Martial Arts: Ready

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Expanded Combat Maneuvers: Ready

The special rules for melee weapons in this chapter apply only when you have a ready weapon. Once you take a Ready maneuver to draw a weapon – or make a Fast-Draw roll to do the same – it stays ready until:

• You lose it. This happens if you deliberately drop it, throw it, or give it away; a foe uses a grab or grapple to make you drop it (see Unarmed Combat); you parry a weapon heavy enough to break or knock aside your own (see Parrying Heavy Weapons); an opponent successfully breaks or knocks away your weapon (see Striking at Weapons); you suffer knockdown (see Knockdown and Stunning); or a critical hit or critical miss disarms you (see Critical Success and Failure).
• You lose control of it. This may occur if an enemy tries but fails to disarm you, or due to a critical miss. It always happens if your weapon has a “‡” in its ST statistic and you use it to attack, unless you're extremely strong (see ST), or if your weapon gets stuck (see Picks).
• You put it away. This normally takes two Ready maneuvers for a melee weapon. Thus, a weapon that's ready stays ready until one of the above events occurs, while a weapon that’s unready stays unready until you take a Ready maneuver to remedy the situation. Most other events in combat – being slammed, changing posture, suffering shock, etc. – have no effect on weapon readiness.

There are situations in which you might take a Ready maneuver for a ready weapon, though:

• To adjust reach. As noted under Reach, if your weapon has more than one reach marked with an asterisk (*) in its Reach statistic, like a halberd, you need a Ready maneuver to select a different reach from the one you're currently using.
• To change grips. The “regular” grip uses the combat rules as written, and is best for most situations. The Defensive Grip is useful when you have a dangerous enemy in front of you and no foes behind you. The Reversed Grip is handy for close combat. Altering grip takes a Ready maneuver.
• To change hands. You can use some weapons (bastard swords, spears, etc.) in one hand or two. Most armed grappling techniques require two hands on the weapon, even if it's normally one-handed. To switch between one- and two-handed grips – or to pass a one-handed weapon from one hand to another – requires a Ready maneuver.

You can combine these three options with each other and with drawing, picking up, or regaining control of an unready weapon, except where explicitly forbidden. The entire procedure counts as a single Ready maneuver.

Generally, all of a weapon's functions are available when it's ready. There are two special cases where this isn't true but you don’t need a Ready maneuver to restore full func- tionality – you just need to wait until your next turn:

1. You can use your weapon with two different skills. Some weapons work with more than one Melee Weapon skill. You can only enjoy the benefits of one skill per turn. You can switch skills from turn to turn, and only need a Ready to go between one- and two-handed skills; e.g., Broadsword and Two-Handed Sword. See Switching Weapon Skills.
2. Your weapon is unbalanced. A weapon with a "U" in its Parry statistic cannot parry immediately after an attack. If you attack, you must wait until your next turn before you can parry again. See Unbalanced Parries.

The rest of this discussion applies primarily to melee weapons. See Quick-Shooting Bows for a special Ready-and-Attack option for archers.

Defensive Grip

Shifting into or out of a Defensive Grip (pp. 109-111) with a melee weapon requires a Ready maneuver. This is never a free action – even for those with the Fast-Draw skill – but the required Ready can be simultaneous with one or more of drawing the weapon, changing its reach (if it has a “*” in its Reach statistic), regaining control after an attack (if it has a “‡” in its ST statistic), or shifting between one- and two-handed grips.

Examples: A fighter who swung his glaive at reach 3 could use one Ready maneuver to assume a Defensive Grip and reduce his reach to 2 and regain control of his weapon. A warrior with a broadsword could use a single Ready to unsheathe his sword directly into a Defensive Grip – but if he used Fast-Draw to get his weapon, he would still have to take a Ready to get into a Defensive Grip.

Reversed Grip

To go from a regular grip or Defensive Grip to a Reversed Grip (pp. 111-112), or vice versa, usually takes a Ready maneuver. This maneuver can also adjust reach (in fact, assuming a Reversed Grip automatically reduces the reach of most weapons) and switch between one- and two-handed grips. You can’t use the same Ready to recover after an attack; that requires its own Ready maneuver. You can draw a sheathed weapon directly into a Reversed Grip, though.

There are techniques for shifting back and forth between a normal grip (but not a Defensive Grip) and a Reversed Grip with- out a Ready, but these are risky. To attempt a rapid grip change, make a weapon skill roll at -4 for a two-handed weapon, -6 for a one-handed one. Exception: A tonfa (p. 225) has a side handle specifically designed to allow this grip change, permitting a roll at unpenalized Tonfa skill.

