Number of CA's Oops

[Cuediin]

I decided to re-read the Combat system so to become more familiar with it and came across the Shield / CA benefits.

I have been ruling that, if you have a shield you get a free CA to use as a parry CA only.

But it turns out I am wrong, it seems after reading, you get an additional CA and it doesnt stipulate it should only be used as a parry CA.

What are your thoughts please?
Should I contiue using it as a parry only CA or change to be an ANY CA.

What are the rules with dual wield? you get an extra CA but I guess, that CA should only be applicable to the off hand weapon, similar to my ruling that the CA can only be used with the shield (whether offensive or defensive)

But your normal CA's can be used for either action still.

 

[Dan True]

I play it as you can only use the bonus CA for usage with whatever you have in that hand. I actually always give a dual-wield bonus CA for the off-hand, most of the time however it is useless as they are not in range to attack with it - but it do give them the possibility of using it for small tasks.

But it's all very much house ruled.

- Dan

 

[ThatGuy]

A common house rule though.

I rule the same way off hand CA must be used by the off hand. Pete and Loz said they were just trying to simplify it for the system, and therefore didn't want to put a lot of asterix into the rules. But I- and a lot of folks here have a hard time letting someone cast an extra spell simply because they picked up a dagger.

RAW= Bonus CA can be used for anything- and this does give you less to remember while playing.

Popular houserule= Bonus CA regulated to off hand weapon.

I think there was a poll here a while back with most people having house ruled this.

It is a minor adjustment though. Generally speaking the mechanics work fine with the Bonus CA being used freely. It's just those of us that want "Realism" in our fantasy games that we play with dice, paper, and the occasional painted figure, that insist on the off hand restriction

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

Pete and Loz said they were just trying to simplify it for the system, and therefore didn't want to put a lot of asterix into the rules.

Yeah I'm not sure MRQ is the natural system for Asterix ....



Sorry.

Back on topic, as DT and TG have said confining the bonus CA to off-hand uses seems to be a very common house rule - and doesn't require too much more effort to track it. A lot of people use poker chips or similar to track CA use - so you just need a different colour for the of-hand CA.

 

[Mixster]

Having played with Dans rule, I pretty much like it. Might seem confusing at first, but since he even gives the off-hand CA if your have that hand free it makes a lot of sense.

When using your off-hand CA you can do just about anything that you can just do with one hand and fast. Like draw a weapon in your off-hand uses that CA. Hitting someone in the face when he's closed in uses that CA.

The only problem I have is creatures with multiple appendages. Should 4 armed beasts get 3 off-hand CAs? Should creatures that can bite (IE do something meaningful with their head) get an extra CA for that?

 

[Pruneau]

Well, I always grant Broo one free headbutt every turn, they will not always take it, but I kinda use it to increase the pressure if needed: it'll force characters to spend a CA on parrying or risk a stun manoeuver.

I assume you could do something similar for biters...