Yesterday Douglas Cole put up a post about Viking Shield Fighting.
One thing he mentioned was shield-on-shield jostling.
One problem with a Feint is that it's skill vs. skill. The attacker would roll with Shield, the defender with Shield or another skill if it's better. Forcing the defender to roll against Shield might make sense, but it's really going to weird when the defender isn't using a light buckler-style shield like a Viking shield.
Beat makes a lot of sense, but Doug says his experience shows it is more skill than ST.
There is a simple solution - a perk.
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Skilled Beats*
You've learned to use your skill, not your strength, to execute a Beat (Martial Arts, p. 100). You must specialize by weapon skill. When executing a beat, use the better of your ST-based or DX-based skill. Your opponent opposes the beat normally.
***
This way you can get a skilled fighter using his agility and skill, not his strength, to move people's weapons or shields out of line. Yet a strong foe can still oppose it with ST, which seems appropriate (not everyone is using a buckler and is equally taught to use skill to defend it.)
You might say, "Why not just Feint?" For the usual reasons of using a beat - you want to share the effect with others.
The equivalent of Power Grappling in reverse. I like it, in general. I think I like the control point method more, but then, I would. I will probably think about a less-detailed shield grapple over the next day or so, as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the Perk. It reflects some disarming/"beat" techniques I learned in polearm fencing. Some really were just a light touch and mot the leverage/full strength/weight of the polearm moving the foe's weapon/entire-body out of line.
ReplyDelete