Flail

From: Frederic J-M Moulin <moulinfr_at_pilot.msu.edu>
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 22:50:14 -0500


>PPS: We need the Rules Digest back online.
>
>Having just flooded the Digest with the cult, I'd now like to ask a question
>that would be better placed on the (missed) RQ Rules Digest. Can you, and
>how do you, parry with a flail, notably a ball and chain.
>
>If you use the handle, surely it'd split under first weapon contact?

The answer is: you don't with the 1H flail: the flail is designed to make it more difficult for the opponent to parry, not help you parry: You've got a shield for that. I have swinged around a medieval flail (infantery), just to see how it feels, and I have drawn two conclusions from my novice experience:
The longer the chain, the harder to parry but also the more hazardous for the surrounding environment (including you). The military 1H flail I have used was not really spiked ball and chain, but rather a cylinder with dented edges and a short chain, and they were rather easy to use, but more like an articulated mace. Note: in their case, the handle was long enough that when the "ball" came snapping against it, the hand was out of reach... a usefull feature in my personal opinion (since I was not using armored gauntlets). But the handle was rather sturdy, with long metal reinforcement, and I doubt it would snapp that easy. I don't see either how you could disarm an opponent with such a short chain, but I know that the cavalery flail had a much longer chain.
My house rules with flails in RQ is that they give a malus to the parry of the opponent (usually 10% per "ball"), but that malus becomes a bonus on the fumble table in case of fumble.
For example, the three-balls and chain flail is parried at -30%, but if you fumble your attack, you will have to add 30 to your D100 on the fumble table, making the "hit nearest friend" result a lot more likely. I would not do that for a parry, since presumably the user would not swing the weights around but only parry with handle. I happens to like when my players are as afraid of their friends than their opponents ;-)
Frederic

And yes, we NEED the RQ-rules list back


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