Defense Bonus?

[slaughterj]

In D&D, you don't get a defense bonus by level, but in some other d20ish games you. How does Conan work? E.g., does a Barbarian get a +1 Defense each level (every other level), or some such?

Geez I'll be glad when my book arrives next week!

 

[Ravager_of_Worlds]

go to

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/conan_preview_1.pdf

check out page 4. you'll see there are 2 defense bonuses.

and I approve heartily of defense bonuses tied to level- to perpetually have a Defense max of 20 or 19 is ludicrous, and encourages more item whoring then actual character development. *shudders with disgust* dislikes DnD- Conan is better!

"What is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women."

 

[Anonymous]

None of the classes get any Defence bonus per se...

What they get are parry and dodge bonuses that they can use when they....Dodge or parry.

 

[Elfman]

None of the classes get any Defence bonus per se...

What they get are parry and dodge bonuses that they can use when they....Dodge or parry.

Which is all the time except when flat-footed, when your DV is a 10.

 

[Anonymous]

Or the infamous touch attack which then MUST be Dodge since the Parry carries the attack to ya.

 

[slaughterj]

Thanks for all the responses. I figured that Conan used the general concept of Defense bonus by class per level, but broke it down a bit for Dodge vs. Parry.

 

[Elfman]

There are several special cases where you can only dodge or parry but not both, such as when being attacked by missle weapons when you can only dodge.

Either dodging or parrying (or doing neither) determines your defensive value for that attack. So your dodge/parry bonus is like a defense bonus, it's just split into two options.

 

[slaughterj]

There are several special cases where you can only dodge or parry but not both, such as when being attacked by missle weapons when you can only dodge.

Either dodging or parrying (or doing neither) determines your defensive value for that attack. So your dodge/parry bonus is like a defense bonus, it's just split into two options.

Heeyyy, so you're saying I can't swat arrows from the sky with my dirk?!

What about knocking aside a flung tankard of ale with my fist?

How about blocking a thrown dagger with my buckler?

 

[Elfman]

Heeyyy, so you're saying I can't swat arrows from the sky with my dirk?!

If you want to do that, you should play a supers game Or in the spirit of Conan, just tough it out and take the hits. It's only arrows, if you're worried about it wear some armor.

What about knocking aside a flung tankard of ale with my fist?

I'd allow that as a GM, as it's an improvised weapon and not a true weapon as such. But I think most people would try to dodge the tankard, or they'd just get wet when they hit the mug and all the ale splashes out.

How about blocking a thrown dagger with my buckler?

That you can do. However, shields and armor don't add to your DV, they add to your DR. So when the dagger hits you and does it's 1d4+STR damage to you, you'd subtract out the DR of your armor and shield and probably end up taking very little or no damage.

 

[MightyCthulhu]

Heeyyy, so you're saying I can't swat arrows from the sky with my dirk?!

What about knocking aside a flung tankard of ale with my fist?

How about blocking a thrown dagger with my buckler?

Feel free to visualize it any way you wish, but the rules state that you can not use your parry DV vs thrown or projectile weapons. This is not really an issue for your third example, since shields add to both dodge and parry DV.

:idea: To be honest as a GM, I would allow parry to be used for thrown weapons in cases where the target character has a shield and/or the thrown item is a makeshift weapon (like a tankard.) But that is just me. Though I may apply a situational modifier to the parry like -2 to parry a thrown weapon / +2 to parry a makeshift weapon.

 

[slaughterj]

I thought I posted an interesting selection of examples I'm recalling where Fafhrd batted away a tankard thrown at him (full or empty, I know not) in a Lankhmar story and I think that's reasonable to be able to do. And say it was a full tankard, and the character wanted to catch it and chug it - a superstylish move, what to do about that?

As for blocking the thrown dagger with a buckler, I'll look at the mechanics when the book comes in next week, but I'd allow it, not as DR, but actually allow a parry result, if attempted (e.g., someone might be sitting, and not able to dodge but so well).

