Finesse Attacks - Just Checking

[Supplement Four]

It's been a while since my group has played. We've got a game coming up next weekend, and I'm all-of-a-sudden blanking out on Finesse Combat.

Check me to make sure I've got the rule down correctly:

1 - Use your DEX mod to hit, instead of your STR mod.

2 - You have to roll over your foe's defense by a number number of points equal to the DR rating of your foe's armor in order for the Finesse strike to succeed.

3 - If the Finesse strike succeeds, you roll straight damage. You do not add STR mod to damage. But, the foe is not protected by his armor, either.

4 - You can hit your foe without succeeding on the Finesse strike by rolling above his defense but not high enough to roll over your foe's Defense + DR rating. If you roll in this range, you hit, but the foe's armor still protects him. You use the Armor Piercing rating of the weapon without adding your STR mod to it, and compare the weapon's AP against the foe's armor DR using the normal rules.



Do I have all of that correct?

 

[Nyarly]

Almost.

3) is incorrect. A finesse fighter adds his Str modifier to damage.

 

[Supplement Four]

Almost.

3) is incorrect. A finesse fighter adds his Str modifier to damage.

Why does the Finess fighter add STR to dmg but not to AP? That doesn't make sense.

If you've got the force to increase the AP of the weapon, you certainly have the force to do extra damage.

 

[Nyarly]

The box on p. 171 (2nd Ed.) only talks about using the Dex modifier instead of the Str modifier on attack rolls. Nothing about losing the Str modifier on damage rolls.

It is the rules, they don't have to make sense (although it would be nice if they do).

It might be that a finesse fighter always tries to nimbly (Dex to attack) bypass armor and when he erroneously hits armor he can't use his full strength against its DR because he wasn't focusing on that approach ?

 

[Supplement Four]

Looking over them, I agree that's what the rules say. It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[rabindranath72]

It adds to damage but not to AP since, by definition, when you are Finesse Fighting you are not piercing armor at all. You are striking at the open spots between armor.

I find the whole too much complex, so in my game I have finesse fighters simply use Dex to hit but no Str bonus to damage (of course, I use the concept of Armor Class instead of armor absorbing damage, and cut down on a ton of related rules.)

 

[Nyarlathotep5150]

Why does the Finess fighter add STR to dmg but not to AP? That doesn't make sense.

If you've got the force to increase the AP of the weapon, you certainly have the force to do extra damage.

Alot of finesse weapons are built to be more supple and agile, or otherwise structurally unlikely to pierce metal. I think thats the reason they don't get STR added to AP.
I mean, look at the quintessential finesse weapon, the Rapier. If you stab a Rapier at someone without armor, you can slip the blade between his ribs, through the heart, and out the back. Strength plays a part because muscle (and especially heart muscle) is actually pretty tough.
But rapier blades are made to be springy and flexible so, if you take the same strike at someone wearing a breastplate (or even Chainmail), the blade is going to hit and glance off, or hit dead on and bend. The harder you press, the more it will bend, so your strength really isn't helping it pierce.
But then, if it did manage to pierce (possible with chainmail, but not so much with plate), your strength would still matter for damage.