On Defense: Clarifying and Expanding the Parry Mechanic

Using a parry in WFRP is dangerous to your health. It's also unclear exactly how you apply it. If you parry with a weapon, you "lose your next attack". That's vaguely clear, though in one case, parrying after you have already attacked, you have to remember to remove your first attack from the next round. Furthermore, characters with only 1 A, period, are at a massive disadvantage unless they are lucky enough to possess Dodge Blow. And furthermore(!), how do you handle a shield, which states you lose all remaining attacks because it is so hard to use? What, my 1A fellow attacks, then parries with a shield, then gets called to the bench by coach to rest?

First, I fudge the language of the rules to something more logical. Namely, I equate a parry to an attack. Instead of saying "you lose your next attack" I say "a parry counts as if you had made an attack." If you have no attacks left, you have no parries left. A parry is a "defensive attack". This also clarifies the use of the shield. If you have made all of your attacks for a round, you cannot parry anything. However, if you parry with a shield, you lose the all the attacks you have remaining in the round. You hope that you are lucky enough to parry with your shield with only 1 attack in your pool remaining.

However, in the interest of giving player characters a little break and one more option in combat, I make the following suggestion: A player may state at the beginning of the round that he is Taking a Defensive Stance. The character may only Take a Defensive Stance in melee combat.

When the character Takes a Defensive Stance , he attacks with half his WS and he loses the ability to critical on a 6 (after all, he's not really trying, is he?). However, he gains A/2, minimum of 1, Defensive Free Parries . These parries are made at his full WS and do not affect the number of attacks the player can make (whether he uses his weapon or his shield). The player may also use his normal attacks to parry, but these parries are at half WS.

Example

Wolfe Von Jager has WS80 and A4. He intends to parry with his sword. He comes up against a Hydra with A8. Realizing that he is in trouble, he decides to Take a Defensive Stance and parry every blow the Hydra lands. He gambles that the hydra will miss one or two shots, giving him an opening to make an attack.

First, Wolfe's WS drops to 40% for the round. He then gains 2 Defensive Free Parries in addition to his normal 4 attacks. If forced to, he can parry the Hydra 6 times: 2 Defensive Free Parries at 80% and 4 "normal" parries at 40%. However, he's hoping he will only have to parry 5 times, giving him 1 shot (at 40%, but without the ability to critical on a 6) at the Hydra each round.

Clarifying Some Points...

1. A parry is a "defensive attack" and uses one attack to execute. If the player has run out of attacks, he has run out of parries as well.
2. If the character parries with a shield, he may not parry or attack any more that round.
3. The player may Take a Defensive Stance at the beginning of the round. He lowers his WS by half, but gains A/2 Defensive Free Parries (minimum of 1).
4. Defensive Free Parries (DFP) are made at full WS. Using a shield for a Defensive Free Parry has no effect on the number of remaining free parries or attacks/parries the character may make that round. Thus, a character with A4 and DFP2 could make two shield free parries.
5. A player in a Defensive Stance may still use his normal attacks to parry. However, he parries at WS/2 and will lose all remaining normal attack/parries if he uses a shield with a normal parry.