Author Topic: The Parry skill  (Read 972 times)

Legacy_SHOVA

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The Parry skill
« on: July 29, 2010, 02:33:29 am »


               I putting this here, as should there be something to it, Scripting is the best canidate for a fix.
I have been to many PWs and heard many people claim the parry skill is broken, yet I am unable to find out what is broken, and how to fix it. So I am asking, is it in fact broken, and is there a fix?
'Posted
               
               

               
            

Legacy_ChaosInTwilight

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The Parry skill
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2010, 05:16:40 am »


               http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Parry



http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Parry



This skill was reduced from its original (pre-release) state and is considerably less effective than it may sound. Parry can only deflect the first attack in each of the three flurries  in a round (for example, parrying an opponent with 5 attacks per round will only attempt to block the first, third, and fifth attacks).



Riposte attacks are made with the character's normal (descending) attack bonus, not at full bonus each time. Thus if a character has an attack schedule of +16/+11/+6 and successfully ripostes two attacks, the riposte attacks will be at +16 then +11, not at +16 each time.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Shadooow

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The Parry skill
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2010, 06:12:38 am »


               + you cant parry critical hit



Parry is useless for serious builder, only way to fix it (change it completely) is via NWNX and nwnx_events. Alternatively you can tell players its autofollow tool and nothing more '<img'> .
               
               

               
            

Legacy_SHOVA

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The Parry skill
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2010, 02:59:52 pm »


               Thanks ChaosInTwilight  and ShaDoOoW, That did explain it, however it really isn't broken as some have suggested, but rather not all they think it should be. I haven't decieded yet if I will use it in my current mod, as intended. I doubt I will use it as auto follow, as I have that via Chat emote all ready.

thanks again!
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Genisys

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The Parry skill
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2010, 03:13:42 pm »


               That blows, I hate nerfs...

Parry wasn't the only thing that got nuetered, the AC Dodge Bonus no longer stacks, therefore even if you have haste or cast epic  mage armor, if you got +20 boots on, nothing happens... which is wrong in my book...

I use to use scripts to buff my PC's AC up, using Dodge bonus, now it's doesn't work if they have other buffs / haste / or use an improved version of blinding speed that I scripted... grrrr....

I remember when Magic The Gathering first came out, it was a smashing hit, however R&D at WOTC nerfed the game over the years and turned it into a kids game, it went from uber cool & powerful, to a pokemon like monster spawning kids game that has no attraction to the masses any longer...

I sure hope that they consider some builders / players actually like playing high magic or uber modules...

(*Points to Higher Ground & Underworld, which incidently are still some of the top server modules under action..)
Maybe some of the folks on top can take a lession in what fun is...
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Genisys, 30 juillet 2010 - 12:25 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_SHOVA

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The Parry skill
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2010, 04:16:51 am »


               Didn't ask about AC dodge bonus stacking, I believe there is already a thread about it.  Nerfing may have happened to it, however it was a question about its current state, and available fixes. Which were answered. Hijacking the post to rant about things nerfed that you did not care for, Does not belong here. As to playing/building high magic whatever, I fail to see what that has to do with the parry skill, in its current use, or a fix for it. Or how the Higher ground server has changed or implimented it. All that comes across Genisys, is for lack of a better phase is your jumping in to change the subject of the thread.

I certainly am not interested in your opinion on how Bio should have implimented this, or changed that for a higher magic enviroment, as I tend to play low end magic world type games. I would however be interested in how you might change the parry system to be usefull and ballanced, How it could be changed, what steps to change it would need to be done (outside of NWNX or NWNX events, as I do not use NWNX) But if you do not wish to talk about the Parry skill, then please post elsewhere.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Shia Luck

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The Parry skill
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2010, 12:06:05 pm »


               Yes, parry is not 'broken' simply not useful at higher levels. As soon as the opponent gains a 4th attack (which means it will be their 2nd attack in the schedule which is not parried), then your character has been investing in a increasingly more useless skill as you level up.



Also, iirc, the effect of concealment is applied before the parry calculation, so for someone with 50% concealment from improved invisibility, the chances of getting a riposte attack are suddenly halved. This means characters like dex bards who are good parriers at low levels due to the song skill boost, really shouldn't bother once they get imp invis so it makes it a wasted skill again.



There's still possibilities for builds such as some form of dex fighter with parry boosting feats in a module ending at lvl15 or lower, but it's hard to think of a really useful way to use it otherwise.



When I find it (it's in my link archive on my desktop sooooo will search later today), I'll link you to a testing discussion we had about parry.

