If the attacker is trying to use their Salmon Leap to vault over their opponent and then attack them from behind, you could model that as using the Salmon Leap ability to augment their Sword ability.
...
> So I was wondering if the equivalent for a change to a different
> mundane attack might be something like forcing the defender to roll
> with another ability, something like Dodge, rather than their Close
> Combat, to represent the fact that the sudden attack from the rear
> means the defender has to scramble around and respond to the
> surprise.
I agree, if the defender can not justify using their Close Combat ability. I am generally wary of allowing use of Close Combat for attack and defence. I sense that other Narrators differ, however.
An extreme example is when the 'attacker' (the active party) decides to try to disengage from combat. In that case, they switch from using their Close Combat to using Run Fast, or some such. I would not allow the 'defender' to prevent the escape using Close Combat unless the 'defender' was blocking the only escape route. This example is significant; most fighters have better Close Combat than Run Fast, so allowing 'defenders' to use their Close Combat to prevent disengagement would, in effect, make attempting to disengage pointless.
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