Level Up (A5E) Parrying Weapons & Duelist subclass.

[Stellardrifter]

Hello! I'm currently building a Duelist Fighter, and my DM and I aren't quite sure of what's happening with parrying weapons and the level 7 Duelist feature, Parry and Thrust.

The feature mentions "[...] whenever you use your reaction to add an expertise die to your AC using a parrying weapon [...]"
However, the Parrying weapon property (page 312 of the adventurer's guide) does not specify the cost of a reaction when the property is used.

Is the Parrying property truly free? And if so, can dual wielded Parrying weapons apply multiple expertise die to the fighter's AC ?

 

[Stone Dog]

Even the Parrying weapon property says it can only be used once per turn. I bet it is supposed to be a Reaction and not a free action, though.

 

[Stellardrifter]

It's what we're most enclined to believe, yes. Which would make Dual-wielded shortswords unable to add 1d6 or 2x 1d4 to your AC for free at level 1.

 

[Stone Dog]

It's what we're most enclined to believe, yes. Which would make Dual-wielded shortswords unable to add 1d6 or 2x 1d4 to your AC for free at level 1.

It would definitely be just the 1d4, not the 1d6.

When you are wielding this weapon and you are not using a shield, once before your next turn you can gain an expertise die to your AC against a single melee attack made against you by a creature you can see.

If dual wielded shortswords let you give expertise to parrying for each blade (which, honestly, sounds cool and I'd want to figure out how to allow it), you'd get 1d4 vs one attack and then 1d4 verses another. Which may be what you meant in your post, in which case, my apologies.

 

[Sepulchre]

It would definitely be just the 1d4, not the 1d6.



If dual wielded shortswords let you give expertise to parrying for each blade (which, honestly, sounds cool and I'd want to figure out how to allow it), you'd get 1d4 vs one attack and then 1d4 verses another. Which may be what you meant in your post, in which case, my apologies.

Expertise dice stack, so if it doesn’t take a reaction, you could use both against 1 attack, I think.

 

[Stone Dog]

Raw is still once before your next round you can get one expertise die to your AC against a single attack. However, having that be per weapon so you can parry two separate attacks sounds like fun and if you can do THAT then something to use both parrying weapons against a single attack for 1d6 sounds fun too. Cross those shortswords and bind up the incoming strike!

Might be room for a feat for that... maybe building on the dual wielding master feat. But definitely out of scope for parrying in the book.

Maybe

 

[Faolyn]

I believe that the writers hinted that they made parrying weapons not use a reaction so you could stack them with maneuvers that used a reaction.

 

[Stellardrifter]

Thank you for the answers!

The question remains, if the parrying property does not use a reaction, does the level 7 Duelist feature
"[...] whenever you use your reaction to add an expertise die to your AC using a parrying weapon [...]" not apply to, well, parrying?

The only reaction use that could grant you an expertise die I've found in the Adventurer's guide is from the Parrying Counter maneuver (p474).
However, this maneuver is used at the end of your turn and grants you AC for a turn against a specific enemy, not an incoming attack.

This goes against the writing of Parry and Thrust which specifies "whenever you use your reaction [...] and the triggering attack misses you"

So, RAW, if the parrying property is free, you cannot use Parry and Thrust with it because it is not using a reaction.
If the parrying property costs a reaction, it falls in place.

We're leaning pretty heavily on "houseruling" the parrying property to expend a reaction, but we can only hope for an official answer.

 

[Stellardrifter]

I believe that the writers hinted that they made parrying weapons not use a reaction so you could stack them with maneuvers that used a reaction.

Any chance that you still have a link or picture at the handy?

 

[tetrasodium]

Thank you for the answers!

The question remains, if the parrying property does not use a reaction, does the level 7 Duelist feature
"[...] whenever you use your reaction to add an expertise die to your AC using a parrying weapon [...]" not apply to, well, parrying?

The only reaction use that could grant you an expertise die I've found in the Adventurer's guide is from the Parrying Counter maneuver (p474).
However, this maneuver is used at the end of your turn and grants you AC for a turn against a specific enemy, not an incoming attack.

This goes against the writing of Parry and Thrust which specifies "whenever you use your reaction [...] and the triggering attack misses you"

So, RAW, if the parrying property is free, you cannot use Parry and Thrust with it because it is not using a reaction.
If the parrying property costs a reaction, it falls in place.

We're leaning pretty heavily on "houseruling" the parrying property to expend a reaction, but we can only hope for an official answer.

Heightened reflexes maneuver can give an extra 1-3 reactions beyond the one everyone gets each round on top of whatever you might be able to squeeze out elsewhere