Of course, it does depend what the extended contest is about; if you're trying to beat him up then using nothing but Dodge Foe isn't going to cut the mustard. But if, for example, he's trying to beat you up and you're trying to escape, it would be an entirely appropriate ability. There are doubtless other examples, if you can come up with some way that you dodging is going to injure him somehow (forcing him to trip into a nearby fire, say), but the point is that the ability does have to be relevant to what you're trying to do.
The strength of HQ is that extended contests don't have to be about combat, and that a 'defeat' does not necessarily mean that you have been physically injured - merely that you've failed to do whatever you were trying to do. So if you use Dodge Foe, and win the contest, you have 'defeated' your opponent in that he has failed in his objective to beat you up, and you have 'won' by successfully running away. But your choice of ability does have to make sense for what it is you're trying to achieve.
-- Trotsky Gamer and Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------ Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell.blogspot.com/ Synapsida: http://synapsida.blogspot.com/
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