Parrying Feats from Dragon Magazine

[JacktheRabbit]

In one of the latest Dragon magazine there are several parrying feats described in the swashbuckling section.

The parrying feat itself is pretty simple. If you have the feat you get to automatically use one Attack of Opportunity each round to attempt to parry an enemy attack. Basically you make a melee attack roll and try to beat the attack roll of the foe.

The feat also sys that you get a +4 to the parrying roll if you are using a light weapon. Now by the PHB if you are using a double weapon then you are considered to be using a light weapon in your off-hand.

Would you allow this to grant the parryer the +4 bonus for parrying with a light weapon if he uses the off hand of his double weapon to parry?

 

[Apok]

What?! Just 'yes'?! That's it?!

Yes.

 

[Alariel]

To the original poster's question, I answer 'yes'

The rest, I have a general opinion-seeking question. With these parry feats, do you think that the final parry feat in the tree (I believe it's Expert Parry, but I don't have the mag in front of me) is correct? As far as I can remember, nothing allows a character to use multiple attacks of opportunity against a single target in one round (let's assume pre-epic). For this reason, I thought it a little odd that if my precious Alariel were to eventually get Expert Parry, she may be able to parry 10 melee attacks total, no matter if they come from a single target, or multiple targets surrounding her (she has Combat Reflexes and a Dex of 30). Not only that, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, don't all the parry attempts use her highest attack bonus, since they're all considered uses of her attacks of opportunity? If these are all correct, it certainly does give the pure meleer quite a welcome boost in power.

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances is it to be assumed that I consider meleers (or any other class-types, for that matter) broken and/or nerfed. My lawyer will vouch for me.

 

[Jeremy]

That question is one that the designers of the game never agreed upon. The text in combat reflexes was an attempt to make sure that no one used all of their AofO's on a person who committed one breach. It was not an attempt to say you couldn't AofO a person you've already AofO'd that round if he commits a different breach.

The author wrote it one way, the Sage interpreted it another, the populace a third, the editor a fourth, and so on.

Go with the Sage? One AofO per target, per round regardless of how many times he provokes from you. He could circle you twice, drink a potion with his extra partial action, then try to disarm or sunder your weapon while unarmed without the improved unarmed fighter feat and you'd get one AofO.

Go with Monte or some of the others? One AofO per infraction per round. If he moves through your threatened area you get one AofO. If he then casts a spell in your threatened area you get an additional single AofO.

 

[Ranger REG]

The rest, I have a general opinion-seeking question. With these parry feats, do you think that the final parry feat in the tree (I believe it's Expert Parry, but I don't have the mag in front of me) is correct? As far as I can remember, nothing allows a character to use multiple attacks of opportunity against a single target in one round (let's assume pre-epic). For this reason, I thought it a little odd that if my precious Alariel were to eventually get Expert Parry, she may be able to parry 10 melee attacks total, no matter if they come from a single target, or multiple targets surrounding her (she has Combat Reflexes and a Dex of 30). Not only that, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, don't all the parry attempts use her highest attack bonus, since they're all considered uses of her attacks of opportunity? If these are all correct, it certainly does give the pure meleer quite a welcome boost in power.

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances is it to be assumed that I consider meleers (or any other class-types, for that matter) broken and/or nerfed. My lawyer will vouch for me.

"Parry 10 melee attacks"???

What the hell is your Dexterity? 28-29?

IMO, I think the number of prerequisites offset the benefit of Expert Parry. Even then, you're gonna need to acquire more parry feat to use it while in armor heavier than light.

Besides, this is a defensive feat. You are merely blocking the multiple attacks your opponent can make against you, not returning any counterattack. The drawback is, if you use all you AoO to parry, you may not make AoO when someone move past you (like a rogue who move into a flanking position, courtesy of the diversion of the opponent you parried).

 

[Hypersmurf]

Would you allow this to grant the parryer the +4 bonus for parrying with a light weapon if he uses the off hand of his double weapon to parry?

No - you're simplifying what it says about double weapons.

"The [two-weapon fighting] penalties apply as if the off-hand weapon were light."

It's not a light weapon; it simply behaves as one for the purposes of calculating TWF penalties.

-Hyp.

 

[shilsen]

"Parry 10 melee attacks"???

What the hell is your Dexterity? 28-29?

Alariel's post (which you quoted above) does list her Dex as 30.

I don't have the magazine, but if the description given above is correct, Expert Parry definitely does sound a little over the top to me. YMMV.

And my answer to the original poster is "Yes".

 

[Alariel]

Yes, Alariel's Dex is 30 (she's 20th level right now), but 5, or even 10 levels ago, her Dex was around 25+, giving her roughly 7+ attacks of opportunity with Combat Reflexes. The drawback for Alariel in particular is that she doesn't wear armor (she prefers some form of Bracers of Armor and Dex buffing items to beef up her AC). Still, she doesn't need to buy the parry feats that correspond to wearing armor.

I'm just considering this for the future. She's part monk, part fighter, part weapon master, with no armor, a very high dex, and two light weapons. Getting the parry tree would be an excellent bonus to her repertoire, as it would mean she could get surrounded, make 10 parry attempts against those attacks, and still be able to attack 7 times on her turn (assuming full-attack action, no haste). If it doesn't look like there's anything wrong with this, then I might go for it (in lieu of some epic feats, for the time being).

Oh, and fully equipped, Alariel really has a 36 Dex. She just got her Gloves of Dex +6 nuked by a flux slime recently and needs another pair. Then she'd get 13 parry attempts, theoretically.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Why can't you use a shield to parry?

 

[Alariel]

If you are talking about my character, then it's about style, mainly. The character is a dual-wielder (pair of wakazashis). Parrying wouldn't even come up if it weren't for the new parry feats.

As a generalization, about the shield, I thought you could, since you can use a shield as a weapon. It seems a little odd, however, that a shield would add to your AC and be capable of parrying outright, from a game mechanics point-of-view. That's just me, though.