Riposte Like Fencing

by Phenster

We were talking about how useless it is to parry in combat. With the parry rule, you're harder to hit, but you don't get to attack. Hazard said it's only good for if you're fighting a monster that can only be hit with magic or silver. Jinx said if he can't hit it, he's going to get the heck out of Dodge! And we all agreed.

But then Mandykin said she watched fencing on TV, and they always get to hit back after they parry. She said it's called a "riposte." We all thought that made sense, so we made up some extra rules for parry. You can only use this rule against a monster that's using a lighter weapon than you, unless you're both using light weapons, then you can parry and riposte.

Parry works like normal, except that if your parry works and you don’t get hit, you get to riposte. If it doesn't work, you get hit and you lose your attack. Instead of attacking on your turn, you have to say you're going to parry, then wait for when it's the monster's turn to attack you. You parry at the same time the monster attacks, and if you riposte, you go on the next count. So, you can't just parry willy-nilly. Hazard said we shouldn't make it so good that everybody wants to parry all the time.

To try out our new rules, Jinx challenged Mandykin to a duel. Mandykin chose fencing swords, which she said are called "epay." She said an epay weighs about the same as a dagger, so they're light weapons. They fought to 3 hits, and Hazard stopped the fight after each hit, just like in real fencing. Mandykin won easy because her DEX is higher (she's a thief), so she got to go first. She parried Jinx's attack and riposted and hit Jinx every time but once. The one time she missed, Jinx got to attack and Mandykin couldn't parry, but he still missed. Mandykin won 3 to 0.

To make it more interesting, I challenged Beowulf "the Bully" to single combat--no fencing match this time. My character is Phenster Prime, a magic-user, so he can only fight with a dagger, and I've already said the Bully likes his two-handed sword. I cast a SHIELD spell on myself, so I had AC 4. Beowulf has a good DEX and wears magic plate mail (+1), so his AC is 1.

The Bully charged and hit me with his first swing! Then I missed, but the 2ND round I got 3 attacks, because I'm faster with my dagger than Beowulf and his two-handed sword. So I attacked and missed with my first attack and parried with my second one. Beowulf missed on his second swing, so I riposted and hit him. Then I wanted to attack again, but Hazard said I lost my third attack while I was waiting for Beowulf to strike.

The score was 1 to 1 in the 3RD round. I tried the same thing again. I missed the first attack, then I parried, but Beowulf hit me anyway. So, I lost my second attack and the third one too!

I was down 1 to 2--no more room for mistakes. . . The 4TH round my first attack hit. But my second attack missed. Beowulf's swing came at the same time as my third attack, so I parried and he missed. Then I hit with my riposte! I won 3 to 2. The Bully grumbled for a little while. He says he's going to challenge me to a rematch after his wounds are healed.