Quote:
Originally Posted by RMS
The only problem there is that parry, even with a shield, is completely worthless against certain opponents in RQ. Damage bonuses and knockback assure that parrying a giant or dragon is pretty much the same thing as not having a defense at all.
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Well, that's the tradeoff, isn't it? In some situations, dodge was innately superior (high damage foes), while in other's parry was (low to medium damage, with better defense against specials and crits). Most of the time, you're going to be better off parrying, but if you're fighting something that will blow right through that shield parry and whack a location off/down, you might just want to dodge. Sure, if the other guy specials or crits, you're probably in trouble, but if he doesn't, you're better off.
The other advantage to dodge is that once you get a sufficiently high skill with it, it becomes incredibly useful in conjunction with higher AP armor. Assuming you use the "success levels subtract" method (which we do), then if you succeed at dodging, your opponent can *never* critical you. If you've got good AP on your worn armor, this can be huge. It's quite possible to end up being better off dodging against a critical hit from an opponent, then parrying.
How you balance these two will have a lot to do with how your game is set. The balance between worn armor versus ap on shields in your game will be a significant determinant as to which skill is "better", and should be taken into account when deciding what sort of rules to use.