d20 PARRY

[Tough_Tonka]

I have yet to see any parry rules for the d20 system so I have began to develop my own. These rules are in the eariest stages of development and I would appreciate any asessment, or help you have to offer on these rules. If you have or know a link to a d20 Parry System I can compare my ideas with I would gladly welcome it.

First off I'd like to note that I plan on using the optional rules on armor that provides half DR and half AC bonus alongside this system to make the benefits of parrying more alluring to explore.

I'll start with the parry manuever that any character can do during combat.


PARRY: A character that has can use their Dexterity bonus to their attack (if any would apply) can choose to parry a melee attack. You must choose to attempt a parry before the results of your enemies attack are declared. To parry you make a d20 roll that use add your Base Attack Bonus and Dex Bonus and compare it with your enemy's attack roll, if your roll is higher the attack roll the attack is blocked.

Using a parry is a standard action (unless you have the Improved Parry Feat) that can be used out side your turn. You can parry after your turn but doing so spends your standard action on your turn next round.

The bonuses you get for fighting defensivly, using combat expertise or some class features or feat similair to these are also apply on your parry check. If your character uses two stats to determine their AC bonus such as the monk they can add both of them during your parry check [Im thinking of making that one using the higher of the 2 stats, what do you think?]. For every size catagory the attacking weapon is larger than the parrying weapon the attacker recieves a +2 bonus on his attack[Since its harder to block a larger weapon]. For every size category larger your weapon is than the attacker you get a -2 penalty to your parry [since larger weapons are more clumsy].

When ever a side scores a critical success, rolling higer by 5+, he can choose to make the attack or parry is treated as making a successful sunder attempt, without an attack of oppertunity, instead of attacking his target. Against a natural attack this means attacking the creatures hand/claw/etc. even when parrying.


Thats the basic manuever but here some expansions on the idea.

Improved Parry (Feat):
Prerequisites: Base Atk. +1
You can make a parry attempt using a move action instead of a standard action. You can spend two move actions during and out of your turn.


Two-Weapon Fighting and Parrying:

If a character has the two weapon fighting feat they can use the both weapons in that round for each action you use t parry, each with the penalties applied with normal two-weapon fighting. This means you can make two parry attempts against a single attack or using the two attempts during the turn for each action used. If you make the first parry attempt before your turn you can save that parry until the round ends. If you make the first parry attempt after your turn you can save the second until your turn comes again next round.

[jjpickar]

At first glance, I like it. But I'm no expert so I would wait for someone who's good at analyzing such things before becoming to attached to it. But it looks cool and parry is missing from D&D (there no really good way to reenact the fight between Wesley and (I think its spelled Inigo) the other guy in 3.5).

[GunMage]

You might want to change the critical success rule to: If any side succedes by 5 or more, they may choose to augment the attack with an additional effect.

Parrier: Deflects the attack and receives an attack of oppertunity against the attacker.

Attacker: Gains one additional attack against the parrier at his highest attack bonus.

Just my two cents, because it doesn't seem like parrying would break your attacker's weapon, and breaking a parry wouldn't destroy the defender's weapon, though that seems substantially more like than the former.

[crazedloon]

^^ I agree with the above

Also this would be an immediate action that has the effect of losing your standard action however If you ask me you should be able to use up your full round action to gain a number of a parry attempts equal to your total attacks.

Also I believe for fairness power attack should apply a -1 to the defenders parry for every +1 damage gained as a powerful attack is a very hard attack to block. however there should be a feat that allows you to negate the negative but you never gain an attack of opportunity against such an attack.(that or you move with the attack and instead your opponent may gain a bull rush or something so that it does not entirely destroy power attack)

[Tough_Tonka]

I see what your saying about the critical success rules, and I already allready thought about leting characters get multiple parrys when the spend full round action (I wasn't sure wether or not to make the number of parries based in base attack or to allow them an unlimited number of parrys if the use a full-rounf action).

[crazedloon]

Unlimited would be far too good because character could just sit there taking no damage even when surrounded by a swarm of people. Even the best defensive fighter will get hit when swarmed.

[Karsh]

What if Parries were taken from Attacks of Opportunity instead? Parry could be a feat with Dodge as a prerequisite, and you can make a parry attempt as an AOO against the target of your Dodge feat, up to the number of AOOs you can take in a round.

