Martial Arts: Feint

Extended Combat Maneuvers: Feint

A fighter's ability to notice and react to trickery in combat is realistically a question of experience. It has little to do with the weapon he happens to have in hand! If the GM doesn't mind a little added complexity, he should consider allowing all combatants to resist (but not initiate) feints using their best Melee Weapon or unarmed combat skill.

Example: Baajikiil the spear-master, having snapped off his [[spear in a foe's sternum, hastily snatches up his enemy's mace. He knows Spear at 18 but must wield the mace at default Axe/Mace skill...a paltry 8. He still has his trusty shield, which he uses at his Shield skill of 16. If he tries to feint, he rolls at 8 with the mace or 16 with the shield – his Spear skill doesn't help. However, if he resists a feint, he does so at skill 18. He might not know much about hitting people with a mace, but he's a veteran fighter and won't be easy to fool!

By the same token, those who know any specialty of the Feint technique may use it to resist feints as well as to execute them. Their knowledge of combat deceptions makes them much less likely to fall for such tricks.

Beats

A strong fighter can try to batter down his enemy's guard in preparation for an attack. This is a Beat. An option for a ready melee attack, it requires a Feint maneuver. Unlike a feint, a Beat must target one particular defense:

• If the fighter successfully blocked or parried an attack immediately prior to this turn, he can use the limb, shield, or weapon he defended with to Beat. He must target the weapon or shield he defended against – or his enemy's unarmed guard, if the foe attacked barehanded.
• If the fighter attacked his enemy this turn or on the immediately previous turn, and his opponent successfully blocked or parried, he can attempt a Beat with the attack he just used. He must target the weapon or shield his adversary defended with – or his rival's unarmed guard, if the foe defended barehanded.

If the fighter has his victim grappled barehanded or with a weapon (via Entangle, Hook, etc.), he can target his opponent's Dodge or unarmed guard by pulling him off-balance or holding him in place.

Resolve the Beat as a Quick Contest of melee combat skills. This works like a feint, but the initiator makes a ST-based skill roll. His victim may try either a DX-based skill roll to break contact or a ST-based roll to meet force with force.

If the aggressor wins, his margin of victory lowers the targeted defense like a feint would. A Beat against a weapon or a shield affects its Parry or Block, one on an unarmed guard penalizes all barehanded parries, and of course Beats against Dodge affect Dodge. That defense is reduced against attacks from anyone! There's no effect on other defenses. The penalty lasts until the end of the next turn of the fighter who made the Beat.

Ruses

A cunning warrior can sometimes get his foe to lower his guard through clever tactics rather than deftness (a feint) or sheer power (a Beat). Such a ploy is called a Ruse, and calls for a Feint maneuver.

A Ruse involves a Quick Contest of combat skills, like a feint. However, it's a dirty trick – and like most such tricks, it's based on IQ. The trickster makes an IQ-based skill roll rather than the usual DX-based one. His opponent can choose to resist with a Per-based skill roll (which represents being wary), a standard DX-based roll (to get his weapon back in position), or his Tactics skill. Handle this as a feint for all other purposes.

Defensive Feints

You can use a feint (including a Beat or a Ruse) to make it harder for your enemy to attack you instead of weakening his defenses. This is useful when your opponent is less skilled than you but has a weapon you would rather not defend against – for instance, a force sword when you're armed with a conventional blade. Roll the attempt as usual. If you win, you inflict a penalty on your foe's next attack roll against you instead of on his next defense roll against you.

Spotting Feints

The GM shouldn't tell the players when an NPC makes a successful feint or Ruse against a PC. He should do everything he can to convince them that the NPC just missed. By the same token, the GM shouldn't abuse his omniscience and have NPCs flee from successful feints by PCs. By definition, the subject of a feint doesn't know he's been had! An observer who takes a Concentrate maneuver and makes a successful roll against Tactics or Body Language (to "read" one of the fighters involved) might realize what's going on...but this shouldn't be automatic.

One way to remove the temptation to act on gaming-table knowledge in the game is to have all combatants declare feints and Ruses when they execute them...but to roll the Quick Contest the instant before the attack it would affect. Treat the Quick Contest and the attack roll as a single action. Nobody can trigger a Wait in between! Nervous fighters are free to flee from every opponent who gets tricky, but they can't selectively react to successful feints. On the other hand, a failed feint or Ruse is obvious. The same goes for any Beat, successful or not – this isn't a subtle maneuver!

It's possible to be ready for a feint, though. If your opponent has studied one or more styles and you have Style Familiarity with them all, you have a good idea of the kinds of tricks he's likely to try. This reduces the defense penalty by -1. As discussed under Evaluate, if you're taking an Evaluate maneuver against someone who successfully feints you, your current Evaluate bonus offsets the defense penalty. These effects are cumulative, and defray offensive and defensive feints, Beats, and Ruses alike, but can never give a net bonus.

Feints Using Non-Combat Skills

A few styles include a Style Perk that lets a skill other than a combat skill make a feint. The GM decides which skills are capable of feints, Beats, and Ruses, and what scores are used to resist these gambits. Acrobatics, Dancing, and similar skills require an ordinary DX-based roll by the one attempting the feint. His opponent resists with a standard DX-based combat skill roll. Exotic skills, on the other hand, might even involve Will or HT; e.g., a Ruse with Sex Appeal would pit the initiator's HT-based Sex Appeal skill against a Will-based combat skill roll by his adversary!