I'm going to consolidate answers here since two threads on this topic got opened at the same time.
Before answering specific questions, I'm going to point out that as with all safety issues at the end of the day your local marshals will enforce any specific situation. No matter what, being a good sport is
by far the most important rule. Some of these questions are impossibly technical to answer, because quite frankly nobody is going to stop a weapon right when it hits their arm and whip out a measuring tape to say "ha! you only got 2 inches of your blade on my arm, but 3 inches was on my hand, so I don't take it!" Nor will they pull out a device to measure force to be able to say "Nope, that was 51% of the force that got through!"
The most important thing to take away from these answers is this:
Always be a good sport in taking your hits, period. We rely completely on players being honorable (OOG) about taking their blows. Do you feel you blocked it? Then let your opponent know that OOG. Do you feel you didn't block it? Then, as per the rulebook, you are highly encouraged to RP taking the hit or at least let your opponent know that you took the hit on an OOG level. Yes, there are grey areas in our combat rules; that doesn't mean that everything can be precisely nailed down one way or the other. At some point, ARC can't clarify every single tiny issue in the rulebook, and we instead encourage players to talk to their chapter owners and try to get better language inserted into the rulebook if contradictions are seen.
Be reasonable with your opponents. We're all here to have fun. Be a good sport and expect that your opponent is doing the same. If you start hitting hard with the intention of "powering through" blocks, expect a marshal to get on your case about it.
Wraith said:
Alliance Rule Book said:
Blocked and deflected shots do not count. If the block was weak and the swing hit with about half or more normal force then the hit should count.
Here is where we start getting into judgment calls by the players on themselves: Was that hit on the neck or the shoulder? Did I really get hit? (You often can’t feel hits at all if you have good armor.) In combat, a light tap is just as effective as a heavy swing. You do not actually have to hurt your opponent in order to cause damage to the character. You only need to apply enough pressure to make sure your opponent is aware of the attack. Hitting an armored person from behind may need more vigor than a standard tap, and if it appears that your opponent is not taking all of your damage it may be because your hits are not being felt under all that armor.
We have a bit of a direct contradiction here, so can we please get clarification? Is our combat touch-based, in that all a weapon has to do is strike the opponent without being blocked to count, or is there a minimum force of blow necessary which we should be looking to exceed in order to 'power-through' blocks?
Just as the rulebook says, if you feel you blocked approximately more than half of the force of the blow, consider it blocked. If it started as a light tap, you don't have to put much force into the block to stop half of it. If it was a bit harder weapon blow, you'll need to block it earlier or a bit more forcefully.
Grishnar said:
I read Wraith's question and wanted to expand on it. Please clarify if these are hits or not.
1) What happens if I am hit both in the arm and hand at the same time? Say 3 inches of blade hit my hand and 4 inches hit my arm, also assume the same force is applied over all 7 inches. Also is it a hit for 3 inches on hand and 2 inches on arm?
2) I throw a lazy block with no real force behind it and am hit with 70% of the force of a normal swing.
3) I throw a hard block out and am weaker than my opponent. They are able to power through my shot and hit me with 60% of their force.
4) Someone stabs at my stomach and I try to block it but it hits my chest instead. (When I was in marshal arts I was taught about 90% of the force in a punch is straight towards you and only 10% is lateral. In this example lets assume the same and the block moves the 90% of the shot force from one part of my body to the next.)
6) I block with my shield/sword but the shot slides down the side and hits with 80% of the force on my leg.
All of these should be answered (as much as they can be) by the notes at the top.
5) I am running after someone and I swing at their hip. While they are running their hand comes back and gets hit instead of the hip.
As per the rulebook, if the hand is holding a weapon that they have skill in, they do not need to have to take the shot and it should be considered a valid block. If the hand is not holding such a weapon, they take the hit.
7) I block and the shot hits my shield/sword at the same time it hits my shoulder.
Do you feel that you stopped more than half of the incoming blow on your weapon or shield? If so, don't take the hit. As with pretty much all of the questions in this thread, the answer really comes down to "take your hits when appropriate and be a good sport about it".
8) I have a big cloak that stops a shot that would normally have hit me if I would not have been wearing it.
Your possessions cannot be purposely used to "block" incoming attacks. Just like wearing a shield strapped to your back cannot make your back invulnerable, if you wear something that interrupts a blow that would have otherwise been legal, you should take the hit. Again, be a good sportsman about this.
9) A shot comes by and grazes the bottom of my shirt but does not hit my person. The shot also carries through so there is no block.
If a weapon blow (other than a Spellstrike) does not hit a valid target, you do not take the hit.
10) I get hit in the shoulder and then in the head/neck.
If you take a hit to an illegal area, don't take the hit (and let your opponent know that they struck you there). If you're meaning that a single blow bounces off your shoulder into your head, you should probably take the shoulder hit but let your opponent know that they struck you in the head/neck and (as with any combat safety violation) if it happens repeatedly let a marshal know.
Also another question, what is meant by "same spot on the body" in regards to not having two hits in the same spot under 2 seconds. Is this by armor location, same 5 diameter in circle area or what?
Again, there is no hard and fast measurement on this. One easy rule of thumb is to consider "Would I call that the same part of my body?", for example, two hits on your right thigh are still both on your right thigh; two hits on your upper right arm are both on your upper right arm; two hits to your lower back are both on your lower back.
Most of these questions come down to "Follow the good sportsmanship rule" and you'll probably do fine.
-Bryan Gregory
ARC
