Parry and Two Handed skills

[eirikeld]

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Let's say you are a Big Dumb Fighter [BDF]. Now, you like to smash things with big sticks. so this BDF picks up a huge hammer lets say. Why is it, that he needs to train using two small sticks in order to parry better with this one big one?

I can understand a huge hammer not parrying well. No arguments there. Why must our BDF train using weapons he never would normally touch, in order to better use the one he does use all the time? I don't buy the "you must know your enemy better" argument, since few mobs in Geas use two weapons.

Inquiring minds want to know....

[isengoo]

Knowing how to parry in general doesn't mean the person with the big slow weapon will be able to parry with said weapon, which you already said...

[tessa]

I'm not sure why or how this situation would come up.. are you asking why you need to use different weapons to learn parrying better? In that case, I would say because you would not learn much with a weapon that sucks at parrying to begin with...

So, I think you would learn parrying with a rapier (using this as an example weapon) better than with a hammer, because a rapier is built for such, and a hammer... well, isn't. And I think even with a ton of parry training with a rapier, a crappy parrying hammer is still going to parry crappily.

[eirikeld]

perhaps my question was misunderstood... I will ask it in another way....

What has using two separate weapons in combat got to do with being able to block things with my one large weapon?

I agree, a large hammer should suck at parrying. But why is using two small weapons useful in knowing how to block with one big one?

I quote the help file for two handed....

This indicates your ability to fight with a one handed weapon in each hand. The higher your skill, the better coordinated your attacks will be. Your ability to parry also depends on this skill.

Why?

[tessa]

I'm pretty sure it means your ability to parry with two weapons simontaneously. I think the skilldesc wording means the two handed skill helps not only your coordination with two weapons, but also your parrying with them. I hope that cleared it up.

[vurdijak]

Another skill I wonder about is unarmed combat. Why is it necessary to learn unarmed combat to have good footwork? If I am fighting with that big hammer, I am still learning at the same time to move my feet effectively while in combat. I always wondered to what extent unarmed combat actually effects overall combat ability, and why it should be an advantage for a two handed hammer fighter to have trained in unarmed combat. I could see the logic if unarmed combat made knees, elbows, punches, kicks more effective...is this what it does?

[Vargrahim]

I have always wondered about these two as well.

But isn't it correct that you will not improve a skill you do not need and you will not need a skill which you do not improve (since it is never used)?

[Olrane]

I think that this is just a misunderstanding of quite likely badly written skill descriptions. As far as two handed goes, there is a penalty to attacking and to parrying with two one handed weapons, which is modified by the "two handed" skill. This has no impact on how well you parry using a weapon in one hand with the other hand free/holding a shield or in both hands. As with most of these skills however, where you start with a pretty sizeable penalty, there's a chance to get a bonus at high levels. So, as with team combat, mounted combat etc....someone who's exceptional at fighting with two weapons is going to eventually parry even better than someone who fights with the same weapon in one or both hands.
Mostly, however, you should worry about your parry skill, how well your weapon parries and gets past the parries of opposing weapons, and your stats. That should do well enough. There's no sense in training a skill that you don't use. As Varg said, if you can't improve a skill doing whatever you are doing, then you do not need the skill because it isn't being used.

[luminier]

Another skill I wonder about is unarmed combat. Why is it necessary to learn unarmed combat to have good footwork? If I am fighting with that big hammer, I am still learning at the same time to move my feet effectively while in combat. I always wondered to what extent unarmed combat actually effects overall combat ability, and why it should be an advantage for a two handed hammer fighter to have trained in unarmed combat. I could see the logic if unarmed combat made knees, elbows, punches, kicks more effective...is this what it does?

maybe using luminier isn't a good example however i tested this. lumi as many know is a fairly strong human warrior. many attribute this to his great speed and ability to dodge. while my agility probably has something to do with it, i also have a quite high *wink* unarmed combat which i believe is the deciding factor in many cases of whether i dodge an attack or not. i think that in many cases this might give luminier a distinct advantage over many other fighters. or maybe not i have no idea. the only reason i think this way is because while i am able to defeat most people who i can't defeat easily are those that probably have unarmed combat near or at 100.

[Olrane]

I don't know. Olrane has 100 unarmed combat and defence, and is pretty damned fast for a human. I still don't think the unarmed combat does anything for his ability to dodge and parry. Luminier probably has decent to good agility and good skills, but I don't think it's unarmed combat that's the deciding factor. A weapon that is good for parrying, as spears often are (Lumi uses one, right?), will give a huge defensive advantage compared to something that is bad for parrying, like an axe or a hammer.

Also keep in mind that there's a slight defensive bonus to someone who's trained in a weapon against that weapon. So if Lumi fights someone who's using a weapon that he's familiar with, it will be considerably easier for Lumi to dodge and parry. I suppose that also goes for unarmed combat against unarmed foes, but not against everyone.

[luminier]

oh i ya if lumi gets hit hes in trouble like any other weak human with horrible con. i mean in real like even the hardliest of humans can only take 3-4 hard hits before dying.


and i think this was covered but two handed refers to how well you can parry with two weapons. and as stated once you get it high enough you'll receive bonus to fighting with two weapons. b/c when you think about it if you can fight really well with two weapons well then clearly you and block with one and attack with the other. and this leaves a person wielding one weapon open to attack. of course that all means nothing... if your hand is smashed.... =P