or something in V2?

3. It is stated that Great Strikes can not be Blocked. If a Counterstrike is scripted in response to a Great Strike, i assume that and dice spent blocking would be wasted, would the attack portion of the Counterstrike still work? Is there anything preventing me from putting only one die on the Defensive since i know that it's a Great Strike?

I think that's it for now...

Thomas

[luke]

1. Great Strikes must be set, we know that, but does the Great Strike have to immediately follow the Set action? For example would i be allowed to Set, Avoid, Great Strike? What about Set, Assess, Great Strike? What about Set, Feint, Great Strike?

Yes, you may set and Assess and Avoid. You may not do anything that would require use of the arms, hands or the weapon.

2. I think i know the answer to this, but i wanted to check: could i Set Great Strike in V1 hoping to change my opponent's action and then script a Feint or something in V2?

Yes. You are now, officially, playing Burning Wheel. Welcome, we've been waiting for you.
;)

As Kublai will tell you, you are absolutely supposed to monkey with your opponent's presuppositions in the script. It's the only way to reliably come out unscathed.

3. It is stated that Great Strikes can not be Blocked. If a Counterstrike is scripted in response to a Great Strike, i assume that and dice spent blocking would be wasted, would the attack portion of the Counterstrike still work? Is there anything preventing me from putting only one die on the Defensive since i know that it's a Great Strike?

Actually, you're wrong on this one. A Counterstrike is not a Block. Nor is it a "Block and Strike". It's a completely different action altogether. Thus when the rules state that a Great Strike may not be Blocked, they are being very specific.

Thus, you may Counterstrike a Great Strike as per the normal rules. Hope you get lucky, though, because it may be your last act on Earth.
:roll:

[LordSmerf]

Thank you Luke, i now understand what i should do with Great Strike :)

Thomas

[luke]

have you ever seen the first Lone Wolf and Cub movie? I was watching that movie years ago and realized that I missing an maneuver in the game. In the epic battle, both warriors raise their blades and charge each other. Rather than finishing his Great Strike, though, Ogami Itto uses an action to reflect the light of the sun into his opponents eyes.

(In my mind, the GM called for a Steel check, the opposing player failed by one action and Itto decapitated him.)

I wanted to allow for those tactics in my game.

Enjoy.

-Luke

[LordSmerf]

So how would you script an action like that? Or were you saying that you don't yet have a way... Because that sounds like something i want to do...

Thomas

[luke]

well, obviously Itto's player would have assessed before they squared off for the fight, looking for the position of the sun or any such advantage.

Then he would have tried to maneuver his opponent to taking the "advantageous" position. I would have called for an Inconspicuous test, and an easy one, at that. His opponent likely thinks he's getting the better of him.

In the exchange:
V1
Assess
Set (Great Strike)

Jog.

V2
Physical Act:Reflect Light
Avoid

Dash.

V3
Strike (it's a strike here, because he performed an intervening action with the sword)


after that, it's just a matter of holding the form as the blood vaults from the dead ninja's neck.

[Kublai]

That's an awesome idea! What, if at all, would you roll to correctly reflect the light? Or would you just give it to him because of his successful Incon test before the duel?

I think my character's new Instinct will be to "Always carry a small mirror in my hand when fighting!" He has to carry a mirror since he fights bare-fisted!

[luke]

i think an Agility test would be in order to prove mastery of the situation. I'd make it hard, too. Ob 3 at least.

-L

[Fizban]

I've another question about great strikes.
If I'm using an unwieldy weapon, that requires a set action to activate any way, will I need to script double set actions to use this weapon for greatstrike? If I will need only one it will make a little problem, because then I would be able to make great strike each second actions, when using a slow weapon with great strike requires 3 total actions!
So, how does it work with unwieldy weapons?

- Fizban

[luke]

unwieldy weapons require two set actions