Level Up (A5E) About Parrying

[Koyh]

"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. You cannot use this
property while incapacitated, paralyzed, rattled,
restrained, or stunned."


If i am wielding 2 parrying daggers, would i be able to do 2 parries?

 

[VenerableBede]

As a DM, I would interpret "once before your next turn" to mean once per round, period—not once per weapon per round. However, I don't think there's anything game-breaking about interpreting it the other way.

 

[Stalker0]

I would rule it as one parry but you gain 2 expertise die (aka 1d6)

 

[tetrasodium]

"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. You cannot use this
property while incapacitated, paralyzed, rattled,
restrained, or stunned."


If i am wielding 2 parrying daggers, would i be able to do 2 parries?

I'd allow it per weapon but 3 of the 5 players in my group have decided parry weapons are the thing for them with the other 2 being casters. Parry is incredibly powerful so far but they are just shy of level 6 & starting to hit multiattack creatures & I'm not sure if that will change much since monsters generally don;t really seem to have the tohit to really handle parry weapons & heavy armor too well. Compared to something like defensive (bonus action for +1 ac from your shield) I'm not sure if any other weapon property can really compare

edit: thinking about it though I too would have it roll up to a d6 not 1d4 against 2 attacks

 

[Steampunkette]

@Stalker0 has the right angle on it, I'd say.

Expertise stacks, after all, and it does specify once per round.

 

[Anselm]

I've ruled once per round per weapon. They could choose to use both at the same time to increase the die to a d6

edit: just to expand on why, the weapon itself has the property and restriction of "once per turn". Therefore it's pretty easy to reason that two weapons would each have their own "once per turn" ability. Only a creature proficient with the weapon can use that property and the only simple weapon with parrying is two handed (quarterstaff) so it's limited to mostly martial characters who've invested in two weapon fighting. Additionally, and I'd be curious to see the math on when one becomes better than the other, a shield is going to be better than one or two parrying weapons against a lot of attacks. As the average of a d4 it's +2.5. 50% of the time it's going to be equal or worse and the other 50% your ac has a chance of stopping something higher, but it's not guaranteed. But the third, fourth, and beyond times it's 0. It sure doesn't feel broken to give them two uses and encourages active decisions off the player's turn. Seems like a win all around.

 

[Khelben7]

You get one Reaction per turn. But seems like a cool rule to stack the expertise. Good one for a FAQ.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

You get one Reaction per turn. But seems like a cool rule to stack the expertise. Good one for a FAQ.

Yes, but the Parrying weapon property doesn't require the use of a reaction.

 

[Khelben7]

Yes, but the Parrying weapon property doesn't require the use of a reaction.

So you can combine a parry with a Reaction or might it be a designers slip?

 

[Anselm]

So you can combine a parry with a Reaction or might it be a designers slip?

If there's a reaction that would trigger at the same time as a parry would, yes you'd be able to use both but parry does not require that you also use a reaction.