[Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

On the contrary there is a bit difference. It isn't additive either. It's not speed plus mass. It more Speed x Mass for Momentum. And Speed Squared x mass/contact area and time to get the effect.

I don't recall saying it was additive, A. Please don't imply I did. And while narrow cross section is, all other things equal, easier to deflect, if the force is high enough that's still not a given, and with weapons, unless you're going to use entirely different deflection rules for a mace and a spear, you're not going to be able to handle that right anyway.

Let's say that you got a object moving at high speed. Now if you can apply force to it at a angle other than the one it is heading in, you will alter the trajectory of the object. Ideally you wont to do so at a right agle from the

Of course you will. The question is will you do so enough to _matter_?

Not that marginal at all. Getting hit by the the tip of the blade (the top half is what you are shooting for it you are the attacker. Well, more like the top quarter or third) gives you a better chance of getting a glancing blow. Having a 1/2" deep wound is better than having a 3" deep wound.

But with a cutting weapon there's no guarentee that's what'll happen. You're still applying the same approximate energy, and you've moved the recieving object so it has less space to break. So all you may be doing is trading a long shallow chop for a long shallow slash in a slightly different area (and with no certainty that the area that got it is the better choice).

Plus just what that smaller area is could make a huge difference. Most dodging moves the point of impact to someplace less lethal. A shoulder hit instead of the head, a strike to the outer ribcage instead of the heart. All

No, most dodging _wants_ to, but often the things most likely to get you out of the way in general, if they don't work, may well actually push it into a worst place. As an example, its entirely possible to catch a swing in the head that otherwise would have caught you in the side of the chest.

good from the defender's point of view, and lowering the damage in game terms.

That's an example of what I refered to as "whole body parries" though; if you're dealing with hit location, it doesn't necessarily reduce the damage, just chose where you want to take it.

Actually there is. Go check out an Aikido Dojo and see all the people who partially dodged an attack. It's probably more common that a complete success and certainly more common that a failure.

I spent more than three years in a mixed arts dojo when I was in my 20's. I stand by my original statement. Most "partially dodged" attacks might as well not have been dodged at all, and some actually made the problem worse. A few turned blows into grazes, which I've acknowledged, but I consider those to have been the minority cases, and likely "misses" for our purpose.

Most martial arts exploit this idea to some extent. Since the impact force is based partly on the relative speed rather than an absolute, and moving in the same direction of the attack will reduce the impact.

The classic case if a fender bender. If Car A is moving 10 mph and car B is traveling behind it at 15mph, then when B slams into A it is with the same effect as a 5mph crash.

Likewise if Rurik thrusts his spear at A speed of 2X and Blinky the Trollkin backpedals at Speed X, Blinky is going to get hit X rather than 2X.

That's fair enough, but few dodges i include appreciable amount of movement in the game; they're largely shifts in place, and its hard to move your torso or whole body with the same speed someone can move a melee weapon.

If Blinky can move in such a way to spread out the time of contact he can reduce the injury further.

Its the if I'm questioning in the context of what the game calls a dodge.