Definitions: What constitutes a legal weapon blow?

[Wraith]

Alright. Here is a clarification I really need. Given the following quotes from the rulebook :

Whenever you swing a weapon, you must call out the amount of damage you do with that weapon, followed by the attributes your attack may have.

Warriors must pronounce their “verbals” just like spellcasters must pronounce their spell incants.

You must finish the verbal before throwing the packet, otherwise the spell is blown.

So, in plain text, the question is this : Is it correct to assume that for every attack, one must clearly and understandably state their attacking verbal before attacking the opponent? It is already clear that a weapon blow needs to travel more than 45 degrees of arc, swing from the elbow not the wrist, strike a legal target, and not strike the same target more than once in any given two second period.

To illustrate, I would assume that this means a legal weapon blow would be the following :

"2 Normal!" *swing* *hit*

However, previous discussions have indicated that the following might be acceptable :

*swing* "2 Normal!" *hit*

*swing* *hit* "2 Normal!"

"2 Normal!" *swing* *hit* *swing* *hit* *swing* *hit*

*swing* "2" *hit* "Drain!"

Can we clarify please?

 

[Polare]

As per our communication policy, please note that your question is currently being discussed by the ARC and once some clarification has been made, will be posted here (removing this post). Depending on the level of clarification and discussion (and potential involvement of the Owners or other national staff, if needed) this may take time.

 

[Polare]

A damage call should come immediately before or during a swing, and in call cases before a hit. In general, it should be up to Marshals to deal with any close issues on this, and if you have issues with other players not calling their swings correctly, please bring them up to a chapter Marshal.

That said, this is a fast-flowing combat system and we should not expect everyone to get everything 100% correct all the time. If a person's intention seems clear on a weapon attack even if it wasn't perfectly technically correct, I would recommend going with the strike. As with everything else, the good sportsmanship rule should take precedence. This is certainly an area of the system where people can split hairs forever, so pleae keep in mind that the good sportsmanship rule, and enjoyment of the game for everyone, should always be the driving force behind your play.

As a side note (since it's been brought up before), it is perfectly legal to feint an attack without calling damage - the corollary is that if the feint lands, you will of course not take damage as they have not made a legal weapon call.

-Bryan Gregory
ARC