Riposte in the age of dueling

[Dresan]

It is probably not the intent but dueling does seems like a clever IC way to buff pure fighter with riposte, as well as stand your ground type combat.

At some point I would like to see hack and riposte change to work with most weapons types to give combat types more variety when selecting weapons. Hack should work with any heavier bladed weapon and riposte should work with any weapon.

Sap and backstab are assassin skills not fighter skills, and it makes sense they are limited in weapon types to prevent them from being op with both the execution of the skill and the resulting combat. Sap weapon selection was nerfed a while ago and even poison weapon selection was also expanded slightly recently as well.

Of course only fighter should have the ability to master both skills, with other classes needing to select subguilds.

[LindseyBalboa]

i like this direction but i'd rather see more combat skills/techniques added.

dirt kicking, pocket sand, pommel strike, hamstring, throatpunch, elbow, kidneypunch, bite, grabbing something nearby and smashing it into someone's head, smashing teeth, etc.

[Dresan]

What if i told you that most of those techniques already exist? And with no code overhaul needed either but the game doesn't trust the players to use those abilities. 

[Kavrick]

Not being able to riposte with rapiers is the ultimate irony in Armageddon.

[Dresan]

Not being able to riposte with rapiers is the ultimate irony in Armageddon.

Agreed.

[EvilRoeSlade]

There shouldn't even be any rapiers in Arm, unless they're made out of metal.

[eska]

There shouldn't even be any rapiers in Arm, unless they're made out of metal.

What is wrong with bone rapiers?

[EvilRoeSlade]

Even a metal rapier breaks very easily. A bone one would break too quickly to be an effective weapon.

[Kavrick]

There shouldn't even be any rapiers in Arm, unless they're made out of metal.

I'm not sure how much I agree with this. Some rapiers irl are extremely thin, especially 'foils', which are the rapiers used in fencing, but there are plenty of rapiers that are actually pretty thick, being 1-3 inches thick, which could arguably be made out of materials like ivory in game.

There's also a big issue with categorizing swords, especially 'thrusting' swords, as even swords such as rapiers had edges that could be used in swings, but Arm just splits them into 'piercing' and 'slashing' swords. It's a messy topic and I'm not educated enough to give an in-depth take on it.

[Dresan]

Even a metal rapier breaks very easily. A bone one would break too quickly to be an effective weapon.

My sharp fibula chicken bone disagrees.

I mean in all seriousness you are perhaps right, but in a world of fantasy creatures and magickal being i think some suspension of disbelief is allowed in regards to useable material.

I am more concern with gameplay and promoting variety of choice in a balanced yet meaningful way.

[dunecrawler]

Riposte is fundamentally broken and needs to be tweaked. It turns higher weapon skills into a disadvantage for the opponent - if you're fighting someone who is using riposte, a higher weapon skill can make you perform worse instead of better because you end up getting parried a lot instead of dodged.

There's no other situation I can think in the game of where being more skilled at something turns into a disadvantage.

[Agent_137]

There shouldn't even be any rapiers in Arm, unless they're made out of metal.

Oh hey another old name. Good to see you.

Imo let's not use realism to yuck on stuff already in game that people like in this world of magic and giant lizards. 

Regardless, Dark sun rules say they can be made just fine but:

Due to the extremely high cost of metal weaponry on Athas, most weapons from the Player's Handbook are constructed from inferior, but functional, materials. Most common are bone and stone such as flint or obsidian, but treated wood is sometimes used as well. Weapons constructed from inferior materials, such as a bone longsword or an axe with a head made from stone, suffer a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls. This penalty cannot reduce damage dealt below 1.

It off topic now, but I wish we had some more of the athsian weapons, they don't get the penalties.
http://worlds.wikidot.com/weapons


Anyway I'm excited for duels. Tribal PCs have been doing 3 cuts duels for awhile and it was a lot of fun.

[Riev]

Armageddon isn't Dark Sun, just inspired by it.

Rapiers, foils, and epees are all different styles of weapon.

Riposte is an interesting idea with a not-so-great implementation. It requires you to parry an attack, which means if you're TOO good at dodging, you're just losing out on a cool skill. You can't parry off an expert dodge.

Duels are an interesting thing to introduce, but I do worry it is only going to put a spotlight on needing to be twinking combat, because a few points in either direction can really turn a fight.

Hope it goes well.

[roughneck]

I think dueling is a great addition, even if it's only for the sour feelings afterwards.

[Valkyrja]

Armageddon isn't Dark Sun, just inspired by it.

Rapiers, foils, and epees are all different styles of weapon.

Riposte is an interesting idea with a not-so-great implementation. It requires you to parry an attack, which means if you're TOO good at dodging, you're just losing out on a cool skill. You can't parry off an expert dodge.

Duels are an interesting thing to introduce, but I do worry it is only going to put a spotlight on needing to be twinking combat, because a few points in either direction can really turn a fight.

Hope it goes well.

Folks have been wanting some other methods of resolving conflict in the City other than kill the aides x20. BEHOLD!

[Riev]

Oh I assure you, I'm all for it but its not something that couldn't have been done before, but for 7 staffers with 8 different ideas of whether its "okay" or not.

Its a step better than "I'll see you in the Arena!"