Success means an immediate grip change, allowing you to take your turn normally. Your weapon must remain in the chosen grip for the remainder of your turn; you cannot change grips again.

Failure means you drop your weapon. Critical failure means you inflict Tip Slash (p. 113) damage on your torso and then drop your weapon! Any failure counts as an unsuc- cessful Ready maneuver and ends your turn.

Quick Sheathing

Being in a Reversed Grip makes a special Ready option available: you can scabbard your weapon in one turn instead of the usual two (p. B383). This is because one of the more common ways to sheathe a weapon involves assuming a Reversed Grip – and you’ve already done that! (The other way is to hold the weapon normally and take one turn to align it with its scabbard, another to sheathe it. This keeps your weapon in the more versatile normal grip should you need it during that first turn.)

If you have a Style Perk that enables you to use Fast- Draw to sheathe your weapon quickly, you can use it from a Reversed Grip. This lets you Ready to a Reversed Grip and attempt a Fast-Draw roll afterward to scabbard your weapon in one turn. If you make the skill roll for a rapid grip change followed by a Fast-Draw roll, you can sheathe your weapon instantly. See Iaijutsu (p. 174) for a style that offers this perk.

Multiple Fast-Draw

A successful Fast-Draw roll lets you ready a stowed weapon instantly, without taking a Ready maneuver; see Fast-Draw (p. B194). Realistically, this takes some time. Skill imposes a limit on how many weapons you can draw and still act.

Every turn, you may Fast-Draw one weapon per hand at no penalty – although draws with the “off” hand have the usual -4. If you give away or willingly discard a weapon, or hurl a throwing weapon – but not if you fail a Fast-Draw roll or lose a weapon on a critical miss – you may make further Fast-Draw attempts later on your turn. Repeated attempts with a given hand are at a cumulative -2 per Fast-Draw roll after the first. For instance, a fencer could Fast-Draw a rapi- er with his master hand at no penalty and a dagger with his off hand at -4; however, he would have -2 if he cast aside his rapier and attempted to Fast-Draw a pistol and -6 if he pitched his dagger and tried to Fast-Draw another.

Two-handed Fast-Draw attempts count against the total for both hands. For instance, if a swordsman uses Fast- Draw to ready a greatsword with two hands and then dis- cards it, he’s at -2 to try another Fast-Draw with either hand. Similarly, two-handed Fast-Draw attempts use the worst penalty accrued for either hand involved. If our swordsman Fast-Draws and hurls a knife using his right hand, he’s at -2 to Fast-Draw his greatsword, even though he hasn’t tried Fast-Draw with his left hand.

It’s possible to Fast-Draw multiple, identical weapons at once for the purpose of Rapid Strike with Thrown Weapons (pp. 120-121) or Dual-Weapon Attack (Bow). The weapons must weigh less than 1 lb. and be worn in a way that lets you reach them all with one hand. Make a single roll at -2 per weapon. For the sake of future Fast-Draw rolls, this counts as one previous attempt per weapon. For instance, Fast-Draw (Knife) would be at -8 for four daggers at once, and an ensuing Fast- Draw (Sword) roll to draw a rapier with that hand would have -8 for four previous Fast- Draws.

Success and failure have their usual effects in all cases. Any failure ends your turn; no fur- ther Fast-Draw attempts are possible. Critical failure means you also drop the weapon – or all the weapons, if drawing multiple weapons simultaneously!

Heroic Archers and Weapon Masters may halve all multiple Fast-Draw penalties for weapons covered by their advantage. If both advantages apply, divide by 4 (round in the warrior’s favor).

Fast-Draw from Odd Positions

The Fast-Draw skill assumes that you’re standing still with nobody holding onto you, able to use your master hand to reach your weapon. In close combat and other cramped quarters, you must make a DX roll to reach a weapon before you can Fast-Draw it (see Readying in Close Combat, p. B391). For added realism, apply the following modifiers to Fast-Draw rolls and DX rolls to reach weapons:

Crawling or lying down: -4

Crouching, kneeling, or sitting: -2

Grappled: -4

Hanging upside down: -2

Move or Move and Attack: -2 during or after the maneuver

Off-hand: -4

The weapon's location is another important modifier, the effects of which depend on the weapon and Fast-Draw specialty:

Arrow: +1 if stuck in the ground at your feet, +0 if in a quiver, or -2 if thrust through a belt. If you have multiple types of arrows, roll randomly for the type drawn. Attempts to draw a specific type of arrow suffer an extra -2.

Flexible: +0 if properly coiled and hanging at your belt, but -2 if worn as a belt or otherwise wrapped around your body.

