Fencing ,Sword and Parry Questions

[reoiv]

So I have a couple of questions about fencing , swords and parry bonuses.
Aquilonian Fencing Skill (Player's Guide to Hyborian Age)
Zingaran Fencing Skill (Argos and Zingara)
Intricate Swordplay (Core rule book)
Basket Hilt modification (Warrior's Companion)

All of these styles require a broad sword or arming sword, but my problem is what about other swords. Surely there would be fencing styles for War swords, short swords, sabres, cutlasses, and even great swords.

There are plenty of movie (Conan learning in Kitai in the first movie, and Red Sonja) and real life examples of people learning sword styles with greatswords(German fencing), bastard swords and katanas (Iaido, Iaijusto, Miyamoto Mushashi's Two Sword KenJutsu) and much much more (Italian School) yet in the game it just says only those two types of swords.

Should there be/are there other fencing schools that teach other sword types? Could those skills and feat be used with any sword type weapon or a weapon with sword in the name?

I mean if you have someone who spends the feat to get to use war swords or is a Nordheimer why should they be barred from fencing. And on the other side why can't you fence etc with a shortsword or even a broken broadsword etc (even if there was some penalty)

My next issue is basket hilts. They add +1 parry bonus to one handed weapons. Well a war sword is one handed, a sabre is one handed and a cutlass in the book already has a basket hilt. Thing is the sabre and warsword require feats to use one handed so do they qualify for basket hilts? And should the cutlass give a +1 parry bonus because it comes with a basket hilt?

I know dodge bonuses stack do parry bonuses stack? Or must the parry bonuses come from different sources. Could a player wear two shields?

If so a min maxer can get a seriously sick parry defense in Conan.

Targe: The targe is a small, round wooden shield covered
in a layer of thick leather and studded with steel. It has two
straps, one of which goes over the forearm, with the second
being held in the hand. This allows for an off-hand weapon
to be held in the same hand as the targe, though if this is
done the targe’s shield bonus to Parry Defence is reduced
to +1.

Dual targes with basket hilted weapons in each hand would give +1 for each targe, +1 for each basket hilt.

That is +4 bonus to parry right there, add in the parry feat, combat expertise and intricate swordplay and a level 2 soldier with 16 str and 16 charisma now has a parry bonus of 22, that jumps to 27 when using combat reflexes and 29 when fighting defensively. It goes to 33(they gain 4 from the targes but lose 2 from basket hilts) if they use a total defense action and just use their targes to block....

Thanks for your help.

 

[treeplanter]

man you digging deep !!!

just by curiosity, I don't have neither Player guide and Argos/Zingara, someone could resumate the fencing skill what they do?

 

[VincentDarlage]

So I have a couple of questions about fencing , swords and parry bonuses.
There are plenty of movie (Conan learning in Kitai in the first movie, and Red Sonja) and real life examples of people learning sword styles with greatswords(German fencing), bastard swords and katanas (Iaido, Iaijusto, Miyamoto Mushashi's Two Sword KenJutsu) and much much more (Italian School) yet in the game it just says only those two types of swords.

Were I still writing Conan stuff, you would have seen some more sword-styles akin to fencing. The greatsword (German) style you mentioned I had worked out as a Nemedian style, for example. If you think those styles would be fun, develop them for your game.

I also had considered developing something for Khitai along these lines, but, alas, they hired someone else to write that book.

 

[reoiv]

I'm thinking I might just do that for the players and to see if my GMs will allow it as well.

Basically have different fencing schools and styles out there that people could learn from as they adventure.

I'm playing a guy that has the goal of becoming a master swordsman, but he's a Nordheimer so he doesn't really care what sword he's using. He'll still be the best with it.

The knowledge fencing school was a neat way to show his progress with swordplay, but it has just been irking me that it was just broadswords and arming swords.

I wish more Conan RPG books were coming out. Isn't Conan public domain in England anyway? Conan's public domain status is very debatable here in the US as well. Unless the hold up is the D20 system or something.

 

[Jotenbjorn]

I suggest picking up a copy of Swashbuckling Adventures by AEG, it has a ton of prestige classes that represent mastery of specific weapons. It would be pretty easy to adapt their class abilities into feats.

 

[LucaCherstich]

Were I still writing Conan stuff, you would have seen some more sword-styles akin to fencing. The greatsword (German) style you mentioned I had worked out as a Nemedian style, for example. If you think those styles would be fun, develop them for your game.

Another disappointment regarding missed possibilities for this great game....
Vincent, I'm not a native english speaker (so maybe I missed something) but did you actually wrote anything about it or were you about to write it?

 

[VincentDarlage]

Another disappointment regarding missed possibilities for this great game....
Vincent, I'm not a native english speaker (so maybe I missed something) but did you actually wrote anything about it or were you about to write it?

That bit is written but I never had the opportunity to submit it to Mongoose because my writing work was put to a halt.

 

[Kev]

 

[LucaCherstich]

I imagine that "can we have a look on it?" is a rude question...

 

[reoiv]

I suggest picking up a copy of Swashbuckling Adventures by AEG, it has a ton of prestige classes that represent mastery of specific weapons. It would be pretty easy to adapt their class abilities into feats.

I looked at the Swashbuckling book and while the prestige classes are cool, it doesn't really work like the fencing skill already outlined in the Conan RPG books.

The nice thing about the fencing skills is that any class can spend the intelligence bonus points on fencing to get the skill that they can attempt to use later in combat. Meaning Rogues, Pirates, Scholars etc can have ranks in fencing and even stand toe to toe vs a soldier with a ton of feats and a huge BAB. In fact the fencing skill lets you duplicate certain feats if you select certain abilities with it every 5 levels.

I just like the idea of being such a good fencer you can turn a crit back into a hit. Or using your fencing skill in place of having to spend points on improved disarm. It is just a really cool set up for role playing and gaming.

I love that there is a counter fencing ability too so that if you have two master fencers going toe to toe they could counter each other's ability.

Much like Inigo and Westley in the Princess Bride.

 

[The Bull]

Interesting thread, will keep my eyes on it and post a style - should I make the time for it.