[GunMage]

What if Parries were taken from Attacks of Opportunity instead? Parry could be a feat with Dodge as a prerequisite, and you can make a parry attempt as an AOO against the target of your Dodge feat, up to the number of AOOs you can take in a round.

This seems to be a very good solution to the problem, as a parry can only really be applied to one person.
Maybe this could have an additional feat, greater parry, that allows you to pick multiple targets, possibly equal to half your dexterity modifier rounded down or somesuch.

[Matthew]

This sort of thing has been proposed many times before (I know I have proposed it before). Magic Eight Ball presented the last Homebrew version, which can be found in the Vorpal Tribble's Compendium of Feats. I recommend taking a look at Magic Eight Ball's post and discussion: Parry Feat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.phpp=1964670#post1964670)

The basic objections that tend to appear are that 1) It is more dice rolling (who doesn't like that? Some people, apparently) 2) How can you parry an Ogre's Great Club with a Dagger? (time for some resizing of the sizing rules) 3) Makes it harder to kill Parrying Monsters as well.

Precedents

Whilst Conan D20 is something of a half way house between D&D and the 'Active Parry', the 'Variant Rules' in Unearthed Arcana and the Dungeon Master's Guide allow for a very similar system, when using Defence Bonuses and Variable Armour Class (i.e. where all Attacks become opposed rolls). It's also worth noting that Mounted Combat allows for a very similar Opposed Roll Mechanic to block a single attack against the Mount.
It is also worth noting that the 'Active Parry' was available in (A)D&D 2.x, both in the Complete Fighter's Handbook and Player's Option: Combat and Tactics. Unlike many of the other changes they proposed, this one was not incorporated in the D&D 3.x Combat System.

What Kind of Action?

For this system, I wouldn't be inclined to use Actions as a measure or allow them to occur out of turn, as this has the potential to be very messy to administer. Instead, consider what Karsh is saying and make Parries use up Attacks of Opportunity. You could use that rule in combination with the Magic Eight Ball's idea to have parries declared in the previous round by allocating attacks to parries. In that way you would have both active and reactive parries.

i.e. In your round you may take the Standard Attack Action or Full Round Action and allocate any Attacks as Parries, using their normal AB adjustment. You may also parry as an Attack of Opportunity, using the usual AB. Total Defence allocates all Attacks lost as parries

Defensive Fighting, Total Defence and Combat Expertise

You will have to watch out for abuse here. I agree with the idea of letting their Bonuses add to the Parry, but think about how this affects AB. A Fighter 20 with Improved Expertise and Fighting Defensively can acrue a +22 AB Bonus to Parry, but he also takes a -24 AB penalty. You need to be careful how you choose to resolve this, as if you ignore that AB penalty then the Character is effectively getting +22 Parry and +22 AC in return for not attacking.

Two Weapon Fighting

If you use the Two Weapon Fighting penalties it is going to suck to use a Shield and not have Two Weapon Fighting. This is where the Attack of Opportunity option is going to help out most, as a Character could make his normal Attack Routine and use his Shield as an Attack of Opportunity to make a Block.

Shields

Shields should get hefty bonuses to Parry and should also be the only item capable of Bocking Ranged attacks [i.e. Parrying]. I usually use the (i.e. not including Magic Bonuses), but I have tried a few different ways.

[B]Timing and Number of Parries

You may find it easier to allow players to make parry attempts after an enemy attack roll has been made. Having to guess which attacks are going to hit and which are going to miss is often not a lot of fun, especially since it is often very difficult to parry actual hits, because they tend to be the results of an opponent rolling a 16+ (which usually means the player has to roll just about the same, so has only a 5% to 25% chance of succeeding anyway).
You should probably explicitly place a limit on the number of parries that can be allocated against a single attack. I wouldn't be inclined to allow more than one, even in the case of Two Weapon Fighting.

Development

Counter Attack Feats tend to swiftly follow this sort of thing.

[elliott20]

I've also proposed a parrying mechanic as well.

you can see the original thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36139)

I've also C&Ped it here if you're curious as to my approach.

Variant Rule: Parrying

Anybody can parry. Some people can just do it better than others. When choosing to parry, a character must announce it on his turn.

