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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Drifter Bob" data-source="post: 1655931" data-attributes="member: 17723">You folks really don't understand fencing.  A little time spent with some harmless boffers could clarify this stuff a great deal.First of all, the way you actually parry a weapon, be it a human opponents sword or some theoretical ogres club, is not to meet it directly head on, force for force.  Generally speaking, that is a good way to snap your blade.  Try to forget all abut the edge on edge parries you see in hollywood. You turn the weapon aside by striking it at an angle.  This requires a surprisingly small amount of strength, depending on how you parry and from what guard.  I am a big guy, over 250 lbs, and my 5' 1" 120 lb girlfriend can easily parry a full strength overhand strike with a hanging guard parry with one hand.  Thats probably comparable to the difference in size between an ogre and a human fighter, or at least in the ball-park.If you are dealing with a monster that is so big that active defense doesn't matter, (in which case I guess combat expertise should be disallowed as well) you can simply revert to your base defense, which is the same defense you would use against misile weapons.Second, and perhaps more important, the defensive value of a weapon is represented not only by it's ability to actively parry, but by the passive threat of counterattack.  Just think about it, visualise in your mind, someone armed with a spear, poised to thrust, versus someone unarmed or armed with brass knuckles.  Which one do you feel safer striking with your club, as an ogre?  Some weapons specialize in the former (active parrying), some in the latter (counterattack), and some both.  For example, someone armed with a thrusting weapon like a rapier or smallsword, or for that matter a spear, isn't likely to necessarily parry a swing from a baseball bat.  They would instead keep the point toward their opponent and thrust into them if they got too close.For those monsters which seek to rush, I use the grapple mechanic.  If they want to close to short range, ignoring the threat of conuterattack, they take their attack of opportunity and then move in.I use a defensive die-roll instead of AC, but it basically works out the same, and it's not that hard.  You have one base defense (or base AC) which in my house rules is the BAB plus dexterity bonus, minus any armor penalties.  Then each weapon and / or shield has it's own modifier to defense (or AC).  The latter apply in melee, for weapons, or in all occasions except flat foot, for shield.It's not really any more complicated from maintaining a flatfoot AC, a touch AC, and a standard AC!Actually, the most effective way to use a blunt staff is with a thrust.  Take a broomstick one day, hold it in two hands, and thrust hard against a solid surface and you will see what I mean.  Imagine that impacting on your teeth or ribs.  It's much harder to defend against.  That is incidentaly why they call them quarterstaffs, because you were meant to use them from the back quarter, rather like a spear, and thus take advantage of the reach.  This also helps defensively by keeping them at bay.  If they close to shorter range, you can transition to half-staff as seen in Asian martial arts styles, which allows you to atack from both sides and / or attack and parry simultaneously.Of course, you do strike 'like a baseball bat' when you have the opportunity, but you have to have your opponent in a bad position first, because such strikes are comparatively easy to void or parry.So basically, if you realistically portray it, a staff conveys excellent defense in melee combat (we give it a +5 in our house rules) and quite a good offensive reach bonus in the attack.  The limitation is in damage, especially against armor.  The impact of a staff, while siginificant, no way a staff does the kind of mortal damage that say, a short sword does.It still makes a very nice weapon for wizards this way though.For the sake of simplicity we make the assumption natural armor is equally effective against all weapons.We also have an armor bypass rule to avoid the damage reduction, depending on what kind of armor you are wearing.  A vest or byrnie (shirt) or breast plate is -4 on a To Hit roll to bypass, a haubrerk (coat) is -6, and complete armor or natural armor is -10.  This assumes there is always a vulnerable spot you can go for, even on a dragon.  It makes for some interesting tactical decisions for the players.It's also easy to implement because in all the monster listings they break up AC into natural armor, regular armor, dex and size modifiers, etc.DB</blockquote>

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