Have fun '<img'>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_SHOVA

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The Parry skill
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2010, 01:52:11 pm »


               Just to recap, if a PC invests in the skill, it will work as untill, either the attacker has 4 attacks per round, at which point the 2nd of the 4 attacks can not be parried. To me, it sounds as if it is still usefull as it could stop 3 of the 4 attacks.



Concealment, of the attacker will mess up the riposte attak how, as in it stops it from being rolled for, or does it act like a normal attack against a concealed target?



I tend to play/build lower level end mods, so at this point, it sounds as if i should be building with the skill in mind.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Shia Luck

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The Parry skill
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2010, 06:38:05 pm »


               

SHOVA wrote...

Just to recap, if a PC invests in the skill, it will work as untill, either the attacker has 4 attacks per round, at which point the 2nd of the 4 attacks can not be parried. To me, it sounds as if it is still usefull as it could stop 3 of the 4 attacks.


Useful in a party yes. A character with parry could be a sort of unhittable target/tank, but only against one enemy. Any other enemies you are not parrying against, so it is still limited. You'd need another companion to hit the enemy or you will end up taking more damage to kill him than if you fought normally, which defeats the point. I tested with a dex Bard build with knockdown at different levels. After the enemy has 4 APR it really is better to just fight as normal, even if you are dex and with the parry feats. At least you are definitly attacking 3+/rnd instead of mostly never. (Remember, the 3rd and 4th attacks are much less likely to hit anyway, it's the first 2 you really worry about.)

If you have many lelvels of a 1 BAB class like fighter you are likely sometimes to have more APR than your enemy. In that situation you are simply wasting attacks.

Concealment, of the attacker will mess up the riposte attak how, as in it stops it from being rolled for, or does it act like a normal attack against a concealed target?


The riposte is not rolled yes. A hit stopped by concelament is counted as a miss which does not generate a riposte attempt. (If you want to modify it somehow (and don't ask me if it is even possible, i do not know) then that is what should be changed imho. )

The engine checks in this order: concealment, parry, AC, epic dodge, attack die roll of 1.

So parry is useful to a character with an awful AC given the limitations already discussed.If you have a decent AC so won't be hit much anyway, you will be better attacking normally as you will hit them more. At very low levels dex characters do not have great AC and dex helps your parry score so for these characters it is useful for a few levels. Certainly by the time you are lvl10+ I would expect gear and levelling to have made the solo dex warrior better able to survive by not using parry and so killing the enemy quicker. In other words, as soon as a character has a decent AC and/or concealment it becomes less beneficial than not using it.

STR based damage dealers with poor AC and no UMD might be expected to benefit but in fact a lack of dex often means their parry skill is not high enough to work effectively, and certainly not high enough to give many ripostes. Without ripostes you will never kill anyone so it doesn't work for that character either.

I tend to play/build lower level end mods, so at this point, it sounds as if i should be building with the skill in mind.


I would not discount it then. It is a case of engineering situations that benefit the player who has taken parry. (and telling the player to take parry in the manual beforehand or it'll be wasted!). Organised duels in a championship would work. One on one fights after an item strip where the PC loses their AC boosting gear and finds a finessable weapon with a small parry boost would work. Areas of null magic so that concealment cannot be applied would benefit parry use. A lack of any healing so that a duel/fight is one of attrition would work. I am sure you can think of more.

parry discussion

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Legacy_SHOVA

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The Parry skill
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2010, 08:16:35 pm »


               Thanks Shia Luck, a vast amount of good info here. I am sure that many do find this skill useless in a majority of instances. I do however like to make the rare a possibility in my builds.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Shia Luck

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The Parry skill
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2010, 08:44:48 pm »


               You're very welcome '<img'>

I think it'd be interesting to see a module where parry was really useful. (I'd advise parry enhancing gear rather than expecting players to take parry improving feats tho. Without one or the other I would still expect parry to underperform thereby making it less attractive as someone plays through.)

Have fun '<img'>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Jesse_the_Thief

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The Parry skill
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2010, 09:02:05 pm »


               The only use I've theorized for Parry is for a cornered Rogue fighting monsters who just needs to stall and stay alive while his buddies wear down the bad guys. Most PCs with their high base attacks and Haste resources will blast right through Parry, but a pair of giants with their relatively sluggish 3 attacks per round (but huge damage) could effectively be stalled by a two weapon fighting Rogue long enough to stay alive. The same Rogue without Parry is paste in about 2 rounds.



In PvE it can be useful, in PvP it's pointless which is why most people hate on it. Admittedly even in PvE the round to round activation delay can be deadly enough that it isn't very impressive, and it's prone to activation inconsistency like many combat modes in NWN. Drives you crazy when you go for a Sneak Attack on some one and Parry activates out of the blue instead of ATTACKING.