When parrying, a character can elect to give up an attack to receive a dodge AC bonus for that turn. The bonus is equal to the attack bonus of the attack given up divided by 5 after all modifiers from feats, skills and circumstantial modifiers have been applied. (rounded up)

A character with multiple attacks as a result of his BAB can give up more than one attack to gain a greater AC bonus in this fashion. Thus, a fighter with a BAB of 15 can give up his attack with the highest BAB for a +3 AC until the beginning of his next turn. If he were to elect to give up his second highest attack (at a +10), he could gain an additional +2 AC bonus.

Keep in mind, this rule still requires that the character follows the standard actions allowed rule. Seeing as this action is contingent upon the attack actions, it follows a similar rule. Thus, in order for the fighter from the previous example to trade all of his attacks for AC bonuses, he would have to take a full round action doing so.

As a result of the source of these actions, taking a full round action to perform this action is considered using the "Total Defense" action while using a standard action to perform this defensive action is considered a "fighting defensive" action. Seeing as these actions are very similar in nature, you cannot gain both bonuses at the same time. This means that for someone who does not know how to fight that well (and thus have a low BAB), it would be more beneficial for them to simply take the traditional Total Defense action or Fighting Defensively action, while a warrior with considerable more skill can actually benefit from his extra training more effectively.

example:

A fighter with a BAB of +14/+9/+4, should he decide to, he can trade in his second highest attack to gain a +2 AC dodge bonus until the beginning of next turn.

However, say this fighter also has power attack, and has elected to use 4 points on power attack. This makes his attack bonus for this round to be +10/+5/+0. trading in his second highest attack would in this case only yield a +1 AC dodge bonus.

FEATS TO GO WITH THE MECHANIC
Improved Parry [General]
You've learned how to more effectively defend yourself against incoming physical attacks.
Prerequisites: BAB +5
Benefits: When trading off attacks for the dodge AC bonus, you gain a +2 dodge bonus for every 5 points of BAB of the attack.
Normal: When you trade attacks for the dodge AC bonus, you gain a +1 dodge bonus for every 5 points of BAB of the attack.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection

Parry Momentum[General]
You've learned how to use the opponents blow to assist your own movement
Prerequisites: Mobility, Improved Parry
Benefits: If an enemy who you have designated your dodge bonus to misses a melee attack targetting you whilst you're performing the parry action, you may make an immediate 5 foot step.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection.
Special: If the parry variant is not used, exchange the word "parry" with "Total Defense or Fighting Defensively" instead.

Expert Riposte [General]
You have honed your skills of combat so that you know how to quickly capitalize on your opponent's mistake
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, BAB+5
Benefits: If an opponent that you have designated your dodge bonus to misses a melee attack targetting you whilst you're performing the parry action, you may make an immediate attack of opportunity that does count against your total attacks of opportunity.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection

Greater Parry Momentum [General]
Your ability to utilize your foes blow to assist your own movement is so efficient that it's as if you're light as a feather
Prerequisites: Parry Momentum, Dex 19
Benefits: If an enemy who you have designated your dodge bonus to misses a melee attack targetting you whilst you're performing the parry action, you may make an immediate move-equivalent action
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection

Magic Projectile Parry [General]
You have learned how to parry not just physical attacks, but some magical attacks as well
Prerequisites: Improved Parry, BAB +10, Deflect Arrow
Benefits: When using the parry action, you may now apply your parry AC bonus to your spell SR as a competence bonus when targetted by any ray or missile based spells.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection

REVISED: Two Weapon Defense [General]
You've learned the two-weapon art of defending with your off-hand weapon.
physical attacks.
Prerequisites: Two-weapon-fighting, dex 15
Benefits: You may now trade your off-hand attacks when using your parry action.
Normal: You can only trade off attacks that come from having a high BAB.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection


Flurry Of Blocks [General]
You've learned to use your flurry of blows in a defensive manner as well.
physical attacks.
Prerequisites: Flurry of Blows ability, BAB +4
Benefits: You may now trade extra attacks from your flurry of blows when using the parry action
Normal: You can only trade off attacks that come from having a high BAB.
Special: Fighters may take this feat as part of their bonus feat selection