How would you.....

[MisterD]

How would you simulate the parry/attack routine you see fencers do on TV and movies?

Some fighters can have 2+ attacks before action surge.

I see Battle Master (A) can Brace (make an attack when opponent approaches) and then the attacking Battle Master (B) can parry the attack to reduce damage. Then as an action Battle Master (A) makes 2+ attacks in a row, ruining block/attack dynamic.

Also, what about other types of fighters or classes.

Just a thought.

[Kane0]

Well any sort of reaction to reduce damage taken or increase AC really, right? You have the Defensive Duelist feat and the Incerception fighting style, or you could reflavor the shield spell or the goliaths stone endurance, and so on.

The monks deflect arrows is almost exactly this, but only works for ranged attacks.

Edit: I guess you could do some sort of houserule or homebrew that lets you make a riposte attack if you use your reaction to successfully save yourself from taking damage from a melee attack? It would make sense as part of the Defensive Duelist feat, or just as a general class feature I suppose.

[SouthpawSoldier]

Check out Beyond Damage Dice by Kobold Press. Has mini-maneuvers for all weapons, including a couple for Rapier+Dagger.

[NecessaryWeevil]

How would you simulate the parry/attack routine you see fencers do on TV and movies?

Some fighters can have 2+ attacks before action surge.

I see Battle Master (A) can Brace (make an attack when opponent approaches) and then the attacking Battle Master (B) can parry the attack to reduce damage. Then as an action Battle Master (A) makes 2+ attacks in a row, ruining block/attack dynamic.

Also, what about other types of fighters or classes.

Just a thought.

I dabbled in Olympic-style fencing (Foil) for a few years, and it's fairly easy to imagine what you describe in a fencing exchange.
By the rules of Foil, Battle Master A has "a line" as he extends his arm and points his tip at Battle Master B.
Battle Master B must, by the rules, deal with this threat by engaging Battle Master A's blade before she makes her own attack.
She beats his blade to the side with a sharp slap, then lunges and attacks. Battle Master A cannot bring his blade back in line quickly enough to parry the attack, and is struck.

Of course, Olympic fencing is a combat sport whereas D&D is a game modeling lethal combat, so the parallels break down pretty fast.

[Hurrashane]

I'd just be descriptive. Not everything needs to be mechanically represented. A fighter isn't necessarily just walking up to a goblin, hitting it once, then waiting for it to hit them back.

The parries, sword clashes, ducks, dodges, jumps, spins, etc happen between attacks. Two combatants in melee are you know... Fighting. The attacks that get rolled are just ones that either have or potentially have narrative significance.

[animorte]

I second the idea of being descriptive. If the attack misses the AC by a wide margin (10), maybe the foot slipped on something and disrupted the stance, reach was miscalculated, etc. If the attack misses by a fair margin (5), the opponent noticed the attack and was able to parry/block/side-step/etc. If it barely misses (1-2), the attack made it through the other defenses and hit the mark, but the blade didn't catch the right angle or the opponent turned at the last second causing the attack to glance off the armor, leaving a noticeable scratch/dent.

I like to think that base AC 10 represents every combatant's desire to live through the encounter. Everything else that contributes to AC is just a matter of physical/magical barriers and the training required to properly recognize and maneuver around the enemy's onslaught.

[Arkhios]

That particular move is called "riposte" or "parry-and-riposte". I'm away from book, but IIRC, Battle Master has a Maneuver for that.
Edit: yeah.


Riposte. When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Another option would be to take Defensive Duelist feat, but that's really only a parry without riposte.

As for how would I build a character with that technique, either as a Battle Master fighter/Swashbuckler rogue multiclass, or pure Swashbuckler rogue with Martial Adept feat for Parry and Riposte maneuvers.

best regards,
Former Fencer

[Unoriginal]

I'd just be descriptive. Not everything needs to be mechanically represented. A fighter isn't necessarily just walking up to a goblin, hitting it once, then waiting for it to hit them back.

The parries, sword clashes, ducks, dodges, jumps, spins, etc happen between attacks. Two combatants in melee are you know... Fighting. The attacks that get rolled are just ones that either have or potentially have narrative significance.

This.

D&D 5e's combat is largely an abstraction, with descriptions here to highlight who the combatants are beyond the rules.

Something I've wanted to do for a while is describing the students of a specific combat school do a flurry of attacks as their school's signature move, but most of said "attacks" are too ineffectual to count, with only one attack being rolled for the whole move, and then the PCs meet the school's old teacher and he does the signature move flawlessly as represented by 4-5 attacks being rolled.

[Arkhios]

This.

D&D 5e's combat is largely an abstraction, with descriptions here to highlight who the combatants are beyond the rules.

Something I've wanted to do for a while is describing the students of a specific combat school do a flurry of attacks as their school's signature move, but most of said "attacks" are too ineffectual to count, with only one attack being rolled for the whole move, and then the PCs meet the school's old teacher and he does the signature move flawlessly as represented by 4-5 attacks being rolled.

