Arena: Hook Swords and Macuahuitls

Arena: Hook Swords and Macuahuitls

Long time no see! In this arena installment, we're going to test out some exotic weapons - hook swords and macuahuitls.

Here's our combatants.

--Red

ST 11 HP 11    Basic Speed 5.5

DX 12 Will 10  Basic Move 6

IQ 10 Per 10   Dodge 10 Parry 11

HT 10 FP 10    DR

Hook Sword swing (14) 1d+2 cr, Reach 1.

Hook Sword thrust (14) 1d cr, Reach 1.

Hook Sword hook (14) 1d-3 cut, Reach 1. Hook enables the rules under Hook (p. MA74), and may also damage the victim. Can strike to disarm (p. B401) without -2 to hit for using a non-fencing weapon.

Hook Sword hilt punch (12) 1d-2 cut, Reach C.

Also gives the hand DR 4 on a roll of 1-3 on 1d.

Combat Reflexes

Off-Hand Training (Broadsword)

Hook (Broadsword)-12

--Blue

ST 13 HP 13    Basic Speed 5.25

DX 11 Will 10  Basic Move 5

IQ 10 Per 10   Dodge 9 Parry 11

HT 10 FP 10    DR

Two-Handed Macuahuitl swing (14) 2d+2(0.5) cut. Reach 1-2.

Two-Handed Macuahuitl thrust (14) 1d+2 cr. Reach 2

If it parries or is parried by any weapon, or is used to strike DR 2+, it suffers -1 to cutting damage until repaired. In addition, on any successful attack or successful parry against an armed attack, roll 1d; on 1-2, the edge breaks, reducing the macuahuitl to a club that does swing+1 (2d) crushing damage. Fortunately, the weapon has two edges – the user can reverse it (a free action) and use the other side until it, too, breaks!

Combat Reflexes

Yeah, the tokens are not tinted on this picture

Second 1

Red: Red one goes first. He moves 5 yards forward to stay out of the "step and swing with Reach 2".

Blue: Blue combatant decides to use an aggressive strategy. He swings with his two-handed macuahuitl (All-Out Attack (Determined) that allows him to move, Deceptive for -4 to skill and -2 to defenses). He rolls against 14 and gets 10. The red one decides to make a Feverish Parry by spending 1 FP to nullify the -2 penalty from the Deceptive attack. He rolls against 11 and gets a 15. The blue combatant rolls 2d+2(0.5) cutting damage and gets a 6. Since this is a (0.5) attack, it treats DR 0 as DR 1, so only 5 points of damage go through and become 7 points of injury. Then, the blue combatant rolls 1d and gets a 5. The obsidian edge of his weapon does not break. The red combatant rolls against HT 10 to avoid stun from the major wound and rolls 10 - he's fine.

Second 2

Red: Well, we did want to test out the Hook technique, so the red combatant ignores his -4 shock penalty, takes a step forward, and does an All-Out Attack (Determined) with the Hook technique to disarm his opponent. That's -4 from shock, -3 from attacking a Reach 2 weapon. No -2 for not using a fencing weapon applies here - the hook swords were made for that. He rolls against Hook-9 and gets 11 (Why didn't I use a Telegraphic Attack? That was stupid of me).

Blue: Blue combatant just swings at his opponent, because he can do that at Reach 1 as well. He rolls against 14 and gets a 12. No defense is allowed, so he rolls 2d+2(0.5) cutting damage and gets 7. That means that 6 damage goes through and becomes 9 points of injury. Then, the blue combatant rolls 1d and gets a 4. The obsidian edge of his weapon does not break. The red combatant rolls against HT 10 twice - to avoid stun from the major wound and to stay conscious due to being in the negative HP - and gets 7 and 10. He's still standing.

Second 3

Red: He goes into All-Out Defense (Double) to be able to parry and dodge. He rolls against HT 10 to stay conscious and gets a 5. He's alive.

Blue: The blue combatant does an All-Out Attack (Double). He rolls against 14 twice and gets 9 and 13. The red combatant decides to parry the first attack. He rolls against 11 and gets 11. That was close! Now the two-handed macuahuitl suffers -1 to cutting damage until it is repaired. Then, the red combatant parries the second attack (he has two hook swords and Off-Hand Training (Broadsword), so he can use the other sword to parry without the off-hand penalty and penalty for consecutive parries). He rolls against Parry 11 and gets 13. Then, he rolls against Dodge 5 (he's in the negatives, the Dodge value is halved) and rolls 15. Now, the blue combatant rolls 2d+1(0.5) cutting damage and gets a 5. That means that 4 damage goes through, becoming 6 points of injury. Then, the blue combatant rolls 1d and gets a 5. The obsidian edge of his weapon does not break. The red combatant rolls against HT 10 twice - to avoid stun from the major wound and to avoid death from being brought down to -1xHP - and gets 7 and 8. He's still alive.

Second 4

Red: He wants to do something, but before that he rolls against HT 10 to stay conscious and gets 11. Fight is over.

Conclusion

Well, that was quick! We did not really get to test the hook swords, but we did have some fun with the macuahutils. Also, All-Out Attacks in one-on-one combat aren't always as dangerous as they are in group fights.