Call of Cthulhu - Parry Rules

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
SunTzuWarmaster
Knight-Baron
Posts: 948
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Call of Cthulhu - Parry Rules

Post by SunTzuWarmaster »

Hey all;

I'm starting to DM a Call game, and I have what I feel is a rather basic rules question:

How the fvck does 'parry' work?

There are complicated rules for parry that include:
- weapons can be used to parry hand attacks
- hand attacks cannot be used to parry weapon attacks
- a large gun (rifle, shotgun) can be used to parry hand attacks, but breaks if damage is dealt to it greater than it's health
- you can only make one parry per round
- you can make a parry and a dodge in the same round
- headbutts cannot be parried
(from non-sourcebook)
- you have to declare your parry (punch/kick/grapple) at the beginning of your round (unless you make a successful Martial Arts check when someone attacks you)

However, one of my players is going to play a kickboxer. He will put points into kicking and martial arts (increase damage on kicking to 2d6+db(d6), making him fairly deadly against the average character hp of 10). So, let's say that the following scenario is given:
1 - Kickboxer Joe - I kick him in the head! *rolls 40%*, which is less than his 75% kicking score, indicates a successful headkick
2 - Football McGee rolls to try to parry the kick with his Kick skill (25%), and rolls a 12% (success!)

Which of the following scenarios happens?
1 - Football McGee takes full damage?
2 - FM successfully parries KJs kick (regardless of relative skills)
3 - FM rolls some sort of "opposed kick" or "opposed strength" on the resistance table?

I think that the answer is #2. However, that kinda sucks. This means that if Kickboxer Joe has 100% in kicking, we will fail to successfully kick ANYONE 25% of the time (base chance for starting character). This also means that if you max out kicking, punching, and grappling, you will be immune to monsters in hand-to-hand combat (save headbutt which cannot be parried). This would also mean that if you were to create a melee-damage-oriented character, he would be a headbutt-specialist.

Any chance the Den could help me out?

PS - yes, I know that if you are making a melee character in CoC that you will likely be dead within d2 sessions.
SunTzuWarmaster
Knight-Baron
Posts: 948
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by SunTzuWarmaster »

Followup question:

Can someone that is attacking with a sword parry a dagger attack in the same round?

Edit:

Further followup:
Can someone that tries to punch you parry your punch when you hit back?

Further, further, followup:
You don't attack, and declare that you are attempting to parry a punch.
Attacker punches (some sort of parry rules are involved)
You attempt to kick attacker
Can attacker parry your kick (with his kick skill) this round?
Last edited by SunTzuWarmaster on Sun Apr 25, 2010 5:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
CatharzGodfoot
King
Posts: 5668
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by CatharzGodfoot »

Short answer: I have no idea, but from the few times I've played CoC, optimizing for anything except not going crazy is pretty much useless, and the rules break at the edges.

Long answer: Try using Trail of Cthulhu (found in most LGSs; nice production values!) instead. :-P
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France

Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.

-Josh Kablack

Post Reply