To be fair, it's an abstraction regardless of edition. But, yes. Narrative description is obviously the best option.

[da newt]

As others have said, it's all about how you describe / envision every attack. The attack and response/defense is all built into the attack roll vs AC - a miss isn't just a failure by the attacker, it can be a blow turned aside by a parry or blocked with a shield or ducked under etc. and every successful attack doesn't have to draw blood as HP represent the full gamut of health including stamina. Every full round of combat encompasses everything that occurs during that 6 seconds of melee.

The dread pirate roberts v inigo montoya duel is just two PC going toe to toe for many rounds of d20 rolls until you add a bunch of narrative flair.

[MisterD]

As others have said, it's all about how you describe / envision every attack. The attack and response/defense is all built into the attack roll vs AC - a miss isn't just a failure by the attacker, it can be a blow turned aside by a parry or blocked with a shield or ducked under etc. and every successful attack doesn't have to draw blood as HP represent the full gamut of health including stamina. Every full round of combat encompasses everything that occurs during that 6 seconds of melee.

The dread pirate roberts v inigo montoya duel is just two PC going toe to toe for many rounds of d20 rolls until you add a bunch of narrative flair.

2 Level 5 Characters. No multi-Class

So. A swashbuckler Lunges at a battle master and makes an attack. Battle master parries (reaction) then on his turn, he hits Swashbuckler with 2 attacks, action surges and hits 2 more times. How can I describe this and 2 fighters trading blows.

I wish a swashbuckler can parry multiple attacks against a designated target (BONUS ACTION and target is in melee range with swashbuckler to designated target) even if target has multiple attacks. but ONLY to his target and the swashbuckler cannot switch target till target is killed / Incapacitated / manage to leave swashbuckler's weapon range and not attack or be attacked for one round (like a barbarian losing rage and swashbuckler needs to use anther bonus action to designate target again).

Designate target PB Per Short Rest or initiative roll.

[Unoriginal]

2 Level 5 Characters. No multi-Class

So. A swashbuckler Lunges at a battle master and makes an attack. Battle master parries (reaction) then on his turn, he hits Swashbuckler with 2 attacks, action surges and hits 2 more times. How can I describe this and 2 fighters trading blows.

Well you just did.

If an attack miss, you can add descriptions of the target dodging or parrying the blade. Heck, if the attacks hit, you can still describe it as a near-dodge or partial-parry.

[KorvinStarmast]

How would you simulate the parry/attack routine you see fencers do on TV and movies?

Some fighters can have 2+ attacks before action surge.

I see Battle Master (A) can Brace (make an attack when opponent approaches) and then the attacking Battle Master (B) can parry the attack to reduce damage. Then as an action Battle Master (A) makes 2+ attacks in a row, ruining block/attack dynamic.

Also, what about other types of fighters or classes.

Just a thought. Take a look at the NPC Gladiator in the MM.

Reactions
Parry. The gladiator adds 3 to its AC against one melee attack that would hit it. To do so, the gladiator must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon. You could make that a half feat (to go with +1 STR or +1 DEX), a sub class feature, or another fighting style.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Take a look at the NPC Gladiator in the MM.
You could make that a half feat (to go with +1 STR or +1 DEX), a sub class feature, or another fighting style.

Bandit Captain and Knight both have a similarly worded reaction that's only worth +2 to AC. Wonder why gladiator gets +3.

[Rynjin]

Other systems typically do a Parry as an opposed attack roll, done as a Reaction equivalent. If you exceed your opponent's roll, the attack is deflected, and you may Riposte by making an attack against them in return. If you fail, you just get hit.

[Sigreid]

The logic used to be that there were a lot of attacks and parries going on and your attacks per round represented the number of legitimate chances you had to exploit an opening. So if you had more attacks, you weren't necessarily moving faster than the other guy, but were better at finding or making an opening.

[Unoriginal]

Bandit Captain and Knight both have a similarly worded reaction that's only worth +2 to AC. Wonder why gladiator gets +3.

They're higher-CR NPCs than the Bandit Captain or Knight.

[da newt]

Marilith gets one parry per turn w/ a +5 (lots of arms are handy - HA so punny!)



As for the subject at large - if you want every miss is a successful parry narratively. As a reminder, a round is six seconds - all the turns in that round are concurrent. The resolution of the actions/reactions/BA etc are sequential for rules / resolution purposes only.

[Kurt Kurageous]

They're higher-CR NPCs than the Bandit Captain or Knight.

Well, thank you! Kinda a boneheaded post on my part.

[MisterD]

My take on a new Last Sub-Class Feature for a Swashbuckler.
If the swashbuckler has not gone yet and at the cost of his normal turn when fighting an opponent with Mutiple attacks the Swashbuckler can parry the attack (Reduce the damage) and make a retaliatory weapon strike (Weapon damage + Mod) against each attack and only one of those attacks can use his sneak attack damage.