Force Sword: +0 if hanging at your hip, -1 if hanging anywhere else, -2 if protruding from a boot*, or -3 if in a pocket or otherwise concealed.

Knife: +0 if sheathed at your hip or (darts only) in a quiver, -1 if sheathed elsewhere (bandolier, wrist, handledown on chest†, etc.), -2 if carried in a boot* or thrust through a belt without a sheath, -3 if in a pocket or concealed, or -5 if carried in your teeth (and critical failure means you inflict normal cutting damage to your face!).

Shuriken: +0 if carried on pegs on armor or in a pouch, but -3 if carried any other way (in a pocket, up a sleeve, concealed in a belt buckle, etc.).

Sword: +0 if sheathed at your hip on the side opposite your weapon hand, or over either shoulder; -1 if sheathed at your hip on the same side as your sword hand, but +0 if you draw into a Reversed Grip (pp. 111-112). Add -2 if you lack a proper scabbard (e.g., a sword thrust through a belt). A sword cane or sheathed sword carried in hand gives +0.

Tonfa: +0 if carried in a loop at your hip on the same side as your weapon hand, -1 if in a loop on the opposite side, or -2 if carried in any other way.

Two-Handed Sword: +0 if worn over either shoulder in a proper back sling, or carried in hand but sheathed and resting on a shoulder; -2 if slung any other way.

* A weapon in a boot is easier to reach from low postures: when crouching, kneeling, or sitting, ignore the -2 for a weapon in a boot and the -2 for posture, and roll at +0.

†A knife carried handle-down on the chest gets -1 to Fast-Draw, but gives +1 to DX rolls to reach the weapon in close combat and lets you ignore the -2 for hanging upside down.

All of these modifiers are cumulative with each other and those under Multiple Fast-Draw (above). Shock, distraction, and afflictions have the same effect on Fast-Draw rolls and DX rolls to reach weapons as they do on attack rolls.

Quick-Readying Nearby Weapons

Readying a weapon from the ground normally takes two Ready maneuvers: one to kneel or crouch and grab it, one to prepare it for combat. Assuming a low posture at the start of your first turn counts as a “step”; so does standing up at the end of your second turn. However, you can try a showy Ready maneuver that lets you grab and ready a weapon in one second. This requires a DX or Fast-Draw roll, at -3 if you crouch first or -5 if you use a foot to flip the weapon into your hand while standing.

Likewise, it takes two Ready maneuvers to fetch a weapon from a table or a weapon rack: one to grab it (and possibly release it from the rack), one to prepare it for fight- ing. You can remain standing, though; you needn’t crouch. In this case, readying the weapon with a single Ready maneuver requires a DX or Fast-Draw roll at -3. Use this rule for a sword stuck point-down in the ground, too – but the modifier is -3 from horseback and only -1 on foot. In all cases, success means you ready the weapon in one second (never instantly, even with Fast-Draw). Failure means you don’t grasp the weapon and waste your entire turn clutching at air. Critical failure means you knock the weapon 1d yards away in a random direction. On an 18, you instead grab a blade or spike, or smash your hand into the floor, wall, or table. Roll thrust damage to your hand – or to your face, if flipping a weapon with your foot! This is cutting for a blade, crushing otherwise. If grabbing a sword stuck in the ground, it’s the sword that’s damaged – the tip snaps off, turning its impaling attack into a crushing one.

Switching Weapon Skills

Many weapons work with more than one combat skill. If you must change the number of hands involved in order to change skills, switching skills requires a Ready maneuver. This includes preparing a two-handed missile weapon, like a bow, for use as an improvised one-handed club. If you can change skills without changing the number of hands involved, though, you can simply specify which skill you’re using as a free action at the start of your turn. This doesn’t require a Ready maneuver. However, it compels you to use your level with that skill and the statistics listed under that skill on the weapon table, and limits you to techniques and options valid for that skill. At the start of your next turn, you can specify a different skill.

Example: A warrior with a spear can wield it one-handed

using Thrown Weapon (Spear), one- or two-handed with Spear, or two-handed with Staff. If he has it ready for throw- ing in one hand and a foe steps into melee range, he can simply declare he’s using Spear instead of Thrown Weapon at the start of his next turn. If he wants to switch to a two- handed Spear grip for better thrusting damage, he’ll need a Ready maneuver. Once his spear is in that grip, he can choose to use it with either Spear or Staff at the start of each turn. Spear allows him to stab with the tip but he must parry using Spear. Staff gives him +2 to Parry but limits him to Staff techniques, crushing damage, etc.