Deflection Training?

[Viper]

OK, so I was watching The Last Dragon. and saw that scene where Leroy is breaking and catching arrows fired at him (not to mention catching a bullet between his teeth), and I thought to myself AHA! Another fun martial arts movie thing that should have some sort or representation in BW.

So, here's my idea- deflection training- purchased as a skill like other trainings- allows the character to script block actions (with the appropriate weapon skill) vs. missle attacks (bows, arrows slings, not black powder/other guns) - successes on his blocks reduce the attacker's successes as they would vs. a melee attack - if he reduces the opponent to 0 successes, he may choose to catch the arrow or bolt, for narrative effect. The character must have a free hand to do this.

Anyway, just a fun little idea I had... what do you guys think?

[Ubby]

The character should probably also possess a new trait as well... something called "Bruce Leroy?" perhaps.

[luke]

We've been tossing rules back and forth for something like this for years. Never settled on anything.

Pete, what do you think?

-L

[mike_ravenwood]

Bruce Leroy would have to be pretty expensive, or at the later stages of a martial arts track, since Bruce Leroy was only one lesson short of "the Glow" at the begining of the movie.


I think i'll go change my name in the forums from Mike Ravenwood to "The Shogun of Harlem" :wink:

[Ubby]

I think i'll go change my name in the forums from Mike Ravenwood to "The Shogun of Harlem" :wink:

Sho' Nuff!!!

[Kublai]

Making Deflection a Training or Martial Arts Manuever seems logical and we both always assumed it would be a scripted action, I think. Therefore, Viper's suggestion fits right in with our thoughts. However, I would prefer it to be a martial arts maneuver available only to trained badass monks and ninjas and samurai. I wouldn't want Sir Ponce de Leonagrace to be pulling of those kung-fu moves! Although seeing Aragorn deflect the knife thrown at him during the uruk-hai scene in the first LoTR movies was awshum!

Hmm....

[Yagathai]

I don't think it's impossible for someone to bat a swiftly-moving projectile out of the air without special training. If people can hit 100 MPH fastballs, it's not totally unreasonable that they can swat a knife out of the air with their blade.[/i]

[Viper]

And as far as catching them goes, let's not forget what old Jack Burton says... "It's all in the reflexes."

[Kublai]

I don't think it's impossible for someone to bat a swiftly-moving projectile out of the air without special training. If people can hit 100 MPH fastballs, it's not totally unreasonable that they can swat a knife out of the air with their blade.[/i]

Aha! But those that can do hit those fastballs reliably have trained for many years! Those that aren't trained at hit can still do so, but at a double-obstacle penalty. ::imagines self trying to hit a professional fastball:: Maybe even triple-obstacle! :lol:

[Fourth Horseman]

I would prefer it to be a martial arts maneuver available only to trained badass monks and ninjas and samurai. I wouldn't want Sir Ponce de Leonagrace to be pulling of those kung-fu moves!

Real knights let their armor do the catching and spend their time riding down the miserable varlets that have the temerity to use such a lowborn weapons. [Real knights also get killed by the thousands fighting armies with well disciplined missile troops (backed up by some more real knights though)]

I should mention that some badasses from the Continent and the Isles used to be able to catch spears and throw them back. Although I think it was primarily Vikings and Celts who had this annoying habit. I'm all for making it a specialized skill rather then a maneuver or training.

[Fourth Horseman]

I don't think it's impossible for someone to bat a swiftly-moving projectile out of the air without special training. If people can hit 100 MPH fastballs, it's not totally unreasonable that they can swat a knife out of the air with their blade.[/i]

Is there a sabrematician in the house? I don't claim to be one, but let me just draw on some of my cursory knowledge of the pastime to draw this analogy out. The best fastball hitters in the world are usually hitting the ball--and getting a hit--30 percent of the time. The purists will call me on this and observe that batting average, which I have based this stat off of, doesn't capture actual contact with the ball, which is what we are measuring when talking about a Bruce Leroy trait. But if we draw a parallel between foul balls and deflecting arrows, then I think we can safely say that a foul arrow would probably end up in your eyesocket, so let's just call it even.

Let's break this into BW terms for a minute. Our average skill runs at B3 or B4. With a routine obstacle test usually being at 1 or 2. If these guys are whiffing, even with their genetically freakish skills and attributes, 70 percent of the time those are some hard obstacles they are pulling in.

As for that 30 percent hit stat. Even that's misleading since most of the balls our sluggers are crushing are in the high 80s. When somebody like Mo or the Unit has his stuff in the high 90s or the 100 mph range, you are usually seeing hitters leaving the plate cursing. That is unless they are Barry Bonds, who is aided by the supercalafragalisticexpialadocious eye on the ball trait . . . and the steroid trait. :x

But I digress. Hitting a 100 mph fastball or catching an arrow--not to mention a freakin' bullet, which is on a completely different magnitude--is something only a badass should be able to do, whether its a training, a trait, a maneuver or a skill.