Baron Meliadus
Mongoose
vitalis6969 said:
I think that Armour Points of weapons only refer to their hardness. In reality the 'hardness' of most weapons makes little difference to their effectiveness as parrying devices. Rather it is their mass which is most important.
Personally I'd suggest rolling the (parrying) weapon's damage to see how much of the attacking blow it absorbs. From experience I can say how difficult it is to penetrate a parry/block by a two-handed sword with a single handed weapon. However although more accurate, making such a change would slow down combat. (which I guess is why Mongoose lowered AP's for armour and weapons in the first place)
On a historical note, most fighting styles using an off-hand dagger actually end up using the primary weapon for parrying and the dagger for the main attack. There is a simple reason for this, which is parrying with a dagger is much more difficult due to its small size. You have to be extremely confident of your skill superiority over your opponent to use it vice versa.
On a second historical note, greatswords being used correctly (i.e. using thrusting and halfswording in addition to normal chops) can be as agile and fast as any other weapon. The use of both hands in a wide grip offsets the 'apparent' weight (since its more a question of leverage rather than actual mass). For those of you who don't read Talhoffer or practice German Longsword, I suggest the opening scene from Flesh and Blood when Rutgar Hauer leads his mercenaries into the city for an example of some more historical, rather than Conanesque greatsword work.
http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html
http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Talhoffer1443-1459Editions.htm
