Riposte

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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Bonhumm
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Riposte

Post by Bonhumm » Sat Aug 31, 2019 10:42 pm

Headache-level question about the Talent Riposte:


The description of the Talent states that it can be used to block a 'melee attack' and, if he gets an extra success, do a counter-attack.

Question: Does the counter-attack of the Riposte talent counts as a 'melee attack'?

In other words: would a Swordmaster be able to Risposte someone else's Riposte? (And yes, I realize that, if so, it would also mean that the 'Riposted' Riposte could then then blocked by Riposte too).

ChrisDDickey
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Re: Riposte

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun Sep 01, 2019 2:20 am

I have heard that some groups had huge headaches with this in previous editions, with Riposte's going back and forth a ridiculous amount of times. I believe the official solution in previous editions was that you could not riposte a reposte, but this was only to get around this weird situation where two SM kept reposteing each other.. So you could just go with that and say that repostes can not be reposted.

But in 4th edition, you are only allowed to counter-attack once per round, so the problem largely goes away. SwordMaster one attacks, SM2 blocks it and counterattacks. SM1 blocks the counterattack and counterattacks it, SM2 blocks again, but since he has already counterattacked this turn, it ends there. Thus in 4th edition there is no particular reason why reposte can't be used to block and counterattack a reposte, and I feel that is the way that makes the most sense. And yes, a reposte counterattack would in all other senses be considered a melee attack.

Scherme
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Re: Riposte

Post by Scherme » Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:57 pm

This was also addressed in 3rd Edition.

"The adept can use this talent a number of times each round equal to his
Riposte Rank, but may only make a single counterattack per round." - ED3 Players Guide PG 78

If not making a counterattack, it is effectively a parry.
In a perpetual state of lore overload.

ragbasti
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Re: Riposte

Post by ragbasti » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:14 pm

Well, the extra success for me already implies that they have beaten their attacker to the punch.
If someone parries your attack well enough to counterattack you, then I highly doubt that you can do the thing back to them in the very same action.

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etherial
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Re: Riposte

Post by etherial » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:14 pm

ragbasti wrote:
Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:14 pm
Well, the extra success for me already implies that they have beaten their attacker to the punch.
If someone parries your attack well enough to counterattack you, then I highly doubt that you can do the thing back to them in the very same action.
IRL, you absolutely can Riposte a Riposte.

Lamoron
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Re: Riposte

Post by Lamoron » Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:02 am

That's sort of what sword fighting is :D

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