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Weapon Length


Joker

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Hi!

I've got a question about opponents with weapons with different weapon length. I read the rules on p. 92, but I am not sure how it works.

It states "Armed with a medium or short hand-to-hand weapon [...] he cannot attack until successfully dodging."

What if the attacker with the long weapon doesn't succeed in his attack roll? The defender with the short weapon wouldn't have to make a dodge roll, so he can't attack on his turn? Or can he automatically slip inside the guard of the long-weapon user?

In addition I fear with these rules there will be lots of attacking and dodging just to change who of the opponents is possible to attack the other.

I tried to use the rule once but when it didn't work out (the short-weapon user practically unable to attack the long-weapon user), I skipped it and now I am working on some house rules. But maybe I just didn't got how the rule is supposed to work.

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Hi!

I've got a question about opponents with weapons with different weapon length. I read the rules on p. 92, but I am not sure how it works.

It states "Armed with a medium or short hand-to-hand weapon [...] he cannot attack until successfully dodging."

What if the attacker with the long weapon doesn't succeed in his attack roll? The defender with the short weapon wouldn't have to make a dodge roll, so he can't attack on his turn? Or can he automatically slip inside the guard of the long-weapon user?

Think of it this way - I've got a 6 foot long pointy stick and you have a 1 foot long pointy stick. If I have room to manuever, I control the distance we fight at. Even if I miss my attack, you need to slip by the pointy end of my weapon before you can hit me. The rules require you to use an "attack action" and roll Dodge to move into position where you can attack. Once you are inside my guard, I'm the one at a disadvantage since I cannot easily stab you and I need to use an action to back out to my ideal range.

In addition I fear with these rules there will be lots of attacking and dodging just to change who of the opponents is possible to attack the other.

I don't like forcing a dodge skill for closing the distance. I allow players to roll the best of their dodge or current weapon skill to close. If they crit, they get a "normal" attack while doing it. If the defender ever fumbles they can close the gap if they wish as well. I usually have miniatures on the table when we game. One square between figures = long, adjacent squares = medium, sharing a square = short. It's a great visual queue.

I tried to use the rule once but when it didn't work out (the short-weapon user practically unable to attack the long-weapon user), I skipped it and now I am working on some house rules. But maybe I just didn't got how the rule is supposed to work.

The rule allows a dgree of verisimilitude. A guy armed with a spear and room to manuever can easily fend off a person with a shorter weapon. It's not a lot of fun if you're the player armed with a dagger though:) If your players don't like the rule as written and if you think it slows down the combat dump it! An easy way around it is to give a DEX rank bonus for using a long weapon and a penalty for a short. You could also rule that long weapons go first, then medium, then short and have Dex rank within each "length".

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