Thorvald Kviksverd
First Post
I was going through some of my old notes, and stumbled across the following. It has never been playtested, and is probably replete with bugs--but perhaps someone can pull something useful from it.
Be forewarned, most of my "knowledge" concerning fencing comes from Errol Flynn movies...
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FENCING
Prerequisites: Weapon Finesse(rapier or sabre); Int 13+; Dex 13+
Benefits: (1) Designate one opponent and receive +2 AC vs his melee attacks, (2) Riposte, and (3) Disarm.
Limitations: Must be lightly armored and lightly encumbered or less; May not use a shield.
Riposte: If opponent (designated in (1) above) misses his attack roll by at least 4 (5 if you're using a sabre), you may make an immediate attack of opportunity against him.
Disarm: Disarm attempts do not provoke an attack of opportunity. Furthermore, if you fail in a disarm attempt your enemy may not make a counter-disarm, unless he has the Fencing or Improved Disarm Feat.
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RAPIER
Medium/Martial; 1d4, 18-20/x2; finessable; treated as small when attempting to make disarm attempts, medium when resisting.
SABRE
Medium/Martial; 1d6, 19-20/x2; finessable; +2 vs disarm attempts.
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Some of the thinking and assumptions behind the above...
(1) The three outstanding characteristics of swashbuckling swordplay are fancy footwork, lightning counterattacks, and flashy disarms.
(2) For balance my benchmark was a character with the 2 feats of Two Weapon Fighting and Twin Sword Style (from FR, prereq. Two Wpn Fight, +2 AC vs 1 melee opponent).
(3) I discounted the benefits of Weapon Finesse since it is variable, and is in some sense self-limiting--since a character often has to sacrifice Str to boost Dex, if he wants to receive a larger benefit.
(4) The +2 AC from each correspond directly.
(5) The two attacks of the two-weapon fighter, at reduced chances to hit, roughly correspond to the chance of a possible riposte, at normal to hit chances, enjoyed by the fencer.
(6) The limited form of Improved Disarm (i.e. the fencer is not entirely immune to counter attempts) is offset by the limitations on armor and encumberance--this also serves to balance the advantage of riposte, if any, over the extra attack of the two-weapon fighter.
(7) For Florentine style the character can then branch off into the two-weapon progression.
(8) I might even be persuaded that the armor limitation needs something more by way of compensation--but I don't have any ideas about what that could be at the present.
(Edit: Fixed cut&paste formatting mess)
Be forewarned, most of my "knowledge" concerning fencing comes from Errol Flynn movies...
_____________________________________________
FENCING
Prerequisites: Weapon Finesse(rapier or sabre); Int 13+; Dex 13+
Benefits: (1) Designate one opponent and receive +2 AC vs his melee attacks, (2) Riposte, and (3) Disarm.
Limitations: Must be lightly armored and lightly encumbered or less; May not use a shield.
Riposte: If opponent (designated in (1) above) misses his attack roll by at least 4 (5 if you're using a sabre), you may make an immediate attack of opportunity against him.
Disarm: Disarm attempts do not provoke an attack of opportunity. Furthermore, if you fail in a disarm attempt your enemy may not make a counter-disarm, unless he has the Fencing or Improved Disarm Feat.
_____________________________________________
RAPIER
Medium/Martial; 1d4, 18-20/x2; finessable; treated as small when attempting to make disarm attempts, medium when resisting.
SABRE
Medium/Martial; 1d6, 19-20/x2; finessable; +2 vs disarm attempts.
_____________________________________________
Some of the thinking and assumptions behind the above...
(1) The three outstanding characteristics of swashbuckling swordplay are fancy footwork, lightning counterattacks, and flashy disarms.
(2) For balance my benchmark was a character with the 2 feats of Two Weapon Fighting and Twin Sword Style (from FR, prereq. Two Wpn Fight, +2 AC vs 1 melee opponent).
(3) I discounted the benefits of Weapon Finesse since it is variable, and is in some sense self-limiting--since a character often has to sacrifice Str to boost Dex, if he wants to receive a larger benefit.
(4) The +2 AC from each correspond directly.
(5) The two attacks of the two-weapon fighter, at reduced chances to hit, roughly correspond to the chance of a possible riposte, at normal to hit chances, enjoyed by the fencer.
(6) The limited form of Improved Disarm (i.e. the fencer is not entirely immune to counter attempts) is offset by the limitations on armor and encumberance--this also serves to balance the advantage of riposte, if any, over the extra attack of the two-weapon fighter.
(7) For Florentine style the character can then branch off into the two-weapon progression.
(8) I might even be persuaded that the armor limitation needs something more by way of compensation--but I don't have any ideas about what that could be at the present.
(Edit: Fixed cut&paste formatting mess)
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