And what about simply catching the thrown dagger, ala Big Trouble in Little China, any option for that? Perhaps a Feat idea?

 

[fulk]

I think parrying or hitting thrown objects should be allowed. Baseball players do it all the time.

 

[MightyCthulhu]

I think parrying or hitting thrown objects should be allowed. Baseball players do it all the time.

:twisted: Unless the pitcher is TRYING to hit them, in which case they usually get hit. LOL

 

[slaughterj]

I think parrying or hitting thrown objects should be allowed. Baseball players do it all the time.

:twisted: Unless the pitcher is TRYING to hit them, in which case they usually get hit. LOL

LOL! Nah, they wouldn't ever do that But seriously, they don't expect the pitcher to try to hit them, and even if the pitcher throws a wild pitch, they do dodge it often (though not parry with the bat, as that would count as a swing).

 

[Anonymous]

What I would like to know is what warrior, or for that manner, average joe be doing TRYING to dodge or parry a tankard of ale. The first response is to try to catch it without spilling any of the ale!!!

 

[Elfman]

I thought I posted an interesting selection of examples I'm recalling where Fafhrd batted away a tankard thrown at him (full or empty, I know not) in a Lankhmar story and I think that's reasonable to be able to do. And say it was a full tankard, and the character wanted to catch it and chug it - a superstylish move, what to do about that?

As for blocking the thrown dagger with a buckler, I'll look at the mechanics when the book comes in next week, but I'd allow it, not as DR, but actually allow a parry result, if attempted (e.g., someone might be sitting, and not able to dodge but so well).

And what about simply catching the thrown dagger, ala Big Trouble in Little China, any option for that? Perhaps a Feat idea?

I would allow the catching of knives and other thrown weapons with a successful skill check vs. the attack roll (possibly modified depending on balance issues) with either Perform (Juggling) or Profession (Juggler). If the character fails the check, the attack hits automatically as you get in the way. I'd also rule that doing this counts as a move-equivalent action, so you could catch it and throw it back in the same round, or catch two (one in each hand).

Perform is usable untrained, so you could do it even with no skill on a straight up DEX check vs. the attack result (possibly attack result +5 or +10, I'd have to check game balance issues) as the DC.

I'd allow the same sort of thing with the buckler, with an auto-hit (with no DR from the shield) if you fail. again, I'd have to check to see if the attacker's roll as the DC would be too low or not. Again, I'd make it a move-equivalent action.

For the mug issue, there's virtually no way it could be done. Your hand can stop the mug, but unless *the thrower* is cooperating to throw it in such a way that it's not going to spill when you catch it, when your hand stops the mug the liquid will keep moving.

OH!!! I have it!

The obvious solution: allow the character who's catching the mug to spend a fate point to catch it in perfect alignment so it doesn't spill. There you go.

In any case, these are all house rules made up spur of the moment. There's no in-game mechanic for doing these actions per se.

 

[rook111]

In any case, these are all house rules made up spur of the moment. There's no in-game mechanic for doing these actions per se.

I would make that a reflex save Dc equal to the thrower's roll to hit.

 

[Ailill]

The Sleight of Hand skill makes reference to juggling.

Snatch Arrows is a Feat described in the Sword and Fist splatbook. I would imagine it could be used to snatch most "dangerous" projectiles while Deflect Arrows could be used for swatting them away. It is easy enough to add those two Feats to your Conan game.

I would adjust Deflect Arrows description and prereqs to allow using a held object to parry, allowing only those with Improved Unarmed Strike to perform the feat bare-handed.

Should someone without the Snatch or Deflect Arrows feats attempt to swat or catch a dangerous missile, I would use the Reflex rules below only allowing success on a roll of natural 20.

Reflex saves should be reasonable when dealing with other thrown objects such as catching or swatting thrown rocks or tankards using the throwers attack roll +10 as the DC. I would even use Reflex saves to cleave a thrown chair or play a game of "baseball" with someones brainball :twisted:
This should count as your attack of opprotunity for the round.