John speaks English this time. Was: (Re: A John-quality Spew (was:Re: All this parry stuff))

[John Hogg <johnhogg@laf.cioe.com>]

wow, that was one of the most incoherent posts I've ever written ... can't
tell I was rushed, can you?

Humor me, and let me try again. 

CWS is used almost solely for multiattack (and the nice SIDE benefit of
being able to quickdraw), but very rarely for a bonus to hit.

Combat MOD is the universally preferred method to increase one's ability
to hit, and is MUCH less expensive to purchase for the bonus it gives to
hit than CWS for most weapons.

Because Combat MOD is so prevalant, and only spending a few ratings on it
dramaticly increases one's chance to hit well beyond the defensive
bonuses of ANY of the proposed parry skills, it is a fair assumption that
in most cases, one's opponent will still have a very good chance on
connecting with all or most of their multiple attacks.  As such, it STILL
behooves a warrior to unleash as much damage as possible in the form of
multiattacks to fell his opponent as soon as possible, even with ANY parry
skill proposed so far. Flatly, because a warrior's offence can be made so
overwhelming, the best defence is still a better offence (and an initiave
flip-flop after the ambush) 

Further, if the opportunity to parry precludes the ability to attack, it
should be avoided entirely.

I have to say, I really like parry skill based off of dodge that may be
attempted during the opponent's phase.

All of the other ideas have a great deal of merit, but I can't see a
situation where I'd spend eeps to buy them.

While I LOVE the idea of the rapier-wielding marine with the parrying
dagger (i.e. parry based in some way off of CWS), I can't see parrying
making an enormous difference against a serious, one-weapon, bone
crunching thug (which, in various incarnations and tastes is still the
definitive AQ warrior, or, at the very least warrior-background actor).
You build that character or actor to not miss with an attack before buying
up their weapon skill so you can rip off 3 or 4 attacks per round
regularly, and you get to both points very easily. Parrying those monsters
isn't going to grant you more than a round or two, which would only be
worthwhile if during those rounds your offence wasn't quartered.

As far as using parry to flesh-out roleplaying ... that's a fine idea, but
I don't see many marines with sailing or navigation skills, so why would I
expect to see more than a handful of warriors with parry if there wasn't a
more worthwhile benefit in combat?