Changing weapon to hands

In the same fight I had today with Zelbinian, I Pushed him (which changes weapons to hands), then I wanted to strike with my sword. I decided I ought to script a ‘Ready sword - 1 action’ action to switch from hands to sword, but… was that necessary? Now I think not.

Nah. You changed weapons to “hand” and immediately ceded Advantage, probably putting you at a penalty to the Push depending on what Zelbinian was wielding. Afterwards you can go back to striking but he still has Advantage unless you got enough successes to take it back.

This does make me wonder though. If you do get enough successes to take Advantage, which weapon are you taking advantage with: hands or your sword? Since it specifically says you have to be using a long or shorter weapon I assume it means you take advantage with your sword. Even though your weapon is currently “hands”. So I also assume you can switch back to sword without ceding advantage again, otherwise it would be pointless to even describe this part of the Action. Right?

Edit: p. 459 Trading Advantage, eliminates the assumptions. If there’s ever a question about which weapon you gain advantage with mid-exchange, it is the one you positioned with.

I’m not actually asking about advantage, I’m more concerned with what it means to ‘switch weapons’, to have a weapon in an off hand, etc.

  1. I have a sword in my right hand (I positioned with it) and a dagger in my left. I don’t have Two-Fisted Fighting Training. Can I

a) Strike (sword), Strike (dagger), or do I have to:

b) Strike (sword), Ready (dagger, 1 action - in an off-hand, as per p. 447 - Draw Weapon), Strike (dagger)?

  1. Is this different for hands? Push, Lock, Charge, etc. all give you a free switch to hands, but do you need to ready your fist to strike with it? What about teeth?

The phrase that’s driving all this uncertainty for me is this, from p. 447: “Readying a weapon before a fight - on a strap or in an off hand - decreases draw time to one action.”

The bit about the off hand seems off to me, I think a weapon in an off hand is available to strike already. (Or does this refer to actually passing a weapon from your left to right?)

It’s the same answer all around. If you use a weapon you didn’t position with, you immediately cede advantage to your opponent.

You seem hung up on the ready weapon thing. That doesn’t apply to what you’re talking about.

Chris is right. It’s all about who has the Advantage. There is no “ready” action. The bit on page 447 is about having a weapon drawn from its scabbard but not yet in your fighting hand.

You can Strike (sword), Strike (dagger) if you like. But if you had the advantage, the moment you use a weapon of a different length, you cede the advantage to your opponent.

For instance, let’s say you have an arming sword (long) and a dirk (shortest) in your off hand. Your opponent has a spear (longest). With some sort of crazy luck, you win the Engage test. Since you have the advantage, your opponent is suffering +1 Ob to all non-defensive actions.

In the first volley, you Strike (sword), Strike (dirk). The first strike is normal. You have the advantage. However, when you switch to the dirk for the second strike, you cede the advantage to your opponent. Your strike is at +4 Ob because your opponent has the advantage.

If you strike with your sword again in the next volley, you will suffer +2 Ob since your opponent still has the advantage.

Where fighting two-handed really comes into its own, though, is if your opponent is fighting with a weapon that is shorter than yours. If your opponent gains the advantage, it gives you the ability to switch to a weapon that has less of a disadvantage or neutralizes the disadvantage entirely.

For instance, if you’ve got the arming sword and the dirk and your opponent has a dirk and wins the advantage, you can choose to fight with the dirk and therefore not suffer the +2 Ob disadvantage you would suffer if using the arming sword against the dirk.

Okay, this is what I’m asking about, thanks.

Edit: p. 459 Trading Advantage, eliminates the assumptions. If there’s ever a question about which weapon you gain advantage with mid-exchange, it is the one you positioned with.

Ah, that does make that quite clear.

Thus, if I Engage using my sword, and then script Push in Volley 2, the process is:

  1. Cede advantage to my opponent as I switch from sword to hands.
  2. Test my Power, factoring in the Ob penalty as I am now at a disadvantage.
  3. If I win, I regain advantage with my sword. My opponent is now suffering an additional obstacle penalty (the results of the Push) ON TOP OF the penalty for being at the disadvantage to the sword.

Not just win but win by 1 more than you need. Winning gives your opponent the +1 Ob. Winning with an extra success gets the advantage back to you. But yeah, you’ve got it.