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REALISTIC TECHNIQUES
Many of these techniques are difficult – and some are
dangerous to the user – but all are realistic. The GM could
allow even the flashiest of them in a high-realism
campaign.
Acrobatic Stand
Average
Default: Acrobatics-6.
Prerequisite: Acrobatics; cannot exceed Acrobatics skill.
This represents training at quickly regaining your feet
in a fight; see Acrobatic Stand (p. 98) for details. A successful
roll lets you go from lying down to standing as a
single Change Posture maneuver; on a critical success, you
do so as a “step.” Failure means you go to a sitting posture.
Critical failure leaves you lying down, wasting your turn.
You can also use Acrobatic Stand to go from crawling
or sitting to standing as a step. In this case, failure means
you stand as a Change Posture maneuver, not as a step.
Critical failure means you fall down!
Modifiers: A penalty equal to your encumbrance level.
Aggressive Parry
Hard
Default: prerequisite skill Parry-1.
Prerequisite: Boxing, Brawling, or Karate; cannot
exceed prerequisite Parry.
Only a few “hard” styles teach this tactic. Instead of
merely deflecting a blow, you attempt to injure your attacker
with an especially forceful parry. This is incompatible
with Cross Parry (p. 121).
Roll against Aggressive Parry to defend, at the usual -2
for Boxing vs. a kick, or -3 for Boxing or Brawling vs. a
swung weapon. You cannot retreat. Failure means you’re
hit; your attacker may choose to hit his original target,
your parrying arm, or your parrying hand. Success means
you parry and may roll against the underlying skill to
strike the attacking body part or weapon, modified as
follows.
Modifiers: Against unarmed, -2 to hit an arm or leg, -4
to hit a hand or foot; -2 for Boxing vs. a leg or foot; -1 if
your foe knows Rapid Retraction (p. 51). Against armed, a
basic -3; another -3 to -5 for weapon size (see p. B400); a
further -3 for Boxing or Brawling vs. a swung weapon.
Success on this skill roll inflicts thrust-4 crushing damage
or thrust-2 at -1 per die, whichever is worse, on the targeted
weapon or body part. Skill bonuses apply normally.
Failure means you didn’t parry forcefully enough to inflict
damage.
Weapon parries against unarmed attacks are essentially
aggressive “for free”; see Parrying Unarmed Attacks
(p. B376).
Arm or Wrist Lock
Average
Default: prerequisite skill.
Prerequisite: Judo, Wrestling, or appropriate Melee
Weapon skill; cannot exceed prerequisite skill+4.
An arm (or wrist) lock is an attempt to restrain or cripple
an opponent by twisting his arm. It normally uses Judo
or Wrestling skill. This technique lets you improve effective
skill for this purpose only.
To use Arm Lock, you must have two hands free and
make a successful barehanded parry with Judo or Wrestling
against your opponent’s melee attack. On your first turn following
the parry, you may attempt to capture your attacker’s
arm if he’s still within one yard. This is an attack: step into
close combat and roll against Arm Lock to hit. Your foe may
use any active defense – he can parry your hand with a
weapon! If his defense fails, you trap his arm.
Your foe may attempt to break free (p. B371) on his next
turn, but you’re at +4 in the Quick Contest. If he loses, he
has a cumulative -1 on future attempts to break free.
On your next turn – and each turn thereafter, until your
foe breaks free – you may try to damage the trapped arm.
Roll a Quick Contest: the higher of your ST (including your
Wrestling bonus) or Arm Lock vs. the higher of your victim’s
ST or HT. If you win, you inflict crushing damage equal to
your margin of victory. The target’s rigid DR protects normally.
Flexible armor, including natural DR with the
Flexible or Tough Skin limitation, has no effect.
If you cripple your victim’s arm, he drops anything in
that hand. You can inflict no further damage on a crippled
limb but you can continue to roll the Contest each turn. If
you win, your target suffers shock and stunning just as if
you had inflicted damage.
Rolls to inflict damage are completely passive and don’t
count as attacks. You can simultaneously make closecombat
attacks on your opponent, who defends at -4 in
addition to any penalties due to injury caused by the lock
itself. If you decide to throw him using the lock, this does
count as an attack; see Throws from Locks (pp. 118-119).
You can use this ability offensively as well. Instead of
waiting to parry an attack, grapple your foe normally with
Judo or Wrestling. If he fails to break free on his next turn,
you may try Arm Lock on your next turn, just as if you had
parried his attack.
You can also apply this lock with a weapon. Default and
prerequisite skills become a weapon skill. To initiate the
lock requires a weapon parry or an Armed Grapple (p. 67).
A reach C weapon gets +1 in the Quick Contest to cause
damage; anything longer gets +2. Edged weapons can inflict
crushing or cutting damage, but you must make a DX roll
when you roll to inflict injury. Failure does thrust cutting
damage to your off hand (DR protects normally). Otherwise,
use the rules above.
Arm Lock uses precision and skill to cripple a foe’s limb.
For a brute-force technique, see Wrench (Limb) (p. 82).
TECHNIQUES 65