AlternateMechanics/WeaponLock

How often do we see, in film and television, the good guy and the bad rush at one another. One slashes, the other parries, and their blades are locked together- neither can relent, as doing so will provide their opponent with an opening.

There are basically a few ways such a lock can end- one person is thrown to the ground, left staggered, or one of the people lets go of the blade with one hand to pop their opponent in the face.

It was recently pointed out that you can't really get that in Exalted, which is a shame. Ergo, I set out now to fix that. :)

As a note, this can only happen weapon both parties are armed with melee weapons. However, the actual weapon doesn't matter as much, although the ST may rule on a case by case basis that locking an opponent's weapon is impossible with your own (such as locking a sledgehammer with a whip).

When declaring a parry, the defender may opt to make it a locking parry. They lose two dice from their parry pool, and then rolls as per normal. To successfully lock the opponent's blade, they must score a number of successes higher than the attack equal to the difference between their Strength and their opponent's Strength (minimum 1).

Once locked, both opponents are functionally in a clinch. They may not dodge without magic or parry at all, unless they release their opponent to do so (see below). Actions that may be taken while locked are...

• Throw the opponent back. This requires a contested Strength + Melee + Defensive bonus roll be won. If successful, the opponent is tossed to the ground a few yards away, and has penelties and will rise as per Knockdown.
• Sidestep to throw the opponent off balance. This requires a contested Dexterity + Melee + Defensive bonus roll be won. If successful, the opponent staggers forwards, suddenly thrown off balance, but they keep their feet. They'll be at a -2 penelty until the end of the turn.
• Face bop. Slackening the grip on the weapon, one opponent snaps off a quick head shot. They get a Dexterity + Brawl attack against the opponent, who can still only dodge with magic and cannot block at all. If the punch does more dice of pre-soak damage than the target's Stamina + Resistance, this also staggered (as from a sidestep). Otherwise, the bopped character can retaliate by automatically throwing the opponent back.

Additionally, either character may abort to a full parry or dodge, as per normal. Doing so leaves an opening for their opponent, however- they get a free, full dice pool attack to strike in this opponent, which the opponent cannot dodge or parry. DS

[GC3]You may want to consider a simpler rule for all sorts of combat things like this: For example, whenever the attack successes and the parry successes exactly tie, roll a die. If it is a 10, then a weapon lock happens; it does not usually seem that the people who end up in a weapon lock attack trying to be in one. [GC3].

Technically, this is just form of clinch, isn't it? - Quendalon

Just had to ask: what incentive does the defender have to risk his neck just to get into a weapon-lock? - DigitalSentience

To answer the long ago question of Quendalon- yes, this is just a form of Clinch. But one done with Melee and weapons, rather than bare-handed. A guy with a sword can't clinch a brawler, unless he drops the sword. But he /can/ Weapon Lock someone with a weapon.

To answer DigitalSentience - First, style.  :) Second, because it's a way of breaking the initative order. The guy with the knife's only hope for closing enough to actually attack the guy with the Greatsword is to catch the Greatsword and litterally ride along the edge, holding it down with the flat of his knife, until he gets in close enough to bob the guy, or shoulder into him to hurl him down. And third, because it's another area that Solars could invent Charms to look even damn cooler. DS

Fair enough. Sounds reasonable to me. - DigitalSentience