Disarming

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Veknironth
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Disarming

Unread post by Veknironth »

Well, I was looking at the Gladiator OCC and this looking at the Disarm, and as you can guess - I have some questions. The combat manuever in the main book states that you can perform this as a defensive maneuver but "Typically an opponent is disarmed on a roll of a natural 19 or 20...". So, when would that not happen? I can only think of the intervention of some magic that prevents the disarming. What happens if you try to use it as a defensive maneuver and DON'T roll a natural 19 or 20? Does the attack just go to you? If so, why would you ever try it? That's a 10% chance of success and a 90% chance of relying on your AR.

The gladiator H2H skill says "Starts with two attacks per melee round, the ability to disarm an opponent on a roll of 19 or 20, and +2 to roll with punch/fall/impact" at level one. Doesn't EVERYONE have the ability to disarm an opponent on a 19 or 20? Or does that mean that any time the gladiator parries with a 19 or 20, the opponent is disarmed. There is no declaration necessary and they don't have that 90% failure rate.

The disarming strike makes more sense. You try to disarm and make a normal strike roll, high roll wins. But what bonuses does the person who is being disarmed use? Parry? Dodge? Strike? Players choice? Does using the dodge bonus use an attack?

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kiralon
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Re: Disarming

Unread post by kiralon »

My guess is it uses an attack when used as a parry with a %10 chance of success that still uses an action, and as an attack you can punch the weapon and shield out of someone's hands with a paired strike if you simply beat their parry rolls.
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Soldier of Od
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Re: Disarming

Unread post by Soldier of Od »

Hello! A few things:
No, everyone doesn't get to disarm their opponents - that is a learned technique, granted by Hand to Hand: Expert at level 8, Martial Arts at level 2 and Assassin at level 4 (there are some weird comma uses that might strictly indicate that disarm is granted to Martial Arts at level 2, but a bonus to disarm is granted to Assassin at level 4; but the Expert entry doesn't include any other numerical bonuses at that level, indicating that is it definitely an ability that is not automatically available to everybody at first level, but rather something that is (sometimes) gained at later levels. Gladiators get it at level one!

It seems to work exactly as it states - you need a natural 19 or 20 to successfully pull of a disarm as a defensive move. You would have to be desperate to try that!

The strike to disarm can be defended just like any other attack - parry/dodge/whatever. Defender's choice. Works as normal.

One problem I have had with the disarm manoeuvre is that you successfully knock the weapon out of your opponent's hand - then what? Next attack "I pick up my dropped weapon". Back to square one! It doesn't say how far away the weapon is "knocked away".
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darthauthor
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Re: Disarming

Unread post by darthauthor »

When playing a good guy trying to arrest the bad guy and take them alive my character would use a whip to "disarm" the villain.

My understanding of the rules of combat are that attempting to disarm takes 1 melee attack. I had to make a called shot for the weapon hand of the person I wanted to disarm. They could dodge or parry but if my strike role (disarm bonus with the Whip plus Martial Arts and Athletics) was greater or equal to their defense I disarmed them. This promptly lead to a Kung Fu fight or melee weapon fight.

The GM considered it 2 melee attacks actions to bend at the knee or bend over to pick up their fallen weapon and 1 to draw one off their body (like a knife); none to use hand to hand combat.

Is this correct or is their a more accurate way of doing a "disarm"?

I think there was a fear factor saving throw IF and when the opponent had their ranged weapon knocked out of their hand.

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Levi
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Re: Disarming

Unread post by Levi »

I think the implied intent for the defensive disarm would be for it to trigger when the character attempts to parry an attack and rolls a 19 or 20. It hasn’t really come up in my games but that is how I think I would handle it. What are the exception that would cause it to trigger on lower number or not work with at natural 19 or 20? Like many things in PB I don’t think it was well thought out or detailed anywhere.

For the offensive use of disarm, I would assume that it would follow the normal rules for an attack. Meet the minimum roll based on range and total or the AR and/or the defenders parry/dodge and it works. Again, I have not had this come up in any of my games that I remember.

There are good questions in the thread about what happens to the disarmed weapon. Does it just fall on the ground? Does it get flung 20 feet? Does the person disarming now have the weapon in hand? I take these on a case by case depending on the situation. How long does it take to pick up a weapon? I would think just one attack if it was close by, within feet equal to the characters movement speed.
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